DENO LED Lighting

What aluminium channel and diffuser do you need for a wide high-output LED strip?

Use an aluminium channel whose internal width matches the board and makes continuous full-length contact, then set the diffuser depth from the emitter pitch rather than the board width. Opal covers transmit about 60-70% and hide dots at shallow depth; frosted covers transmit 80-90% but need more depth or a denser pitch. Above 20 W/m the channel is a heat sink rather than trim: it must have mass, sit in free air, and never be buried in a sealed plaster void.

The profile is part of the thermal design

On a high-output wide board, the copper spreads heat along the strip and the profile takes it away. That only works with continuous mechanical contact: thermal tape across the full length, no air gaps, no mounting on plasterboard or timber above roughly 20 W/m. A profile buried in a sealed plaster void loses most of its value because there is no air movement to carry the heat away.

Size the profile mass to the load. A slim 8 mm channel cannot absorb 45 W/m; a deep extrusion with fins can. Where the architecture forbids a large profile, the honest answer is to lower the drive current and add a second run rather than to over-drive one board.

Diffuser selection

The diffuser decides both uniformity and how much of the light survives:

  • Opal — 60–70% transmittance, hides dots at shallow depth, the usual safe choice
  • Frosted — 80–90% transmittance, needs more depth or a denser pitch
  • Clear — maximum output, only for indirect details where the board is unseen
  • Always compute lux after diffuser losses, not from the bare-board datasheet

Industry references and standards

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