The weakness of standard LED tape in costumes and props.04:33

This video was inspired by the problems with the illuminated props used in the Bollywood act during the 2015 Edinburgh Military Tattoo. The props were made in India and shipped across, so certain elements of their design were a bit suspect. That said, they more or less lasted the full run of the show with some regular tender lovin’ care from the military and myself.
The single biggest weakness with the LED tape was the way it is manufactured in 500mm sections that are then linked together with a solder bridge across the pairs of power pads. That joint was just not strong enough to handle the high level of flexing the tape was exposed to on the fabric of the prop.
The fix was to patch in a new piece of tape. I chose to be generous in the way I cut the tape to give full pads on both ends, then soldered a bridge wire between them, adding a small amount of two part resin to some for extra strength too.