The jacket hides the cut marks
An IP68 LED strip can be cut to length. The cut has to land on a copper pad. The silicone jacket covers those pads, so they do not show the way they do on an indoor reel. On a reel with 3M tape on the back, the tape covers them as well.
Hold the strip under a strong light, or up against a window. Look for the darker copper pads repeating along the reel. On many of these strips they are easier to see from the back. Where the 3M tape is in the way, peel it back only at the point you are about to cut, or read the pads through the jacket with the light behind the strip.
The distance from one pad to the next is the cut length for that reel. It is not the same on every IP68 strip.
Cut length on our IP68 reels
| Reel |
Cut on the copper pads |
| 24 V silicone sleeve, 60 LEDs/m (single colour and RGBW) |
Every 6 LEDs, 10 cm |
| 24 V silicone sleeve, 120 LEDs/m |
Every 6 LEDs, 5 cm |
| 12 V RGB, 120 LEDs/m |
Every 3 LEDs, 25 mm |
| 24 V tunable white, 240 LEDs/m |
Every 6 LEDs, 50 mm |
| IP68 COB, 528 LEDs/m |
45 mm |
| IP68 COB, 320 LEDs/m, 24 V |
50 mm |
The 25 mm pitch belongs to the 12 V reel. Do not use it on the 24 V 320 LED/m COB, which is 50 mm. If a listing is not in this table, use the pads on that reel. The product page states the interval where we have measured it.
A cut between the pads
The LEDs light in complete sections only. Cut between two pads and the piece after the last good pad stays off. That dark piece is shorter than one cut section: under 10 cm on a 10 cm reel, under 45 mm on the 528 LED/m COB, and the same rule on the other lengths above. The rest of the roll is unaffected. To keep that short end lit, move the cut back to the previous pad.
After the cut
The cut opens the jacket. If the strip will sit anywhere wet, seal that end before it is put into service, with the end cap sold for that reel. A roll that already has a factory tail at each end can be cut once in the middle, and both pieces still have a tail. Any further piece needs a soldered joint, sealed again. An indoor clip connector is not for this jacket.
