How Hot Do LED Strips Get? Is It Normal?

LED technologies are often praised for their better efficiency and decreased heat emission. Therefore, it may surprise you to see an LED strip light turn warm or hot while it is operating. Do LED strips often get warm or scorching to the touch? Why is this taking place? Just how hot is safe? Find out by reading on!

To begin with, it is typical for LEDs to get warm. But why do LEDs become heated in the first place, considering all that has been said about how efficiently and coolly they operate?

In spite of the fact that LEDs are far more efficient than conventional lighting technologies, they are still relatively inefficient. When we discuss efficiency numbers, they are often stated as percentages. This tells us how much electrical energy is transformed into usable light energy and how much is lost as heat energy.

Efficiency levels for LEDs generally range from 30% to 50%. Accordingly, for every 100 watts of electrical input used by a standard LED with 40% efficiency, only 40 watts are released as useable light energy (i.e. lighting), while the remaining 60 watts are released as heat.

Additional parts and built-in resistance in the circuitry may further lower the efficiency figures for LED strips. As a consequence, LED strips may normally operate at 30% efficiency. This implies that a 90 watt LED strip light reel will produce 63 watts of thermal energy (90 watts x 70%), which is about equivalent to the heat produced by a 60 watt incandescent bulb, which as you may remember from experience, definitely gets warm.

The fact that LEDs are not as efficient as you had believed may surprise you! However, compared to incandescent lights, which have efficiency levels of 5% or less, LEDs are in fact significantly more efficient. The poor effectiveness of the light energy produced by incandescent bulbs, with most of it being in longer wavelengths like deep red and infrared wavelengths, which do not contribute much, if at all, to lighting, is another factor working against them. (High CRI LEDs aim to cover some of the red and deep red wavelengths that are required for proper color rendering, which results in their being somewhat less efficient than their normal counterparts.)

How warm can you go? Is it secure?

The quality and design of the LED strip, as well as the surrounding temperature, will all affect how warm an LED strip becomes when operating. Since Waveform Lighting LED strips are high power and high density, they heat up more quickly than other LED strip lights. A average temperature increase above ambient temps is 54°F (30°C), according to our measurements. In other words, you may anticipate an LED strip to attain a temperature of 129°F (54°C) in an atmosphere with a normal room temperature of 75°F (24°C).

Without establishing some broad parameters on temperature ranges and particular considerations with regard to heat, it may be difficult to determine whether an LED strip is "too hot" for a certain application. The following three issues with LED strip thermal characteristics are typical:

1) Are people and animals bothered by the heat?

At temperatures exceeding 50°C (122°F), human skin may start to burn. Objects at 40°C (104°F) or higher will feel "hot" to the touch. Be aware that certain LED strips, like those from Waveform Lighting, may reach temperatures that are too high to prevent low-temperature burns. Although the majority of LED strip applications do not entail skin-to-skin contact, if your particular project does, you should take safety measures to make sure the LED strips are not easily accessible to people or animals.

2) Will the heat harm the LEDs, parts, or circuit board?

Most LEDs, parts, and LED strip circuits are designed to operate at temperatures of 185°F (85°C) or higher without suffering any negative impacts on their life expectancy, dependability, or functioning. As a result, almost no LED strips will reach these temperatures, and there shouldn't be many worries about whether an LED strip will malfunction as a result of heat, with the exception of products that are poorly designed or have problems, as well as those installed in extreme locations where ambient temperatures are very high.

Be aware that the 185°F (85°C) maximum temperature is much greater than the 100°F (40°C) or higher threshold that most people consider to be "too hot" to touch. As a result, even though an LED strip may "feel" hot to the touch, the actual temperatures often stay far below the thresholds for protecting against damage.

3) Is it going to melt or catch fire?

Although very unusual, a broken LED strip lamp might very rarely reach temperatures that are far higher than its typical working range. Utilizing high-quality LED strip lights that are made with excellent components and under strict supervision is the best method to lower this risk since they are less likely to have manufacturing and design flaws that might result in heat-related failures.

The use of LED strip lights, which are created to be secure even in the event of a failure, is another efficient method for reducing safety hazards. Make that the circuitboard has a flammability rating. This is a standard precaution, but regrettably, makers of less expensive products do not always follow it. A circuitboard won't normally catch fire even if a component or wire flames according to the UL 94 standard.

Using Class 2 certified power supplies and LED strips, which have a total energy restriction of 96W, would be another precaution. These products may help lower the risk of fires and other damages by limiting the total amount of heat and energy that is put into a system.

From a safety standpoint, LED strip lights that are qualified to fulfill UL safety requirements will often provide these guarantees.

Can the heat produced by the LED strips be reduced by dimming them?

Absolutely! Limiting the amount of power provided to the LEDs is normally how LED strip lights are dimmed. As a consequence, the quantity of thermal energy emitted will drop proportionally as you dim an LED strip.

Do 24V LED strips operate more efficiently at 12V?

Thermal performance of an LED strip is often unaffected by voltage. This is because the overall heat production of an LED strip system is determined by wattage, not voltage.

However, you could discover that a 24V system produces somewhat less heat than a 12V system due to the small efficiency advantages.