Summarize
- Led strip lights are becoming more common and available to consumers
- Troubleshooting can often be done at home
- The most common problems are related to power supplies and connections
- The right power supply and installation will extend the life of your LEDs
- Led strips require careful installation and maintenance
LED strip troubleshooting can be quite tricky, especially if you have multiple strips, drivers, and wireless controllers at home. Issues do occur from time to time—but where should you start?
Led tape troubleshooting can be difficult. Until a few years ago, LED technology was only known to experts. When the technology was at its most primitive, LEDs were a kind of underdog in the world of technology. Recently, however, LED lighting products have started to capture an increasing share of the market (50% worldwide by 2023) and there are numerous models available, even at the consumer level. So much so that LED strip lights are now available almost everywhere.
Because they are everywhere, there are also different problems. However, troubleshooting and solving the problem with a led strip can often be done at home. Here are some common LED strip lighting problems that can help you troubleshoot your LED strip and thus solve your problem. You can find help for your potential LED strip issue simply by following the solution models listed below. Each problem is briefly explained, with a simple solution.
LED strip troubleshooting when the light flickers
If your LEDs are flickering repeatedly, it’s most likely due to an insufficient power supply. Troubleshooting should start by examining the power source and the total power consumption of the strips. Flickering often indicates that the power supply is overloaded—either too many LED strips are connected, or the connected strip is too long. For example, a minimum of 72 W of driver power is needed to feed 5 metres of 14.4 W/m LED strip. The driver will enter “overload protection” protection mode if this amount is only powered by a 40W source. In this state, the machine turns on, realises it’s running out of biceps, drops the weights and tries again, but can’t, and then turns off again. Then the cycle repeats.
You can either buy a more powerful power supply that can handle a total wattage greater than the total wattage of all your LED strips. Or you can split the tapes between two power supplies of the same size, i.e. get another power supply of the same size as you have now. It is always a good idea to oversize the driver slightly, as this will increase the driver’s lifetime significantly.
For more information, you can read How to fix flickering Led strip.
The LEDs are so hot that they burn when touched.
There are two possible explanations for this. LED strip troubleshooting should begin by checking the connections and ensuring compatibility between the driver and the strip. Either the 12 V LED strips are connected to a 24 V power supply or there may be a “short circuit” along the strip. A short circuit can occur if the + and – of the tin solder touch each other. In addition, the positive and negative terminals of the output can touch each other when the + and – of the output cable at the other end of the strip meet.
The tapes still work, even if feeding 24 volts to a 12-volt led tape causes a problem. Led strips look brighter than they should because you’re sending them more than twice as much power. The problem, however, is that doing so can increase the likelihood of a fire and seriously damage the LEDs (often within hours).
You need a 12V power supply or a converter that converts 24V to 12V if the 24V power supply is feeding 12V tapes.
Whether or not you believe it is a short circuit, you should perform a troubleshooting and carefully check each part of the tape to make sure the connections are not touching. If the led strips are short-circuited, you can either re-solder your led strip or cut the solder with a knife so that the positive and negative ends are no longer in contact.
Led strip burn the fuse
There are two possible reasons for this. It is possible that your power supply is broken. If your power supply is intact, then the amount of current is too much for the fuse to handle at once.
Troubleshooting should be done by disconnecting the power supplies from the group and trying to reconnect them one by one until the fuse blows. If you think one of the power supplies is faulty, this is how you solve the problem and find out which one is broken.
The fuse may not be able to handle the input current if it blows when everything is connected and all drivers have been tested. It is necessary to increase the size of the fuse, if possible (the size of the cable will determine). The solution to the problem may also be to swap the power supplies behind another group of fuses if it keeps tripping.
The brightness of the LEDs decreases towards the end
The voltage drops towards the end of the strip, causing the LEDs to become less bright towards the end. To troubleshoot a led strip, you should start by looking at the lengths of the led strips.
Most of the common LED strips can be used in lengths of 5 metres. Even though they only receive power from one end, there is no noticeable voltage drop. Special LED strips can be 10, 15, or 20 meters long. As a rule of thumb, 12 V tapes can withstand 5 metres of feed from one end and 24 V tapes can withstand 10 meters. That is, without any noticeable voltage drop, or light loss.
An LED strip that is too long and powered from one end will dim toward the far end. The solution is to either split the tapes into smaller ones and feed the split sections with their own feeds, or to install the tapes as a ring, i.e. to connect both tapes to the same power supply. The solution to the problem is therefore simple, and easily avoidable at the installation stage.
My LED strip is still on the reel and smells like it’s burning.
Led strip get too hot if you turn them on and leave them on the coil. Only use and test the LED strips when they are not wrapped or wound on a reel.
I accidentally painted over my led strips
If you’ve accidentally painted over strip led strip, or your painters have, there is a way to save them. Please note, however, that the LED strip must ALWAYS be installed inside the aluminium profile and cover. In that case, it would be very easy to simply clean the covers.
However, depending on the amount of paint, led strip can sometimes be salvaged. The paint on the strips can be removed by wiping. Use only water-free cleaning agents to avoid damaging the LEDs. The dried paint on the LEDs can also be removed with a fine knife. Make sure that the tapes are switched off during cleaning.
The LED strip doesn’t turn on at all.
The power supply may be malfunctioning if the LEDs do not light up. If you have more than one power supply, the solution is to plug another power supply into the same strip and see if it works now. If it works, you need a new power supply because the current one is damaged.
Led strip adhesive loses adhesion
In almost all conditions, it is easy to install LED strips. The flexibility of this type of lighting is its most significant feature. What if the glue doesn’t hold anyway?
Beginners who remove the tape cover too soon may face this problem. Before you remove the adhesive anti-drying cover, decide where you want the tape to go. Before placing the LED strip light, make sure that the area is clean. Use an alcohol-based cleaner to clean metal surfaces such as aluminium profiles. Wherever you place the LED strip, there must be no dust, grease or debris. Cheaper LED strips sometimes only use paper glue in the tapes, which is not a very durable solution.
Finally, please note that LED strip should ALWAYS be used with aluminium profiles. Led tape sticks well to the aluminium surface once the surface has been cleaned.
Led strip parts do not light up
If there is a section of the illuminated LED strip with only a 3 LED section (or 6 LED in the case of 24V) that is not lit, there may be an “open circuit” in one of the sections.
This means that one LED or one component of one section has become detached as a result of a manufacturing defect, transport or mechanical damage during installation. As a result, all the LEDs in the area (2.5-10 cm) have lost power and will not light up.
To troubleshoot a led tape, you should start by taking a closer look at the tape.
Mechanical damage is often visible to the eye.
Consider heating the solder joints of each LED and other components along that broken segment, if you can keep a pewter flask in your hand. The best approach is to cut along the marked cut line, remove the damaged section, and solder a new piece in place. You can also contact a professional for assistance.
Led strip lights do not go on
When you just turned off the striplight, was it on before? You’ve turned it back on, but nothing happened.
Before you throw out the LEDs, check that the power supply is working. Most often, it’s the power supply that fails, so troubleshooting should start there.
If you have a separate controller unit and transformer, the led tape troubleshooting can be started from them. Try bypassing the controller and connecting the led strip directly to the transformer to make sure the led strip works.
If the remote is using batteries, try putting in new batteries. Try resetting and reprogramming the remote control.
If in doubt, take the power supply (and controller) to an electronics repair shop (such as LedStore) for a quick test. The test only takes a few seconds.
Led strip light does not go out completely
Even when the switch is off, the LED strip light is still on. You quickly try different things to find out about the strange light source. You don’t come up with a solution to the problem. Sometimes only one colour stays on when you turn it off with the remote control.
It could be a problem caused by induced voltage. Move the strip and the controller to a different location and run tests to find out what’s wrong. If everything is in a very different place, it means that there were problems with the induced voltage at the previous location. Look for electrical wires that come close to the wires of the LED strip and that cause leakage.
At this point, you should contact an electrician, because the LED strip troubleshooting has been changed to the electrics troubleshooting.
Led strip remote control does not work
Everything just worked. The remote control no longer works. In addition, the colours no longer change. Or you can turn off the led tape when you want. In other words, the remote will not work no matter which button you press.
Sometimes it’s easy to forget where or how far away something is. Each remote control has a maximum distance. Try moving the receiver and you’ll get rid of this little nuisance. Check the batteries. Factory batteries can last a long time, but sometimes only a few months. As the batteries get low, the range of the signal is also reduced.
If the problem is not dead batteries, you may need to reset the pairing and do it again.
There must also be a good connection between the receiver unit, the power supply and the LED strip. If the cables have had a loose connection, heating and cooling the led strip several times will have caused the joint to break down permanently.
Rarely do remote controls stop working. On the other hand, cheap market regulators may stop working.
Led strip connector not working
There are points in your LED strip light where the LED strip light can be cut. These are also the points where the connection for the wires or the extension of the LED strip is made.
Start troubleshooting the LED strip by checking the connectors. If you open the quick connector, you will see two connections. After that, insert the strip into the connector and close the cover.
You probably didn’t get the polarity of the connector right, or there is just dirt (usually dust or grease).
We sold quick connectors several years ago, but stopped using them because too often they just fail. Use soldering irons to make permanent joints that don’t need to be repaired.
The colour of the light is different at the end of the strip.
In one LED strip, some LEDs are very dim and go out at the end. The colour of the light also varies a lot. This may be due to current absorption.
Led strip troubleshooting can be done by testing the installation with another led strip, if you have one. If the result is the same, you have a voltage drop and need a new led driverwith more power, or you can also put the connecting wire at the end of the led stripand route it back to the same driver. In other words, form the strip into a loop.
If the second led light is working correctly, the first led light may have been damaged in some way. For example, led strips hould never be bent more than one degree.
Problems with cutting Led strips
Led strip may need to be cut. However, you cannot find the sign you are looking for. Led strip lights are easy to cut and do not lose their usefulness when cutting. If you don’t see a printed mark for cutting, you can always cut between the solder points, which occur between 50-10 cm depending on the led strip.
Once the cut is made, solder the joints to the new wire. After a short test, place strip where you need them.
The LED strip lights up when I touch it.
When you accidentally touch the LED strip, it sometimes lights up. Some strip work the same way every time, but others do not. Most led strip react to things that cause problems with the power supply. A cheap power supply is one example. It is called “capacitive coupling” when you touch it.
Replace the power supply with an EMC-certified power supply. It’s better than a standard power noise filter, which is just a quick fix.
Led strip buzzing
More specifically, that sound comes from the transformer of the led strip. This is mostly due to a non-compatible TRIAC-led driverand dimmer. They are just not compatible. You need to replace one of them.
For more information, you can read Why do LED lamps buzz when dimmed?
Flashing strip
The new LED strip lights are in place and you have a birthday party. You test the camera and notice something immediately. The image flickers and wobbles.
There are two types of flicker.
In the first, you can see the flicker with your own eyes. In that case, you should check for damage or moisture. In most cases, the problem can be caused by moisture of some kind. If you’re lucky, the LED strip can be salvaged after drying. If there is damage, replace the damaged part.
The other kind of flicker can be corrected with a few simple steps. Remove the current LED strip driver. Take it with you to the nearest LED specialist store and ask for a replacement with a HIGH PWM frequency (over 500 Hz).
For more information, you can read Why do led lights flicker on video?
LED Strip Troubleshooting – The Light Is Not Bright Enough
At the store, the LED strip looked bright, but once you got it home, it didn’t light up as much. What happened?
First, the issue might be a faulty LED driver that doesn’t supply enough power to the strip, or you may have purchased a 24V LED strip but are trying to run it with a 12V driver.
Another reason may be the environment. If all surfaces are white, the light will look very bright. But if the surfaces are dark, the same light will look very dim in that installation. Remember that a dark environment can consume 50% of the light output.
The LED strip dims toward the end.
This problem occurs with longer tapes. All the shorter led strip work, but the longer ones have this problem. The voltage drop is due to the copper resistance of LED strip.
In other words, as the length of the led strip increases, the resistance increases.
The Led strip does not light up because electricity cannot reach the other end.
So what should we do? Led strip needs more power. You need to add connecting wires to the led controller strip every 6-9 meters. Or if the length of the led strip is less than 22 meters (24V), you can just add another connecting wire to one end of the led strip and run it to the same transformer. Then the current flows in both directions driver and the lights come on well.
The LED strip gradually dims over time.
You have had your Led light for a long time. They did a good job, but recently they started to fade. The light has lost its brightness, so you want to make it brighter again. Led light can be really bright and last for a long time.
To last long, Led strip need to dissipate heat efficiently. If you’ve just put a led strip under the cabinet, directly against the wood. It cannot dissipate heat and will fade faster and die. This is why strips should always be installed in aluminium.
Driver may also be to blame.
Check that the voltage LED strip is still at the correct level. A multimeter can be used to measure how much the system voltage has dropped.
So replace the controller or the LED strip.
For more information, you can read How long do Led strip last?
Part of the LED strip does not light up
Only part of LED strip lights up or only half of it works. More importantly, this problem can affect a large part of the whole strip at one or more points. Here’s one solution to the problem, so you don’t have to replace the entire strip light:
First, mark the LEDs that no longer work with a marker pen. Next, disconnect the power supply of the led strip.
If all the remaining LEDs on the LED strip are dark after a certain point, you probably have a problem with a solder joint that has broken due to excessive heat or a bent LED strip. Just reheat the soldering point to allow the current to flow.
If the problem is only one 10 cm section between the led strips, it is possible to repair the broken part by cutting it with a sharp knife, at the cut marks or factory soldered joints. Remove the cut part and replace it with a new one. Then drink it back from both ends.
Note that there are plus and minus signs at the intersections. Make sure to hold the LED strip the same way while soldering so that the + and – connections don’t get reversed. So always plus to plus and minus to minus when it comes to LED strips.
Overheating issue – the LED strip is too hot to touch.
The Led lights are very bright when you turn it on. If you put your hand on the strip, you will find it is warmer. A little heat is no problem. If it’s too hot to touch, you have a problem. The diodes are working too hard because there is too much electricity, leading to excessive heat. Never let the LEDs get too hot. In other words, your LED strips won’t last as long if you use too much current or voltage, or if you don’t use aluminum for heat dissipation.
So first check that led strip and your led driver are both 12V or 24V, and not of different values. If they are equivalent, you are unlikely to be able to identify the problem without testing. It is best to test the electrical system to see if there are any over current problems.
If, on the other hand, you have installed the LED strip without a metal substrate, the heat is caused by the LED itself. It is ALWAYS advisable to use a metal profile for heat extraction. Use any basic aluminium profile. Led strip becomes cooler because the metal absorbs too much heat and gives it away.
Led lights up from the dimmer and then goes out
Another common problem is that these LED strip lights suddenly turn on and off. This could be due to a faulty dimmer or LED driver. Test by bypassing the dimmer first by connecting a constant current driver. If LED strip work, the dimmer is broken. Otherwise, replace the driver.
Whole led strip light does not light up
Make sure the LED strip voltage matches the LED power supply voltage AND that the power supply provides at least 15% more output power (POut) than the LED strip requires.
Make sure that the positive and negative poles of the LED strip are connected correctly.
If all the above steps have been taken but the LED strip still doesn’t work, the strip itself may be faulty or the LED driver may be defective.
In the same section, only one LED is off and the other LEDs are on.
The chip may have burnt out. You can see if there are black spots on the surface of the LED chips. Possible causes include electrostatic breakdown, an unstable LED power supply or a large power surge.
The new LED strip I bought has a different color compared to the previous one.
Different manufacturers have different colour temperature tolerances. Each batch typically has a tolerance of up to 200 Kelvins, so even if the Kelvin rating is the same, there may still be a noticeable difference due to this variation. In much the same way as, for example. in the paint and fabric industry.
Finishing materials also have a big impact, and SMD 3000K is a different looking light to COB led 3000K because it has a different phosphor cover. Here’s more on the subject.
Then there is CRI. A poor CRI and a good CRI will make the light and the surfaces it illuminates look different.
Led strip cannot be dimmed
Constant Current (DC) led strip and Constant Voltage (DC=Direct Current) led strip are the two led strip types currently available. For constant current (CC) led strips, a power supply is required to dim and transmit PWM signals.
FAQ, Frequently asked questions
“Why Aren’t My LED Strips Working?” A poor solder joint due to heat or bending has failed. You can check by pressing each chip and solder with your finger.
“Why Do LED Strip Lights Stop Working?” Led lights and led strip lights can break down for a number of reasons. In some cases, this may be due to external factors, such as a power supply or dimmer that does not work well with the device. Sometimes the problem can be the way the strips are connected.
“What is the lifespan of LED strip lights?” A typical LED lasts 50 000 hours.
“Why do LED lights fail quickly?” Heat is the main reason why led lights fail, although there are a number of root causes. This can be caused by a variety of design and assembly errors.
“Why won’t my LED strip lights turn on?” If you have extra power supplies, try connecting them to the same LED strip and see if that fixes the problem. If this happens, you will need a new power supply because your current one is damaged.
“How do you test an LED power supply?”
- Check the current input voltage with a multimeter.
- Check the DC reading with a multimeter.
“How do I fix an LED strip with a voltage drop at one end?” Cut the long LED light strip shorter or add a connecting wire to the other end as well.
“Why do LED strips burn out?” Incandescent and fluorescent light bulbs stop emitting light when they burn out or start flickering. This is not how LEDs work. Instead, they gradually lose their ability to produce light over time.
“What kind of power supply is needed for LED strip lights?” The size of the required power supply depends on the length of the LED strip. Since each 1 metre section consumes e.g. 14.4 watts and a 5 m section 72 watts, a minimum of 72 + 15% wattage is recommended.
“How are LED strip lights connected to a power supply?” If it uses a 5.5mm barrel plug, just plug them together. If led strip has bare wires, then you need to look at the print on led strip to determine positive and negative. The correct connections should also be marked on the LED driver (+ and -).
Lastly
I believe that after reading this article, you now have a clear idea of how to get started and solve the issues you may encounter with LED strip lights.
If you have any questions or ideas, feel free to leave a comment in the field below and we’ll get back to you! Thank you!
If you are interested in the new possibilities of LED lighting, please contact Lamppukauppa Led Store by calling, emailing or visiting our store in Koivuhaa. We are open Mon, Fri 8.30-15.30 and Tue – Thu 8.30-17, Saturdays 10-14. Summer opening hours apply separately during June through August. There are always at least two LED lighting professionals on site.
Our services also include a lighting design service and bespoke LED strip lighting and luminaire installation.
