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Hot take: overheard a hardware store employee warning someone about those cheap LED strip lights
I was at Ace Hardware in Phoenix last Saturday getting some paint samples when I heard a worker tell a guy that those $15 LED strips from online will melt your adhesive backing in the summer heat. He said he replaced 4 sets in one month for a customer who kept them near a window (direct sun is brutal here). It made me think twice about the ones I just stuck under my kitchen cabinets, so I checked them and sure enough the glue was already getting soft. Has anyone else had a cheap LED project fail because of heat or am I just paranoid?
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thomas2753mo ago
That Ace guy was spot on, the adhesive on those cheap strips is basically hot glue holding on for dear life. You mentioned you noticed the glue getting soft already, what kind of surface are they stuck to? I had mine on painted drywall and they fell off after a week in the kitchen, but I figure maybe tile or smooth plastic holds better since there's more contact.
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christopher_sullivan3mo ago
Oh man, I gotta push back on this a little. I mean, maybe it's just me but I actually had way better luck on painted drywall than any smooth surface. I stuck a cheap strip on my bathroom tile and it slid right off in two days because the grout lines broke the seal. On drywall, the adhesive kind of grips the texture and holds on for months until the paint peels off. I feel like smooth surfaces are too slick for that hot glue stuff to really dig in.
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