How many lumens per foot / meter is it possible to get on a white, flexible IP65 LED strip?

[Guy-Montag]

The amount of lumens you can get from a single emitter flashlight is wild these days, but I have no idea what the ceiling is for flexible, waterproof (IP65) LED strips.

I don't have a ton of room to work with - just a few square feet - so I'm trying to determine what the max amount of lumens you can get for white LED strips - any pointers?

 

[Dave_H]

Turning question around, what's your rough target lumens?

Difference between flashlight LED is that it's heatsinked to a metal case usually, and doesn't normally run for too many hours at a time. Strips can be powered for long periods. Heat buildup would be a concern.

One I just picked out of a hat, per metre: 9.6-12W, 120 LEDs, 820 lumens; 2400K-5000K available, running from 24vdc. However this one strongly recommends use of heatsink, so thermal design would be important.

Dave

 

[Guy-Montag]

So in this case, it's for motorcycle lighting. Notably being a more visible object at night than a single headlight allows for. Getting light on the road around the motorcycle is very helpful in that regard.

I've used pre-built kits in the past, and they're ok for looks while it's parked, but not so great for actual visibility on the road, as the amount of lumens is not great - think cheap LED strips with bargain bin emitters.

Legally, you can use underglow kits while on the road, as long as they're white.

There's not a ton of fairing space to use, so the lumen count per square inch / foot / meter what have you is important.

If it works with a fairly thin strip of aluminum as a heat sink, that shouldn't be too problematic, as that can be formed to fit the fairings.


It's using a 12 volt system, I'm still working on hunting down the exact amount of power that's available, but there should be more than enough for LEDs, as running heated grips is fairly common and that's a lot more power intensive.