LED strips to replace spotlights: 2,040 lumens per metre and €7 profiles

LED strips for real lighting: 20 W/m and the profile at €7

The price of the aluminium profile needed to recess an LED strip so it shines downward eats up much of the saving: around €7 per metre for the channel alone, and some people have paid €8. The strip itself, however, can be cheap. The problem isn't the LED. It's everything around it.

The question that opens the discussion is technical and very specific: which type of LED gives more light. Popular intuition says SMD5050. The figures one participant brings to the table say otherwise. An SMD3014 strip with 204 LEDs per metre and 20 W/m claims 2,040 lumens per metre, compared with the 1,200 lumens of a standard SMD5050 with 60 LEDs and 14.4 W/m. Chip density matters more than chip size.

Which LED strip gives more light: 3014 vs 5050

The comparison circulating in the discussion leaves little room for confusion. An SMD3528 with 60 LEDs and 4.8 W/m delivers 400 lumens per metre. An SMD3014 with 120 LEDs and 12 W/m rises to 800. The SMD5050 with 60 LEDs and 14.4 W/m reaches 1,200. And the High Power SMD5050, with the same 60 LEDs and 14.4 W/m, claims 2,000 lumens.

There's the catch: there is no such thing as "the 5050" as a homogeneous category. There are 5050s of various power levels and outputs. Comparing a cheap 5050 strip with a high-density 3014 is comparing two different things that share the same trade name.

The reference calculation for a kitchen is laid out by another participant: a recommendation of **200 lux**. With 1 lux equal to 1 lumen per square metre, a 10-square-metre kitchen would need about **2,000 lumens**. In other words, one metre of that 20 W/m strip would suffice in theory. In theory.

The real problem: a strip's light doesn't concentrate

Here comes the argument that punctures the enthusiasm. An LED strip spreads its beam over 120 degrees. A spotlight or a panel light concentrates it. Spreading 2,000 lumens across the ceiling is not the same as projecting them onto the worktop. You can stack two or three strips, but the result stops being aesthetically pleasing.

Hands-on experience splits opinions. Some mounted 4 metres of worktop at 20 W/m with a 100-watt power supply and claim they could "repair watches there." Others bought cheap strips with a laughable power supply and admit they're good for breakfast and not much more. The difference between the two cases isn't the LED: it's the power supply and the wattage per metre.

The hidden cost nobody looks at: cooling

The most useful warning in the whole discussion isn't about lumens. It's about heat. Strips with high power density run hotter and their lifespan drops exponentially. That's why the aluminium profile isn't an aesthetic whim: it's a heat sink. And hence a counterintuitive recommendation: run the strips at a slightly reduced voltage, because with LEDs that increases efficiency and lifespan, the opposite of what happens with incandescent bulbs.

The practical conclusion is uncomfortable for marketing. To replace specific light points, a couple of 1,500-lumen spotlights costs about €50 and concentrates light where it's needed. To light an entire room evenly, the strip works, but it demands a profile, a decent power supply and real wattage. Cheap ends up costing twice: in light and in lifespan.

The anecdote comes from the person who started the thread, years later: they ended up putting strips behind their monitor. Not to light the house. To watch films in the dark without wrecking their eyesight. And it worked.