There are a lot of things to consider when buying LED Strip Lights including the length, number of LEDs per metre and colour temperature. Another is the chip size. The size of the LEDs you are buying can be ascertained from either the product description or its specifications. LED Strip Lights are available in two main LED sizes; 5050 and 3528.
The obvious difference between these two types of LED is their size. 5050 denotes an LED size of 5.0mm by 5.0mm while 3528 denotes an LED size of 3.5mm by 2.8mm. When you purchase your LED Strip Lights you will be able to physically see the difference in dimension. The LEDs are soldered onto the upper side of the strip light and resemble small yellow squares. You will notice that the 3528 LEDs are much smaller than the 5050 LEDs. But this difference in size is not the only thing worth considering.
Larger LEDs also produce more light. Deciding on how bright your LED Strip Lights need to be requires you to ask yourself a few question, including where am I going to use them and what effect am I trying to achieve? Brighter LED Strips are advised when your strips need to compete with background ambience, such as if you are using them as part of a layered or indirect lighting scheme in a kitchen or bathroom. Another good example are shop front displays, where owners still want the lights to remain visible during the day. The 5050 LEDs are much brighter and are therefore suitable for meeting the challenges of these types of lighting schemes. For most other applications, such as in dark clubs and outside in the dark, the 3528 LEDs should be sufficient.
The 5050 LED also use more power than the 3528. LED Strip Lights that use more power require a large power supply, also known as the transformer. Your choice of LED may be influenced by the size of the transformer you want to buy, especially if you want to keep the cost of purchase down. Standard transformers can managed a load of between 90 and 100 W. Make sure that your choice of LED doesn't exceed this load.
Finally, the larger 5050 LEDs cost more. This is really a more practical consideration than the rest and hopefully by now you will understand why paying more money for the larger chip size is worthwhile. It is also worth noting that RGB LED Strip Lights are only available in a 5050 LED as the 3528 are too small to accomodate the colour changing components required.
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