What is the brightest LED Strip on the market?
What is the brightest LED Strip on the market?
author: Ivan Huang
2023-01-10

What is The Brightest LED Strip on the market?
At present, the brightest LED strips on the market can achieve 5000lm/m. It adopts the design of 8LEDs/group, the light effect can reach 160-180lm/W, and the power can reach 30W/m. Of course, such a high power requires aluminum to cooperate with heat dissipation, otherwise, its light decay will be very high.
Now there is also a design of 9 LEDs/group, and the luminous efficacy can reach 210lm/W, but this design has exceeded the limit, the power is relatively low, and the overall brightness is not high. Therefore, high-efficiency LED light strips do not mean the brightest LED light strips.
This article will tell you all the factors that affect the brightness of LED strips through a more detailed introduction. By reading, you will know how to make the brightest LED light strip.
1. Lumens, the standard for measuring LED strips

Luminous flux refers to the radiant power that the human eye can perceive, which is equal to the product of the radiant energy of a certain band per unit of time and the relative visibility of the band. Since the relative viewing rate of the human eye to different wavelengths of light is different, when the radiant power of different wavelengths of light is equal, the luminous flux is not equal.
The brightness of all LED strips is expressed by luminous flux. Due to the voltage drop problem of LED strips, the brightness parameters tested by different lengths are not the same. In order to be able to unify the standard, the brightness of the LED light strip refers to the result obtained by sticking the 1-meter LED light strip on the aluminum material and then testing it. The luminous flux of the LED light strip can be obtained through the test of the integrating sphere and the light distribution meter.
2. LED light strip brightness depends on LED light efficiency and power
2.1 Brightness of LED strip = Luminous effect of LED strip * Power
Through the above formula, we know that the two main factors that affect the brightness of the LED are the light effect of the LED strip and the power of the LED strip. So, if we want to make a brighter LED strip, we need to increase the light efficiency of the LED strip and the power of the LED strip at the same time.
2.2 Influencing factors of LED light efficiency
There are many factors that affect the light efficiency of LED strips, mainly the arrangement of LED lamp beads, different LED lamp beads, color rendering index, color temperature and current, etc.
2.2.1 90% high-efficiency LED light strip adopts the design of 7 LEDs/group or 8 LEDs/group
The arrangement of LED lamp beads is the main reason for the different light efficiency of different led light strips. Currently, 24V LED strips are designed with 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 LEDs per group. We can use the table below to understand the difference in brightness between different arrangements.
In addition, not all LED strips can be designed with 8 LEDs/group or 9 LEDs/group. Generally speaking, in order to make the design quality of 8 LEDs/group led strips more stable, the Vf of the LED lamp beads needs to be lower than 2.87V when the light strip is working. For the design of 9 LEDs/group, Vf needs to be around 2.6V. Because it is relatively difficult to keep the Vf value at 2.6V, the power of the LED strip designed with 9 LEDs/group is relatively low.
2.2.2 90% high-efficiency LED strips use 2835 LED
2835 LED lamp bead is the most widely accepted led chip. With huge market sales, its cost is much lower under the same parameters. Moreover, compared with 5050, 3014, 3528, and other LED lamp beads, 2835 can not only achieve 0.5W/PCS but also have higher luminous efficiency. Therefore, more than 90% of the high-efficiency LED strips in the market are designed with 2835 lamp beads.
2.2.3 The higher the CRI, the lower the luminous efficacy
In order to quantitatively evaluate the color rendering of light sources, the concept of color rendering index is introduced. Based on the standard light source, its color rendering index is set as 100, and the color rendering index of other light sources is all lower than 100.
Index (Ra) Rating Color Rendering General Application
90—100 1A Excellent Places that require accurate color contrast
80—89 1B / Places where the correct judgment of color is required
60—79 2 Ordinary Places requiring medium color rendering
40—59 3 / places with low requirements for color rendering and small color difference
20—39 4 Poor Places without specific requirements for color rendering
From high to low, there are CRI97, CRI95, CRI90, CRI80, CRI70, and even lower. Through our experience, we know that the higher the CRI, the lower the brightness of the LED lamp bead, so the brightness of the LED strip is also lower. Generally, high-efficiency LED strips use Ra80, which can meet most lighting needs, and the LED light efficiency can reach 160-180lm/W.
2.2.4 CCT: 5000K has the highest light efficiency

LED lamp beads with the same configuration have different color temperatures and brightness of the lamp beads. Let us take the Samsung LM281B+ Pro lamp bead as an example, we can see that the LED lamp bead with the same configuration has the highest brightness when the color temperature is 5000K, and the brightness of the lamp bead varies with the color temperature of 4000K, 3500K, 3000K, 2700K and so on. As the temperature drops, the brightness gets lower and lower.
The 220lm/W or 160-180lm/W LED strips advertised on the market generally refer to the brightness at a color temperature of 4000K/5000K. If it is another color temperature, the overall brightness will be lower.
2.2.5 For the same LED chip, the smaller the current, the greater the light efficiency

Through the parameters of Samsung LM281B+ Pro specification, we know that for the same lamp bead, the lower the current passed, the higher the light efficiency of the lamp bead. Therefore, under specific power requirements, we can increase the LED lamp beads to reduce the LED lamp bead current and improve the light efficiency.
2.3 Main Factors that affect the power of led strip
There are many factors that affect the power of LED strips. In the final analysis, they all lie in ways such as increasing the width and thickness of the LED PCB, increasing the number of LED lamp beads, and adding radiators to assist the heat dissipation.
2.3.1 The wider the LED PCB, the higher the power
The width of the conventional board is 5mm/8mm/10mm/12mm. The wider the board width, the wider the circuit inside the board, and the greater the current that can pass. Therefore, if the application and budget are sufficient, the width of the board can be increased to increase the power of the LED strip.
2.3.2 The thicker the LED PCB, the higher the power of the LED strip
The thickness of LED PCB is 1oz, 2oz, 3oz, and 4oz. The 1oz board is mainly used for the production of cheap products, and generally not used for high-efficiency LED strips; while the 4oz board is very thick, the cost is too high, and it is easy to cause the lamp beads to break, so we rarely use it.
2oz and 3oz boards are most used for high-efficiency LED strips. This kind of board does not cause too much pressure drop, and the cost is more reasonable. The most important thing is that the quality of the LED light strips made with these two boards is also very stable.
Regarding the thickness of the board, we have a special article introduction, you can learn more details through this article:
2.3.3 12V VS 24V, which one is better?
Let's take a 24W/M LED strip as an example: if it is 12V, the current of the board is 2A; if it is 24V, the current of the board is only 1A. Obviously, under the same conditions, the power of the 24V LED strip can be higher than that of the 12V LED strip.
In addition, under the same power condition, the voltage drop of 24V is much smaller than that of 12V LED strip. Therefore, only a few high-efficiency products with low power will adopt 12V design; all other high-efficiency products will adopt a 24V design.
Because 24V has many advantages, in addition to high-efficiency LED strips, more and more customers also switch the voltage of ordinary LED strips from 12V to 24V.
2.3.4 The more the number of LED beads, the higher the power of the LED strip
The number of LED lamp beads determines the upper limit of the power of the LED strip. For example, for the design of 8 lamps/group, we have 64 leds/m, 80 leds/m, 128 leds/m, 160 leds/m, and 240 leds/m respectively, and the corresponding highest powers are 11.52W/M, 14.4 W/M, 23.04W/M, 28.8W/M and 43.2W/M. Therefore, the more LED lamp beads, the higher the power of the LED strip.
2.3.5 With LED aluminum channel for heat dissipation, the power of the LED strip can be higher
When we design the LED light strip, if the heat dissipation of the aluminum channel is not used, the power of the LED light strip cannot exceed 16W/M, otherwise, the light decay will be very large and the lifespan will be shortened. As far as we know, for every 10 degrees increase in the temperature of the LED strip, the life of the LED strip will be reduced by half.
If we want to improve the heat dissipation of the LED strip, we need to add LED aluminum to help heat dissipation. The greater the power, the larger the size of the LED aluminum required.
People also ask
1). Which is brighter LED 5050 or 5630?
A larger LED doesn't always mean brighter – but in this case, the 5630 chip outputs far more light than the more common 5050 SMD. High-quality 5630 chips on 60 LED p/m tape can produce up to around 2700 lumens
2). Which is brighter 4100K or 5000K?
Higher numbers are nor brighter, just whiter such as 5000K and eventually more blue like 5700K. Lower numbes such as 4000K appear off white or a tinge of yellow and 3000K is warm in color meaning that the are brown or yellow in tint
3) Which is brighter 3000K or 5000K?
A 3000K LED bulb produces soft white or warm white or yellowish color light. This one is best for places where you relax such as the bedroom and the living area since this kind of color temperature gives you a cozy and sleepy feeling. A 5000K LED bulb produces a bright daylight kind of color.
4). Which is brighter LED 5050 or 3528?
5050 chips are typically 3 times as bright as 3528 chips. Because they're brighter, strips with 5050 chips are typically used for what we call 'task lighting', and commonly used underneath kitchen cabinets where that light will help you see what you're working on.
5) Are 24v led strips brighter than 12v?
There is no difference in brightness between a 12v and 24v LED strip light; the voltage does not determine the light output. (Other things do, such as the quality of the LEDs.) Longest run in series: The 24v strip suffers less voltage drop than the 12v type.
6) Will higher voltage make LED brighter?
Adjusting the voltage lower or higher will change the brightness, but only because it also changes the current- higher voltage means the current will increase in an LED.
7) Which LED light is the whitest?
The three primary types of color temperatures for light bulbs are Soft White (2700K – 3000K), Bright White/Cool White (3500K – 4100K), and Daylight (5000K – 6500K). The higher the Degrees Kelvin, the whiter the color temperature.
8) Are blue LEDs brighter than red?
For any photon of light, the energy it contains depends on the color or wavelength. Blue light has a much shorter wavelength than red light. So the photons carry more energy to excite your retina than any other color.
4. Summary
Through the above analysis, we know that if we want to increase the brightness of the LED light strip, we need to increase the light efficiency and power of the LED light strip.
If you want to buy high brightness LED strips, you can contact Hanron Lighting. We have a whole range of high efficiency LED strip lights for your projects.
At present, the brightest LED strips on the market can achieve 5000lm/m. It adopts the design of 8LEDs/group, the light effect can reach 160-180lm/W, and the power can reach 30W/m. Of course, such a high power requires aluminum to cooperate with heat dissipation, otherwise, its light decay will be very high.
Now there is also a design of 9 LEDs/group, and the luminous efficacy can reach 210lm/W, but this design has exceeded the limit, the power is relatively low, and the overall brightness is not high. Therefore, high-efficiency LED light strips do not mean the brightest LED light strips.
This article will tell you all the factors that affect the brightness of LED strips through a more detailed introduction. By reading, you will know how to make the brightest LED light strip.
1. Lumens, the standard for measuring LED strips

Luminous flux refers to the radiant power that the human eye can perceive, which is equal to the product of the radiant energy of a certain band per unit of time and the relative visibility of the band. Since the relative viewing rate of the human eye to different wavelengths of light is different, when the radiant power of different wavelengths of light is equal, the luminous flux is not equal.
The brightness of all LED strips is expressed by luminous flux. Due to the voltage drop problem of LED strips, the brightness parameters tested by different lengths are not the same. In order to be able to unify the standard, the brightness of the LED light strip refers to the result obtained by sticking the 1-meter LED light strip on the aluminum material and then testing it. The luminous flux of the LED light strip can be obtained through the test of the integrating sphere and the light distribution meter.
2. LED light strip brightness depends on LED light efficiency and power
2.1 Brightness of LED strip = Luminous effect of LED strip * Power
Through the above formula, we know that the two main factors that affect the brightness of the LED are the light effect of the LED strip and the power of the LED strip. So, if we want to make a brighter LED strip, we need to increase the light efficiency of the LED strip and the power of the LED strip at the same time.
2.2 Influencing factors of LED light efficiency
There are many factors that affect the light efficiency of LED strips, mainly the arrangement of LED lamp beads, different LED lamp beads, color rendering index, color temperature and current, etc.
2.2.1 90% high-efficiency LED light strip adopts the design of 7 LEDs/group or 8 LEDs/group
The arrangement of LED lamp beads is the main reason for the different light efficiency of different led light strips. Currently, 24V LED strips are designed with 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 LEDs per group. We can use the table below to understand the difference in brightness between different arrangements.
In addition, not all LED strips can be designed with 8 LEDs/group or 9 LEDs/group. Generally speaking, in order to make the design quality of 8 LEDs/group led strips more stable, the Vf of the LED lamp beads needs to be lower than 2.87V when the light strip is working. For the design of 9 LEDs/group, Vf needs to be around 2.6V. Because it is relatively difficult to keep the Vf value at 2.6V, the power of the LED strip designed with 9 LEDs/group is relatively low.
2.2.2 90% high-efficiency LED strips use 2835 LED
2835 LED lamp bead is the most widely accepted led chip. With huge market sales, its cost is much lower under the same parameters. Moreover, compared with 5050, 3014, 3528, and other LED lamp beads, 2835 can not only achieve 0.5W/PCS but also have higher luminous efficiency. Therefore, more than 90% of the high-efficiency LED strips in the market are designed with 2835 lamp beads.
2.2.3 The higher the CRI, the lower the luminous efficacy
In order to quantitatively evaluate the color rendering of light sources, the concept of color rendering index is introduced. Based on the standard light source, its color rendering index is set as 100, and the color rendering index of other light sources is all lower than 100.
Index (Ra) Rating Color Rendering General Application
90—100 1A Excellent Places that require accurate color contrast
80—89 1B / Places where the correct judgment of color is required
60—79 2 Ordinary Places requiring medium color rendering
40—59 3 / places with low requirements for color rendering and small color difference
20—39 4 Poor Places without specific requirements for color rendering
From high to low, there are CRI97, CRI95, CRI90, CRI80, CRI70, and even lower. Through our experience, we know that the higher the CRI, the lower the brightness of the LED lamp bead, so the brightness of the LED strip is also lower. Generally, high-efficiency LED strips use Ra80, which can meet most lighting needs, and the LED light efficiency can reach 160-180lm/W.
2.2.4 CCT: 5000K has the highest light efficiency

LED lamp beads with the same configuration have different color temperatures and brightness of the lamp beads. Let us take the Samsung LM281B+ Pro lamp bead as an example, we can see that the LED lamp bead with the same configuration has the highest brightness when the color temperature is 5000K, and the brightness of the lamp bead varies with the color temperature of 4000K, 3500K, 3000K, 2700K and so on. As the temperature drops, the brightness gets lower and lower.
The 220lm/W or 160-180lm/W LED strips advertised on the market generally refer to the brightness at a color temperature of 4000K/5000K. If it is another color temperature, the overall brightness will be lower.
2.2.5 For the same LED chip, the smaller the current, the greater the light efficiency

Through the parameters of Samsung LM281B+ Pro specification, we know that for the same lamp bead, the lower the current passed, the higher the light efficiency of the lamp bead. Therefore, under specific power requirements, we can increase the LED lamp beads to reduce the LED lamp bead current and improve the light efficiency.
2.3 Main Factors that affect the power of led strip
There are many factors that affect the power of LED strips. In the final analysis, they all lie in ways such as increasing the width and thickness of the LED PCB, increasing the number of LED lamp beads, and adding radiators to assist the heat dissipation.
2.3.1 The wider the LED PCB, the higher the power
The width of the conventional board is 5mm/8mm/10mm/12mm. The wider the board width, the wider the circuit inside the board, and the greater the current that can pass. Therefore, if the application and budget are sufficient, the width of the board can be increased to increase the power of the LED strip.
2.3.2 The thicker the LED PCB, the higher the power of the LED strip
The thickness of LED PCB is 1oz, 2oz, 3oz, and 4oz. The 1oz board is mainly used for the production of cheap products, and generally not used for high-efficiency LED strips; while the 4oz board is very thick, the cost is too high, and it is easy to cause the lamp beads to break, so we rarely use it.
2oz and 3oz boards are most used for high-efficiency LED strips. This kind of board does not cause too much pressure drop, and the cost is more reasonable. The most important thing is that the quality of the LED light strips made with these two boards is also very stable.
Regarding the thickness of the board, we have a special article introduction, you can learn more details through this article:
LED Strip Light PCB Quality: Double Side vs Single Side
2.3.3 12V VS 24V, which one is better?
Let's take a 24W/M LED strip as an example: if it is 12V, the current of the board is 2A; if it is 24V, the current of the board is only 1A. Obviously, under the same conditions, the power of the 24V LED strip can be higher than that of the 12V LED strip.
In addition, under the same power condition, the voltage drop of 24V is much smaller than that of 12V LED strip. Therefore, only a few high-efficiency products with low power will adopt 12V design; all other high-efficiency products will adopt a 24V design.
Because 24V has many advantages, in addition to high-efficiency LED strips, more and more customers also switch the voltage of ordinary LED strips from 12V to 24V.
2.3.4 The more the number of LED beads, the higher the power of the LED strip
The number of LED lamp beads determines the upper limit of the power of the LED strip. For example, for the design of 8 lamps/group, we have 64 leds/m, 80 leds/m, 128 leds/m, 160 leds/m, and 240 leds/m respectively, and the corresponding highest powers are 11.52W/M, 14.4 W/M, 23.04W/M, 28.8W/M and 43.2W/M. Therefore, the more LED lamp beads, the higher the power of the LED strip.
2.3.5 With LED aluminum channel for heat dissipation, the power of the LED strip can be higher
When we design the LED light strip, if the heat dissipation of the aluminum channel is not used, the power of the LED light strip cannot exceed 16W/M, otherwise, the light decay will be very large and the lifespan will be shortened. As far as we know, for every 10 degrees increase in the temperature of the LED strip, the life of the LED strip will be reduced by half.
If we want to improve the heat dissipation of the LED strip, we need to add LED aluminum to help heat dissipation. The greater the power, the larger the size of the LED aluminum required.
People also ask
1). Which is brighter LED 5050 or 5630?
A larger LED doesn't always mean brighter – but in this case, the 5630 chip outputs far more light than the more common 5050 SMD. High-quality 5630 chips on 60 LED p/m tape can produce up to around 2700 lumens
2). Which is brighter 4100K or 5000K?
Higher numbers are nor brighter, just whiter such as 5000K and eventually more blue like 5700K. Lower numbes such as 4000K appear off white or a tinge of yellow and 3000K is warm in color meaning that the are brown or yellow in tint
3) Which is brighter 3000K or 5000K?
A 3000K LED bulb produces soft white or warm white or yellowish color light. This one is best for places where you relax such as the bedroom and the living area since this kind of color temperature gives you a cozy and sleepy feeling. A 5000K LED bulb produces a bright daylight kind of color.
4). Which is brighter LED 5050 or 3528?
5050 chips are typically 3 times as bright as 3528 chips. Because they're brighter, strips with 5050 chips are typically used for what we call 'task lighting', and commonly used underneath kitchen cabinets where that light will help you see what you're working on.
5) Are 24v led strips brighter than 12v?
There is no difference in brightness between a 12v and 24v LED strip light; the voltage does not determine the light output. (Other things do, such as the quality of the LEDs.) Longest run in series: The 24v strip suffers less voltage drop than the 12v type.
6) Will higher voltage make LED brighter?
Adjusting the voltage lower or higher will change the brightness, but only because it also changes the current- higher voltage means the current will increase in an LED.
7) Which LED light is the whitest?
The three primary types of color temperatures for light bulbs are Soft White (2700K – 3000K), Bright White/Cool White (3500K – 4100K), and Daylight (5000K – 6500K). The higher the Degrees Kelvin, the whiter the color temperature.
8) Are blue LEDs brighter than red?
For any photon of light, the energy it contains depends on the color or wavelength. Blue light has a much shorter wavelength than red light. So the photons carry more energy to excite your retina than any other color.
4. Summary
Through the above analysis, we know that if we want to increase the brightness of the LED light strip, we need to increase the light efficiency and power of the LED light strip.
If you want to buy high brightness LED strips, you can contact Hanron Lighting. We have a whole range of high efficiency LED strip lights for your projects.
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