LED strip lights are composed of multiple LEDs arranged on a strip-shaped flexible PCB board. When turning on the LED strip lighting, we will see obvious point light, and looking directly at the LED light source for too long will make our eyes feel uncomfortable.
In an environment where you need to use LED strips for a long time, installing a silicone diffuser for your LED strip is not a bad option for eyesight protection, especially for small children. Providing uniform light diffusion and soft lighting is the reason all led light diffusers exist.
- What is Silicone LED Diffuser?
- What LED Strip Lights can be used with Silicone LED Diffuser?
- What Colors is the Silicone LED Diffuser available in?
- What Types of Silicone LED Diffusers are there?
- Should I Diffuse my LED Lights?
- How to choose the Best Silicone LED Diffuser?
- How to Use Silicone LED Diffuser correctly?
What Is Silicone LED Diffuser?
Silicone led diffuser is also known as silicone led channel, flexible LED channel, silicone sleeves, silicone tube, etc. It is made of food-grade silicone material, is soft, has good bending performance, corrosion resistance, tear resistance, anti-aging, waterproof, and is able to adapt to complex outdoor environments.
The silicone led strip diffuser is divided into a light diffusing surface and a light shading surface. Taking the white silicone tube diffuser as an example, the milky white part is the light shading surface, and the translucent part is the diffused light-emitting surface. Usually, there is a small translucent line on the side of the silicone tube to observe and cut the LED light strip.
There is a traction rope in the silicone tube to pull the LED strip light, so that it can wrap the light strip in it, and then cover the end caps at both ends to complete the overall look. The light strip wire is connected to the controller or power supply through the end cap holes.
What LED Strip Lights Can Be Used With Silicone LED Diffuser?
The silicone led diffuser channel can be used with any led strip light. LED strip lights installed in silicone sleeves will become flex led neon lights. Silicone led neon strip has gradually replaced traditional neon lights as a new type with its great flexibility and other excellent properties.
| Single color led strip lights + Silicone led channels | → | Single color led neon lights |
| CCT led strip lights + Silicone led channels | → | Dimmable led neon lights |
| RGB led strip lights + Silicone led channels RGBW led strip lights + Silicone led channels RGBCCT led strip lights + Silicone led channels | → | Multi-color led neon lights Color changing led neon lights |
| Addressable led strip lights + Silicone led channels | → | Dream color addressable led neon lights |
What Colors Is the Silicone LED Diffuser Available in?
Milky white or white is the most common housing color for the flexible silicone led channel, but black silicone led diffusers, pink neon sign light silicone diffusers, green neon sign light silicone diffusers, and ice blue silicone led strip diffusers also exist. Colored silicone led light strip diffusers are more suitable for decorating your lighting environment or lettering signs.
What Types of Silicone LED Diffusers Are There?
Different structures of silicone led tubes have an effect on the LED strip lighting. The beam angle of SMD LED strip is 120 degrees, and the beam angle of COB led strip is 180 degrees. The silicone led diffuser can change the beam angle of the light strip to expand the light range. And the different structure of the led silicone tube also leads to the different placement and bending of the led strip.
The structure of LED silicone channel can be divided into two categories, silicone led diffuser cover and diffusion silicone sleeve. The bottom of the silicone led diffuser cover is open, it needs to be used with aluminum profiles, and it is not waterproof. If it is to be applied to outdoor scenes, a waterproof led strip needs to be used.
Silicone led light strip channels also vary in shape, with square channels, dome top channels, round channels, and semi-circular channels.
Among them, the round silicone led channel with the largest light-emitting angle is 360-degree, with two led strips installed inside, one facing up and the other facing down. There is one led strip placed into the semi-circular silicone channel, so it emits light at 270-degree. The diffuser surface of the dome top silicone led channel is arc-shaped, so the light-emitting area is larger than that of the flat led channel, which is a 180-degree light-emitting angle.
The square silicone channel has three lighting modes, top lighting, side lighting, and three-sided lighting.
The light-emitting surface of the top lighting silicone channel is parallel to the plane on which the led light strip is placed. The led strip lighting is directly irradiated upwards and then diffused through the silicone diffusion surface into a soft light effect.
The light-emitting surface of the side lighting silicone channel is perpendicular to the plane where the light strip is placed, and the LED light is refracted from the diffuser surface.
The three-sided light-emitting channel has a 180-degree light-emitting angle, and a part of the side covering surface is also made into a diffusion surface, which has a larger light diffusion range.
Should I Diffuse My LED Lights?
By installing the led strip light in the silicone channel, you can get a more perfect LED light effect and protect the light strip from moisture and dust to prevent it from a short circuit.
If you want to use LED strips as decorations such as neon billboards or letter lyrics, a silicone led strip channel for your led strip is essential. It has a uniform light effect and no light spot, and is more aesthetic than the bare strip light.
If you are hiding the led strip light on the ceiling or in other places, the LED light strip can be used without a diffuser. In this case, LED light is often refracted through the inner wall of the ceiling into our place, not directly seen by us.
To add LED light decoration lines to your home lighting or outdoor lighting, you can choose a silicone led diffuser or simply choose a silicone neon strip. The silicone led channel with flange can cover the gap when embedded, and the white flange or black flange can also provide a decorative effect.
How to Choose the Best Silicone LED Diffuser?
First, look for a silicone led strip diffuser with a corresponding inner width according to your led strip width, and then find the size and lighting method you want. We offer silicone led diffusers in a variety of inner widths to be compatible with your led strip, you can find the corresponding category according to your strip.
For example, if your led strip light is 5mm wide, you can choose the silicone led diffuser in the 5mm or the 6mm silicone diffuser category. The inner width of the silicone led diffuser should be a few millimeters wider than the led strip width to allow the strip to pass through the silicone channel, otherwise, it may cause the PCB board to be broken.
Related Knowledge: How To Let LED Strip Light Pass Through Silicone LED Diffuser Channel?
How to Use Silicone LED Diffuser Correctly?
If you don’t know how to use a silicone LED strip diffuser, the following will help you.
1. Can you Cut Silicone LED Diffuser Tube?
The silicone material is soft and can be easily cut by scissors. Before starting the installation, determine the length you need and then put the led strip through the silicone channel. We don’t recommend cutting the neon silicone led strip by yourself, because you’re likely to cut a circuit and cause a section of the LED lights to lose work, without knowing the cutting lines.
The flexible silicone led diffuser channel we sell is available in three lengths, one meter, two meters, and five meters, to meet your different installation needs.
2. How to Bend Silicone LED Channel?
Top-emitting and side-emitting silicone led channels have different bending ways, with a minimum bending diameter of 15~20cm (5.9~7.87″).
3. How to Install Silicone LED Diffuser Channel?
There are three installation methods for the silicone led diffuser channel. One is to be fixed by mounting clips, easy operation. 1m silicone led strip channel has two mounting clips. The second is to put the silicone led diffuser into an aluminum channel, which is suitable for linear lighting projects. And the third is to use a flexible profile for curved path lighting, which has great bending freedom.
4. Precautions for Using Silicone LED Diffuser Channel
The bending angle of the silicone channel is too large, which causes the solder joint of the LED strip to separate from the copper foil. Excessive extrusion of the silicone channel will damage the LED chip or cause the solder joints to deform and fall off. The silicone channel cannot be twisted during installation. If it is twisted, the solder joints of the LED light strip will fall off. And these three usages will result in the LED not lighting up.
