5050 LEDs: Stop Spec’ing Blind — Demand the Right Die

“Light is in what’s inside that square — not the shell.”

Problem — Suppliers list “5050 LED” prominently, but rarely tell you which variant—RGB, white, or CCT—leaving buyers guessing on specs.

Agitate — Install that wrong, and you get lukewarm lighting, overheated strips, or unsalable colors. Returns and rework eat your margins.

Solution — Use this 5-point checklist: define the die inside, compare brighter packages, calculate real lumen output, select optics consciously, and paste proven RFQ text to weed out shady suppliers.

Embed these bullet points into RFQs. Every XGM pallet — whether RGB strip or white board — will deliver luminance, cool operation, and nearly zero callbacks.

What “5050” Actually Means

When you Google what does 5050 LED mean, search results mention color richness and legacy performance. The hard truth is: 5050 only refers to the package size — 5.0 × 5.0 mm. What matters is what goes inside:

Tridie RGB: three ~350 µm chips, 20 mA/channel, great for RGB pixels

Singledie White: ~1.1 mm chip, 60–120 mA continuous, needs robust thermal path

Dualdie CCT: two 0.6 mm chips (warm/cool), 25–35 mA/side for tunable retail runs

XGM’s fourteen years of delivering LEDs to U.S. buyers reveals three recurring issues when teams treat "5050" as an output spec:

Shipping RGB where highflux white was expected → lux shortfall

Mounting white dice on thin FR4 → overheating and rapid color shift

Quoting lab spec luminance without field context → real-world underperformance

Each section below contains: a 30word lead, a 200+ word SEO-focused snippet, a placeholder for your image or Xray, and a 200+ word deep dive filled with RFQ language and buyer insight. Fill in your LM80 reports and teardown photos to meet Google’s EEAT and satisfy picky procurement teams.

1 ▸ What does 5050 LED mean?

A 5 mm × 5 mm shell—you must confirm if it contains 3×RGB, 1×White, or 2×CCT dies to match lighting and specs.

Tridie RGB mounts three ~350 µm chips per footprint. Vf typically ~2.1 V (R), ~3.2 V (G/B), at 18–20 mA per channel. Perfect for tight pixel spacing; low lm/W. Singlewhite uses a ~1.1 mm chip and requires significant copper to sustain 60–120 mA continuous current. Dualdie CCT houses two ~0.6 mm dice for tunable color output across a strip, operated at 25–35 mA per side.

RFQ snippet to paste:

Package: 5050; Die map: [choose one] 3×RGB / 1×White / 2×CCT; RθJB ≤ 15 K/W (RGB), ≤ 10 K/W (white); white bins ≤ 3step MacAdam, RGB λ spread < 2 nm; silicone lens standard; epoxy indoor-only; include LM80 ≥10 000 h @ 85 °C/65 mA; provide 85/85, H₂S, thermal shock raw logs; pallet lot matches LM80; traceable via IATF 16949.

Demand Xray proof per reel—vague specs are just cost traps.

2 ▸ What outshines a 5050 LED?

For white lighting, 2835 flipchip LEDs deliver up to 185 lm/W, run cooler, and cost less per thousand lumens—unless your application demands pixel density.

LED Type lm/W PCB Type Approx. $/klm

2835 flipchip 175–185 2oz FR4 $0.85–0.90

3030 midpower 165–175 MCPCB $0.92–0.98

5050 singlewhite 130–145 MCPCB $1.05–$1.10

With copper slug and short light path, 2835 LEDs achieve thermal resistance around 2.4 K/W, which translates to cooler boards and higher lm/W efficiency compared to many 5050 white designs with Rθ near 3.5 K/W.

Actual install case: A commercial strip run in California replaced singlewhite 5050 tape with 2835 flipchip versions.

Board temperature dropped from 54 °C to 46 °C

Field lm/W improved from 138 to 176

Dim flicker index dropped from 0.22 to 0.07 at 5%

Service tickets dropped from 9 to 1 within 90 days

Still, 5050 RGB remained in use for pixel walls because of tight channel spacing. Low 3535 pixel prices may flip that choice.

3 ▸ How many lumens does a 5050 LED deliver?

Expect 95–100 lm for RGB arrays at normal drive; singlewhite peaks at 45–50 lm per die around 0.18 W—then drops ~8% at 45 °C.

RGB 5050 typical output:

Red ~25 lm, Green ~60 lm, Blue ~10 lm → ~95–100 lm total

Singlewhite output:

60 mA (≈0.18 W): 28–30 lm

100 mA (≈0.29 W): 45–50 lm

Thin copper boards will push strip temperatures +25 °C above ambient, accelerating lumen decline and color drift.

Use dual-temperature testing to capture reality:

25 °C lab to verify bin consistency

45 °C board under real install conditions

Include both in quotes and specify driver ripple (≤10 % RMS recommended). Teams that standardized on “45 °C flux” drove warranty claims down by double digits. Use spreadsheet: [Flux45C_Calc]. Driving above 120 mA usually leads to thermal runaway; consider more emitters or switch to 3030 high-power packages.

4 ▸ What is the viewing angle of a 5050 LED?

Default dome yields roughly 120° FWHM. Frost for ~150° wash; clip on TIR for ~30° beam—but maintain at least 8 mm PCB clearance.

Broad beams (~120°) are essential for smooth RGB blending. Avoid glare in task lighting with ~60° optics. For accent or bollard lights, a ~30° beam punch via PMMA/TIR is ideal. Frosting softens color and widens spread at the cost of ~5% flux.

Optical selections can highlight color fringing when die spacing exceeds ~0.4 mm. Always remeasure full-width half-max and ∆u′v′ after applying lenses.

In a SoHo lighting art installation, frosted domes produced soft halos with minimal flux drop. On urban trail lighting, 30° TIR lenses tripled center lux but required an additional 9 mm housing height. Tools: [BeamPlanner Sheet] and FWHM test method using smartphone goniometer.