You’re going to want to buy an extrusion channel that pairs with a diffuser. It will go over the same place the current strips are. If you have a miter saw you can cut all your joints. You can probably reuse the tape, if you’re careful removing it. Use a hair dryer and dental floss to help you peel it up. Just buy new double stick tape, I recommend 3M VHB.
@Cameron
Where should I get these items from? How to secure the channel to the walls? With the tape? How robust these channels would be that I need a miter saw? I have a circular saw, sawzall and a recip tool … Will any of those work?
Sorry for asking seemingly basic questions. It started out with possibly a 15 minute task, now potentially takes a lot more time and I am a big procrastinator.
@Zaire
Amazon sells it. Measure the width of your LED tape then get an extrusion that is wide enough to hold it. The extrusion is aluminum, so it’s very sturdy. You will secure it with screws and sheet rock anchors. You can get a miter block for the saws you have.
@Zaire
If you want a diffusion channel to look good, you’re going to need different LED strips. The led density on your strips is way too low to get smooth illumination. You need 60 led/m minimum. There’s a youtube video all about it here: https://youtu.be/DKOWeuV1FWE?si=g4gzA6lbqASUJ0Qt
You need extrusion with a diffuser.
Stick on lens. No channel or unsticking of your current strip necessary. https://americanlighting.com/media/pdpResourceTab/_SpecSheet_AML-PE-XLENS_StickOn.pdf
Luca said:
Stick on lens. No channel or unsticking of your current strip necessary. https://americanlighting.com/media/pdpResourceTab/_SpecSheet_AML-PE-XLENS_StickOn.pdf
This is great! Thank you!!
Luca said:
Stick on lens. No channel or unsticking of your current strip necessary. https://americanlighting.com/media/pdpResourceTab/_SpecSheet_AML-PE-XLENS_StickOn.pdf
This will not look good without 90 led/m minimum. A tall diffuser could let you get away with 60, but this likely wouldn’t. Meanwhile OP looks to have like 15 led/m. Plus the aluminum channel helps dissipate the heat that comes with more leds and makes them last longer.
@Vale
Just another possible solution without undoing and redoing the entire project. OP is going to have a hard time finding a channel and lens to completely diffuse out this tape IMO.
You have folded the tape too sharply - this might cause overheating, breaking of the circuitry, or just overall a sooner failure/death of this strip. You also won’t be able to fit it into a diffusing channel when it’s doubled over. I would highly recommend doing whatever it takes to get it down cleanly and start over. It’s a very cute idea that you have, but if not done correctly will cause misery whenever someone has to look at it. It’s a shame because I can tell you tried to do it nicely!!
@Dexter
Dang! My son loves the final result as is. I can live with this (my wife will be pissed, but there are too many other projects to be done), if this fails I just may wait until that point for a do over.
If I started over, what should I do?
@Zaire
I definitely think as long as the people who have to spend time around it don’t mind the glare, leaving them up for a while is fine! The only thing is that the longer they’re up, maybe the adhesive will get even harder to remove. Next time, do the diffusing channels other people mentioned - you can get ones that are basically triangle shaped - they mount right into the corner (maybe even covering your damaged paint) and then the tape sticks on to it, and a rounded frosted lens goes over it, so it’s more comfortable to look at. Guaranteed your wife will like it more, because at least you won’t be able to read “Govee” right on it, and the light won’t be so aggressive.
Other people mentioned that the light may not still be fully diffused, you might still see hotspots of LEDs, but it’ll be a massive improvement.
There should also be a way to snip the LEDs apart into separate strips, and round corners with a connector wire instead of bending the tape
She doesn’t like the visible tape or the brand name. What are my options? Can I cover them? Is there a different product that can go on the peeled paint and hide most of the blemished portions?
Zaire said:
She doesn’t like the visible tape or the brand name. What are my options? Can I cover them? Is there a different product that can go on the peeled paint and hide most of the blemished portions?
What type of room is this? Unless it’s something like a game room, I’m not sure lining every corner with LED tape will ever produce a nice looking result.
@Luca
My 8 years old son’s bedroom.