Aluminium profile and 12mm COB strips
In the recent video about the custom QuinLED Dig-COB-RGBW-896-160 LED strip I mentioned that the strip needed a profile bigger then 12mm to fit correctly. This was a bit too little information. This articles will try to clarify this a little bit!
IP65 waterproof version
Measuring the waterproof version it’s basically 14mm wide if you squeeze it a little bit. So real-world I’d give it 14.5mm to 15mm to comfortably fit where you want to put it.
IP20 non-waterproof version
The strip needs an actual 12mm to be available when inserting the strip and gluing it down, not all 12mm profiles are able to accommodate this. Sometimes a profile will have internal ridges that are less wide then the 12mm required, often these profiles are 12mm wide but are meant for 10mm strips. Below are some examples pictures of what will and will not work.
What will work
We need a clearing of 12mm all the way down to where you stick it down, here are some examples of which will work:
What will probably work
Here are 2 examples that will probably work but I’m not 100% sure. For these examples it’s because I don’t know if there is enough room on the sides to clear all ICs and resistors on the COB strip with how deep the diffuser goes into the profile so there is very little space left between the strip top side and the diffuser.
Will not work
These profiles are sold as 12mm but they have ridges or other features that are not at least 12mm wide thus you can’t mount the strip down in them and even if you can, metal parts could touch the IC or resistors.
Conclusion
Hopefully this explains a bit better what to watch out for in regards to LED profiles for a 12mm COB strip. This problem isn’t unique to the QuinLED Dig-COB-RGBW-896-160 strip but a problem with all COB strips.
Here are some links to the working examples above:
0.5m/1m/1.5m/2m profiles (select one that fits!)