exploring a "500" LED eBay light string (with schematic)

Sometimes I wonder how many of these dangerous strings of lights have been sold via eBay and other grey import sites over the past ten years. This one is different though, as it has a rotary pattern selector (keeps last setting), so well worth exploring.
The main issues with these light strings is that they have poor electrical safety standards. Ultra thin and easily broken wire with no significant strain relief (the listing warns of a risk of breaking just while unrolling them!), loose covers over live connections on the controllers and often horribly under-rated resistors in the strings that can burn up. That seems to be more common with the shorter 100 LED strings. This one wasn't pushing the resistors too hard.
I don't recommend having these lights where kids can play with them (all kids play with fairy lights) and where pets might nibble them inquisitively.
Despite being advertised as suitable for outdoor use, these are NOT waterproof and will wick water between the wires and sleeving, resulting in a shock risk and fast failure due to DC accelerated corrosion.
Note that in this video I did have exposed live electrical connections. As always, work to your own safety level.
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.c...
This also keeps the channel independent of KZbin's algorithm quirks, allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.
#ElectronicsCreators

[@Shaun.Stephens]

Congratulations on the 1 Million subscribers Clive! It's well deserved. I'm pleased to say that your channel hasn't changed much in the ~12 years that I've been subscribed. I watch every video you make. Here's to the next million!

[@Mike_5]

04:00 The ease of access to the full 230V supply voltage cable soldered connections is astonishing

[@phils4634]

Easy access for little fingers to play with. The sellers are entirely responsible for any accidents, but best of luck getting them to accept liability!

[@gedtoon6451]

As stated, DON'T BUY THESE!

[@benbaselet2026]

@@phils4634 Not so sure about the seller part. I think if you buy these from China then it makes you the importer and guess who gets the liability then..

[@mattmoreira210]

And it has been that way since, probably, the 80s.

[@rapeanumadalin2314]

@@phils4634 they may say after seeing you dead....why you so weak, so weak...😐🙃

[@tncorgi92]

Your caveats at the end remind me of Monty Python's "Architect Sketch" where the character endorses his tower block design "as long as your tenants are of light build and relatively sedentary".

[@ConstantlyDamaged]

🎶 _On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me; one fire-insurance contract_ 🎵

[@zh84]

"On the first day of Christmas, snow covered trees I see, And a gift Wrapped for me! I'M A RELIABLE REINDEER!!!!"

[@tncorgi92]

​@@zh84that's a different channel 😊

[@zh84]

@@tncorgi92 I hoped someone would recognise it!

[@tncorgi92]

@@zh84 now if a Grass Mask appeared in the background on Clive's livestream I would freak

[@gbraadnl]

1:08 these aren't Chinese plugs, but the European style. China and the US share the same simple bladed connectors, wit the exception of the earthed one's that have angled pins for the Chinese. The plug you see is much more stable inside a socket (not prone to fall due to being round) and is sleeved.

[@Big74Mike2012]

A "sufficiently shady" power supply.... it's these priceless little nuggets he sprinkles throughout that keeps me coming back.

[@alexhajnal107]

16:34 Ikea also sells fairy lights. Their electrical goods are quite well made from an electrical safety standpoint.

[@quantumleap359]

I always buy my Philips LED Christmas lights at Target after Christmas. The 50% off regular price makes them affordable indeed. Their quality make them safe too. Happy Holidays to every one of Clive's subscribers - and of course to Big Clive!

[@benbaselet2026]

Yep, every year (well not every but when I'm running low) I go buy the -50% to -80% discount stuff and use it a year later. Cheaper than ebay chinesium prices, compliant good quality stuff and even the warranty is still valid 11 months after purchase. One has to be a fool or in dire straits to buy a new set at this time of year.

[@gregorythomas333]

Ah...the Christmas gift that keeps on giving: You get a house burned down You get massive property damage You get an insurance denial due to unsafe equipment You get 3rd degree burns on 80% of your body Bonus gift: A huge hospital bill that your relatives have to pay from your estate because you died.

[@TestECull]

I wonder if anyone's ever loopholed that one by bequeathing their entire estate to someone like Jeff Bezos rather than their loved ones.

[@FireAngelOfLondon]

Except in a civilised country there is no hospital bill.

[@gedtoon6451]

Not a good reason to get burned!@@FireAngelOfLondon

[@FireAngelOfLondon]

@@gedtoon6451 Oh of course, the burns are bad, but burns plus a massive hospital bill is worse.

[@SlartiMarvinbartfast]

Once upon a time such things would be banned from the UK, now though it's a free for all of cheap, nasty, sometimes dangerous and non-environmentally friendly tat from China. Why don't Ebay, etc properly and aggressively prevent the sale of such items?

[@Lizlodude]

"They might be OK if you live alone and have a fire extinguisher handy" is about the best summary of these things I've heard

[@ruben_balea]

Someone has probably already mentioned it, but I don't have time to see all the comments right now. 1:10 That "Chinesyamerican two-pin plug" looks like a CEE 7/16 better known as Europlug, rated for 2.5A at 250V, low enough power that even Chinese plugs are generally built well enough, but to *NOT* avoid burning down your house the Chinese usually combine them with copper clad aluminum leads 🤬 To be a true Europlug among other things the pins must be angled slightly towards the center (1 mm less at the tip than at the base) to act as a spring loaded contact on sockets that accept plugs with wider pins.

[@falsemcnuggethope]

I came here looking for this comment. I'm surprised Clive isn't familiar with the europlug, didn't he work in France for a bit?

[@bigclivedotcom]

In hindsight this was bought as a "european" set.

[@ruben_balea]

@@falsemcnuggethope I guess because the Schuko is almost the only socket you can find both at domestic, commercial and industrial environments and most double insulated power tools and appliances use the 7/17 unearthed round plug with cutouts for the earth contacts that fits into Schuko sockets. You can find extension cords and reels with recessed sockets shaped for the Europlug but I never seen a panel socket shaped for the Europlug, the closer thing is the Swiss type 13 panel socket where an Europlug will fit.

[@falsemcnuggethope]

@@ruben_balea In my experience, 7/17 is much more rare than the europlug and only used for high power class II applications. I think the only such plugs I own are for my vacuum cleaner and hair dryer. I've also seen Europlug panel sockets but only in new installations. I still think Clive would've encountered Europlug in devices like a tabletop lamp or a charger or power supply for some smaller tool. Or if his stint there was within the last couple decades, a phone charger. Maybe it's the case that he simply didn't notice that he was plugging in various kinds of plugs to the same socket, which is very understandable and one of the great successess of the European standards.

[@ruben_balea]

@@falsemcnuggethope I was unable to find them here in Spain, so for the heavy chargers/adapters with Europlug that came loose easily from the Schuko sockets I 3D printed some adapters that convert the Europlug into a Schuko shaped plug. There are a few free designs available, I chose one that had a couple tabs to grab the Europlug so it comes out with it, others seem to be designed to stay in the Schuko. It's also mostly hollow so it's fast and cheap to print, others were solid...

[@rj7855]

Electricly much safer than the traditional Christmas lights my parents had, incandescent lights in the form of candles with small Edison screw sockets which could potentially had 220v on the outer ring.

[@jwhite5008]

Some of them sold in USSR used standard 6.3v mini bulb screw sockets that could potentially be touched even if used correctly. They also had a tendency to sometimes ignite thin paper decorations. I remember jamming soviet er "multimeter" probes into the outer rings as a part of the annual soviet festive activity of "find that one damn bulb that burned out". I swear to the diety of your choice, it was always the last or second to last one for me.

[@InsanityPlusOne]

@@jwhite5008 good old soviet fire hazards eh?

[@jwhite5008]

@@InsanityPlusOne Yup! Soviet people know to take precautions too. And, well, ours didn't cause any fires - yet! My parents are still using them for new year decoration. Probably nostalgia, but also some of those things last for half a century, and will probably last even longer. The most dangerous one I was talking about physically disintegrated a while ago, but the others - probably manufactured in the 70s - are still fine - most of them came with spare lamps, or compatible with standard ones - some of the others cannibalized to fix one another. But unlike the modern ones fixing does not require a soldering or searching for LED with similar enough voltage drop and/or resistors - the "newer" 90s Chinese ones with replaceable lights are not in any of the stores anymore (checked yesterday) - nor are replacement lamps - probably because of regulations or something. But the USSR ones still live.

[@RFC3514]

Which were still safer than the ones my grandparents had. Which were actual candles.

[@jwhite5008]

@@RFC3514 that's pure nightmare fuel

[@Draftmission]

10:08 Ah, yes. The infamous "Kink Palculator" 🤣🤣

[@Edsbar]

Clive, would you consider doing a demonstration video of what would happen to that power cord if it were loaded with what a 13amp fuse would allow it to be supplied with? I do believe I know what would happen but it would be fun for those of us who know and educational for those who don't. I'm sure you have the facilities to do this in a controlled and safe manner, whilst purvaying a sense of mystic danger.

[@Lizlodude]

Yeah, pretty sure 2+ kW would be well enough to turn the wire into a nice heater... Bring back the explosion containment pie dish!

[@udhi_gn3893]

I grew up several Christmases with the old school, true 4 channel fairy light of this kind with rotary dial that keeps the same setting. Seeing a 4 channel in action is just pure nostalgia due to its distinct twinkling patterns but unfortunately nowadays the market is flooded with 2 channel ones. Lucky if you could find a 4 channel today, it's like finding a needle in a haystack. Hopefully we'll see the resurrection of the 4 channel with a safer design. Flicker-less LED design would be great bonus.

[@rares3968]

You can get 4 channel strings in Romania, they're not really that rare. Usually the longer strings are 4 channel (both LED and the incandescent rice lights). Short (100-200 bulbs/LEDs) strings are hard to find in 4 channel.

[@Loki-innovator]

Its always nice to see LED videos from Clive,

[@paranoiia8]

I love when people put those cheap lights outside, and "it's OK because they turn them off before bed" and do that everyday... xD

[@thepagan5432]

We have seen much worse LED strings in the past. The 13 amp fuse is a wee bit silly, but easily rectified with the 3 amp fuse. I do wish that using copper plated steel/aluminium wires were not used, the fact that they do copper plate means they do know the potential dangers associated with it. Thanks Clive, good post 👍

[@lynes2peters438]

Can you explain to me whats the risk of copper plated aluminium cables?

[@jamesbrett6518]

​@@lynes2peters438search for John Ward and his garden burn-ups

[@thepagan5432]

@@lynes2peters438 Most of the danger comes from when the process is done cheaply, China can often make cheap electric copper coated cables as a cost effective solution. However, this type of wire can suffer from corrosion/oxidisation. The cable resistance, when using DC is much higher than using a solid copper cable. This can lead to the cable failing, component damage which could lead to equipment failure. The copper coated aluminium cable is not as flexible as solid copper causing problems with tighter bend radius', and it is more brittle making it prone to breaking. There are also concerns regarding the PVC sheathing containing some toxic elements which RoHS warns that skin, liver and neurological problems after long term exposure. There are reports linking the sheathing to a rare liver cancer.

[@tuftyindigo]

@@lynes2peters438 Aluminium has a much higher resistance so with thin flex like this it'll get very hot when the circuit is live. Also, as you saw in the video, when they do get hot they get a bit... melty.

[@lynes2peters438]

Ah got it, thanks everybody :)

[@BRUXXUS]

I recently got a pack of rotary encoders that came with a whole punch of those jumper wires in a ribbon cable. I took them out of the bad and set them on the bench and was startled when a magnet flew over and stuck directly to them. 🤣 Yeah... those won't ever be used for any of my projects.

[@TheChipmunk2008]

I love the fact you explain for our international viewers what the fuse is for.. that is a huge confusion point for people

[@TopEndSpoonie]

500 fairy lights. Now with 4% less LEDs. Just like most things these days, you pay more to get less.

[@tncorgi92]

To be honest, if they're from eBay I would expect them to claim 1,000 LEDs and give you

[@phils4634]

"Shrinkage", Mate!

[@TheMNWolf]

There is no way that plug fits in an American socket. We use flat prongs, not circular pins

[@falsemcnuggethope]

It's the Europlug

[@bokkenka]

Congratulations on the one million subscribers!

[@BjornV78]

If you overdrive the 478 LED's with 4,6% of current, then you have the equal of 500 LED's 😛

[@jwhite5008]

- Where are the missing 22 lights? - Just decorate a Christmas tree outside, there will be a lot of pretty lights before long.

[@henriquelausch6999]

The tolerance of the resistors can't be less than 5%, so, you got a lucky led string 😂

[@fazergazer]

Always a good day when Big Clive brings out the kink palculator😂❤

[@JohnnyMotel99]

I recently bought RGB string lights of ebay, I was so impressed I bought two more! It has BT for an app on your phone, remote control and USB powered. Not very bright, but they have a lot of variations in modes.

[@chox2001]

I’m a sucker for LED lights. I normally buy mine from home bargains here in UK. I place flashing or flickering single leds in local woods and interesting places. Just to let others enjoy the fun of LEDs

[@FerralVideo]

Now I want to do that too.

[@frool76]

That plug at 1:10 looks like a Europlug which works in most sockets all over Europe (well, except in the UK). It only allows 250V / 2,5 A and is very common for small devices, nowadays especially chargers. Don't have an almost identical plug in the UK as well, although requiring a different socket?

[@echothehusky]

The uk 'shaver' plug is similar, but with fatter pins

[@Quickened1]

The one thing that might be worth saving is the pattern selector circuit, well and perhaps the 478 LEDs... Nice!

[@MrRelevance02]

Happy one Million Clive, Well done. I've been watching for a long time now, I started watching in 2015

[@theoneohmresistor]

holy crap, 2015 was nearly 9 years ago

[@martinclemesha4794]

Interesting video Clive. Would like to see the internals of the ''dodgy' 'power supply. Btw congrats on the 1Meg subs :0)

[@mistermeaargee2670]

It is surprising there are not more incidents at Christmas, with this or even the wild Christmas displays of multiple daisy-chained power boards and dodgy extension leads. Although the loading is a little more forgiving with LED over the old incandescent bulbs.

[@bigclivedotcom]

Given some of the pictures I've seen of clusters of open chassis power supplies with exposed live terminals, the mass use of 5V pixels with no grasp of overcurrent protection and the recent trend of having volunteers install electrical cabling for lights in soggy forests, I'm very surprised there have been no notable deaths. Yet.

[@alerighi]

I remember the Christmas lights that my granddad had. Since he didn't have the proper connector so he did use an extension lead with two plugs on each side (so that if you connect them in the wrong order you have 230V exposed on a plug), the cable he used was some sort of fabric insulated cable that was some metal thins as a hair, probably something from before the war, the light cable itself was broken in multiple places and reattached by twisting the wire and using normal scotch tape. Once while doing the Christmas tree I was wondering why it didn't work, then I realized that the lights had tripped the RCD. Well...

[@phonotical]

It would be interesting to hear the electrical noise this makes as it changes between display modes I'd wanted to get a warm white version to have across a wall but I've always found the bare led poking out of some heat shrink pretty nasty, nothing like the nice old Filament fairy lights! And they did you out of nearly 5% of the total promised leds! (ok 4.4% but still)

[@RFC3514]

That "chineesy american type 2-pin plug" is actually called a Europlug. Can you guess where it's used? ;-)

[@RFC3514]

@@Kevin-mp5of - Well, if you don't need an earth connection, they are quite good. Pretty safe, compact, cheap to make, compatible with Schuko outlets. And the idea of using slightly slanted prongs to hold them in place is rather clever.

[@bigclivedotcom]

Is it used in.... Russia?

[@RFC3514]

@@bigclivedotcom - Those are actually rotated 180 degrees.

[@RFC3514]

Apparently, if I include that country's name in my reply, KZbin deletes it. Tried it 3 times, all 3 the message disappeared.

[@joelcordier6762]

Very nice printed PCB ;-) - Thanks again for sharing.

[@groundcontrolto]

Congrats on the 1 million subs!

[@RODALCO2007]

Great video and analyses Clive, those mains wires are absolute rubbish, some copper coated iron wire. Your capacitive dropper works, I still prefer to put a 100 Ohms 2-watt inrush limiting resistor in series. The 330 or 470 nF Cap can let a large surge through when energized at the peak value 325 Volts of the mains cycle.

[@wisher21uk]

Thanks for bringing this death trap to out attention Clive many thanks 😊

[@chuckthetekkie]

Speaking of power wires, I bought a 3 conductor 1mm² European color code power cord from Aliexpress (yes I know, probably not the best to buy it) however after watching one of your videos I decided to give that cord the flame test and was pleasantly surprised that the stranded wires went rainbow and did not shrivel up. Also I'm pretty sure the wires are of the correct gauge as the wire without the insulation is quite stiff. It's stiffer than some PC power cords I've gotten in here in the US that claim to be 18awg but I seriously doubt it.

[@bigclivedotcom]

Try the magnet test too, to see if the cable sticks to a powerful magnet.

[@j.f.christ8421]

Those "rainbow colours" sound suspiciously like steel tempering colours.

[@martinbalmforth2665]

Congratulations on hitting the million Clive. Well done, How about a Manx Army MRE review? A case of beer and a bag of crisps lol

[@bigclivedotcom]

And a kipper.

[@TestECull]

Heh. I wish these were incandescent, but it seems to be a pretty nifty set. Not overly concerned about them being intrinsically safe, either. hell I've been using a deathdaptor XL in my bedroom to float the earth of my soldering iron for a couple of years now. I did tape over the lamp testing probes, though, just to make sure they don't pop out at random.

[@whitesapphire5865]

And, on the other end of the scale, I recently bought a set of 48 individually addressable RGB LEDs made by Technical Consumer Products. Controlled by a mobile phone app, and linked via Bluetooth. They're nice, but a bit pricey and way over the top, with features I have yet to fathom, and/or will probably never use! One advantage of the cheapy ones, is that you're not going to lose much if they fail and end up being thrown away. However, a year or two ago, I bought some cheapy lights from a local "discount" store, plugged them in, and got a belt off the bastards that left my arm numb for the rest of the evening. The price reflects the quality, and you only get what you pay for! It has to be said though, I didn't actually pay for the electric shock. That came as a free bonus!!

[@OhShitSeriously]

The back side of that board sure does look like something that uses all the same letters in "this"...

[@Pugwash.]

A nice timely video and well explained as usual.

[@SlartiMarvinbartfast]

Clive, by now you must have enough lights to illuminate the Isle of Man. 🙂

[@Big_Loo]

That plug isn't US/China. They have flat blades. That one is tge type-C European plug.

[@cannotbeleftblank6027]

Wait, you counted 80+80, 80+80 and 79+79; that's three strings of LEDs, yet there are only 2 thyristors and you drew 2 strings in your diagram. Am I missing something here?

[@bigclivedotcom]

Each of the pairs is in parallel. Three sections on each thyristor.

[@rares3968]

That blob chip seems to be an... UTC8156! It is available in DIP-16, DIP-18 and blob chip.

[@GodmanchesterGoblin]

Sorry to be picky, but you can't use a capacitor in this case to reduce flicker. The problem is that the thyristors require the LED current to fall to zero every half mains cycle. The capacitor will prevent that and all LEDs will then remain permanently lit.

[@d942yd42]

came here for this

[@bigclivedotcom]

The capacitor was only when they were being run static without the control system.

[@GodmanchesterGoblin]

@bigclivedotcom Ah! I missed that detail. My apologies. Thanks for the clarification.

[@phils4634]

At least the 13A plug didn't have an "insulated" Earth pin 🙂Just received one of those "Chinese Industrial Bulb Testers" - seems identical to yours, and took a LONG time to arrive (14 weeks!). Might well do a few basic safety modifications prior to playing with it!

[@davidpooley4167]

It should be a plastic earth pin though, it's only a 2 core cable so it's not providing any actual earthing.

[@benbaselet2026]

@@davidpooley4167 Meh, just connect the earth and neutral pin together, it'll be fine! :-)

[@petersage5157]

10mA per string for 3 strings? Fine gauge copper coated aluminium or copper coated steel is just fine. An argument could be made for favoring steel or aluminium over solid copper for fairy lights, since they will ostensibly be put up and taken down every holiday season (and usually left in a messy wad that needs to be untangled), and the stress of this could cause work hardening in copper.

[@j.f.christ8421]

TIL aluminium & steel are exempt from work hardening and fatigue. Will update my engineering book accordingly.

[@petersage5157]

@@j.f.christ8421 Of course all metals are subject to work hardening and fatigue; copper is just worse than others. Anyway, since the power supply wasn't built down to a price as aggressively as many other bits of holiday tat, it's reasonable to assume that the person who specced the wire might expect it to survive more than one or two seasons.

[@lr0dy]

​@@j.f.christ8421Steel, as long as it doesn't exceed it's fatigue limit, will never fail from fatigue - unlike aluminum and copper, which have no fatigue limit and thus will always eventually fail.

[@j.f.christ8421]

@@lr0dy I have updated my engineering book accordingly, "aluminium and copper, which have no fatigue limit" as per some very educated rando on KZbin. You sure about that, you "very educated rando on KZbin"?

[@eDoc2020]

@@j.f.christ8421 It's confusing terminology but "fatigue limit" actually means close to the opposite of what I expected. Not having a fatigue limit means it will fail from fatigue. Having a fatigue limit means steel _is_ exempt from fatigue if the flexing is low enough.

[@ralphj4012]

They could have added live alone, fire extinguisher, had a few, no pets, no children to the description (which wouldn't have impacted the increasing cost / sales).

[@charliesoffer]

Sheesh! Everything in overdrive on that one, Clive. Time for a lie down in a darkened room with a wet flannel on my face 😂

[@iangrice329]

Nothing says Christmas like a dodgy set of fairy lights ✨️ 😂. I love my ebay Chinese star lights, had them for years, bit of glue and some time and there as safe as the 50 year old incandescent lights i still use.

[@dcallan812]

It really is the most wonderful time of the year ⚡⚡☺ interesting lights 2x👍

[@tncorgi92]

And most of us have met our health care deductibles for the calendar year. 😊

[@dcallan812]

@@tncorgi92 A win all round 👍 🤣

[@radarmusen]

Sadly with that design, it has to flicker or else the SCR will never release.

[@tactileslut]

On the plus side, the rectifier bridge doubles the flash rate over that of the worst looking strings. One could swap in incandescent strings and the controller should survive, presuming the string isn't too long (where we know I misused "long"). With other changes one could swap the SCRs with FETs, add smoothing before and after the switching and once again have an LED set with all the main flaws of the original.

[@lindastone6868]

I just noticed, congrats on 1,000,000 subscribers

[@masosz]

It just reminded me that I am about to experience the most hard time for me... - I just love to buy these cheap shining and blinking crapy things which will be in every store very soon XD

[@d.t.4523]

Thank you. Keep working, good luck.

[@FuncleChuck]

“500” is a valid way to describe it, but only if you only have one significant digit 😂

[@benbaselet2026]

I mean we know that 20 watt chinese lamps are actually 10 watts and the batteries are, at most, half the rated capacity so this really should have been 250 LEDs. I think they were quite generous with this set :-)

[@nickk6518]

Fun fact: I went to my local garden centre yesterday where, it turns out, they have a sale of all kinds of Crimbo lights. I got a box of 2000 lights for £18.99, a box of 360 multicolour micro led lights with green (copper) wire for £2.99 and a box of 600 warm white micro led 'fireworks,' reduced from £44.99 to £4.99. And I also got a load of those dummy battery mains adapters reduced from £20 to 99p. Result!!

[@lesliefranklin1870]

@1:11 That plug you showed is not used in America. It seems closer to a type "C" plug that is commonly used in Continental Europe. And it seems to be of one type that is also used in China.

[@marcse7en]

The world, as we know it, could NOT exist without the humble light emitting diode! ...... Would you agree with that statement, Big Clive? ...... Why if it wasn't for the LED, in order to watch this video, I'd have to change the candle in my Lenovo Tablet's backlight! 🤣

[@tactileslut]

Your tablet might have a super flat CRT. Those got some amazingly thin designs toward their end of lineage.

[@marcse7en]

@@tactileslut I'm so nostalgic for the good old CRT! 📺 Magical things! The things I've seen on a CRT! Such as my beloved Classic Doctor Who! (Not the New Series! LCD is good enough for that rubbish!) 🤣 I've still got my 1982 SONY Trinicon Colour Video Camera, with 1.5" B&W CRT Viewfinder, and a 1980s SONY Flat CRT Analogue B&W Pocket TV that runs on AA batteries! ... Both still working!

[@piconano]

Congrats on the 1M subs. I expect a party.

[@tonyweavers4292]

Another Xmas death trap.😮

[@amorphuc]

Thanks Big Clive! Wondering if you did a video of you reworking the shady power supply for safety? It actually seems kind of handy other than the spicy bits just open to misfortune. LOL The unfortunate thing about things like this is in thinking someone is wanting to make a festive display and then all the things that could go wrong because of greedy and shady sales pitches. You wonder how many houses burn down or even worse because of these practices. Kind of sad really.

[@bigclivedotcom]

I think I've covered the cap-dropper conversion in the past. It doesn't make it safer, but does make it static and last longer.

[@Sakanakao]

I appreciate the Kink Palculator.

[@Rob-e8w]

At 6:43 you shout for Aunty Climax. When are you going to introduce us?

[@wtmayhew]

Regarding flicker, I wonder what technology the LEDs are using. I read that purple light may be obtained directly from a GaN substrate as well as secondary emission from a phosphor coated die emitting at some other wavelength. I’m not sure which way is less expensive. You can bet the Chinese light string uses whatever technology is less expensive. I’m guessing that these are secondary emission type LEDs because they have no noticeable flicker when fed 100 Hz pulsating DC from the full wave bridge. You’ll get a little after glow from the phosphor to cover up flickering. You may also be able to see brief after glow in a sufficiently dark room when the LED string is switched off.

[@bigclivedotcom]

You can get single wavelength deep violet LEDs or the brighter blue with red phosphor purple ones.

[@wtmayhew]

@@bigclivedotcom Good day and thank you for the reply. Appreciated.

[@tikaanipippin]

The circuit board surface mount side looks as though Burn-E has given it a little attention.

[@cremvustila]

Oh well, the Chinese are so brave, they have totally different electrical safety standards, not like us wussy westerners. Congratulations on the 1M, Clive! 👍

[@309electronics5]

Ahh, do i love some hazzardous christmass lights that will surprise you with dodgy quality! (as diodegonewile would say) altbough i do like the selector switch that will keep its setting

[@joshfriesen9401]

The fuses in some fake or cheap products really confuse me. If you were to go down to your local hardware store and pick up a fuse, it would have sand in it, right? I don’t even think the compliant ones would cost that much. Great video.

[@AddyKt3D]

i had a "flicker free" led lights and when i wanted to make them flicker i just added a neon starter to make them flicker as the starter goes on and off

[@stephenbelcher]

Good shot Clive

[@henrikostrov482]

The 2-pin plug is actually european plug lol

[@Smaxx]

Was about to mention the same. 😅

[@whitesapphire5865]

It's actually a cheap knockoff of a European plug. Thank God for Brexit, which saved us from being "harmonised" with continental Europe and having their unsafe electrical standards forced onto us.

[@Gen.Tomsky]

Nobody would have ever forced you to leave your crappy single-phase ring mains-infested electrical installations behind. Just stop spewing lies about Brexshit benefits.

[@brylozketrzyn]

​@@whitesapphire5865we don't go cheap on copper and circuit breakers, we just put them where they belong

[@Iron4222]

⁠@@whitesapphire5865you are caping right?

[@RottnRobbie]

Am I the only one who noticed that the 13.5 Watts noted at 15 minutes, grows to 13.7 before jumping up to 14.2 Watts by the 15:59 mark?

[@AureliusR]

What you referred to at the start as a "Chinese-y, American-y" style plug -- isn't that a Europlug? We definitely don't use plugs like that in North America, and China uses either a variation of our NEMA plugs, or the Aussie slanted ones.

[@philipwalker2800]

Really enjoy your videos especially about the c**p available online. Hope to see many more so please INSULATE or cover your diode rectifier while waving your hands nearby. (at 15.38) Mains hurts! (or worse) if touched

[@drteknical6571]

Oh Goody Goody!!! Christmas Light Death Traps 2023!! More! More! And even better: they're that "un-natural" color of violet!! Eye-Searing!!

[@graboid116]

I need 4 channel sets to replace my sets on my uncommon function sets. You should pick up a set of musical Christmas lights and reverse engineer them

[@AllLoudNation365]

I love the color purple 💜

[@RS-Amsterdam]

Prince ....you are alive 🎉

[@mxslick50]

Me too..purple is my fav.

[@waynesharp1690]

Tis the season for big Clive fairy lights 🙂

[@TC_here]

Congrats on 1M subs :)

[@Imakeelectronicchaos]

That’s stupid that eBay are still selling danegrous Christmas lights and that they don’t have the amount of leds that where listed, what a joke! Nice video! Also that’s not very good that they had that 3 prong connector plug on the clear cable after the controller as those plugs are meant for LOW voltage Christmas lights and those plugs would normally be on the low voltage transformer however they have put it on a 240v system! Ffs eBay 😂 I had a set of cheap eBay lights like that and it was an '100 led' version however I forgot to count it to see if it was actually 100. And I now no longer have the lights, as they are made cheaply and unsafely, some of the leds broke off and the mains wires from the plug ripped out and nearly caused a short ciurcit, lovely. I would also be interested to see how you rewired that shady power supply/lamp tester!

[@davey2k12]

Lol short that wire on a battery its like fireworks like the speaker wire that Poundland used to sell time ago when stuff was 1 quid 😂

[@jessebob325]

1:10 That plug look like EU standard. No where in America have I ever seen it. USA/Japan have the smaller two blade type plug.

[@RS-Amsterdam]

I'll bet they are totally compliant to Chinese rules 😂

[@whitesapphire5865]

Possibly not, since they were made for export to European countries!

[@Science-Vlog]

1M looks good

[@Denyzyne]

Awee i want to make Xmas lights, ~500ish ain't good enough, might as well hand solder em myself :).. Happy Xmas!

[@NivagSwerdna]

Just bought some lights.... and of course... they don't remember their settings. So annoying! This one has a rotary switch... so much better! Shame that they will electrocute you.

[@Pulverrostmannen]

very nice color though

[@gedtoon6451]

In the past you have bought these led stings and explained why you should not buy them, and here you go again buying more of those led strings!

[@benbaselet2026]

He is doing it so that we don't have to :)

[@bigclivedotcom]

It's because I like the dangerous stuff.

[@davidfalconer8913]

Look on the bright ( ? ) side ... these provide LOADS of bits of clear flex to REPAIR other folks , garden / Christmas ( etc ) lights ... ermm .. ( might be cheaper to buy just for the flex ? ? ) , yep , DO NOT use outdoors .. DAVE™ 🛑

[@bigclivedotcom]

The wire is extraordinarily thin and often hard to terminate. These lights are normally assembled by machines which lock it in place as it is soldered and then sleeved.

[@soumyajyotidey1565]

Hello Clive, do you have any news about photonicinduction? He must be your friend I guess 😊 We badly miss his crazy videos...😢

[@bigclivedotcom]

Not sure what Andy's doing these days. He keeps very busy with work, so only puts out bursts of videos from time to time.

[@edwinlipton]

Here in the States regulative compliance is just gov creating a job for those who have trouble wipping without help. The proof is in our food.

[@alexhajnal107]

LED strings should have color bands giving the nominal quantity and variance. Your "500" LED string (478 actual) would be Green-Black-Brown-Gold. :^)

[@GodmanchesterGoblin]

And the gold band would allow a 5% tolerance on the LED quantity, meaning that the 478 LEDs that Clive had would be within spec. Perfect!

[@bigjd2k]

A 1A fuse is too high for those, awful things. But a nice colour!

[@JendaLinda]

I think a 100mA fuse would be more appropriate. Also I would add an insulation transformer as well.

[@avada0]

1:09 That's literally a Europlug though.