Restore faded LED strip lights

Been experimenting with restoring trays and have had good look with the new silicone. Got me thinking… what about the LED’s? Well, it appears the silicone layer is the root cause for the led fade. Shown is just one dug out, but after stripping the rest of it, the wavelength seems good as new. Not sure I’ll recoat yet as no silicone = no fade. Will update on any further tweaks.

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I certainly see no reason to recoat. IIRC the original design for the CureCan™ used non-coated ones with the diodes themselves pushed against the container OD.

Many of us (myself included) picked up the silicone beaded strips as they are easier to find since the primary use of these light strips outside of the 3DP world seems to be for fishing.

How much of a pain is it to remove the silicone? We have a couple interns coming in May! :innocent:

Kinda like the tray peel… once you get a clean one started you can get a few feet at a time. Small plastic trowel (dull edges) helps move things along. Ah yes, interns… hahaha! “Why do they have us doing this?”

Leaving it bare lets us get the full life of the LED… which I imagine is much longer than the silicone!

Replace can with glass or lexan (no UV coat) equivalent. Wrap LEDs around the outside facing in. This also has the added benefit that you can fill the jar with water for curing resins that require this, or just to speed up getting rid of that tacky surface that’s left even after IPA.

I wrapped a jar in the LED strip, then I wrapped the entire outside the Aluminum Foil, then I wrapped the whole thing with Duct Tape to protect it. Search for “UV Curing Jar” thread in this forum for pictures…

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Randy’s idea seems to work the best on whole using the LED strips. I made the mistake of getting waterproofed ones - the silicone or epoxy they coated it with turned brown over the weekend.

I’m sorry to hear that. But how do they work?

If your lights have been outside for a while, then you might have noticed that their plastic components aren’t as pristine as they were. In fact, they may now be a yellowish color, making them visually unappealing. To clean your lights, you can: Fill your bowl with the hydrogen peroxide; Add ¼ teaspoon of your oxygenated laundry booster per gallon of peroxide; Wet your paper towel with the solution; Flatten the paper towels and press them against your surface; Remove and rinse once it reaches the desired result.
Hope this can help you!

Yeah, it looks like you had to replace it… Just keep in mind that it`s not recommended to bend - unbend them often, and reinstall them repeatedly.