This case documents supermarket display led strip lighting inside 24 upright cabinets across two branches of one operator in Nantes — 16 chillers at Approx. +2 to +6 °C, 8 freezers at Approx. −20 to −22 °C. The incumbent IP20 strips, hot-melt sealed, had already died in three cabinets. Part of our retail store LED lighting work.
The Water That Kills a Chiller Strip Is Already Inside It
An IP rating describes water arriving from outside. Inside a chiller nothing arrives — warm shop air enters on every door cycle, Approx. 6 per hour on the deli case, and condenses on a Approx. +2 °C surface. The water forms on the strip, and inside a sealed sleeve cannot leave. Supermarket display led strip lighting therefore fails on sealing, not on LEDs.
So the sleeve drains as well as seals: open at its lowest point, channel drilled to weep into the evaporator tray, which already handles litres a day. A fully potted assembly traps condensate against the FPC and wicks it under the copper — how the incumbents died. Cable enters each connector from below.
Products Used, and Why the Freezers Take the Cheaper Strip
| Cabinet type | SKU | Specs | Approx. Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chillers (16 cabinets) | ES-COB-480-24V-8MM | COB, 480 LEDs/m, 8 mm, 12V/24V, CRI 90, 4000K — IP20 as supplied, sleeved to IP67 | Approx. 96 m |
| Freezers (8 cabinets) | ES-2835-120-8MM | SMD 2835, 120 LEDs/m, 8 mm, 12V/24V, CRI 80, 4000K — IP20 as supplied, sleeved to IP67 | Approx. 48 m |
Both parts are IP20 as supplied, reaching IP67 by sleeving on our bench, so sealing is labour with a test behind it. Chillers take COB because a shopper stands Approx. 400 mm from the glass, where the eye resolves Approx. 0.12 mm; 2835 at 120 LEDs/m has an Approx. 8.3 mm pitch, around 70 arcminutes — a visible row of dots, reflected twice in the glazing. CRI 90 also does real work on cheese and deli meat: the high CRI COB LED strip argument. Freezers get 2835 for a different reason: frozen goods sell in printed cartons behind glass that frosts, so CRI 90 and a dotless source buy nothing a shopper sees — the case for ordinary SMD LED strip lighting. Drivers, grommets and channel are contractor scope.
Every Watt Inside the Cold Zone Is Paid For Twice
The brief never priced this: heat dissipated inside a refrigerated cabinet is load the compressor must remove. At a coefficient of performance near 2 on chillers and 1.3 on freezers, one strip watt costs roughly 1.5 to 1.8 W at the meter. The COB run draws Approx. 12 W/m, so Approx. 6 m per chiller is Approx. 72 W of light — Approx. 108 W with the compressor. Supermarket display led strip lighting usually skips this.
- That reverses the usual density instinct. Overspecifying LEDs/m in a freezer is not merely wasteful, it is paid for twice — the argument against COB in all 24 cabinets.
- Drivers sit outside the cold zone, in the service canopy. Electrolytic life falls sharply below 0 °C, a failure inside a sealed cabinet is a same-day call, and it keeps their losses out of the refrigerated envelope.
- Every circuit is 24V SELV per IEC 61140, one contractor driver per cabinet near 70% load — ours are 12V, IP20.
- One 4000K bin across every reel, bin ID in the handover file. Cabinets in one aisle show any mismatch instantly — a colorimetry matter settled on the PO.
What Fails at −22 °C Is the Adhesive, Not the Substrate
- Polyimide handles the cold; the tape does not. Acrylic transfer adhesive loses tack as it cools, so the real freezer failure is a strip letting go mid-run and hanging off its solder joints. Mechanical clips every Approx. 300 mm; tape is a locating aid only.
- Cycled bent, not straight. An offcut of each SKU ran 30 cycles between −25 °C and +10 °C with a Approx. 60 mm bend held in a jig — defrost, not storage. No lifted joints, no dark segments.
- Ingress, split honestly. Sleeve ends were immersed at Approx. 1 m for 30 minutes on the bench — the IPX7 procedure in IEC 60529. Cabinet-side terminations got a spray test, which verifies IPX5 and is not evidence of IP67.
- Tail drop Approx. 1.4% on the longest Approx. 6 m chiller run, top-fed.
- One replaceable cassette per door, commissioned illuminance on a card inside: Approx. 760–800 lx at the chiller front row, Approx. 500–540 lx in freezers.
- 90 days, no failures — workmanship proven, not a five-year seal, and we said so at handover.
Four Notes if You’re Relighting a Cabinet Fleet
- Let the sealed assembly drain. In supermarket display led strip lighting the water condenses inside, where no IP rating reaches.
- Count the compressor. A strip watt in a freezer costs close to two at the meter, so density is an energy decision.
- Keep drivers out of the cold zone, and clip rather than tape inside freezers.
- Ask whether the rating is native or achieved by sleeving, then whether it was immersed or sprayed.
Senfey is a Chinese LED strip manufacturer established in 2013, based in Shenzhen, with in-house SMT and silicone extrusion lines producing Approx. 1.2 million metres per month across COB, SMD, neon flex and addressable. See our commercial and retail lighting range or request a cabinet lighting quote.
