Can we hack a Livarno GU10 LED lamp?

[@mikewifak]

This Lidl Light of Clive’s, I’m gonna modify.

[@soviet-doge3370]

It took me too long to understand this…

[@fourtysix4646]

And when I modify and it dies? I’m gonna let it fly.

[@thou_dog]

Oh lord... thanks for the earworm >:[

[@-Jethro-]

Take your upvote and leave! 🤣

[@crabmansteve6844]

This is brilliant. Lol

[@ironridgeaudio]

The way you cut out the photos in the shape of the PCB is a nice touch.

[@dave161141]

Until you stab your multimeter probes through the paper...

[@mikejones-vd3fg]

Huh? There are no photo's, bigclive is actually very tiny, about 1 and a half foot tall, he's a giant among his people tho hence the name.

[@fvckyoutubescensorshipandt2718]

I guess those resistor values were chosen for economic/availability reasons. While 2x 75R resistors would make more sense it's possible they cost an extra $1 per 25k ammo box. Or they were ordered but had a longer delivery time (usually months rather than days) or something so they just worked with what they already had in inventory. I imagine this type of substitution has been happening alot with mosfet and other silicon parts due to the shortage.

[@danyf3116]

I don't know about the other subscribers on here but to me, each time I watch your videos and I ask myself a question, you seem to answer it at the right time. I listen to what you say and then a question pops up in my mind. Just as if you had heard the question, you answer it either by you making an assumption or point out the obvious use of a particular part. Impressive my man.

[@kenw.1112]

A much easier to remove the lens cover is use a hair dryer to loosen up the glue and prevent damage to the housing. I have used a hairdryer on many similar type jobs with excellent results.

[@ClosestNearUtopia]

Very pro tip!💪

[@jimmyrustler8983]

Excellent for phone screens and stuff too, that are often held in with those 3M "glue mousetrap" sheets.

[@brendanrandle]

or have it running just before you take it apart, a 5w light is a 5w heater

[@lopwidth7343]

Tl;dr why do you hack them?

[@kevreeduk222]

@@lopwidth7343 To lower the power draw and save on power bills. Sure the 5ish Watts of these lamps out of the box is lower than the 50W halogens they replaced, but drop that to 3ish Watts and you're saving a further 40ish percent on the lamp's contribution to your power bills. It also can be done to achieve a dimmer lamp where you might want such, although the power savings would probably be the primary reason...

[@markpunt9638]

For some reason, I thought GU10 LED was a postcode near Guildford

[@RobAtBentley]

Thankyou so much for not having adverts in your videos. I'm leaving comments in many other channels that I watch where the viewer experience is really awful now that some channel owners have selected to have adverts beginning, middle and end. ...to the point where I now don't visit the channels as frequently and have stopped viewing some all together.

[@sniperasys]

This was a piece of cake. On Philips consumer units, especially the GU5,3 ones, the circuitry is much harder to get at.

[@stewartpalmer2456]

Seems the manufactures are watching you Big Clive and changing things up ever so slightly. I love it. Keep up the great teaching.

[@plageran]

the fact that you make "cut outs" of the boards will always astound me

[@boinkmaticgaming5835]

I think you should test how well the heat shrink tubing would prevent a catastrophic boom if it were to fail *hint* *hint* :)

[@fredfred2363]

Electroboom collab?

[@markpunt9638]

Oh, yes 👍

[@dononebullen]

Sounds a bit short to me 🤣

[@iaadsi]

The heat shrink could be doing double duty: containing any explosions and reducing the resistor's power rating. That heat shrink increases its thermal resistance to ambient so it will reach melting temperature with less current. Maybe 2 watts was too much, so they tuned it down to 1ish.

[@frimleyfrodo]

I bought a pack of 10 Lampways 5w GU10 lamps from Aldi for £7.99 about 8 years ago and immediately fitted 9 of them into my kitchen. None have failed so far; very impressed.

[@Muonium1]

pretty weird that they're still using multi-layer dielectric films for MR16/GU10 dichroic reflectors in the present era since they're....ya know...totally pointless when used with LEDs. The whole reason they were used was to, as briefly alluded to, allow the considerable amounts of IR from the halogen incandescent bulb to pass through but reflect the visible light forward. Completely pointless with a LIGHT emitting diode that produces no IR. It'd be far cheaper, easier and faster just to coat the inside with a thin layer of aluminum instead. In fact, the whole super reflective coating thing is kind of obviated when there isn't a filament at the focus of the parabola and you've replaced it with a flat PCB that has highly directional LEDs. Skip the whole vacuum deposited coating thing all together and just paint the damn thing white on the inside! Weird vestigial design remnants of lighting technologies past persisting into the present...

[@iolithblue]

If this led is meant to replace halogen di chro lights, then having them look the same is a key selling point

[@Farm_fab]

@@iolithblue they may still make halogen lights, so if this is the case, they possibly take them from the assembly line and add the LED assembly. Even so, like has been said, the dichroic metal isn't necessary, so it should be taken off the halogen assembly line sooner, and this save some money.

[@dancoulson6579]

It is a bit un-needed. However I like the look of it. Something about real glass and the special filters used looks nice to me. As an employee of Lidl, I can tell you that the reason they're so cheap is because they source a lot of old components that are no longer used. I expect these dichoric glass assemblies have been laying around for a good five years, with no use since most incandescents are no longer in production. So Lidl will buy them in bulk at a discount, and re-purpose them. The end result is very good - A cheap product for me and you, and less potential waste going to landfill. The same is true of their car headlight bulbs - They're branded as 'Ultimate Speed' on the outer packaging. But the actual lamps are branded Wotan, which (I think) was Osram before the name change. They've probably been new-old stock for 20+ years. But still perfectly fine lamps. I use a pair of the W4 +100% in my car, and they're the best headlight bulbs I've ever had. Lasted over two years and very bright. And at 2 packs of 2 (4 bulbs) for £8, who's complaining?! :D

[@tomservo5007]

the company is using surplus reflectors

[@bobweiss8682]

Possibly just using up old inventory of glass from making halogen lamps...

[@djordjeblaga7815]

I have successfully soldered 50ohm trimmers instead of current sensing resistors in the past. Makes the brightness easily adjustable as one full turn is about 1 ohm difference (Make sure to get a linear one).

[@finsterbarry]

Would you be interested in a 90W LEDVANCE/OSRAM LED Streetlight bulb to take apart? It looks like a "corn on the cob" if you know what construction i mean by that. It has a E40 base and a very solid aluminium heatsink. Its heavy as fuck for an LED bulb.

[@robinvince616]

Just a suggestion: When you change the resistor in a linear current regulator type lamp in order to drop the power, you could further reduce the current draw without affecting the light output by reducing the value of the smoothing capacitor. Optimum efficiency without flicker will occur when the troughs of the mains ripple just fail to drop low enough for the regulator to no longer cope. In most instances halving the capacitor's value will probably be fine, especially in the UK where our mains voltage is a little higher than in the rest of Europe.

[@Njazmo]

Some website says: The voltage used throughout Europe (including the UK) has been harmonised since January 2003 at a nominal 230v 50 Hz (formerly 240V in UK, 220V in the rest of Europe). So, it's been roughly 20 years the same voltage.

[@PainterVierax]

@@Njazmo In practice it depends. Here in Brittany I'm at 235V. Although in any rural area the voltage can easily drop during the milking hours.

[@robinvince616]

@@Njazmo But that harmonisation was just a paperwork thing. Nothing actually changed. The allowed tolerance on the 230 volts was +10% to -6%, covering an allowable range of 216 volts to 253 volts. So the UK remained at 240 volts and the EU at 220 volts - we just CALLED it 230 volts! In practice it varies somewhat with location and loading. Items sold in the EU are expected to be able to still work correctly over a voltage range of 230 volts +/- 10%, which is 207 volts up to 253 volts.

[@TheSpotify95]

It's good to know that these can be modified, although they're much more difficult to do. it's not worth just taking off the 1k resistor and leaving the 39 ohm resistor, as that will make little difference. but leaving the 1k resistor in will make it too dim. Personally, I don't bother modifying my LEDs. If they die, they die. However, I will be on the look out for the new ultra efficient ones that are designed to be efficiency rating A on the new scale, rather than the current E's and F's.

[@kelvin1316]

Isn't the efficiency rating more to do with the "power to light ratio" (so to speak) rather than lifetime? Reducing the brightness may not make them more efficient but will reduce how quickly they end up in landfill?

[@minespeed2009]

@@kelvin1316 To reach higher efficiencies you need to keep the LED's cooler which dramatically increases their lifespan

[@NeutralSmith]

You could have used a tiny potentiometer in the 100 Ohm range for testing purposes. Just don't forget to cut the power when adjusting it.

[@casemodder89]

@@Senshikaji insulated screwdriver ? clive bridges caps with his fingers to test if they have dangerous juice left in 'em. 😆

[@jhonbus]

I believe "Ward off evil spirits" is the correct term for what a nightlight does.

[@justsayen2024]

I bought 5 ea.3 W LEDs to replace the halogens that came with the flexible track lighting system. It's amazing the amount of light you can get out of 15w..

[@nostromo332]

We do love it when "the big picture" lands on the desk.

[@garbleduser]

I like it when you cut out the shape of the board printed on paper. It turns makes a Scottish giant look like a Scottish gnome.

[@KeritechElectronics]

Really destructive reverse engineering, but what the hell - it happens. BTW. I was at some point confused by 390 being 39R rather than 390R, but looking at it as the power of 10 (i.e. 39 x 10^0 = 39 x 1 = 39) helps explain things much better.

[@johndododoe1411]

It's easier when the digits are color bands, which is exactly how the old color code worked (with metallic colors for negative powers of 10 as needed for 3.9 ohm or 0.39 ohm).

[@KeritechElectronics]

@@johndododoe1411 exactly. Once you know how it really works, it's easier to memorize it.

[@gelisob]

Lidl just a month or two ago opened here in Estonia too. Went over to see if they have those bulbs. They did, only single package - efficiency marked on package a terrible G. Opens up the same, easy - inside only one resistor populated, 36 ohm. So we got hotter burning and thus poopier efficiency rating? Chip is marked ICL1103, 120147AD

[@SarahC2]

I like how you cut the picture to the right shape. =)

[@cuteraptor42]

Keep in mind that 39 // 1K is as if you use a 39 ohm resistor with 5% precision and get one close to its lowest possible value

[@TheSpotify95]

Just for the info, yes LIVARNO is from LIDL supermarkets; I've had Livarno stuff before. Don't use Aldi but regularly use LIDL.

[@kneau]

More of the solutions which first brought your channel to my attention? Commenting as someone diagnosed w/ adult-onset scotopic sensitivity & photosensitivity -- I'm grateful. These videos help me better navigate options w/ regard to general lighting, task lighting & "visually intensive activities."

[@chrishartley1210]

Strangely, a combination of 68 and 82 Ohm resistors would have given almost the same result, possibly they didn't want to make it too easy.

[@rd6864]

As an ex broadcast engineer 2 x 75 ohm came immediately to mind!

[@chrishartley1210]

I understand where you are coming from, but 68 and 82 Ohms are standard resistor values, 75 Ohm isn't.

[@frankhovis]

@@chrishartley1210 75Ω is standard in the 5% E24 series.

[@ClosestNearUtopia]

@@frankhovis and how does price compare?

[@rudolphriedel541]

@@ClosestNearUtopia Well, going with two resistors of the same value would reduce the BOM by one position.

[@shanejohns7901]

I think you could have made the video at least twice as long if you tried adding a capacitor to the circuit where you noted it was optional in the circuit. It would have been nice to see how such a capacitor affected the functionality in addition to the resistors.

[@PainterVierax]

well, as Clive showed in the past, no need for a pcb emplacement to put a series capacitor. Easier than opening the lamp, especially when dealing with this GU type.

[@Jakek200]

I'm wondering about that 'FUN' button on the new meter. I'd be real 'fun' if that button caused the output voltage to double 😈 (I imagine it probably actually means Function)

[@jhonbus]

It causes it to stop working. (dysfunction is its function)

[@RetroArcadeGuy]

He should actually hack that device's button to actually do FUN stuff when pressed. BANG!! hahahaha

[@IanDarley]

I got completely fed up with no-name GU10 dimmable lamps blowing up and taking out my trailing edge dimmers a few times per year. Took the plunge and paid the extra for brand name lamps and they have now lasted several years (always on minimum brightness in my living room).

[@steampunkskunk3638]

I used to get so many emergency call outs from cheap GU10 lamps. O don't know why but when the lamp dies they like to go bang and trip the breaker. People would panic and I would get a late night call out to remove the blackened lamp, test the circuit, and reset the breaker.

[@steampunkskunk3638]

I also remember a ceiling fan that was sold cheap by a major hardware chain... It was everywhere. The fan came with a remote control and the light fitting on the fan was 3 GU10 lamps. When a lamp blew it would kill the remote receiver in the fan 🤣. I always told customers to buy good quality GU10 lamps (like Phillips) to prevent this but they never listened.

[@wizdude]

“… a very soft glow to scare away the ghosts”. Love it 😊

[@isbestlizard]

Very cool to learn how these work, wish they came with a variable resistor with a knob you could twist with a screwdriver to set the light level :D

[@ClosestNearUtopia]

You have never heard of pwm is it..?

[@dogwalker666]

They were called dimmer switches,

[@johnm2012]

@@ClosestNearUtopia Clive said at around 6:50 that it uses a linear regulator, so not PWM. Just replace the pair of resistors with a 1 kohm pot in series with a 39 ohm fixed resistor and be careful when you poke your screwdriver in to adjust it!

[@gelisob]

are you guys suggesting "pwm"-ing AC power going into the led lamp that isn't built for dimming? :D Not the brightest idea.

[@johnm2012]

@@gelisob I'm not. I can't speak for anyone else.

[@WolfPackYT]

I love watching your videos your voice reminds me of a teacher its calming lol

[@robbieaussievic]

.... It implies trust, Engenders, (better word).

[@tonymoon4525]

Clive, As always have educated and enlightened me. i/we appreciate ALL of your video clips. thank you.

[@panykfelidae9018]

All resistors are fusible if you do it wrong enough.

[@MarkGarth]

Interesting lamp. Is the An Tai better than the Hopi?

[@TopEndSpoonie]

Hopi is easier to say 😎

[@bigclivedotcom]

The new unit is more accurate over a much smaller power range.

[@TheFerret22ca]

What happened to the original Hopi? Is the new one better/same/worse? Are there any different features?

[@fumthings]

nothing happened to it, he bought a cheapie to see if it was any good.

[@09lnt]

@@fumthings I hope to see a comparison between the two

[@usashaz]

Mr. Clive, I'd love to see you tear down some (any) color kinetics gear if you ever have the inclination. Their original colordial (which doesn't require POE) is basically obsolete now, and the new Colordial pro requires POE, so it's more expensive to set up... and is not as simply responsive when dialing through the spectrum. The whole selection of scenes on CD pro throws off the simple dial function that Colordial 1 had. I wonder how to hack together the same functionality? The original is (I think) just a potentiometer, with some secret sauce circuitry, which makes a dmx like signal that their PDS150e power supply can process without POE. (For anyone not familiar, POE is an abbreviation for "Power Over Ethernet")

[@demef758]

Datasheet says that the current is set by impressing 0.6V across the current-setting resistor. Let's see ... 0.6V/37.5Ω = 16mA. Times 240V*1.414 = 5.4 watts. Science! So applying some simple algebra, if you want to target a certain power consumption, then set R to 204/Pd.

[@ClosestNearUtopia]

This is the way.

[@KaderRocks]

Thank you for explaining how to read the resistor values!

[@Robothut]

A 100 ohm trim pot would make for a nice adjustable Lamp.

[@oliver6287]

I think it would be cool if you did a part two where you build the items back but with a twist🤞

[@johnpossum556]

You want him to build a Dairy Queen lamp?

[@oliver6287]

@@johnpossum556 omg the possibilities are endless

[@ErraticPT]

Got to get that hopi knock off, its got FUN written on it! What more do you want?

[@robbieaussievic]

.... Take it to a boring birthday party,

[@fvckyoutubescensorshipandt2718]

Most Chinese-made stuff is ran near the limits by default, so not much extra performance to be had unless you don't mind it dying in 30 seconds - 30 minutes instead of 10,000 hours (enough to escape 1-year warranty claims).

[@tirompoilrene]

Dimmer means also less heat produced and longer lifespan

[@yadabub]

The screaming scares away the ghosts. And it's free of charge.

[@dcallan812]

Not a bad light bulb the resistror values were a bit odd. 2x👍

[@ravusursi893]

“One moment please…” t-shirt. I shall continually pester until you make one! I will happily design it for you should you wish!

[@mbak7801]

Can I recommend buying a few reels of surface mount resistors. They are not expensive and you end up with much neater hacks that can be almost undetectable. All my new projects are 100% smd for convenience and simplicity of PCB design. Though I must admit smd capacitors are a bit of a pain, I end up using tantalum far too often.

[@Coxeysbodgering]

Sorry if I missed it have you done an unboxing / review / reasons why the new "hoppy"? Take care and stay safe, Mike

[@bigclivedotcom]

I haven't. I just started using it.

[@SyCoREAPER]

@@bigclivedotcomwas going to ask the same thing. Did it blow up, die of age or is the new one more accurate?

[@colinpye1430]

@@SyCoREAPER The newer one works when you have lower power requirements than the Hopi will show.

[@whitesapphire5865]

@@bigclivedotcom Does that mean the old HOPI is still 'hopping' then? I've looked everywhere for a HOPI, but can't find one. I'm guessing that this is a new name for the same thing?

[@XanderProduction]

@@whitesapphire5865 ._.) Just print "Hopi" and glue it to the Meter.. It's easier.. 🙃 I just thinking to print "Jack" and glue it to my Meter.. Maybe naming tool has positive effect on the mood..

[@2001cavador]

In theory, if you put a variable resistor in series with the 39 ohm /1k ohm parallel resistors the you could make it dimmable.

[@ReedmanFL]

Once again, the power factor "tells the story". The cap after the diode bridge is what makes the power factor low (60%). Removing the cap would increase the power factor, but also increase the flicker. The EN norms don't apply to lamps under 5 watts, so it isn't a regulatory issue.

[@matbillings2533]

Me: I can program Basic on a TI-83+ graphing Calculator and use that at work to make my life easier. Clive: I can rip it apart and tell you how it works!

[@ejonesss]

maybe why they shrink wrap the resistor is because not always do resistors smoke and release enough smoke or make a stink when they fail so the shrinkwrap will enhance the smoking and fowl smell so you should be able to easily know when a bulb is failing. i think a thermal fuse would be better for example say the fuse used in old style camera flash bars to enable the next bulb. flash bars will have a single trace with all the bulbs wired in series and when 1 goes off a thermal fuse blows shunting the power to the next bulb and so on. i think the bulb is a projector lamp and may need to be a certain brightness so fine tuning of the resistors is the way to do it.

[@uapnz0698]

I had a dream you and Fran tore each other down and then couldn't find trays for all the quality machine screws.

[@sometimesleela5947]

I wish Fran would do more teardowns again.

[@uapnz0698]

@@sometimesleela5947 yes they're so neat.

[@macdonalds1972]

You'd have an extra part after you assembled Fran back together again.

[@DDJJHH01]

Make them last longer???! I've been using Poundland GU 10's in kitchen ceiling light bars for years and I haven't had one fail yet. Poundland's latest offering (branded Kodak) are the best yet ... super-bright with a 120deg beam angle.

[@GreatJoe]

Get a multimeter and a blade, scrape a bit off the smaller-valued resistor while measuring its value, and you'll be able to double it. You're also lowering its wattage rating, but it's not really supposed to dissipate much heat.

[@carlubambi5541]

good mod and easy mod to do on some .the only thing that ends up becoming an issue is the cor change and light intensity.lumens/ft candles and light color .

[@poprawa]

I mount iron upside down and turn it on on about boiling water setting to use as hotplate, makes a great job of preheating aluminium backed pcbs to make them easy to solder

[@bigclivedotcom]

I used to clamp my iron in a vice for that. I've got a proper SMD hotplate now.

[@lopwidth7343]

So they basically make them intentionally draw too much, so they break easier, and make hacking them difficult, by using an odd pair of resistors, as if it becomes common knowkedge, everyone would do it, and never have to buy another bulb for 10-20 years?

[@stevehead365]

You could drill the wires out and save the housing. Not as exciting as glass shattering but would make the lamp practically hackable.

[@bigclivedotcom]

You only need to take the front lens off to hack it. This was a teardown to analyse the circuitry.

[@McTroyd]

Nifty. If one can prevent the glass breaking, every part of the innards could be turned into something else. 👍️ What happened to the Hopi?

[@fumthings]

nothing happened to it, he bought a cheapie to see if it was any good.

[@McTroyd]

@@fumthings Ahh OK. That makes sense.

[@fumthings]

@@Okurka. thanks, i forgot that part.

[@TechGorilla1987]

@8:57 - Why did you replace the Hopi and could you just run a sharpie over this one to rename it? I'd find that amusing and it would probably generate interaction like Mustie1 referenced Salty Cracker in the background of a couple of his videos. Maybe not many understand what I mean. 430 Avocado Time.

[@sarathai2876]

Just bright enough to scare away the ghost. I've got to save that one for my grandkids.

[@haxxx0rz]

I like the fact the AnTai has a Fun button!

[@joelsciamma9322]

I just received my AnTai ATX.9801 and performing my usual checks, found that the live and neutral were transposed in the plug top. When restored to their correct positions, I checked continuity and everything is OK. It's a nice tester but everyone who has one of these might like to check theirs, just in case.

[@ljchrzan]

Interesting, Lidl sell these in the USA for 120V applications. I don't have a fixture that uses these bulbs, so I never bought them. It would be interesting to compare them for the European market.

[@markiangooley]

Live or no! I’m maybe 3 miles from the nearest Aldi in my part of Florida but 500 miles from the nearest Lidl - which is in northern Georgia. Easy for me to avoid confusion.

[@teardowndan5364]

The simplest way to do a "low-power hack" would be to use dimmable LEDs and an LED-compatible dimmer. Then you can have any intensity from 1% night-light to 100% when searching for a tiny spring that got away and leave it at 50-70% for most everyday use.

[@ClosestNearUtopia]

Dimmable leds? You crazy? You use pwm for such application, change duty cycle for more light output..

[@teardowndan5364]

@@ClosestNearUtopia Good luck doing that with mains-powered light sockets. Swapping out a light switch for a dimmer is simpler and quicker and safer than re-wiring the whole place with PWM-controllable light fixtures.

[@gelisob]

@@teardowndan5364 that closest guy seems to be a little confused about pwm'ing AC circuit before the lamps :D But I think dimmable leds is less universal approach since they cost so much more and then you need circuit with the dimmer, compared to one resistor change and way cheaper baseprice and ability to put it to wherever. But of course it's for those that dont want to or dont know how to hack the lamps.

[@teardowndan5364]

@@gelisob The resistor mod may be cheaper but you can never have 100% brightness again unless you take down every bulb in the zone you want to make brighter/dimmer, re-open every bulb, undo the mod, put them back together and re-install them. A whole lot more repeat work than just turning a knob.

[@PinkysPain]

Dimmable led bulbs tend to be a complex mess or a flickery mess. Complex drivers isn't what you want in a dooby lamp.

[@mikeclarke952]

Hey watchers of bigclive, fyi, clive did a review of UVC bulb from China about a year ago and I thought it would be great to make a pond algae killer with it. A storage toute, light fixture and extension cord later I had gismo I could sit over the waterfall part as needed. Here's the FYI part, the bulb died ($35 Cnd) in less than 4 hours. Oh well live and learn. Great channel Clive love your stuff, this is NO dis on you at all sir.

[@bigclivedotcom]

That's odd. I wonder why it failed.

[@casemodder89]

send it over to BC for investigation !

[@bjornkaufmann6158]

Soldeing in a new resistor is easy. Putting the lamp together again is a different story. I would love to modify some of my lamps, but I never found one that did not break during the disassembly.

[@PainterVierax]

This is the opposite. With this planar LED topology, hacking the lamp only require to remove the plastic lens/diffuser. But the aluminium-based pcb makes the soldering job very messy.

[@bjornkaufmann6158]

@@PainterVierax o yes, you are right. I did´t see that I can reach the resistor from the top.

[@markusallport1276]

Always intriguing, thanks Clive!

[@SammysHP]

If you let them run for a longer period of time they get hot enough so the lenses pop out by themselves. I had one falling on my head yesterday and glued them all back together.

[@richardbriansmith8562]

Awesome led gu10 bulb big Clive

[@nanopi]

Wonder if it's worthwhile to solder a Pin Header Socket instead of directly soldering the resistor so that you can easily swap out the resistor to a different one.

[@Pithead]

I don't mind LED's ghost glowing when they're switched off. Have some people got a problem with it? Maybe some people think they've bought a faulty light and return it.

[@agenericaccount3935]

Credit for username. ⚡⚡

[@timowagner1329]

I do mind, if they're in my bedroom. And they glow quite bright, due to a combination of a shitty dimmer switch and subpar wiring. It looks like the LEDs are at ~20-30% brightness even when they are turned of. I had to put halogen bulbs back in.

[@Pithead]

@@timowagner1329 Iol, that's due to a supply fault though. When the power is completely cut the LED's only glow for few seconds before completely fading.

[@charanvantijn541]

What's with the HOPI versus the Antai? Very curious.

[@groundcontrolto]

The landlords of the last place I lived were absolutely mad about spots, they had them in nearly every room. I swapped them gradually over to LEDs but I swear the LED bulbs failed about as quickly as the halogens.

[@ClosestNearUtopia]

Probably a lot quicker and more expensive to buy in the first place, led lightning pretty much sucks.

[@Mainyehc]

Livarno is, indeed, LIDL’s own brand of LED lights, I have a lot of them here at home.

[@ropersonline]

So what happened to the HOPI meter, and has Monsieur AnTai taken over the gig for good?

[@Anvilshock]

The pins probably needn't have come out, which would have left the glass in tact. Those mains-side spades look like mere friction fit and would have released from the pins with a gentle tug.

[@beatadalhagen]

I note that the power factor went down when you clipped that first resistor. How does that work?

[@ClosestNearUtopia]

A power factor is factor the energy you effectively use, so 80% means 20% of the current is pure heat. the lower the number the more energy gets disposed as heath.. by having a conductive load, you create a power factor, by adding a condensator (LEICIE) you store current to be drawn in phase of the voltage sinus, and so reduce power factor. Without a condensator, the current would have fallen behing the voltage sinus, and everything not in phase=heath. That being said you realize now to it only occurs on AC systems.

[@Anvilshock]

@@ClosestNearUtopia That is a terrible explanation. It makes it sound like heat is an indicator of a bad power factor. There is truth somewhere in your explanation but you make it sound needlessly convoluted and misleading.

[@ClosestNearUtopia]

@@Anvilshock ehm no, did you even read the first sentence? You have seen that completely wrong, a power factor COULD indicate how much heat your going to dissipate with the same load. So reducing your powerfactor, reduces heath, out of your component, and out of your leads. Theoretically a endlessly low powerfactor will mean a current will stream, and NONE of the energy will be put into physical work, any current streaming will automatically result in 100% heath in your circuit. Tell me which 3 or 2 currents exist in ac systems, and tell me what they all do if you think my explanation sucks. What in your eyes is the difference between VA and VAR?

[@Anvilshock]

I've been trying to clarify several times now, but none of my attempts made it past YT's censoring.

[@Anvilshock]

@@ClosestNearUtopia Dude, you're probably meaning well, but you're really, really bad at explaining, and that's not even counting your English skills. Yes, heat COULD be an indicator, but that's it, just an indicator, a side effect. However, you make it sound as if anything that produces heat has a bad power factor. Which is staggeringly misleading because a simple resistor has a perfect power factor, yet its main working operation is to turn electrical energy into heat. And in fact, NONE of this is actually answering OP's question because OP was specifically asking about a change in power factor of the whole circuit after clipping resistors that are merely there to control a function of said larger circuit as opposed to being significant loads.

[@AttilaSVK]

So far all the GU10 LED lamps I've seen were either fully plastic or some combination of plastic and aluminium, except for the Trådfri smart ones from Ikea and now this one.

[@JackReacheround]

It'd be neat if you could take a look inside a Philips hue bulb

[@criggie]

Clive - why the new Antax meter? What did you do to the Hopi ?

[@wherami]

Thanks, was a fun ride.

[@alunjones3860]

I'd just bypass the linear regulator and convert it to a capacitive dropper myself. I want the bright light in my kitchen and have a relatively high mains voltage so converting it to capacitive, would make it run cooler and give the same light.

[@danielegger6460]

Snip the 39 Ohm, solder (or even glue!) a 0805 resistor stacked on top of the 1k, hack done. I was hacking a 300mA downlight recently (well, first I tried to get a replacement one but as it turned out, plain old constant current regulated LEDs are not a thing anymore and those "bulbs" have their own current regulation which very much messed with my plan but I managed to tame it down by replacing a resistor which was a royal PITA). To fix the LED I had to source those outdated CREE LEDs soldered onto star shaped aluminium PCB, remove them from there, disassemble the whole bulb, desolder the leads from the aluminium PCB, carefully remove the defect LED chip and solder on a replacement one, all without destroying the rather fragile LED chip. That was very annoying...

[@laernulienlaernulienlaernu8953]

So after you've "hacked" it, what do you do with all the broken pieces!

[@desert.4453]

Please provide a link to where you got your new Hoppi. Thanks.

[@richieacc]

This is what I've been looking for! I have some lights that I'd like to dim. I've tried PWM with a MOSFET between the driver and the LED. The results were WEIRD!!

[@timowagner1329]

What common LED bulbs _is_ easily hackable? If its just snipping of 1 thing i dont mind doing that for the whole house

[@Natopsi]

These AnTai wattmeters definitively needs some hack to dramatically improve display brightness.

[@bigclivedotcom]

Unfortunately I think that the LED digits they've used are inherently low intensity.

[@decem_unosquattro9538]

Interesting how you can just add a higher or lower value resistor and it lowers or ... the brightness. 🤔👍

[@ggesdsdsdsd]

I've noticed, when it does regulate the voltage for getting abit too hot, it starts flickering lightly.

[@davepost7675]

Very apropos video. I have two led tube style lights that are just too damned bright. Rather than waste them sitting in storage, I might just take it to bits to see if I can remove/change a resistor or two. Thanks.

[@tombexhill]

Clive bringing the confidential documents for us now. Can we see the Johnny English video of you retrieving these 🙈