Crushing and hacking LED lamps

A very pleasant evening spent crushing and hacking some very similar looking LED lamps from different brands.
If you have a go at crushing the plastic, then make extra sure it's not glass, plastic coated glass or hard brittle plastic, to avoid getting cut. Gloves might be a good idea.
As these are mains-voltage devices, the usual safety precautions should be taken, including not working on them while they are powered.
The live stream channel I mentioned can be found here:-
/ @bigclivelive
It's best thought of as a weekly pub meeting for technical people.
The hack involves the current sensing resistors. As the LED current flows through them the voltage across them rises up until it reaches a threshold where the circuitry effectively increases its resistance until a current balance is reached. Sometimes there's one resistor, but often there are two in parallel to allow fine tuning of the current. By dismembering one you can make the lamp run at much lower current and temperature. This makes the lamp run more efficiently and it will also last much longer than in its original form.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
www.bigclive.co...
This also keeps the channel independent of KZbin's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.

[@AndrewGillard]

3:35 “Wear gloves, and make sure they're not glass.” - Good advice: I don't think glass gloves would work too well! 😇

[@dogwalker666]

What are you talking about glass gloves go so well with glass slippers.

[@Solocat1]

@@dogwalker666 and glass house's

[@dogwalker666]

@@Solocat1 indeed but be careful of the ceiling.

[@JustanOlGuy]

Huzzah!

[@deanamyers57]

Really cracked me up there, needed a good chuckle 2, so thanks for that, ya just made my afty 🤣🤣🤣

[@CDVachon]

Wow. This worked for me on an EcoSmart 9 watt bulb I had apart. With approx 15% drop in Lumens. Went from drawing 9 to 4.9 watts. Aluminum board measured 65C before and 36C after. Much thanks for the video!

[@TerfasAJ]

Does it last longer ?

[@nexpro6985]

So in summary: Damage your LED lamps physically and electronically to make them more efficient.

[@randyherringshaw6325]

EXACTLY!!!🤣🤣🤣 Just make sure you don't touch the electronics in the lightbulb. Believe me that sh!t hurts!!!⚡⚡⚡⚡😖🥴😵🤯🤕

[@blockcamp]

@@randyherringshaw6325 what the fuck did you do

[@aidansmith8617]

@@randyherringshaw6325 was it plugged in??? Idiot

[@dmo848]

@@randyherringshaw6325 oh that's funny

[@TATICMOOR]

Yeah return one after the MOD and say they are being sent back as they are efficiently faulty and adding to the Carbon Foot Print. Then report them to a Gov Watchdog and complain they are officially selling unfriendly environmental products and adding to global health issues.

[@dfunited1]

10:15 "saves you from having to swear at your phone to focus" I dunno, Clive, maybe AvE has voice activation?

[@guyh3403]

Phocus you phuck lol

[@nickn.332]

Modern LED lamps being engineered to fail only sounds conspiratorial until you note that an engineered maximum lifespan was already designed and factored into incandescent lamps starting in the 20s for exactly the same reason.

[@TrollDecker]

Yeah, the one company that made lightbulbs that could last a freaking century upwards went down the pan because of that, iirc.

[@hanelyp1]

Incandescent lamps are more efficient when run hot. LEDs are most efficient when run cool.

[@stinkycheese804]

That's not really true at all. As hanelyp1 mentioned, incan bulbs run FAR more efficiently when hotter, which degrades the filament more, so considering their low cost it was necessary to strike a balance between lifespan and efficiency and they did a fairly good job of it. Plus even the humble light bulb has evolved since the '20s. LED bulbs aren't designed to fail, merely devolving into the cheapest way to get the job done with what is perceived as tolerable lifespan and cost. However there is no need to theorize about motives, rather to look at the surface area present versus the heat produced, to generalize about the rise in temperature of the LEDs and the driver and what effect that will have. Same thing different day, make it cheaper to gain sales. Make it smaller because customers won't usually pay to mail each $3 bulb in, one at a time for a warranty replacement when the postage cost is higher than the bulb cost.

[@KaiserTom]

Not really. What basically happened is management determined a set of criteria for the light bulb to fulfill, lifespan hours being one of them, as well as cost being as low as possible. Engineering then goes and designs the light bulb, realizes their design lasts far longer than it needs to, and proceeds to design it to "sacrifice" lifespan in order to pump out more lumens with less LEDs by essentially "overclocking" them, reducing overall materials and manufacturing costs for the light bulb while still meeting the same lifespan and lumens requirements from management. Some of these light bulbs are just engineered to meet certain criteria that not every consumer falls under. Most consumers just want the cheapest possible light bulb, which this would deliver. However if you want a longer lasting or more efficient LED bulbs, there are light bulbs out there for you if you are willing to pay that extra cost for those criteria and/or willing to deal with less lumen output. Just because the popular ones are engineered to these specific criteria that you don't like doesn't mean that others don't exist that you can't buy if you look for it and are willing to pay the fair price for it. Despite popular belief, profit margins on basic consumer goods like light bulbs are not high. It's literally about 5%. Most companies are selling light bulbs to you for near the price it takes to get that light bulb to you. For a supposed conspiracy to extract profit out of consumers, it's a rather poor one in that case.

[@aggbak1]

Phoebus cartel

[@blarbdude]

Would it be possible for you or an equally brilliant individual to design your own Dubai lamp that someone like pcbway (for example) could produce? It really pisses me off that I can only buy intentionally overdriven bulbs that are designed to fail.

[@alittlebitintellectual7361]

Thats.... Actually not a bad idea

[@radnukespeoplesminds]

Honestly i think it may be easier to just use led strips with your own driver circuit.

[@rogerhargreaves2272]

I think it really bothers most of us that follow Clives channel Chris.

[@thejll]

Kickstarter?

[@BG101UK]

My thoughts too. In fact when the lamps in this and other videos are modified in this way they are an equivalent, really.

[@jamesbrown4092]

I can attest to how sensitive LED lights are to leakage current. I installed one of those pie plate fixtures at a friend's house, and it dimly glowed when the switch was off. The first thing I did was check the switch, but that didn't help. I eventually found out that the 'professional' electrician who installed the branch circuit had reversed the live and neutral at the GFI breaker. The capacitive coupling between the always live circuit board and the grounded pie plate was enough to make the LEDs glow. When I told my friend the wires were reversed, he still insisted that it must be a faulty switch. I told him it couldn't possibly be the switch, and when he asked why, I pointed to a nearby table and said, "Because there it is, sitting on the table."

[@CountryGeek-hr8tk]

That just makes it a night light, right? Aside from the fact that everything in that house has very questionable safety!! ⚡⚡🔥

[@LazerLord10]

This makes me want to pop off the domes of the cree lights I have, as I have them in enclosures that can have a diffuser put on for videography purposes. I may also do a low-power mod so that they last forever.

[@supergeekjay]

"I may also do a low-power mod so that they last forever" I take it you're a guy after my own heart who turns his monitor and TV brightness down to extend lamp life? So many people don't and they last 2 years before needing service!

[@Chromwel-A]

SuperJames 1985 what does it mean?

[@supergeekjay]

@@Chromwel-A Running LED's too bright shortens their life. If you run them dimmer, they work longer :)

[@Chromwel-A]

SuperJames 1985 thank you. Eh, by the way, is LED tv also like that?

[@supergeekjay]

@@Chromwel-A Yes. Find setting in your TV menu for brightness, or backlight, and turn it down to 75%. :)

[@aamiddel8646]

Hi, You are 'playing' a lot with lights. Maybe it's time to invest in a lumen or light meter so you can also measure the lumen output on top of the wattage.

[@karenripley3678]

.. and a Colour-Temperature meter

[@bobvogt9750]

Check out KZbin channel elctron update. His old videos used a photocell to measure light output which would be pretty cheap to do.

[@stinkycheese804]

If you want lumen measurements, perhaps YOU should invest in a lumen meter. Frankly it's not all that important, if you just cross reference the LED datasheet, measure current, consult the datasheet graph and derate for temperature, then you can get "close enough" where it's more trivial what % off you are.

[@kaydog890]

@ Stinky Cheese, op had a solid suggestion that to date, 75 people agree with. By show of lack of likes your comment will get, I think the majority would vote you fuck right off.

[@roughshaf7321]

@@stinkycheese804 good luck finding LED datasheets of Chinese LED lamps.

[@telephony]

Interesting way to prolong the life of these lamps!!! 💖

[@d.t.4523]

Keep your diode in a vise! 👍

[@DTronicsUK]

Just did this to one of mine (9W Status brand) and it has dropped the light levels down to levels that are much more comfortable, great advice

[@proloftz]

Calculator tricks from the 80's on the video card...nice.

[@davestorm6718]

Interesting stuff. I've had issues with Sylvania, Philips and Walmart (and every un-branded bulb I've bought so far): They fail in an odd sort of way by, ultimately, randomly blinking off and doing so very annoyingly once on for a few minutes. The only brand, so far, that has not done this (nor failed early - as of yet) are the GE LED bulbs. I run them 24/7 pretty much.

[@aoeuidhtnsnthdiueoa]

13:27 it's still a resistor... it just has higher resistance now :)

[@BarneySaysHi]

1:41 I really heard "High 'n die". Maybe it's appropriate since you mentioned these things are designed to cook themselves to death.

[@Smartlion1]

Tgis is an alternate title

[@eightbit3342]

Hey Clive. Just made a modification to an ASDA bulb similar to the ones show in you video and now it runs much better, thank you so much :). This particular bulb is the 14w version sold by ASDA and was running incredibly hot. I managed to remove the plastic cover by clasping it and twisting and it came of without deforming it and it pops back on with no trouble which is very pleasing. The circuit itself is basically two of the same circuit running on one board, each circuit had a 43 ohm resistor and then a 91 ohm resistor in place of the 56. Working with the calculation you used to reach the value of 24.32, (R1XR2/R1+R2), i found that removing the 43 ohm would run the unit at around 4.5 watts and removing the 91 ohm would leave the unit running at around 9.5 watts. I removed the 91 ohm resistor and now the bulb runs just as bright as a stock 10w bulb but with a lot less heat, bright enough to light up my workspace and will no doubt last much longer. Love the channel and congrats again on 750k subscribers, cant wait for the next live stream, much love from Sheffield, 8-bit.

[@christopherwiley5859]

80085 on the calculator in the thumbnail? Clive, you're having too much fun at work. Knockitoff. :)

[@zaqway]

I have bought six 50W workshop lamps from China couple of months ago, which turned out to be using the same current regulating chips. They were grilling the LEDs at close to 1W each, while the max allowable for them should be 0.5W. Unsurprisingly, all of them failed within a month of use - each one had a black spot of death on one of the LEDs. I have managed to find the spec sheet for the current regulating chip, added suitable resistors to limit the current, bridged out the dead LEDs and the lights are back to working order again, drawing less than 20W now. Now, this is the part where I thank you Clive for putting your videos out there, encouraging tinkering with electronics and explaining everything in an incredibly approachable manner. Without this I would have never even though it would be possible for me to reverse engineer this circuit, repair the lights and possibly even make them more reliable. Thank you!

[@EngineeringVignettes]

_Crushing one with Big Clive_ has a whole new meaning now... Cheers,

[@m80116]

Inseparable: one man and his HOPI... Nice special. Can't get tired of these.

[@carlyonbay45]

01:20. *Something worthy of note * Asda was sold back to a U.K. company in October 2020 - it is NOT a branch of Walmart anymore .

[@masteryoda394]

Great information, thanks

[@subg9165]

oh yeah, i forgot about that! i remember hearing it on the news at some point but forgot about it until now

[@sgilb9471]

I'm curious how the circuitry is different inside a "dimmable" LED lamp. Are they different/interesting enough to do a video on dimmable lamps?

[@nicholasweiss4662]

They actually can use almost the same circuit but with a different current regulator chip. I just opened some lamps today that had the chip called bp5131h which is not dimmable. But this chip has sort of a bigger brother called BP5132H which is triac dimmable and only requires connecting an additional sense pin and one additional ground connection but it comes in the same sop8 package. My guess is that the BP5132H is marginally more expensive and thus not used in these bulbs. Also manufacturers love to keep cheap to implement commodity functions for more expensive product lines as a means of product segmentation.

[@sgilb9471]

@@nicholasweiss4662 Thanks for the information and response to my rather old question!

[@samuelschwager]

Lamp manufacturers hate this trick!

[@rexsceleratorum1632]

Anyone who actually clicks on a link which says this should be summarily shot

[@jacob1121]

No kidding better stock up before they change the design.

[@MrThebigbill]

Incandescent is not even phased out yet and they are already all in in the cheaping out bandwagon, just imagine when they get rid of the olde boi they'll basically sell you a shell filled with dirt at a premium and sue you if you open it, no thats already Apple.

[@KaiserTom]

No they don't. This is just a method to maximize lumens per LED while staying within a defined lifespan. The consumer that cares purely about efficiency and lifespan is not their target market, but instead the consumers that care purely about cost of the bulb, which this would minimize by using less LEDs for the same lumen output for a lifespan most consumers would be fine with.

[@ironpirate8]

@@rexsceleratorum1632 Well, maybe not shot, but definitely Rick rolled.

[@codebeat4192]

Howdi Clive! I take another approach to reduce the current and heat of the LED panels in this lamps and created "The Frankenstein" lamp. Did this with some 1 euro lamps from Ikea (model: Ryet LED 40W power consumption:4.2W). Maybe I plan to create an instructable for it. Use it for months now and works great! The idea is this: 1. Disassemble five lamps of the same kind (Ikea Ryet for example); 2. Take one controller board to use; 3. Attach all LED-panels in parallel to same controller board. Tada, your Frankenstein lamp is born. Result: Alot of light, no heat (1/5 of current), 5 light points, same wattage (4.2W)! I use this for months now in the kitchen. Created 5 spots with the LED-modules, use decent cabling and use one 'controller' to steer all of the LED-panels. It is awesome! A plus, power consumption saving. Normally when using 5 of the same Ryet lamps, the power consumption is: 5x4.2=21W. With the Frankenstein setup, it is only 4.2W! This setup reduces current (limited current ballanced between LED-panels), reduces heat and saves energy. Great idea to try on your channel.

[@LiLi-or2gm]

Use a hot-air source to soften the plastic for better deformability. Painting them black and drilling a bunch of tiny holes in them makes for a nice sparkly effect with neat projected light patterns!

[@jason200912]

What happens if you sprinkle it with glitter

[@Hadkek]

This is such a detailed video that stands out above the rest! Thank you so much for this!!

[@flaplaya]

Really liking the content of this channel. As a lighting electrician I was looking forward to LED A-19 Bulbs that last 100k hours. I personally change 10-20 every night in the 250 locations they are used. Absolutely junk. They strobe, they glow after being switched off, they die after a month. They don't come anywhere near the expected life. The overvoltage to the diode array exposed here is obviously the "1000 hr bulb cartel" alive and well. See you guys at the light bulb sales shelf next week.

[@davidf8749]

One of my LED bulbs failed last week and, based on your video, I had a look inside. The wire from the terminal going to the FR (?) had come off. A quick soldering job and I was back in business. Mine was a "Status" 9W bulb and had an 51R and 82R in parallel. Quick snip to take the 82R out and I have a reclaimed bulb which is less harsh. Your info has saved me a fiver (ker-ching!) :)

[@muzikman2008]

"..I'm not sure why they're doing...er...well..yeah...Money!..." as always Clive ;-) great hack, buy higher wattage, snip the resistor for longer life.

[@MyProjectBoxChannel]

Clipping a resistor! such a simple solution. I put a capacitor in line with the same bulb, to limit the current. But your solution is much simpler (elegant! Love it!) . I have a outdoor PIR lantern, running a modified bulb for years now.

[@FreezerBurn.]

Now to hack all 8 million LED lights in the house and piss the wife off when “the lights don’t look pretty anymore”!

[@mangomadness8635]

They are ugly

[@naotamf1588]

the first thing I allways do when getting new LED bulps is popping those covers off, some i just cut in half when I need a bit of difusion to the sides but generally I love the spotlight feature. now i am gonna make them last forever too. thanks clive!

[@harryshector]

My house ( a rental ) is fitted with numerous 60W equivalent LED bulbs, made by GE (China, of course). In any event, these have been failing at a great rate, after about a year of usage. I have taken a number of them apart, and they share the general construction shown in the ones you have in this video. These are 120V lamps, and have 8 LED devices in them. 7 of them operate at around 15 volts per chip, and one operates at about 9.6V. The failure is the same in every one of them that I have examined. One of the chips will develop a fault in which I think a bond wire becomes detached. If you press on the top surface of the chip, you can get the lamp to light, and it will remain lit until you turn it off. Reapplying power means you must press on the top of the defective chip again, and it will light. As you have indicated these chips are being driven very hard. This is probably contributing to this failure mechanism, although I don’t understand precisely how. I could probably return these to service by soldering a jumper across the failed chip, and cutting one of the sense resistors off the substrate. It would work by just jumpering the failed chip, but this would push the current regulator harder, and then it would just fail.

[@thoughtguardian]

Just wanted to comment again and say I very much enjoyed this video. Being able to watch the math happen live paired with the questions stated before any pens hit paper really helped me learn. Plus, it was entertaining!! Thanks for the wonderful video.

[@StuReedy]

I love the "kink palculator." Weeeeeeeeeeee!

[@telephony]

...and the, "dashing pink lampholder" 🤗

[@bluephreakr]

An accidental spoonerism which became a channel mainstay. One could say Clive got spooned and loved it.

[@tahirsutube]

Me too! Love it! 😊❤️

[@LazerLord10]

hmm... I wonder if there are clear potting resins that could be poured into the front of those de-domed lights to make them less death-tastic.

[@jamesbrown4092]

I was thinking a disk of clear acrylic would do the job.

[@bigclivedotcom]

I've 3D printed some caps.

[@stinkycheese804]

Meh, I have a de-globed bulb in my desk lamp right now and have only electrocuted myself to death a handful of times, not some high #! However, if you really wanted to, you could simply get some glass lenses and silicone caulking or epoxy them back on. Here is a question: How often do you find yourself poking a sealed bulb otherwise? It's not on my top 10 list, but I do accept that some people have children or pets, but then simply don't use de-globed bulbs in areas they can access.

[@tdtrecordsmusic]

Lately a new favorite tool of mine is using a tube of silicone and a paint brush. For waterproofing PC fans for use inside water bins, but it is also useful as an insulator. The silicone easily rubs off the paintbrush if u get it b4 it is all the way dry. I thought of this b/c I got some of those halloween ultrasonic fog makers and to my surprise the aluminum was pitting and not only decomposing , but making a mess. Paint it with silicone. Yes it works great.

[@stinkycheese804]

@@tdtrecordsmusic There seems to be some disconnect. "Silicone" is not a single thing, did you mean rubber, caulking, grease, oil, or ??? I'd assume caulking since you mentioned "dry", but there is no real need to use a mucky mess like caulking to paint something when... get ready for it... that's why paint exists, and, typical silicone caulking has either an acid or alkaline cure, neither of which is ideal for bare aluminum. You can get "sensor safe" neutral cure RTV, in automotive stores among other places, but it is quite a bit more expensive, and you waste quite a bit since it is impossible to get as thin a uniform layer on as you can with paint.

[@phils4634]

It is amazing (but not unexpected) to see how simpler the "mains" LED Lamps have become, yet their durability does seem a lot better (even got the 240v downlight versions where everything is in such a tiny space!)

[@ProlificInvention]

You make electronics an enjoyable subject, I thank you.

[@markpunt9638]

Remember - the manufacturers didn’t choose to make LED lamps they were forced to make the switch from incandescent which had a relatively short lifespan, so not surprisingly the new LED ones are created to replicate this

[@MrDuncl]

They actually chose to but weren't expecting to find themselves competing with LED bulbs sold in Poundland. Have a look at the Philips L prize LED lamp. With its massive heatsink I would guess most are still working fine. Unfortunately the third generation without fins weren't much better than these cheap ones despite being much heavier. Five out of the six |I bought developed the same annoying occasional flickers within three years

[@mangomadness8635]

Also, led sold for $3, manufactured for $15, the government subsidizes the $12.

[@Flojer0]

If your fingers can reach around everything while gripping the crush is stronger between the "heels" of the hand. It's a great party trick cracking walnuts with your bare hands.

[@StephenGarrett_NZ]

Nice! Our LED bulb is way too bright in the hall so gave this a go. 9w bulb with a 30 and 68 resistors. Popped out the 30. Nice soft warm light now, still plenty bright.

[@dlloyd6300]

would drilling several small holes in the plastic bulb have a measurable effect on improving longevity by allowing a cooling airflow?

[@bigclivedotcom]

It could, but would also allow dust ingress.

[@Deebz270]

One always looks forward to an engaging, pleasant evening's entertainment.

[@jetlaw_1]

I think there is another reason that the capacitor is on the back of the board: it’s huge! If it was on the front of the board it would be in front of the LEDs and cast a shadow when the bulb was powered on.

[@CountryGeek-hr8tk]

I found a Walmart bulb here in the US, the '5 year life, 60 W equivalent', that has the cap on top of the board. Although it is laying down. It is a through hole electrolytic with the leads bent and used as surface mount. Also they had two identical resistors. They hacked just fine though. Then again in the 12 pack they are less than $1 USD each.

[@darkknight145]

I always have a chuckle with lamps when they quote "last up to 15,00 hours" or "last up to 5 years" on their boxes, even if they only last 1 hour they've met these statements.

[@TheLondonCyclist]

The special words 'up to' lol

[@h.Freeman]

I knew I wasn't crazy...I'm not an electronics expert but I knew my LEDs didn't last as long as my incandescents

[@bubba99009]

And it gets even worse when they use really cheap capacitors or LEDs that are on their way out before they even get soldered to the board.

[@Azlehria]

@Rob I have a whole bunch of LED lamps that work perfectly fine - but they're less than half as bright as the new ones I replaced them with. The real problem with LEDs for me is that they don't (usually) _fail_ outright, they just get slowly dimmer and dimmer until one day you start wondering why you have headaches all the time, realize it's from eyestrain, and pony up for some new bulbs. And then you feel like you're wasting money because they still _work,_ but those headaches . . ..

[@rick_.]

The early Philips bulbs I bought about 10 years ago still work. Mind you, I paid about $25 each for them on sale. The newer ones I have cost about $1 each, and seem to last two or three years if they get past the first month or so. Early failure rate is about 10%. FWIW are on 120V supply here.

[@MrDuncl]

@@rick_. Are those the ones with heatsinks up the side like the L prize bulb ? It is well known that electronics hate heat, so a decent heatsink will give a big improvement in life.

[@jackwilson5542]

Yeah same here, they seem to fail after 6 months-year of normal use despite the fact they are "rated for 25000 hours". On the other hand, one of these led bulbs lasted us 20 years and it is still going. (It is one of the old ones where you have to wait like 3 minutes until it gets to full brightness) The newer ones are definitely manufactured with planned obsolescence in mind, like incandescent were after manufacturers found out planned obsolescence is good for long-term profit.

[@MrGeoffHilton]

Nice one Clive, I'll have a go at this, I'm fairly fed up of replacing led bulbs, they either last ages or a couple of weeks.

[@brianlance]

so THAT'S how you get the covers off. I've been cutting them off.

[@rupert274]

Clive smash!

[@jermcrow]

Yes me too lol!!!!! leave it to Clive to figure it out. "just smash the crap outa them it will pop off then" LOVE IT!!!!

[@Termiic]

You can just cut around the bottom edge of the cover and open them up by swiveling 90 degrees to the side.

[@masteryoda394]

Yes, try and focus the force on one side, they come off quite well

[@Termiic]

@@masteryoda394 Do. Or do not. There is no try.

[@groenendiek]

It seems that removing the plastic bulb cover would also increase a LED bulbs life span because the heat would not be trapped in a small space. That would be an interesting thing to test, how hot do led lamps get with and without their bulb on?

[@3333927]

This makes a huge difference. With the cover, you have a temperature of about 75 °C or more. If you remove it, the temperature is at least 15 °C lower. But it's dangerous to remove the cover. Instead you can drill many holes into it, thus no one could accidentally touch the circuit. You even can drill many holes into the base for better cooling. I've done that and it makes a huge change. Combined with lowering the wattage your led bulb may last decades. xD

[@Khansins]

​@@3333927make holes in cover but the problem is in when the lamp is in kitchen because humid air led stop working well after some time

[@FluffyTheGryphon]

I wired up my house with LED-friendly dimmers and bought a bunch of dimmable recessed LED lights that were brighter than I needed. I have them dimmed to the appropriate brightness in my house. They should last longer, right? Or does it not work that way due to how LEDs dim?

[@luminousveiws]

LED dimming is done several ways. But overall, running less power means running cooler and therefore longer.

[@colinoverton790]

I wonder if you're really using less power or just warming circuit components?

[@bigclivedotcom]

They should last longer. Especially if you used the correct type of dimmer.

[@johnpossum556]

@@bigclivedotcom Yes!

[@user-neo71665]

The light will last longer but you moved the weak point to the dimmer. Decide which one is cheaper to replace.

[@nickjohnson2570]

Just set up my JBL L100 classics with a nice amp and your audio quality there is OUTSTANDING compared to a lot of youtubers! You also have a nice easy to listen to voice in my opinion as well. luv your channel

[@adan7949]

Everything seems to be designed to fail nowadays, scary stuff

[@christophersheffield9574]

It’s called planned obsolescence. Companies do it to keep their revenues up. In fact, the original light bulb manufacturers are the OGs at it. They made planned obsolescence an art.

[@milandavid7223]

Oops, the ice caps melted... anyway your printer is out of ink

[@myownwebsite0000]

I checked a 16 Led bulb with power supply here in the US, and each Led is about 8vdc full brightness. It is possible to cut one out in grid down and hook it up to a car battery with a resistor to limit the current. Save blown out bulbs.

[@HappyHarryHardon]

Hands like vices...I’m listening.

[@masteryoda394]

Mine are even stronger,I took the top off even without bending the plastic to too much

[@dmo848]

Hahaha

[@cyclesaviorn2700]

Two words.. power lineman

[@texastboneking]

Just found your channel a few weeks ago and I've been binge watching your content. I've learned a lot and enjoy the approach you take on explaining electronics. If you ever make your way to Texas you get a few beers on me :p

[@filenotfound__3871]

I totally agree with the calculator in the thumbnail.

[@jimlagraff4989]

Mine is glass, was glass, I thought it was toast after it smashed. The led disc slid off in my shop. When I found the disc it slid right back on and still works several years later. Better cooling helps in certain.

[@4k8t]

Just a thought. Have you ever measured how hot the heat dissipation portion of an LED bulb gets for an unmodified and a modified version of the bulb? I know that the base of the FEIT bulbs I use gets very hot and when you mention that the bulb you hacked should run cooler, I wonder what that might mean, roughly?

[@carlfranz6805]

Lurid yellow light. Love his vocabulary.

[@wallrunner87]

Would there be a benefit to getting higher wattage bulbs than you want and modify then to run cooler?

[@bigclivedotcom]

Yes they will last longer.

[@COBARHORSE1]

Greater efficiency and they last longer, so greater economy in two ways

[@yCherkashin]

Just made my Semicom Safety 15W lamp into, what looks like, about 4W to the eye. Lovely. Thanks, Clive!

[@KaiserTom]

Not a conspiracy. What basically happened is management determined a set of criteria for the light bulb to fulfill, lifespan hours being one of them, as well as cost being as low as possible. Engineering then goes and designs the light bulb, realizes their design lasts far longer than it needs to, and proceeds to design it to "sacrifice" lifespan in order to pump out more lumens with less LEDs by essentially "overclocking" them, reducing overall materials and manufacturing costs for the light bulb while still meeting the same lifespan and lumens requirements from management. Some of these light bulbs are just engineered to meet certain criteria that not every consumer falls under. Most consumers just want the cheapest possible light bulb, which this would deliver. However if you want a longer lasting or more efficient LED bulbs, there are light bulbs out there for you if you are willing to pay that extra cost for those criteria and/or willing to deal with less lumen output. Just because the popular ones are engineered to these specific criteria that you don't like doesn't mean that others don't exist that you can't buy if you look for it and are willing to pay the fair price for it. Despite popular belief, profit margins on basic consumer goods like light bulbs are not high. It's literally about 5%. Most companies are selling light bulbs to you for near the price it takes to get that light bulb to you. For a supposed conspiracy to extract profit out of consumers, it's a rather poor one in that case.

[@unequally-tempered]

The afterglow on LEDs can be not because of leakage in switching but in capacitive coupling between wires on a two way switch lighting circuit

[@BorliBear-acqua]

@bigclivedotcom just want to thank you for your interesting videos in a very friendly manner. Well done. THANK YOU!

[@ianhosier4042]

I think.i would have given in to the temptation to touch the various components to see how hot they got after the mods. Well done Clive for resisting and avoiding a shocking surprise.

[@eDoc2020]

I've done that to my own modified lamps. I unplug them first.

[@BedsitBob]

A kink palculator sounds like some kind of S&M device.

[@edinfific2576]

I have opened many LED bulbs, but I don't crush them. Instead, I place a sharp knife between the dome and the body of the bulb, press enough to make it sink at least a little bit, and roll the bulb on a table while doing that. That will give you a nice separation without damaging or destroying anything. You just need to go slowly and gently, and be careful not to cut yourself or break off a component (like an electrolytic capacitor). You can later re-attach the dome with some sort of glue or silicone if you want diffused light, but my rough estimate is that the light output is 20-30% higher without the dome. I have done the same modifications to LED bulbs to reduce their power and make them more efficient, less hot and lasting longer. Greetings from Bosnia!

[@simonhopkins3867]

Cink palculator... Lol

[@brocktechnology]

I've recently discovered that the hot air rework is brilliant for moding plastic things, most of these electronic enclosures are ABS, 130C takes most of the fight out of it without changing the surface finish. With solid temp control you can let the heat soak right through without getting any damage. I like to mount the wand on a magic arm so I can work in the air stream with both hands.

[@Vilvaran]

"... and no switchmode power supply." *sad joule thief noises*

[@uxwbill]

I've been popping the covers off with a mallet, which worked very quickly and did little damage in most cases. I enjoyed the play on words with the calculator. Had to go back and hear it again, to be sure I'd heard it right.

[@dogwalker666]

Actually Walmart after wrecking ASDA have sold it off to the Issa Brothers for £6.8bn

[@mitchahbw]

😲

[@SigEpBlue]

I love the idea of leaving live mains exposed on a chandelier. Certainly more fun at parties! 🍸⚡🤪

[@stinkycheese804]

If your guests are pulling bulbs out of chandeliers at your parties, they must be meth smoking parties!

[@damlitproductions8126]

"I always twist it off" "Never had one fail" "It feels like it aint twisting ,then it just pops off with a pop" "The White Stuffs only weak point is twisting, it will fight back all other methods used..

[@timsjourney]

It is always satisfying popping bubble wrap or denting plastic globes; simple, cheap stress relief.

[@diegopicadidot8948]

Swearing at the phone seems to be customary on British Columbia, just like whispering love words in French to hens and japanese tools.

[@Zenodilodon]

Clive doesn't love lamp, he just crushes them.

[@Vidar_Odinson]

I too am an unusual shape, but still work.

[@phils4634]

Once one "gets past a certain age" this seems to be the general case . . . :-D

[@rpdom]

Thank you Clive. I bought a couple of lamps from Poundland this week and had a look inside after watching your video. They have changed from using capacitive droppers to the current regulator ships, so I snipped off the large of the two resistors in each to make them last longer. I had noticed how Poundland's LED bulbs don't have a very long life span and tend to form the Black Dots of Death after a year or two. I'm now wondering how many watts those current regulators can cope with. Currently (aha!) Poundland only seem to go to 6W. Maybe now they'll go higher. They seem a bit dim compared to the old incandescents where I used to use bulbs from 40W to 275W for various things around the house.

[@rpdom]

Actually, what would be interesting is to measure the actual light output of each lamp, both before and after modification and see how it stands up to its Lumen rating. Also how are those A+ "Energ" ratings calculated?

[@FinehomesofNewHampshire]

"Stylish lamps" 😆

[@deadking13]

Best video about hack LED lamps on the interwebs

[@steveroberts1861]

Did you say cink palculator ?

[@bigclivedotcom]

Yes I did.

[@RODALCO2007]

Great video, Thanks Clive.

[@PoeticDeath]

Yea a lightbulb that lasts for ever cant make money so they designed them to fail after so long so you buy more

[@Broken_Yugo]

Or the simpler explanation, less emitters driven harder=lower BOM cost. The modern corporate environment isn't that forward thinking. Potential repeat sales are an additional bonus. In any event the problem will only go away if standards are made and enforced for the lifespan claims, something like the the hours claim have to state time to 80% nameplate output running in a room temp environment. Or/And the lifespan outright regulated.

[@PoeticDeath]

@@Broken_Yugo imo that is truly more conspiratorial explanation that I used but is kind of true to a point but I know it's not the whole explanation

[@Broken_Yugo]

@@PoeticDeath Minimizing production cost of a product in a competitive low margin market is a conspiracy?

[@maartenyzer4121]

allways was en will be

[@Termiic]

I've been doing this exact thing, having access to loads of free dead ones. I usually solder off one of the resistors and short-circuit the burnt-out led. And -voila- they work again.

[@stinkycheese804]

Sure, IF that is the failure point, they work again, for a little while, on a 3/4ths worn out bulb worth 20 cents. Your time is worth more than that, unless it is a large, rare bulb.

[@Termiic]

@@stinkycheese804 this time it is not about how much it costs or is worth, but about the principe! If boxes and boxes of them are being thrown out, not lasting even half a year, then first i would like to punch some chinese designer in the face and THEN make the LEDs pay their horrible price by making them last forever! Otherwise we're gonna trash the planet for good this time.

[@thomasmoore4576]

These so called wi-fi boosters is it anyway you could tell one of them apart and tell us if those things actually work so we don't waste our money 💰

[@diamondfailer11]

It's quite obvious they are a scam. There is no such thing as an internet booster. Your ADSL/Fibre connection is capped by your provider already. Feel like your speeds are slowing down when you're away from your router? Get a good quality WiFi repeater. This WiFi booster thing seems to be a crappy repeater. Tip to everyone in this comment section: Anytime you see one of those "50 dollar device takes (insert your Country/City here) by storm" ads, just ignore it. I can guarantee you it's either a scam or overpriced.

[@munjee2]

The modern art museums are coming for these

[@laustinspeiss]

Now you’ve got the cover off, you can UNcrush them! 🤡

[@andysutcliffe3915]

I bought a load of ‘smart’ led bulbs following your video on them ages ago. The battery backed up ones, and I’ve never had any others fail yet to use them. My old flat blew bulbs all the time, I don’t think any led ones have failed since I moved into my house 7-8 years ago and replaced all the old buzzing, or take 5 minutes to warm up to where you can see, economy bulbs that the previous owner used. When you say they are designed to fail, I don’t seem to have any of those.

[@schogaia]

How did no one mention that the calculator spells "boobs"? I'm very disappointed of this community!

[@niclaskarlin]

First thing I noted!

[@frostlynreyes]

Oooo can't wait to see what's next. This channels the reason why I continue to tinker and make projects.

[@daviddavidson2357]

"Wear gloves and make sure they're not glass" I'm on my way to get stitches now because I put on gloves which I were sure contained no glass at all and crushed a glass bulb. Thanks Clive!

[@benbaselet2026]

I'm now interested... to apply heat to the domes of my LED bulbs and seeing how I can deform them while hot :-) Or just chopping the dome off entirely and running these without it in protected enclosures for much better cooling.

[@stinkycheese804]

I often take the globes off lamps that look similar including the attachment method. I don't need to crush the globes at all, just to put on grippy rubber gloves then twist the two pieces apart. I do have strong hands, but not as large as yours so I think you an advantage there. I prefer them with the globes off for less light lost, and less heat buildup, as long as not placed in a location where moisture or kids or animals get exposed to what is sometimes borderline high voltage, depending on # of LEDs in series. However, usually when I twist them off as described above, they can be put back on and will stay on quite well from the grip of the silastic-whatever sealant, though I don't have confidence that the junction is still waterproof.

[@brucewilliams6292]

Very nice video. What causes the lamps to flicker on and off rapidly?

[@rupert274]

I did this with a well-vented corn cob style bulb (156 LED: was 10 W, now 5 W) I just bought, thanks! I've been holding off buying LED bulbs because our supply of decent (Philips) CFLs has lasted so long but with this easy mod I can replace my mother's bulbs and she'll never need to worry about one breaking. Dooby lamps for all!

[@jakeblanton6853]

I've found that chucking up the bulb in a lathe and using a parting tool to cut just slightly outward from the joint between the translucent "globe" and the plastic coated metal base that acts as a heat sink makes it very easy to remove... And if you want to remove the round LED board, doing the same thing just back from that cut works well also... Of course, the bulb isn't really useable after that, but it works quite well for easily disassembling the unit when you want to see what might have failed...

[@dericn]

9:54 "Philips, not a sponsor" Nice SMA reference

[@therealchayd]

Clive just needs an excuse to use brake cleaner now...

[@j5892000]

An excellent resistor removal choice. Get the best . Lower current but also resistor chosen will last longer then the other smaller one

[@MichaelJantzen42]

I know surface mount is super scary to everyone, but a super mega easy way to remove smc components is just to use two soldering irons (like hot tweezers, but without the cost).