Exploring an eBay "mine" light (flicker alert)

[@Whatiwantedwastaken]

You sir really are a gentleman with your flicker warnings. Your teardowns are inspiring a love of all things technical in my kids, one of whom unfortunately has photosensitive epilepsy. Thank you for being considerate in your warnings 🙂

[@gregorythomas333]

I would like to see a test of each of the lights at full power (outside for safety) with the thermal camera to see how hot they will get over time...and if they will actually melt the front.

[@dcallan812]

Yes that would make a great video. my thought was will the rain help or hinder the cooling?

[@jasonshulme]

Totally agree this would be a great video too. Would also be interesting to see the temperature difference running them at 25%, 50% etc.

[@Stoneman06660]

That heat is felt radiating from the panel is just frightening. I'm in Australia, and LED light burnout is a real problem, and shortens their life considerably. I'm sure this has a lot to do with stressing the LEDs to their limit and then with ambient temperatures pushing 40 degC, they roast. Pull a failed globe apart and sure enough one LED will have dirty great black spot in it, and others will have brown patches or small black spots. Remove the most damaged LED and the globe works again. Magic! As a result, all the LED battens I have are now doctored (Big Clive style, thanks mate!) to ensure they're never warm to the touch with an ambient temperature of 25 degC. They still feel warm when it's 40 degC+, but so does f'n everything else too!

[@lunchie80]

@@Stoneman06660 fellow Aussie here, yet to have a single non-ebay bulb fail. I just use Philips stuff(normal and a lot of hue) and zero failures, even when installed in outdoor fixtures and even full sun. Previous industrial workplace also had gone through the "let's replace every light with cheaper led options" and they dropped like flies. Switched to decent stuff (the smaller flood lights they ended up installing also happened to be Philips Smartbright) and zero failures in years. The quality of light was hugely better as a bonus. The explosion-rated LED fluoro batten replacements also had zero failures in years, some in close proximity to rather hot furnaces etc. With led, quality is everything

[@JosephLedbetter]

+1 Yeah me too.

[@mikeselectricstuff]

6:04 maybe the 6V/3V numbers for 220/110v are part numbers for LEDs with 6 or 3 die respectively

[@threeMetreJim]

More likely the LED forward voltage as Clive mentions each LED having 2 chips in the 220V version.

[@Muonium1]

Important to note that when you "feel the heat coming off of them" you sort of, actually, well, ...aren't. You're feeling the pure visible light radiation being converted to heat upon absorption when it hits your hand. That's an important difference. I think because we're of a certain age we just tend to revert to thinking of things in terms of our experiences with incandescent lamps of days gone by where there was a large component of easily detected-by-skin infrared light being radiated both by the filament itself AND the insanely hot bulb glass surface, especially if it was a halogen. But here, the LEDs are at ambient temperature (particularly for these very short on times), and so you're feeling visible radiation only. I noticed this recently with a high power true UV 365nm LED - it's beam is shockingly hot on the skin the instant it turns on, primarily because the penetration depth of UV on the skin is so shallow that almost all the radiation is being converted to heat right exactly where the concentration of thermally sensitive nerve endings are most numerous. Incidentally this is why blue laser pointers are so much more dangerous than red even at the same output power, the red retina will permit a large portion of a red or infrared beam to pass right through and be absorbed over a large volume of tissue resulting in fairly slow heating, a blue laser will be immediately and fully absorbed in the first millimeter of retinal tissue volume causing instantaneous rapid heating and burns.

[@IanDarley]

Yes this is a thing, I used to work with display lasers (around 5W CW) and they can burn holes in things from a considerable distance away, however, this thing was dissipating 300W so that metalwork will get extremely toasty, probably hot enough to burn skin.

[@greensteve9307]

Well said.

[@FerralVideo]

I've noticed this phenomenon in my ultra high performance flashlight. 5000L full power, I can feel the "heat" from the light long before the body of the flashlight begins heating up. Also thank you for that warning, I'll have to be even more careful with my high power blue etching laser. No using it without my safety glasses period.

[@Speeder84XL]

Yes - visible light generates similar levels of heat as typical IR "heat radiation", but usually the intensity is so low that there is no heat felt (the eye is quite sensitive to light). But for strong LEDs like this, there is so much light coming off that the light getting absorbed by the skin is enough to feel the heat at close range. Same thing applies for sunlight (part of what felt as heat is IR and UV, but most of it is the high intensity visible light getting absorbed)

[@ketas]

the light intensity from high power led flashlight is enough to burn paper sheet crazy how bright leds are now also, when he turned 300w led on, it somehow did sting my eyes too. despite this is amoled screen. samsung galaxy note 8, below 50% brightness, vertical video orientation actually my experiments with bright light started with xenon photo flash. i played with them and didn't get how they affect close objects since it's just light right?

[@Slikx666]

And it's interesting to hear the EMP when you shorted out the cap on the big light. 😀👍

[@gloomyblackfur399]

You mentioned it briefly, but I'd really worry about these unsmoothed linear regulator LED lamps in industrial environments. They could make moving AC motors appear to "stand still". It could pose a fatality risk.

[@McEefers69]

I can’t believe how close you are to 1 MIL! Keep it up man we all love your videos!

[@KeritechElectronics]

Mine light, hmmm... looks like a mine (with no explosives though) more than something you'd install in mines or other areas with an elevated explosion hazard.

[@skunkjobb]

Yeah, no ATEX-certification on that one. Interesting thing about ATEX and LED is that some LED:s are so powerful that the light itself (especially when focused by a lens and when the light from several LED:s converge in the same point) can be an ignition hazard. It's then not enough with a gas tight enclosure, armature cooling etc. but you also have to measure the light intensity at different distances from the armature to see that it's safe for ATEX use.

[@getyerspn]

AHH flicker..the bane of my life...LEDs lights are a minefield when it comes to machine shops... A lot of tool shop lighting is still tungsten filament...even some of the better led lamps have problems when the lathe's/ mills are running at certain speeds it's not uncommon to see led highbays with tungsten lamps affixed to the machines to give strobe free lighting... On industrial printers we do use led but they're bloomin expensive as they're really really well smoothed and very very good CRi and they have to remain unchanged in brightness and CRi even when it's hot or cold.

[@tubastuff]

LED Christmas tree lights are my curse. To my eyes, they flicker like mad, even at a distance. Some auto head- and tail-lights do likewise.

[@wirenutt57]

Here across the pond, "mine light" does not produce anything of interest, however, "UFO light" produces page after page of these, from $30 for 100W to $90 for 500W.

[@kevvywevvywoo]

im from the UK and we've always called them UFO lights

[@chinanorthairguns]

One of those big suckers running at full power, hooked to a motion sensor, and mounted horizontally by my front door could be just the thing to discourage night time visitors.

[@Ea-Nasir_Copper_Co]

And cause drivers passing by to go into seizure and crash. I'm not sure if your insurance would cover that.

[@chinanorthairguns]

@@Ea-Nasir_Copper_Co Be pretty unlikely someone is driving through my property. My door does not face a road.

[@aaronletchford]

This is why I love this channel you can learn so much, and I love the way you just strip things down and work it all out, not that my brain can remember it all 🤣 cheers Clive 👊

[@plasmaburndeath]

This is so neat, you could use them as a backup method for cooking those M.R.E.'s that you enjoy now and then 😀

[@BRUXXUS]

Shame about the flicker. If these didn't have the flicker, and were not so overdriven I could see a LOT of useful applications for them.

[@teardowndan5364]

The panels come out at less than 1W per LED chip, not necessarily overdriven at all depending on what chips are being used. The power density definitely looks like these things would at the very least require forced convection for continuous max power. If the linear regulators used in there are similar to other current limiters for direct off-the-line lighting, the current should get throttled back as regulator temperature rises above threshold to keep temperature in check.

[@ehsnils]

Just feed them with a lower voltage and you should be good for a long time.

[@rexsceleratorum1632]

I guess these are dimmable though.

[@andygozzo72]

@@ehsnils or cap in series, 😉

[@frogz]

i STILL see alot of useful applications, especially if you modify them and their drive circuits

[@rogerhargreaves2272]

Maybe they are used in autonomous Lighthouses? I wonder what they use these days? Thanks Clive for another great lamp share.😀

[@rimmersbryggeri]

Probably discharge lamps. They last foever and the reflector are made for them.

[@licensetodrive9930]

When this baby hits 88 watts you're going to see some serious shine.

[@BunnyKins1970]

Given the leakage issue, it could be called a 'Mine Lamp' because it can suddenly kill or injure with no warning. 😁 💚🐇🐴💚

[@mrnmrn1]

Also, if you buy it, it becomes yours. So you can call it "mine" . OK, I'm out.

[@wherami]

I liked your rigging of it to show how to lower the power consumption. very informative.

[@cyberhornthedragon]

clive i wanted to say thank you because ive been watching you when i ran into a power regulator chip on an LED barn light (dusk to dawn) that had failed from how it was behaving i knew it wasnt getting its feedback to the chip sure enough one of the surface mount resistors had popped loose one of its connections the thermal expansion and contraction of the aluminum board id guess used a heat gun to heat the area reflowed the soldier been working fine ever since

[@KrazyMitchAdventures]

Clive; some of us need more "Soda stream" videos

[@PicaDelphon]

Clive you Making a Herb Garden..??..

[@wrongtown]

A little garnish, as a treat 😏

[@phils4634]

"Indoor Gardening" can be fun. With the output from those lamps you'd be baking the plants before you got "baked" if you follow my line of thought!

[@alexmarshall4331]

I beg your pardon... I never promised you a rose garden 👉🚮👈

[@mindaugasse6605]

good stuff. question: can you cut out/remove few of these current regulators, to reduce power? for ex. leave 1 reg per section to cut power by 3. effectively leave 30w per whole fixture? 30w seems reasonable for that size?

[@CyberlightFG]

Yes, you can. Snip off the shunt resistor. Almost impossible to desolder.

[@ethanpoole3443]

@@CyberlightFG Not impossible, but you will need to first preheat the entire fixture to at least 100°C and use a rather high wattage hot air wand (or heat gun) or soldering iron as you have to swamp the component with heat faster than the underlying copper or aluminum substrate and heatsink can wick it away. Much like the challenge when reworking circuit boards with multiple solid ground and power planes, you have to overwhelm the ability of that substrate to wick away your heat in order to remove or install a component which makes preheating your best friend. Ideally one would at least want to remove the board from its heatsink, if possible, as that will help considerably.

[@BeezyKing99]

I wonder if your HV tester (insulation tester) would say something differently about the leakage to ground.... that is actually abysmally eerie knowing one would be "zinged" by one of these unknowingly.

[@brendanrandle]

guessing they're programming resistors near the regulators, can't just do the old snip one out to lower the power ?

[@CyberlightFG]

Yes, easiest way

[@markscheutzow3446]

I really enjoy your reviews (and failure analysis) of various products ranging from the decently engineered to the craptastic. Forewarned is forearmed. 👍

[@phils4634]

That's some light output. Similar wattage to that "folding panel" workshop / garage light you took to bits a few years back if my memory serves me!

[@ianhosier4042]

Interesting, a lamp that comes with a flickery dim setting. Couldn't they afford a capacitor to smooth the voltage going into the LEDs? I guess you get a nasty surprise if you touch the metal plate inside?

[@neilbain8736]

Running at 100 and 300 watts is scary. That's as expensive as previous generations of tungsten, halogen, sodium etc lighting they ought to have replaced.

[@anononomous]

Ignoring all the longevity/heat issues though, you still get a lot more light out of these for the same wattage, so it's not really compatible in running expense.

[@neilbain8736]

@@anononomous You certainly do but it's only good if you need all that extra light.

[@casemodder89]

@@anononomous if you take into account that these fixtures need replacing at least twice as often you dont save on operation cost AT ALL.

[@anononomous]

@@casemodder89 Like I said, "Ignoring all the longevity/heat issues...". If not run as hard as this there's no reason LEDs won't last a _long_ time and give more substantially light per watt while doing it (whatever brightness you require). This is not a case of _LEDs are not better_ , just that this implementation is poor. In the same way a poorly implemented _traditional_ light source would not be as efficient or long lasting as it could/should be either.

[@nathanlucas6465]

With that earth leakage, if you were to stick a 13A plug on it and stick it on a pat test machine, would it be high enough for it to fail?

[@ianrtait5721]

Great video as always. Very detailed and interesting technical commentary.

[@ronniepirtlejr2606]

Hey big Clive, I seen a video of a LED PCB board that was extremely efficient. It was around 8 months ago or so the video came out. The way He explained it was,... certain sections of the LED board would come on at different voltages of the sine wave & because of that it was more efficient then most LED PCB boards. I will try to find the video if you are interested?

[@bigclivedotcom]

I've featured the wave riding PCBs in the past. Basically a tapped LED string that is switched in increments to match the waveform voltage.

[@suamme1]

Now I need to see what the strobing in the room would look like with 3 fixtures on different legs of a 3-phase supply. Party time or smooth enough to be usable?

[@firstmkb]

Or even two on different legs of US 220V!

[@eDoc2020]

@@firstmkb Putting one on each leg of a US household 120/240V supply will not yield any benefit as they are exactly in phase. True three phase (120/208V in the US) will flicker at six times the line frequency. 360 or 300Hz should be plenty smooth enough to be undetectable by sight. Possibly more important than the frequency is the crest factor which is also reduced on three phase.

[@firstmkb]

@@eDoc2020 they’re out of phase. Each leg is 120v to neutral, but since they’re 180 degrees out of phase, you get 240V across them.

[@CAESARbonds]

decorative panels? the big one with 300 could be used to grow some herbs ;-)

[@Farm_fab]

I came across this in my search for that mine light on eBay. "Zyurong GKD09 LED Mining Lamp * 50W 110V * UFO High Bay Light." I don't have any experience with mining, but I've worked in silos at a food manufacturing plant, and explosive dust is as much a problem, if not more so.

[@oljobo]

Makes me think of "This little light of Mine…I'm gonna make it shine!" 😊

[@Badgii]

Hm.. seems like the bottom right part has four regulators instead of 3.. strange.

[@echothehusky]

I noticed that too!

[@curtishoffmann6956]

"They're ok lights. I can fix that."

[@dcallan812]

INteresting lights, the cooling will be helped no end if used outdoor in the UK 🌧⛈⛈ thanks showing us the workings 2x👍

[@handlesarefeckinstupid]

Did you know London has the same rainfall as Melbourne in Australia and New York USA? I wouldn't have liked to have seen this light working last week when it was 41°c here as well. People have some funny ideas of whT the weather is like here sometimes. Probably safe enough in Scotland though...

[@dcallan812]

@@handlesarefeckinstupid true, I have frends in Pennsylvania they have more or less the same as the UK.

[@TheSpotify95]

If it wasn't for the flicker, these could come in very handy. Even as is, I still think these would be great for illuminating large areas (such as open foyers inside buildings), since these are super bright, and if you want, you can tame the power down as required.

[@uksuperrascal]

In the UK we get a bit of rain LOL - So all the honey comb back of the light will fill with rain water - Question - Will that make the LED lamp run colder ?

[@wearsjorge55]

Nah but if you leave a tea bag in each honey comb you'll get a few hot treats when it does rain

[@eDoc2020]

The increased thermal mass will make it take longer to reach temperature so it would help if you are running the light on reduced duty cycle. Or more likely the water will get in, corrode something like the LED bond wires, and then it will no longer run hot.

[@PraxZimmerman]

These look great for dirt cheap strobe lights for DJ events. Some kind of DMX controler and maybe an SCR for super quick pulses.

[@paranoiia8]

Imagine whole floor with them... bee hive that will melt your shoes...

[@ShadowzGSD]

nice honeycomb dust and flycatcher design on the back.

[@peterjensen6844]

Big Clive and the Case of the Tingly Nips...

[@Nono-hk3is]

You said putting a smoothing capacitor in parallel on the DC side, without also putting a dropping capacitor on the AC side, would cook the linear regulators. Why is that? (I will attempt to answer my question.) It's because the smoothed voltage will be higher than the average of the unsmoothed voltage, and the linear regulators will not have adequate cooling to drop that higher voltage level. Is that right?

[@bigclivedotcom]

That is correct. The voltage will be higher and all that extra voltage will be across the regulators.

[@TheChipmunk2008]

Interesting you should say about the heat coming off them, could feel that the other day even with my LED torch... it uses the typical '3 AAA cells and thin wires, and assume the supply resistance will limit the current'. With 3 new alkalines (screwfix best quality GP cells) it got noticeably hot and you could feel the radiated heat. It tames down after it's flogged the life out of the cells for a few tens of mins, then they last at the same useable brightness for about a month of normal use (maybe an hr a day)

[@thephilpott2194]

I'm surprised the batteries last that long with the lack of circuitry, to be honest. (Mine don't). I certainly avoid the 'quid' torches now as i had one or two LED's let go then the others avalanched. (lack of regulation)

[@rogerhargreaves2272]

@@Okurka. Maybe a security guard.

[@arbutuswatcher]

Commissioner Gordon's modern-day Bat Signal. Nice! :)

[@superdau]

I can't stand flickering lights. An absolute no-no for room lighting, and an annoyance where I can't change anything about them. Car LED brake lights are a prime offender, displays where the multiplexing is slow, or DLP projectors with color fringes due to the color wheel. I always see the flicker in the corner of my eye, a kind of reflex makes me think there is movement, it's big distraction. I wonder, if there is research going into slightly phosphorescent phosphors (at least for white LEDs), so the flicker is smoothed by an afterglow instead of electric smoothing.

[@Space_Reptile]

since its has a simple bridge rectifier, you could theoretically run this thing straight of DC voltage, wich would make current limiting very easy and smoothing is no issue either as its not AC anymore

[@IanDarley]

Yes, Clive showed the circuit to do this, including smoothing.

[@guygordon2780]

Who wants to work with DC voltage that high? Ouch!

[@bluephreakr]

I love me the smell of grilled LEDs in the morning! Damn are those bright.

[@mtkoslowski]

I wonder if the flicker will be noticeable in the USA at 60Hz?

[@mysock351C]

Yes. Just 1/6th less annoying…

[@dragonrider4253]

Yes, I can see it if an led fixture has anything less than DC going to the diodes. I can see it on older fluorescent fixtures too.

[@guygordon2780]

Absolutely noticeable. How annoying it would be depends on how much motion it illuminates. You would also see 'beat' frequency flickering from any other 60hz light source. You could use these as security lights outdoors, that only turn on when motion is detected. But never for a tennis court.

[@BedsitBob]

I would imagine the heat would be even more of a problem, when it's hanging from the ceiling.

[@rene0]

Watching how much your local 50Hz varies has been lot of fun over time. No doubt we seen it ranging about ~ 49.5 Hz to 50.5 Hz by now. Some days it almost feels like you plugging in something makes it drop a few 1/hundreds of Hz but today it didn't. It's the thing that fascinates me every time, being from a place where it's like 50.0 Hz 24/24. Sorry for the off-topic comment.

[@johngeib]

My guess is they are using the aluminum as a heat sink to draw the heat away (which is why you hang them instead of surface mount). One use for them is garage/shop lighting. Need lots of light and usually flicker will not be as big of a problem.

[@TheDefpom]

I wonder if running them from DC instead would be an option, if they could run from 24VDC they could be good studio lighting.

[@OregonOutdoorsChris]

The thing is, in the case of the big one 300W of illumination is going to be inherently warm. I think the better question is how good is the heatsinking? Are they running the LEDs right up to that 100C limit, are they going with the typical 80C knee in the curve, or the long life 50C...?

[@williamkoers3205]

How good would the flickering be when these lights were converted to 3 phase power? As with the 3 sections it would be rather easy.

[@ianhelsbyservices]

Presumably they'd each flicker at the same frequency but each section would dim alternately. Probably kinder to video cameras.

[@frogz]

11:10 was that your microphone picking up the discharge or was that induced current in your audio circuit?

[@frogz]

@@Okurka. "would you rather have a hamburger or fries or a chicken sandwich?" "yes" ......are you saying it is BOTH? because i didnt really ask a yes or no question, of course it was 1 of the options, i was wondering WHICH ;)

[@frogz]

@@Okurka. also although im not going to do it, you could analyze the video fps, the audio waveform and time from presumed interaction of wire strippers to capacitor(almost definitely between frames but 1 in 60 chance it was captured IN frame) to calculate time of flight to see if it was a electromagnetic pulse or simply exploding air, if it was EM as opposed to a pressure wave in the air it would appear at the speed of light and to clive's camera/audio, instantaneous, if it was the later and was simply audio in air hitting the microphone, there would be a limit of ONLY 761 miles per hour give or take!

[@frogz]

.......you cant make me do it, someone else, please do the audio analysis! just because i brought the idea doesnt mean i currently have the software enviroment setup to do this kinda testing!

[@jonnyduncan7056]

I've been using the round 'UFO' lights 300W for grain barns, here in Suffolk. They give off fantastic light when they work but the LED's burn out after less than a year and I've stopped buying them as the pop up shops on Ebay don't give me any guarantee and they don't want to know about the 1year from purchase here in UK.. Don't reckon they are up to the varied UK voltage and remote farms, can have anywhere in between 250v-230v

[@x_x_w_]

Until the local regulator starts pressuring ebay to make their sellers honor the law, nothing still change.

[@Onio_Saiyan]

That LED light looks cool, but it reminds me of those color-changing LED hexagons you see on some KZbinrs' walls in the backdrop. I wonder if it's possible to put a bunch of rectifiers in series to smooth that light out because it really is a cool looking one!

[@johnsonlam]

I've bought a cheap China 10W COB flood light, full blown it's very hot even it got the aluminum case.

[@joshuaobelenusable]

I think "mine" in this sense is the shape and not ATEX in meaning. Like the other style being called "UFO" based on the shape. Very interesting design. Great explanation as usual Clive, thank you!

[@uksuperrascal]

Clive - See your odyssey Community page - How to make a paper AA battery

[@chrishartley1210]

I notice that there appear to be a couple of resistors per current regulator chip. Presumably these could also be changed to alter the output of the lamp.

[@ReedmanFL]

Your comment about the ICNE2530 being a dual linear/constant-current regulator makes me think that this might be a "two step" controller. There are two LED strings, one on top of the other. The top linear regulator (to ground) is set for, say 20 mA (controls only the top string) and the bottom is set for 40 mA (and controls the top and bottom string). The 20mA regulator turns off when the 40 mA regulator is active. This creates a more efficient and higher power factor two-step staircase of current (more like a sine wave of current than single linear control). A scope shot of the input current would show whether I am right, or if I am full of beans.

[@hagen-p]

I just like the visual design. "Hexagons are bestagons"... ;-)

[@brianterrill9587]

Those tiny fuses look like the ones that go in parallel within the Xmas light plugs.

[@richarddunkling2807]

By coincidence I have just repaired a couple of Rectangular 300W (model CSF2) floods made by the same company. A slightly different circuit: 5A fuse followed by what I assume are 3 VDRs (V1, V2, V3) across the supply which feeds two 3025 bridges (wired in parallel) followed by a 10 uf 400v capacitor and 1Meg ohm bleed resistance. 336 (2835) LEDs in total (comprised of 28 parallel strings of 12 series connected LEDs). The LED array is then series connected with 24 parallel connected CYT100A chips and six capacitors. Both units had blown 5 A fuses and 10 uf capacitors. One of the units had also suffered a short circuit diode in one of the bridges. I managed to find the data sheet for the CYT100A chips but have not yet sat down to read it. I was interested to understand their operation to see if its possible to lower the wattage and extend LED life expectancy. I note some one has commented that removing some of the chips would achieve this. I have replaced the capacitors with some 8000 hour rated Panasonics so will be interested to see how long they last. Having watched many of Clives teardowns I checked to ensure both units had the earth wire connected (they did) but one unit had live and neutral reversed.

[@robinbrowne5419]

Wow. It's amazing what they make. It would be nice if they made them fit with standard suspended ceiling tiles, which are 2' wide x 4' long. So, a 2' x 1' light with a 2' x 3' tile. This would probably be great for office lighting. PS - I am not sure who needs hexagonal panels. Maybe they are trying to sell them to bees.

[@2dumd2live]

_Not making a 'This is a-mine light, not yours' pun_ Missed opportunity there.

[@thedevilinthecircuit1414]

Repurposed from the failed Solar Roadways? They're getting as much money out of it as they can!

[@devttyUSB0]

Whoo, 88 watts in default configuration? Wow. That'll get toasty!

[@piconano]

Maybe useful inside a mine? Both as a source of annoying light and to heat up the cold mine?

[@worldofrandometry6912]

Cheaper than sitting by a radiator this winter? 🙂

[@jonscot8393]

Wouldn't worry about slip ups unless they are in English subtitles but now you've told us it's too late laddy.

[@asdfdfggfd]

I don't know if you have dissected one yet, but I found an emergency lightbulb with a battery in the bulb so that the light stays on in the event of a power outage. I thought it would make a great topic for a 'take it to bits' episode.

[@bigclivedotcom]

I've featured a few of the intelligent emergency lamps.

[@mrfrenzy.]

What is the earth leakage with neutral connected? It would probably be less than what you measured going only from phase-ground.

[@esunayg]

those would be nice to the surgical operation rooms.boom arm with the leds falling from the ceiling.

[@jaxjackson4100]

Clive, you need to hack the fixture into a super computer display with led neon strip as connection cables. Bonus points if you can get the led neon strips to randomly flash at the same time.

[@robt2151]

Given the trend in electricity prices, at what point does it become practical to replace house lighting with a 12 or 24 volt system, ideally powered totally or partially by solar pv system? Using the low voltage would eliminate the need for an inverter.

[@nightcatarts]

I've been wondering about this too, & also whether it's likely some standard will come along soon that could leave a property using a prestandardised refit with a resale problem. Most people, I suspect, wouldn't know where to start with replacements if they've bought a home with in-built LED lighting.

[@vgamesx1]

I mean, it wouldn't be all that hard to do that right now, just pull your mains lighting out, connect it to a battery and find some low voltage E26 or whatever holder you have bulbs or install a new fixture. Although, given how efficient LEDs can be, I think electricity would have to be so insanely high that it's impractical to run most household items like AC/heat/computers/etc... and you'd have to be pretty desperate to save money to go bother, like really, we're usually only talking 5-10W per bulb, maybe 20-30W for a large one + about 15% to run an inverter, unless for some reason you need to replace all your lights, it's totally not worth it to save a measly few watts, now if we're talking something that draws a lot of power like a water heater, that would absolutely be worth switching to a DC system, saving 15% on something that uses over 1kW is a lot more impactful.

[@nightcatarts]

@@vgamesx1 It would be a whole house refit for DC in this case, but yes electricity is becoming that expensive in the UK (where we don't tend to have AC anyway & where most water heaters run off mains gas).

[@Vilvaran]

I saw some research paper mocking up a 300V-DC system for the home, "simply put the SMPS rectifier on the distribution panel"... Long story short, AC is safer (you tend to get thrown back from, rather than grip onto a live wire), easier to switch (DC draws a larger arc) and less lossy in nature. To get the voltage low enough to not kill you, you wind up with current flow that will easily set fires... I'm designing my own solar distribution system, and it's a bit sketchy handling 48V just to make the distance across the rooftop to the battery... Needs fuses and safety isolators at every turn to avoid either a fire or a nasty surprise during maintenance! It's nice to run the workshop entirely on sunlight though...

[@nightcatarts]

@@Vilvaran It doesn't have to be on a single circuit like AC though, does it? You could run several smaller loops to keep the voltage and amperage down.

[@Blitterbug]

Intended use-case, Clive? Do they really mean 'mines'?? What does the flea-bay listing suggest?

[@nicktheroyalturner3370]

No comment about this video but having discovered today my old Babyliss Easy Cut Clippers in a cupboard I wanted to resurrect them but needed to renew the rechargeable batteries, so looking online for info regarding changing the batteries I came across you using the very same clippers cutting your hair, nice one 👍

[@gavincurtis]

Hexacomputer housing.

[@gavincurtis]

@@Okurka. Yes, that is the one.

[@gamesmithoz]

So when you turn them off at a light switch which only breaks the Active wire they will continue to glow?

[@codertao]

You mention adding a cap to smooth the flicker, I'm kind of curious if you couldn't build an external bridge rectifier+capacitor (+inductor?) circuit and just feed the light with a smooth-ish 300VDC- could then pot that without needing to do any internal work on the fixture. Don't know how well the rest of the circuit would take to it, but since it doesn't have an inline cap feeding it with DC seems like an option.

[@eDoc2020]

That would work and in fact I thought that is how Clive was suggesting to do it.

[@codertao]

@@eDoc2020 Not quite. What clive was suggesting was opening up the fixture to add a capacitor, though he does also show adding an inline capacitor as a form of capacitive dropper- that wouldn't do much about flicker though, and drops the power/brightness a lot. Amazingly, while looking for something else, I found he actually does have a few videos loosely related to this though: kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3i3iaGblMpoa5Y (adding a cap across bridge rectifier) and kzbin.info/www/bejne/eYe4nWyBrZqqbZI (adding a cap across LEDs only) (but, what I was talking about would be an external circuit/module to provide DC-ish to the LED module, as simple bridge rectifier + capacitor) (the actual thought was to go through and have a capacitor + inductor + capacitor to try and provide a constant current, but playing around with it in a circuit simulator, it doesn't work great without massive inductance)

[@codertao]

@@eDoc2020 Actually, re-watching it, that is exactly what he was saying... so I take back 3/4's of my comments. I didn't notice his proposed diagram was actually putting out L/N.

[@charleslambert3368]

Would something like this play nice with an opto triac? I think smart bulbs are a neat idea but they tend to be an order of magnitude too dim and I trust a µC I've flashed myself more than I do some random company's software.

[@Micro-Motive]

Interesting lights, both functional and ornamental. I get the capacitive leakage to Ground from the Active with the Neutral disconnected, but who switches the Neutral? It's always single-pole switch the Active or double-pole switch both Active and Neutral, so where is the leakage then? I'm assuming from the Wiring Regs here in Australia that Active is Brown(Red), Neutral is Blue(Black) and Earth/Ground is Yellow-Green(Green). If the Neutral was disconnected for some reason, or Active & Neutral reversed, you would want the RCDs/ELBs to trip! I would also think that any reasonably mindful person would recognise the dim flickering state as abnormal. There is a heap of weird and "wonderful" LED Light Fixtures out there.

[@eDoc2020]

With lave and neutral both connected there would be a bit less leakage current but still at least half. Without neutral the internal "ground" goes between +240 and -240 and with neutral connected it goes between 0 and -240.

[@xsterawesome]

How was this video updated a day ago but all of the comments are from 3 weeks ago? Anyway, I got a 12 pack of the 100w version and I can confirm they do go bad in about 7 months to a year and a half of use, and if you don't loosen the screws holding on the lens they crack and creak and make horrible noises as they heat up and cool, they do get stupid hot but surprisingly they don't melt even after being left on for days.

[@yagoa]

is there space for a big capacitor behind the rectifier?

[@Bubu567]

At 80watts, you would need a hell of a lot of smoothing to take the edge off the flickering, wouldn't you? I suppose it wouldn't take much if you throw the dropper capacitor in series, though.

[@whoeveriam0iam14222]

fun light if you have the switch on the neutral

[@NorthernBCFlyGuy]

I have a northern flicker nest outside my home that needs a Big Clive flicker warning sign.

[@LtKernelPanic]

Wonder if you can fit a hexaputer into that case?

[@CyberlightFG]

There is no heat compound in between the heatsink and the board. If you use it as us out of the box, it will fail very soon. Always buy double the power you need and dim it down.

[@firstmkb]

Is there any problem running something like that on a variac?

[@richardbriansmith8562]

Awesome Video big Clive i love watching your videos they are Awesome

[@Farm_fab]

Clive, would running the mains wire around an inductor stop the lamp from the slight amount of leakage? I would think that a dpdt wall switch would effectively stop it as well.

[@bigclivedotcom]

As long as the light is switched on the live it will not glow when off.

[@firstmkb]

@@bigclivedotcom can you pass that tip on to China? I don’t like lights that are on when they’re off!

[@eDoc2020]

@@firstmkb Assuming you are using standard switches the phantom glow does not happen when the light is fed from the switch. It only happens if the switch is on a separate loop (which is necessary for multiway switching) or if you have a more advanced switch. To eliminate the glow without rewiring you can add an additional load in parallel with the lights. An incandescent nightlight bulb would work fine here, as would a plain resistor or probably also a capacitor.

[@ianhelsbyservices]

Could one simply add the reduction and smoothing components on either side of the existing rectifier? I suppose for the extra cost of second rectifier and box for the bits, it's not worth the labour in breaking tracks and soldering in components, then to try and fit the screen back.

[@wearsjorge55]

I need some advice on capacitors for LED's. I've always put a capacitor on the active/hot side but you've put it on the neutral side Clive. Why is that?

[@bigclivedotcom]

It can go on either side.

[@wearsjorge55]

@@bigclivedotcom thanks for the super quick reply and info! I had no idea thanks

[@erroltheterrible]

So the 3V and 6V for 110V and 220V is the part numbers of the leds, using 6V leds for 220V and 3V leds for 110V...