Side Emitting Silicone LED Diffuser

It's all about the direction of the bend. A side emitting silicone LED diffuser is designed to bend horizontally, on a flat plane—think writing your name in lights on a wall. A top-emitting tube bends vertically, like going up and over an archway. You install the LED strip vertically inside a side-emitter to make the light shoot out the side.

It's a simple, clever design. You mount a standard flat LED strip inside the tube, but on its side, so the LEDs are facing the wall of the diffuser. The high-quality silicone then scatters that light, blending the individual dots from the LEDs into one continuous, uniform line of light that glows out from the side profile. That's how you get a smooth, dotless neon effect.

This depends on the specific profile, but as a rule of thumb, for a common 8x16mm side-emitting tube, you can safely get down to a 30mm or 40mm radius. Trying to force a tighter bend than the tube is designed for can damage the solder joints on the LED strip inside, causing sections to fail. Smaller profiles can often bend tighter.

The silicone tube itself is waterproof, but the finished product is only waterproof if you seal the ends correctly. To get a proper IP67 rating, you must use silicone adhesive to glue on the end caps, both the solid one and the one with the wire hole. A properly sealed assembly is great for outdoor use. 

It comes down to the final look and how wide you want the light to spread. A dome top side emitting diffuser gives you that classic, rounded neon tube appearance with a very wide beam angle, often 180 degrees or more. A flat top profile provides a clean, recessed-looking line of light with a more controlled beam, usually around 120 degrees, which is better for architectural accents.

They serve a very specific design purpose. When the light is off, a black silicone housing provides a sleek, 'disappearing' look on dark surfaces. When it's on, the black frame makes the light color appear more saturated and intense by increasing the contrast. The actual surface that emits the light is still a neutral white, so it won't tint your light, just make it pop.