APA102C 1m strips have a small but noticeable gap in the centre.
Are there gapless strips on the market, or does one have to cut/splice oneself?
Cut/splice is tricky for weather-proof strips; are there pre-made 2m and/or longer strips on the market with the same pixel density?
Thanks!
Pics or it didn’t happen.
I have 30 LED/M, 60 LED/M and 144 LED/M APA102 strips. None have a ‘gap in the centre’. Sure, they’re spliced together in places, but the spacing remains the same.
Oh, and I only buy IP20 strips because of the challenges I had once trying to solder to a weather-proof strip.
All Amazon and Ebay strips I bought over the last years (Europe) have a large gap as shown below.
Obviously 1m strips are spliced together from 50cm pieces. I really wonder why there’s no vendor where one can just get a continuous 2m or 5m strip with 144 LEDs/m.
missing/deleted image from Google+
Well, you’re absolutely right. I have a 1M of 144’s (WS2812) and sure enough, there’s a splicing gap.
@Andrew_Tuline Bit o’ cut & splice is ok for indoor strips, also to make 2m or longer versions, but it’s a pain for outdoor strips. It’s not possible to reliably re-join the soft sheathing. On the other hand, one can build one from Makrofol or other LED-specific high transmission diffusor material that does not block too many precious lumens.
Do you actually know how many lumens each LED delivers at full brightness white? The vendors don’t say a thing.
@Andreas_Hopf Afraid I don’t know the lumens. At 144 LED/M across your roof, you’ll at lighting up the neighbourhood. 
That gap you see is a result of the way the fab these. All strips are made up in 50cm strips. When they sell you 1M+ strips they hand solder the 50cm strips together
Might it be possible to get a single apa102 and solder it in the gap?
You need to cut/splice manually. There are no longer than 50cm units on the market without that gap.