RGB Led strip. Color differences after use.

Using Arduino LEDs and Multiplexing
1

Hello

I've been powering my 5050 SMD 300 LED 5 meter strip from dealextreme.com with my home made arduino powered device.

I just noticed there are a bit of color differences with the red lights. First I thought it was the LEDs, but after having a closer look it looks like its groups of 3 and 3 LEDs are different. Could that mean that the resistors are of poor quality?

The LED strip is rated for 12v, but after measuring it looks like my linear wallwart is supplying 12.4v in this configuration. Could the additional 0.4v wear the resistors or the LEDs. Bear in mind these are cheap chinese LED strips, which means the parts are most likely not overrated for durability.

Thanks

2

Could the additional 0.4v wear the resistors or the LEDs

Yes it is the LEDs that could be over stressed not the resistors.

3

the .4V extra shouldn't' hurt anything
My guess is it is due to not using leds from the same bin or low quality leds or both
i have driven some of our strips at even higher voltages (my wife even ran some at 24v for a while and wondered why they got hot lol) the biggest thing with leds is color binning and making sure you use the same bin for all the lights in a strip so you have a consistent color