Why does my LED strip flicker?
Flicker is almost never the LED. It is the driver, the dimmer or a bad joint. Find which one in three steps.
Troubleshooting
Problems & Fixes
Every failure a buyer searches at midnight, answered with the cause and the fix before anything asks for an email address.
Every compliance question, technical failure and "how do I spec this" question a buyer searches at 1 a.m. Answering them on-site removes the back-and-forth that delays a PO. Below are the 12 failures and selection questions we get asked most, with the fix in the same order our engineers run them.
Cut an LED strip and only part of it lights up — what did I do wrong?
Two mistakes cause 90% of this: cutting on the wrong mark, and wiring a reel from both ends by mistake.
Why is my LED strip dimmer at the far end of the reel?
Copper loses voltage on the way out and back. Past a certain length the last LEDs get less voltage, dim, and shift colour.
Why don't all my RGB / RGBW strips show the same colour?
Colour mismatch between reels is a binning issue, not a controller issue. Order one production batch and you get one answer.
How do I get a light line with no visible LED dots?
The dots are the individual packages. Remove them with COB chips, higher density, or a diffuser — in that order of cost.
Is my LED strip too hot to touch?
Warm is normal. Burning is a sizing problem. Heat kills LEDs and solder joints, and it is the number one cause of early failure.
My outdoor LED strip failed after one season — where did water get in?
Water enters at the ends and at every cut, never through the middle of a potted strip. The IP rating of the jacket is only half the story.
Which colour temperature and CRI should I specify?
CCT says how white the light looks; CRI says how true to life the light renders. Pick CCT per room, CRI per product.
How do I size the power supply for an LED strip?
Total watts divided by 0.8, plus headroom. Undersizing is the cheapest saving and the most expensive mistake on site.
Can I cut an LED strip anywhere, and how do I join two pieces?
Cut on the mark, join with the right connector, and never rely on the tail to carry power across a reel.
The strip I bought is not bright enough — is it the LEDs?
Brightness is watts × efficiency × LEDs per metre. Usually the density, not the power, is the missing number.
My strip works on full power but flickers or dies when dimmed
This is a dimmer/driver matching problem. Match the dimming protocol first, then the load.
Still failing after the fix?
Send three photos of the failing section and the driver label — we classify it before you argue about it.