LED Strip Problems with Connection

On a cart that we recently built which we decided to put LEDs onto is now experiencing a few problems. The LED strip is easily splitting at the copper connections you find between LEDs that supply RGBY colors causing the strip to shut off, is there anyone that knows how to repair these split areas so that we can continue using the LEDs?

just solder them together :slight_smile: or I believe they sell connectors that you can install

So we’d be able to solder the copper connections along the strip?

It it splitting where you are soldering on your connections or where the diode is connected to the flexible ribbon?
If it’s your connections I would recommend adding some heat shrink for extra strain relief.
If it’s on the diode connection to the strip its likely because you have it bent at too sharp of an angle. Sometime you can reflow the solder joint to reconnect the diode. The ultimate solution is to not bend it so tight but if you have to, bend it where there is not a diode.

This is the part that is splitting for us

Is this a part we can solder and it be able to work?

Correct. It is a little hard to see, but there is a small piece text there - a GND and a +12V. Solder wires to those two pads (source to +12V, ground to GND), and you should be good to go. Speaking from experience, make sure you expose all of the pad before soldering, lest you want plastic to cover the pad.

awesome! thanks! what wire would you suggest?

Looking at R53, it really depends on where you’re powering the LED’s from and how many amps they’re drawing. Can’t go wrong with 18AWG, since your LEDs souldn’t be on anything higher than a 20A breaker.

Alright, makes sense, and to make sure we are on the same page, I need to solder the 18 gauge wire to the copper locations on the strip correct?

Yeah that would be correct. I’d recommend tinning your wire, (carefully) tinning the copper pad, then soldering them together.

alright thank you!

You can wire around the break from one pad area to the next beyond the break. You can use #22 wire which is capable of several amps. I would look at how tight your strips are, they should have some slop across parts of the cart that move to prevent damage when moving the cart.

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