DENO LED Lighting

Which high density LED strip stops you seeing dots in a shallow cove?

Pick the density from the gap between the board and the diffuser, not from the wattage. With only 6-12 mm of depth you need a high density LED strip — the 8 mm, 256 LEDs/m 2216 build at 3.9 mm pitch stays dot-free there. From 12-20 mm of depth the 10 mm, 128 LEDs/m board gives the same continuous line with better lumens per watt, and on long or critical runs the 12 mm constant-current board keeps every segment at the same brightness end to end.

The depth-to-pitch rule

Whether a line reads as continuous depends on four variables: LED pitch, the depth from board surface to diffuser, diffuser transmittance and the beam angle of the package. A workable rule is that diffuser depth should be at least equal to LED pitch — 3.9 mm pitch needs about 4 mm of air, 15.6 mm pitch needs 16 mm. Low-transmittance opal (around 60%) blends better than clear or frosted acrylic at the same depth, at the cost of roughly a third of the output.

Grazing views make the requirement stricter. A cove read from below at a shallow angle exposes scallops that are invisible head-on, so specify one density step higher than the calculation suggests when the strip is visible in reflection on a polished floor or glass.

Model selection by profile depth

All three builds are 24V and share the same phosphor set, so switching density does not change the colour appearance of the scheme.

  • 6–12 mm depth: 8 mm board, 256 LEDs/m 2216, 3.9 mm pitch — dot-free in slim aluminium
  • 12–20 mm depth: 10 mm board, 128 LEDs/m — best lumens per watt for the same visual result
  • Long or critical runs: 12 mm constant-current board — segment-level regulation, no far-end fade
  • Free-cut work: micro cut-unit variants for joinery where the reveal length is fixed

Industry references and standards

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