Got caught by Chinese counterfeit fraud, even though I took a sample from the reel and made a genuine check (the window must be made from silicone, fakes are mostly glass). What the seller did was taking 150 genuine parts from one reel, and then adding another 450 counterfeit parts attached with tape. If someone would have feeded that into a pick&place machine, then he would'nt probably even notice.
The most facepalming moment tough was the reply from the vendor (Shenzhen Shijibaike Electronics Co., Ltd.), after my feedback that I had received partly counterfeit parts in a clear act of fraud, and telling them that they do not work (they do electrically, but they do not match in color, nor brightness, nor appearance):
[...] We understand but how does it not work? there is no reaction at all? We have sent those parts to many different clients last month mostly the same time as per your order. But the other feedback is good. We agree to send you another new 450pcs original part [...]
They don't even seem to realize that they are admitting having done this kind of fraud many times, nor that this is a fraud anyway.
I'm not complaining because I was expecting this in one or the other way anyway, just what astonishes me is the inventiveness that they develop in winding up their customers.
Anyway, I will have to wait for more parts now before I can continue. The genuine parts were good to populate two boards, and this is how it looks like. When being submersed in clycerine (board is covered with Plastik 70 spray), the effect is even better than I had expected. There fluid creates a glow around each light, which looks great. The last picture cannot fully reproduce this. The flex PCB and copper traces are visible when the light is turned off, but that disappears almost completely as soon as they turn on.
The signal and power supply integrities are spot on. With good stabilization at the connector, the voltage ripple is less than 200mV (peak) at full brightness. I can definitely recommend this topology. The board's continuous current limit is 1.2A in free air (hottest spot is the main power trace at 60°C). The indivdual legs can be made even thinner, 0.1mm will work equally well (now 0.2mm). This corresponds to an intensity level of 200/200/200 (R/G/B).