Not so long ago, our company began to import RL 12V and 24V series tapes to the Ukrainian market. These are tapes of 120 diodes with a power of 9 W/m. The tape of this series appealed to our market, as it has several significant advantages over standard tapes. To expand this line, tapes in silicone IP54 were imported - silicone on top, and IP68 - a full casing filled with silicone.
      The first advantage of the RL series is that it is manufactured using roll-to-roll technology, that is, it has a board that is continuous along the entire length, and does not have joints every 50 cm, like in all other tapes. The second advantage is the color rendering index CRI90. Since the tape without silicone is light, the first advantage is not very important for it, but as for tapes in silicone, especially in heavy silicone IP68, this advantage becomes very significant. Since the silicone tape is heavy, it unwinds during installation and under its own weight, when bending at the soldering point, the solder can break and the tape will fail. When installing the tape, this drawback can be eliminated by unwinding the tape from the reel a little at a time or by doing the installation in pairs, but not all installers know how to properly install long and heavy tapes.

The second bottleneck when installing the tape is its detachment from the surface and re-gluing - here the same situation - at the soldering point the solder can break and the tape will fail. If the tape were without silicone, then fixing this defect is simple, but in the case of tapes in silicone, this correction becomes much more difficult. A tape that does not have places of soldering along its length does not have these disadvantages and it becomes much more difficult to damage it with not very careful installation.

In the 12-volt version, tapes with color temperatures of 3000, 4000, 6500 and green are presented:

21938 - 2835-120-IP68-WW-11-12 RLA0C0TA-3 3000K CRI90

21939 - 2835-120-IP68-NW-11-12 RLA0C0TA-3 4000K CRI90

21940 - 2835-120-IP68-CWd-11-12 RLA0C0TA-3 6500K CRI90

21941 - 2835-120-IP68-G-11-12 RLA0C0TA-3 GREEN  

       A few sentences need to be said about tapes with silicone on top. Previously, when there were no solutions for protecting tapes, such as silicone tubes, tapes with silicone on top were marked by Chinese manufacturers as IP65. But in these tapes, although the board is attached to double-sided tape from below, the sides are still open to moisture. Therefore, to prevent this moisture from getting in, they later began to glue the tape into a silicone casing, closed on all sides (but empty - with air inside). And such a tape began to be called IP65, and tapes with silicone on top began to be called IP54, but there is no way to change the old articles.

      That is why now on our website you can find tapes with silicone on top marked both IP65 (old-fashioned articles) and IP54 (newly created articles) and the boundary of this split is the appearance of tapes in a silicone empty casing. Tapes of the RLIP54 series are also available in both 12 and 24 volts:

12-volt tapes are represented by temperatures 2700, 4000, 6500:

21598 2835-120-IP54-WW-8-12 RL68C0TA-5 2700KCRI90

21599 2835-120-IP54-NW-8-12 RL68C0TA-5 4000K CRI90

21403 2835-120-IP54-CWd-8-12 RL68C0TA-5 6500K CRI90

24-volt tapes are represented by temperatures  2700, 3000, 4000:

21405 2835-120-IP54-WW-8-24 RL68C0TC-4 2700KCRI90

21533 2835-120-IP54-WW-8-24 RL68C0TC-4 3000K CRI90

21406 2835-120-IP54-NW-8-24 RL68C0TC-4 4000K CRI90




         For 12 volts there is a variant with a temperature of 6500K as a historical color, inherent in 12 volt strips in silicone, which are used for street pendant lighting. In 24 volts there is a variant with a temperature of 3000K, which after silicone gives light close to 4000K in order to match other unprotected strips of 4000K in color when installed in the same building but in different rooms.

In the 24 volt version, the RL series strips in silicone IP68 are represented by two articles 2700 and 4000K:

          It is worth recalling that silicone shifts the color temperature. The higher the color temperature of the diodes, the greater the shift. The 12-volt version has a color temperature of 3000K, which after silicone gives light close to 4000K. Historically, in our market, 2700K diodes that give a color temperature of 3000K are in demand in the 24-volt version of the strips, so in the RL series they are represented by the article 21981, against 3000K diodes with a color of 4000K in the 12-volt series - article 21938.

         To expand the line of 24-volt strips with a cut of 1 diode, red and blue strips were ordered and brought, and green ones are on the way. The cutting step is 0.8 cm, which is less than the standard 2.5 centimeters of 12-volt strips with 120 diodes. A small cutting step is important when illuminating various advertising structures. These strips combine the advantages of 24 volts, such as lower power losses and lower heating of the board, and the advantages of 12 volts - a small cutting step. The article numbers of these strips:

223642835-120-IP33-R-8-24 RL08C0TC-L-S RED

22365 - 2835-120-IP33-G-8-24 RL08C0TC-L-S GREEN

22366 2835-120-IP33-B-8-24 RL08C0TC-L-S BLUE