Outdoor LED strip recommendations for cold winters

I live in Minnesota where it can often get below -20C (-4f) and am wondering what others may be using for outdoor LED lighting who have to deal with the cold as well. I see there are many rated to -20C and I'm sure they would work below that temperature to some point. I'd like something that I can integrate with Hubitat. I'm looking at the Dig-Quad controller Dig-Quad: Multi Channel Wifi RGB LED controller – DrZzs. I'm a bit late to the game for this year but never to early to start planning for next year.

Didn't Sam Kinison answer this with his World Hunger skit in 1986? :smiley: :smiley:

Paraphrasing: You live in the freezing cold. Pack your stuff up and move to where the heat is.

:smiley:
I know.. not helpful but then again, I was trying to use someone else's humor because I live in Southern California... where "freezing cold" means two nights a year when the temp falls to 31F. You know it's "freezing cold" around here when the temp drops to mid-60s and people start wearing their down parkas. :slight_smile:

I say all this because it's actually an interesting question and I want to come back and read a real answer :slight_smile: and now this will notify me when someone does.

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Same here on the sun coast of Florida. I had to swap my shorts for pants and wear a coat this past weekend. The horror. I don't miss that Michigan weather!

Also in MN -- I've found my pergola's outdoor light strings (Enbrighten Cafe lights and a no-name-but-surprisingly-reliable string of fairy lights) both get really flaky at ~10F.

I have rules that keep them from even trying to turn on if already below 10F, and that turn them off if on and temp drops below 10.

They are on Caseta outdoor plugs (integrated with HE), and I've confirmed the Caseta plugs aren't the issue -- I put each string on straight dumb power to test too, and they just both start to glitch hard at ~10F.

I wouldn't worry about the cold (for the LED strips). In general the lower temperature limit is due to stress put on the joints / parts due to difference in thermal expansion (or contraction). The real killer is thermal cycling.

You want to be sure the strips are not exposed to cycles of "warm - wet - cold". The freezing moisture will rip the apart (not literally but will damage some of the connections).

I would keep the controller inside.

Thanks. The controller will be going in the garage. It will still get cold there but not to the same degree. The other equipment I have in there has been fine.

According to one of our meteorologists, everyone's going to want to live in MN in 40 years because it will be so much warmer. We'll see.

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