LED Tape light caught fire

[PCAnimal]

Hi,

We had some LED tape strip installed 5 years ago. It is suitable for outside but in any event it does not get wet and is not exposed to sunlight.

This morning I wokeup to find it has burnt out

IMG_20200106_085943

• PCAnimal
• 6 Jan 2020

I've disconnected it now. Upto the burn the strip works fine. It is 5m in length.

I was told this didn't get hot enough to set fire etc. Clearly that is wrong. Does anyone have any suggestions as an alternative?

 

[chivers67]

I'm not sure about an alternative, looking at the photo it looks like all the points you can "cut" to make it the end of the strip look like they have signs of overheating.

Is the correct power supply feeding it?

 

[PCAnimal]

Its a continious run of 5m. 5050 RGB.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SODIAL-Pow...2FKA4FE0TD3&psc=1&refRID=TW32KNTEA2FKA4FE0TD3

 

[PCAnimal]

Reading another article it says these psu can't always detect a short circuit so it won't trip. It suggests adding an in line fuse to the install. That sounds like it would be worth while to prevent a repeat

 

[Echo the husky]

The centre of the burn looks to me to be where a cut point would be, though it will hardly be heavily loaded near the end of the strip. Even if it was a poorly made internal factory join, I wouldn't expect enough arcing for a few small LEDs to start a fire. If the PSU can supply 100W that is a lot of heating!

 

[PCAnimal]

I will pull out the PSU unit and check the power. I didn't fit it so I am not sure what power supply it is giving out. What power PSU would you expect to see?

 

[aptsys]

Pretty normal. The compound comes away from the flexi-PCB and water leeches in. These strips aren't really suitable for outside use despite being sold as such - you can see the degradation from being outside in the colour of the potting compound.