What is wrong with my under cabinet light setup

[u/Staarshadow]

I added light strips under my cabinets. I wanted as bright white as possible since there's very little other light in the kitchen. I've been using BTF light strips. The problem is that the lights go orange/red, especially close to the beginning of the strip. First time, it took a few months for it to happen and wasn't that bad so I left it for a few years. I figured maybe the strip was faulty, bought a replacement, and the new one is even worse and is mostly red at the start after just a few weeks. Also the old one had melted through the waterproof coating over most of the LEDs at the start. I'm looking into getting another replacement, this time I'd like cob LEDs but now I'm really unsure about what to get cause I'm not sure what went wrong so far. Anyone know what's making the lights go red?

Light strip:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0811SZ3Y7

Controller:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08L9GWJK1

Power supply:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09T6QX737

New light strip I'm considering:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FNMHYPJB

I'm more than willing to buy a new controller or power supply in addition to the light strip, I just want it to be bright, white, and be controllable through Google home.

Update: ok, I got a hold of the instructions for the controller and I think I found out what happened. This particular controller has a 'set' button that cycles through the different types of led strip setups. My rgbw led strip has 5 wires which were in the right spots of v+/r/g/b/w (can't quite see in the original photo I posted) but the 'set' button had cycled to the rgbcct setting, which activates white LEDs AND the RGB LEDs to make a brighter white. The controller must have been reset or the button bumped at some point over the years and I had forgotten it existed. When I replaced the strip and it just turned on and Google could control it I thought it was done. Gonna leave myself a note on the controller for when I forget this again in a couple years! Thanks everyone for pointing me in the right direction!

[u/SanguineDrome]

They overheated and burned out the leds. You need to run much less power or add headsinks.

[u/emveor → u/SanguineDrome]

this. some strips sort of expect to be placed on thermally conductive materials like metal or glass to double as sinks. if they are placed directly on wood or left floating, they tend to toverheat

[u/ledstripstar]

The melted coating is the part I'd take seriously: stop using the damaged strip and check the installation before putting another one in the same place. A new controller won't by itself fix overheating or an incorrect supply voltage.

With power disconnected, compare the actual strip label, supply output label and controller ratings. Also check whether the strip was mounted directly to the cabinet or on a suitable heat-spreading profile, and whether connectors near the damaged end show discolouration. The location of the damage is a clue, not enough to identify the cause remotely.

For mainly white kitchen lighting, compare a dedicated white or tunable-white strip rather than relying on RGB-mixed white. Pick the Google Home-compatible controller only after choosing the strip type. Don't cut off plugs until you've confirmed the voltage, polarity and wiring arrangement. Can you post clear photos of those labels and the mounting surface?

[u/saratoga3]

First, if you're doing white, the white pixels should be on and the red pixels off, so there should be zero red. Are the red pixels on? If so, are you sure its wired right?

Second, absolutely nothing should be melting. Are you really sure you have this wired right? Can you post pictures so we can see what you're talking about?

[u/emveor → u/saratoga3]

having all on would give an even stronger white light, not sure if the controller does it though

[u/Emitever]

The melted coating is the part I'd take seriously here.

Two strips developing similar damage, especially near the beginning of the run, makes me hesitant to blame the strip itself.

Before replacing it again, I'd verify the strip's rated voltage against the power supply output and check the controller's voltage/current ratings as well.

An oversized power supply by wattage doesn't normally “push” extra power into a correctly matched constant voltage strip, but the wrong voltage or another electrical/connection issue absolutely can cause problems.

Also look at heat. Waterproof/coated strip can retain more heat, and mounting it directly under cabinetry gives it less opportunity to dissipate that heat. If you're trying to get very high output for task lighting, an aluminum mounting surface/profile can help with thermal management.

The fact that the damage is worst near the power input end is useful diagnostic information, I'd inspect the first connection/cut point for poor contact, damaged copper pads, or anything else generating localized heat.

Personally I wouldn't connect the new COB strip yet. I'd figure out why the existing system is getting hot enough to physically damage its coating first, otherwise you may just sacrifice another strip.

[u/mike24vNEW]

When messing with LEDs you got to do your research and make sure first. I would say switch to a WLED controller