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rgb strips and water


james campbell

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I had my rgb mini trees out tonight,all worked fine except one. I did not test this one before putting it on my tomato cage. now it has female plugs at both ends none of the others do,and it always has a faint green light in the middle. when I put the plug at one end nothing but the green in the middle,but when I put it at the top half the strip lights up. I had it sitting outside and it got a little wet,do you think it is a bad strip to begin with? how much water does it take to mess one up? Thanks

Edited by james campbell
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James,

Depends on water proofing and such. I would let them dry out and try again.

Try to test them when you get them before doing anything else. I've had to do this myself.

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Thanks Tom,yeah I should have tested it but all the others worked fine, they are ip 65 but the epoxy don't seem to stay on the strips very well.I hope it's just a bad strip.

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It actually takes a bit to mess one up. the last 2 years i have had couple of strips where i didnt seal good enough and where water got into the tube and ran down the tube which effected 3 or 4 sections. I ran it like that for 2 nights without any ill efects. Eventually electrolysis will take over and cause the pixels to go on steady white, I then pulled these down removed the silicone tube, sprayed with electronics solvent, left to dry and then all was good again. So it appears a bit of water may not be as damaging as one may think.

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one more question,does it hurt the strip if the back is exposed,I took the tape backing off and it seems water may be getting in there

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Water can short something out that would cause more voltage to be applied and burn that device out. Water will most certainly cause corrosion that will open up circuits. Water just does not mix well with electrical or electronics at all. If you get a leak, remove to a dry location and dry it out as fast as possible without causing more damage. Seal the leak once your sure that everything is dry.

I also like to be proactive and in the case of my kit controllers. Once I have them built and have cleaned off the rosin on the back of the board and have taped off any connections and the socketed chips. Will give the board a good spraying of clear paint on both front and back. Helps protect from moisture and bugs shorting out the board.

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well I found the issue,it was a broken solder joint in the middle. I think I may have paniced way too soon we will see

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one more question,does it hurt the strip if the back is exposed,I took the tape backing off and it seems water may be getting in there

This sounds like the cheap strip from Ebay that has the resin top coat with only tape on the back. Unfortunatly it has been previously reported that using this type of strip in very exposed areas may limit their life due to water being able to enter the strip from the underside. This strip is best used for under eaves or in places where the backing of the strip can be protected.

Unfortunatly the resin type strip cant be repaired and maintained as easy as the silicone tube due to water ingress issues.

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This sounds like the cheap strip from Ebay that has the resin top coat with only tape on the back. Unfortunatly it has been previously reported that using this type of strip in very exposed areas may limit their life due to water being able to enter the strip from the underside. This strip is best used for under eaves or in places where the backing of the strip can be protected.

Unfortunatly the resin type strip cant be repaired and maintained as easy as the silicone tube due to water ingress issues.

your right it is from ebay,If I can get 1 season out of them I will put them in jackets next season
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Jim, you can do what Stacey did with the flakey strips.. take that strip, cut out the bad sections, cut the remaining into same length strips (between the solder pads) and put the strips, side-by-side, in a container and build a RGB Flood with them.. I'm going to do that with the remnants of the strips I have..

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Jim, you can do what Stacey did with the flakey strips.. take that strip, cut out the bad sections, cut the remaining into same length strips (between the solder pads) and put the strips, side-by-side, in a container and build a RGB Flood with them.. I'm going to do that with the remnants of the strips I have..

My plan is to try the same thing.

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