What is the difference between 5050 and 3528 LED Strip Lights?
The
obvious difference between these two types of LED is their size. 5050
denotes an LED size of 5.0mm by 5.0mm while 3528 denotes an LED size of
3.5mm by 2.8mm. When you purchase your LED Strip Lights you will be able
to physically see the difference in dimension. The LEDs are soldered
onto the upper side of the strip light and resemble small yellow
squares. You will notice that the 3528 LEDs are much smaller than the
5050 LEDs. But this difference in size is not the only thing worth
considering.
Larger
LEDs also produce more light. Deciding on how bright your LED Strip
Lights need to be requires you to ask yourself a few question, including
where am I going to use them and what effect am I trying to achieve?
Brighter LED Strips are advised when your strips need to compete with
background ambience, such as if you are using them as part of a layered
or indirect lighting scheme in a kitchen or bathroom. Another good
example are shop front displays, where owners still want the lights to
remain visible during the day. The 5050 LEDs are much brighter and are
therefore suitable for meeting the challenges of these types of lighting
schemes. For most other applications, such as in dark clubs and outside
in the dark, the 3528 LEDs should be sufficient.
The
5050 LED also use more power than the 3528. LED Strip Lights that use
more power require a large power supply, also known as the transformer.
Your choice of LED may be influenced by the size of the transformer you
want to buy, especially if you want to keep the cost of purchase down.
Standard transformers can managed a load of between 90 and 100 W. Make
sure that your choice of LED doesn’t exceed this load.
Finally
,
the larger 5050 LEDs cost more. This is really a more practical
consideration than the rest and hopefully by now you will understand why
paying more money for the larger chip size is worthwhile. It is also
worth noting that RGB LED Strip Lights are only available in a 5050 LED as the 3528 are too small to accomodate the colour changing components required.
