BigClive LED Hack (for USA/120v)

[@NackDSP]

Excellent video. I managed to buy the Kodak bulb similar to what Big Clive used, but I had to get it shipped from Spain and it was 240 Volts. So in addition to removing a resistor I had to bypass several LED's to get it to run at 120V. The 15 Watt Kodak bulb actually has 32 LEDs in it. With the Kodak bulb the efficiency at the lower drive current went from 100 Lumens per Watt up to 140 Lumens per Watt after the change. So I expect this is why you didn't see a large change in brightness when you reduced the power on this lamp as well. You dropped the input power in half, but the efficiency likely went up 40% at the same time.

[@HughWoo]

I absolutely love how much more in depth you went man! I’m more of a ‘tinkerer’ lol, but try to soak up as much as I can wherever I can. Thanks a lot for how well this was made. If you’re not teaching, you sure could pick up a side job doing it lol.

[@Casey_Schmidt]

Thank you!

[@TheChromePoet]

@@Casey_Schmidt Great video, how many years do you think it will last?

[@gregjones3660]

~7000years

[@TheChromePoet]

@@gregjones3660 That's insane, that bulb will still be around when we figure out warp drive space travel 😳. I have to order me a few now.

[@gregjones3660]

@@TheChromePoet Exactly

[@lookoutleo]

big clive a scottish legend :) thanks for sharing. Your video is very in-depth , interesting to see the different versions of these bulbs available

[@lookoutleo]

I sorted one of my bulbs tonight, was one led burned out so shorted that and changed sense resister from 2.2 ohm to 10 ohm, it's running now at 3.7w instead of the 10w it was before , prob should have been 5 ohm but didn't have one to hand

[@carloseltopoquegira7454]

The different thing that I do is that I do not destroy the resistor. I use a 50W iron. Heating both sides with a drop of solder. They are useful to use on others lamps that have just one resistor for current.

[@Samoasoa]

I just caught up with this hack after many many blown LED lamps.

[@avemt1]

Thank you for making this video. I suggested this on the original video.

[@the1trancedemon]

the best way to get out the resistor is to remove the whole plate and heat it over an iron, then use a tool to gently pick up the resistor out from there and replace it with a new one. The same way can be used to replace bad leds, ICs etc. I've personally used a candle flame to heat the plate up and losten out the components.

[@errm1913]

wait, this video does NOT show the resister getting replaced. Are you saying that is DOES need to be replaced?

[@the1trancedemon]

@@errm1913 i meant remove the resistor in this situation, sorry. 🙂 i got plates that come with just 1 current sense resistor so end up in a situation where i need to replace it with lower value ones to control the brightness. Also, useful when I want to remove bad leds and mount new ones in place. was just sharing my way which may be useful at times.

[@CLUBNEON-m6i]

I already done this to a lot of LED TV's and they last forever! None of them have ever returned and the backlight brightness stays almost the same. For powerful lamps that's another story! Done this with a 20W led and it turned out very dim, like a 9W bulb. So the lesson is: if you're planning on doing something like this, buy a led lamp that's twice as powerful as you need, so you'll won't be disapointed

[@SensSword]

I'm thinking the easiest way to get rid of that resistor is to use a soldering iron to push it to the side. Once the connection is broken, it should be easy to pluck off.

[@4k8t]

I tried the earlier version of dobbying the LEDs. I rigged up a capacitor inline with the bulb. I started with 470nf and eventually went down to 47 nf. The 9W LED 60 watt incandescent normally would be very bright. The 470 brought it down significantly as did the 224, 104, and 47. I would say the 104 and 47 were more night light level of illumination. Extrapolating from BigClive's testing (I am in US), I expect the 470 was probably 1 watt and the 224 probably 0.5 watt. I lack the gear to actually test the AC current. I might go get a 1uf and see how that works. I had 2016 Costco Feit Electric bulbs but they don't work with this and their internal circuitry was laid out differently however a recently purchased set of LED bulbs worked fine. Keep that in mind.

[@BoRerunn]

Cool hack, I'm tired of returning my bad leds back to Walmart. I'm m going to definitely try this hack ,,, when is your next speaker hack ???? 😎👍

[@Jeff-ch8gv]

Does anyone know how to determine which resistor to remove? All the LED bulbs I buy have 4-6 resistors, sometimes even more, and I don't know which resistor to remove. I just tried removing one from a walmart bulb, now it doesn't work anymore.

[@Boss35900]

Can you make a video about adding capacitor to led floodlights to reduce the current?

[@Casey_Schmidt]

That’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while but haven’t gotten around to it yet.

[@Boss35900]

@@Casey_Schmidt Thank you. You are very good at explaining stuff!

[@deepak-ug3hx]

can we add condenser in series to lower input volt ?

[@Casey_Schmidt]

I guess you could try. I haven’t tried that yet.

[@darek795]

Do you think led strips are better in terms of overheating because leds are more wide spread. Are light bulbs limited by its compact design.

[@Casey_Schmidt]

I think that’s a reasonable conclusion. If you can stick an adhesive LED strip on a small bit of aluminum, that would be even better I think light bulbs are also at a disadvantage because a major part of their design is to have them sealed for either weather or to keep people from being electrocuted since you have to handle them to instal them.

[@jerrycurtis98]

I bet that beautiful custom-made screwdriver was given to you by Evgeniy. I've seen him make things like that.

[@badeadrian]

How can I make them work at 220 v ? 🤔

[@Casey_Schmidt]

You need to start with the 220v version. They aren’t interchangeable.

[@NackDSP]

Many bulbs sold in Europe are 220 - 240 volt. I think I bought Kodak 220V bulbs from a website in Spain.

[@yvesboutin5604]

That probably explain why some LED last 10 000 hours and some are listed to last 25 000 hours! What I don't know is how they make some orange (3000 k) and some blue (5000 k). If someone have any definitive idea, could you please share it with the rest of us. As usual, great video with good content!

[@Casey_Schmidt]

@Yves Boutin - Thank you! I’m not sure if there is any definitive reason for different color temperature LEDs but I can make a guess at a few reasons. One is that designers tend to like the colder color temperatures because “aesthetics”. Another reason, from sales/marketing, would be that having more options means companies have more things to sell us. That also plays a role in why they try to over-drive the LED chips. And from an engineering perspective, it is relatively easy to make LEDs of different colors. I much prefer warm white LEDs over cold white but I also think having options is good too!

[@yvesboutin5604]

@@Casey_Schmidt Thank you for the comment! Personally I prefer the cold ones (5000k), because it look more modern. The orangy ones looks like a flame from a candle or an oil lamp. I guess you are right about the different color is simply esthetics and sales. See you next time!

[@billcamp605]

In single phase psc motors 7.5 mf is very common

[@fahrurofiq6457]

but your pf drop from .6 to .5xx

[@Casey_Schmidt]

Quite true but 0.6 isn’t anything to write home about either.

[@Niffer675]

One mlmlnt pliiz 😅😊

[@thecookierat]

Dollar Tree always sold LED bulbs 60w, looks identical to these, they sold for $1.

[@Casey_Schmidt]

I've been meaning to take apart LED from other brands. Many are likely made in the safe factory.

[@mirkomueller3412]

When you measure "in circuit" an open circuit (which you obviously did for the resistor of 39 Ohms) - how could it be NOT correct??? I cannot think of any reason??? Either i'm missing something here, which i doubt, or you don't even know about electronic basics.

[@Casey_Schmidt]

It cold be a misspeak.

[@ww07ff]

Up

[@j7ndominica051]

This guy looks like a fan of Big Clive Dot Com: wooden desk with a writing, hopi meter. If you have a fixture with four sockets, it's probably sized for a room that actually needs 4 bulbs of normal brightness, not 3 watts. So now you need 8. Maybe with those Chinese splitters if appearance is not a concern.

[@Casey_Schmidt]

I’ve certainly been a fan of Bigclive like many. I found his some tools to be useful so I picked them up myself, the bench is entirely coincidental. I’ve run these bulbs for a long time now with no issues and enjoy the lower output in many cases. Thanks for watching!