Fixing a dead LED street light lamp. (SOX retrofit.)

[@djm5k]

Here in the US, LPS was never really used except near observatories where the monochromatic wavelengths can be filtered out by telescopes. I was in Flagstaff, Arizona in 2022 where there is an observatory. Most of the streetlights in the downtown area of Flagstaff looked like LPS, until I took a closer look and found they were LED which emulated the monochromatic light produced by LPS. I believe the fixtures were originally fitted with LPS lamps, but were retrofitted with an LED lamp powered by the line voltage to the fixture. What had prompted this observation was that there was one fixture at an intersection where the LEDs were I believe 5000K.

[@andersvandegevel8355]

Among all the other problems mentioned here regarding replacing sodium street lighting with LEDs is that of light pollution affecting astronomers. The old SOX lights have a very narrow frequency output which is easily filtered out, but LEDs are broadband emitters, making filtering far more difficult

[@Bubu567]

I was about to point this out. Astronomers LOVED the sodium lamps because they could so easily be filtered out to prevent light pollution.

[@rjwaters3]

just going to nudge in here, TL;DR LEDs are capable of being used where people actually care about light pollution, every bit as good or better than low pressure sodium. Leds are capable of being fairly monochromatic too, at least every bit as mono chromatic as high pressure sodium, which are the ones most commonly used, low pressure sodium is, though rarely used except near observatories and turtle catering beaches, are indeed more monochromatic by default, but theyre also rare. the issues of replacing sodium street lighting in most place is a non issue, if the issue is turtles, LEDs can be designed with wavelengths perfectly suitable for turtle safety, the ONLY issue with bare bone LEDs is around the very rare (most of them are in the middle of bumstuffing no where rural nebraska, arizona, colorada) observatories, most of which are, again, in the middle of nowhere, and even then, the LEDs can be filtered (easily!) to be as good or better than even low pressure sodium

[@williamevans9426]

The old sodium-vapour lamps were definitely better than their LED replacements in producing a large pool of visible light. In my experience, LED street lamps illuminate the area immediately below the lamp standard and for around three metres around but no further, leaving large dark areas between lamp-posts.

[@DigBipper188]

As someone with a Philips Mi26 as a floor lamp... I can attest :) It's sad we didn't develop the technology and fixtures even futher because it was an extremely efficient source. the only really major problem SOX had was that because a lot of lanterns were of the semi-cutoff type, the light could bleed upwards causing sky-glare. that was easy to remedy with an altered optic or going full-cutoff though. besides that, even the smallest SOX lamps were around 100 lumens per watt (the 35w SOX we are used to seeing in smaller streets and side roads are around 130lpw), the light spread was very even (more even than the 45w Iridium minis that they replaced them with in 2012, that's for sure), the light output wasn't concentrated into a single point making them very low glare compared to metal halide, LED and HPS, and they were also extremely good at cutting through fog, which is a massive visibility boon when you're trundling through a pea-souper of an evening!!

[@primrosesakul..3808]

I prefer warm-white led than sox lamp

[@GERMANIA292]

LED with poor light distribution have that kind of problem, the only good thing is that it doesnt induce glare that much but the street feels like hallway with lights far away from each other

[@evensgrey]

Astronomers love low-pressure sodium street lighting because they are not monochromatic, but dichromatic. They produce light from the atomic transitions of the electrons in the sodium atoms, which produce the characteristic sodium emission spectrum, two narrow lines in the yellow-orange range, quite close together. These can be easily filtered out in a telescope, leaving the light gathered almost undamaged.

[@evensgrey]

@kevin paul halliday I think that haze would be a problem for viewing dimmer object regardless. Have you tried a filter for the sodium lines, though? It can only help.

[@evensgrey]

@@peterjszerszen Well, that's Detroit for you, isn't it? The whole damn city is falling apart, there's no money to fix anything, and the politicians are adamant that they're not going to sell anything, cut anything, or do any long-term leasing of public property. Of course, there's dumber lighting in some places. You know that huge, multi-decade project to rebuild the B oston highway network underground, that finished incredibly late and over budget? They have fixtures DROPPING ONTO THE ROADWAY, because some dumbass put dissimilar metals in contact in an environment where there's water and salt. The damn things are corroding right out of the tunnel ceiling!

[@larrygall5831]

@@evensgrey Yeah, I grew up in Boston but left about 5 years ago.. I remember the concrete panels were falling down.. one of them crushed a car and killed a lady.. her husband was in the passenger seat and survived somehow. flattened the car. It was the epoxy-anchor system they were using. They removed them all, but IDK if they ever put them back. Now the fixtures are falling.. geez.

[@jp040759]

I've listened to you explain the bootstrap circuit and second winding many times and I understand it but for some reason this time It just hit me as a massive revelation of how it works to use the knowledge to troubleshoot bad switchers more thoroughly. It never hurts to review things several times to make it really become clear.

[@Peter_S_]

That last sentence is especially true when working with mains.

[@bigclivedotcom]

I talk about it every time for a couple of reasons. Some people may be new to my videos, and for others who have seen it before, but not quite clicked with it - it will all suddenly fall into place.

[@johnrobinson2880]

@@bigclivedotcom And thank you for doing so Clive, i have been a sub of yours for years and still catch a few things i overlooked - and mis understood.

[@millomweb]

All I think is how much more reliable would stuff be without the dodgy electronics ! Bootstrap circuit ??? Sounds most Doctor Who gibberish. From what I know, you put a voltage across a LED and it lights - so anything more than that is hoax.

[@jp040759]

@@millomwebYes. From what you know your comment is understandable. Good day.

[@BenjaminEsposti]

I love the sodium lamps, they're so much easier on the eyes. Some smartie-pants in my area decided to put in some induction fluorescent lamps, with a bland white color and dim illumination. Many of them are broken now, old 5 years or so, lol.

[@michaelwynne2801]

Those pins are oxy acetylene tip cleaners Clive. They are like tiny little round files as such. Nice diagnosis mate.

[@lodewyk21]

Truth!

[@northumbriarail]

Agree, they are for gas torches

[@BensWorkshop]

Yes, I use them for cleaning carburettor jets amongst other things, available in nice sets for say £3 from welding supply firms or slightly cheaper on line. Usually used without solder.

[@Equiluxe1]

@@BensWorkshop I got given mine by the local welding supplies company in a nice case with their loogo and contact details printed on it.

[@BensWorkshop]

@@Equiluxe1 I had to pay for mine :( but then I don't do any oxy welding, only MIG and MMA (Manual metal arc is apparently what arc welding is called these days....)

[@ijulesy]

Would love a video focussing on the old SOX lamps and the ballasts + ignitors that run them. Also, its a shame that Philips is closing down their SOX bulb factory this November, marking the true end of Low Pressure Sodium...

[@DanafoxyVixen]

Im a simple girl.. I see a video with a SOX lightbulb in it, I like the video IMMEDIATELY (seriously I love low pressure sodium lamp discharge technology)

[@NeuronalAxon]

Strange girl, lol.

[@ashbashbaby2]

Me too love sox that is why I have two in my garden

[@DanafoxyVixen]

@@NeuronalAxon "Strange girl, lol." Remember, 'Normal' is just a cycle on a washing machine... if your not a little strange inside, your not living life right

[@NeuronalAxon]

@@DanafoxyVixen - I never said it was a bad thing. ;)

[@WitchidWitchid]

You're not strange at all. I agree with you. Since I was a child I was fascinated with all types of discharge lamps from fluorescents to mercury vapour, sodium, and metal halides.I still love the stuff.

[@TheToastPeople]

I mention SOX lamps in the chat every time you do a live stream... glad to see you finally do a video on one! Power it up!

[@JanicekTrnecka]

Every time I see a SOX lamp, I recall Photonicinductions moonlight sonata and praise for keeping the streets lit.

[@djfaber]

I never thought of fluxing my solder removal tape, what a great tip! thank you!

[@B-System]

I've almost never encountered solder-wick that wasn't pre-fluxed, actually. I know it's made and you can buy it, but I don't know why one would.

[@MrFrazierNation]

SAVED a couple of braids I had laying around my lab. It is something with knowing 🙂

[@NOWThatsRichy]

Very interesting vid, I'm familiar with Alan , as we are both in the various Facebook streetlighting groups, although I don't have a collection, I've always been fascinated by streetlighting & the various technologies used, although I also find LED I bit boring as they all look much the same. SOX (Low pressure sodium) has always been my favourite type, I can still remember as a kid, watching the SOX lanterns in my road warming up from red to orange. But now like most other areas, Portsmouth has recently replaced virtually all its lighting with LED versions, making a few areas over lit but many areas under lit with dark patches here & there, not so much the fault of the technology but due to the size & positioning of the lanterns.

[@jcondon1]

Those pins are torch tip cleaners. Also good for cleaning carburetors.

[@thedevilinthecircuit1414]

They're also sold by unscrupulous vendors as 'nut files' for stringed instrument maintenance and repair. But they are pretty horrible for that use.

[@kb1ibh]

this. I've seen the same exact pins in a tool marketed for carb jet cleaning

[@reggiebacci]

Old guitar strings work for cleaning carb jets too

[@russellhltn1396]

For cleaning out holes, I just use sewing needles. They're smooth and stainless steel. The solder doesn't stick.

[@stuartmcconnachie]

I miss the yellow sodium lamps. I could tell if a car was coming down the road at night when backing off my drive because headlights are white. That trick doesn’t work with white LED streetlights.

[@NOWThatsRichy]

That is one of the disadvantages of LED outdoor road lighting in general, weather its street lighting, car headlights or bike lights, they are all the same cold white colour & not very distinguishable from a distance.

[@AAAyyyGGG]

Not to mention that reversing onto a main road is a no no in the highway code. But of course sometimes there's no alternative....

[@stuartmcconnachie]

AAAyyyGGG Indeed I would do otherwise, were it not for the steep angle of the drive and that it is impossible to exit the car otherwise (at least not without being a gymnast/contortionist and climbing across to the passenger seat). Interesting others also think LEDs are not as good for identifying oncoming vehicles. I wonder if there is actual hard evidence that safety is decreased? If so perhaps we should refer to the artificial yellow.

[@stuartmcconnachie]

Dave Micolichek: Yes, but I can’t “look a little harder” my view is completely obstructed (or at least so obstructed that I cannot see in both directions far enough to detect if there is sufficient gap to emerge with any certainty). I have to put my hazards on and reverse very slowly using my hearing and other “tricks” to detect approaching vehicles, or hope they are courteous enough to stop. At least at night I used to have another “trick” to use. Regrettably there are still motorists who charge down narrow residential streets at 30mph+ presumably in the mindset “I have right of way, no need to stop for anyone”. If they do bother to use their horn, then it’s only to sound it in annoyance as they scream on past. Perhaps if they took “a few milliseconds” to THINK a little harder, then they might realise that an emerging drivers cannot possibly see them approaching and the polite/safe thing to do would be to STOP?

[@stuartmcconnachie]

Dave Micolichek: Different colour? Yes that’s the point. They are now the SAME colour. White headlights on yellow sodium lights were far easier to see.

[@TnT_F0X]

Every time that nostalgic golden glow is replaced with LEDs a bit of my childhood dies with that bulb.

[@johnfrancisdoe1563]

TnT FoX My childhood was neon tubes getting replaced by cheap yellows that made some things invisible.

[@frogz]

i've been trying to find LEDS that emulate the color correctly, amber isnt the same

[@DrakkarCalethiel]

Color of old tungsten bulbs is just beautiful, hope LEDs or some other form will replicate the spectrum as close as possible.

[@TheBlibo]

Who cares about economy bring back our old low pressure sodium lights much more genteel on the eye

[@TheBlibo]

Good day to you Those pins you have look like the nozzle cleaning pins for acetylene welding nozzles

[@NaoPb]

Oh man, now I need a sodium yellow lamp. But the other ones are cool too. I still have a SOX street light with original SOX bulb in it. It's a Philips SRM, which is a really common fixture in my town. They've retrofitted most of them with cool white lamps now.

[@ashbashbaby2]

I've got two in my garden

[@jamesdyas542]

The old sox fittings were only good in the respect that the control gear rarely went wrong unlike son and fluorescent. Colour rendering was terrible. Then there was mbfu which wasn’t too bad. We used to lean a ladder against columns on municipal car parks and service them that way. Only use a portable scaffold in extreme circumstances. Wouldn’t be allowed now. Brings back memories. Excellent video thanks.

[@revoxjazz]

Clive, i just wanted to say you are doing a fine job in your channel. Keep it like that. Cheers! Macedo Pinto, portugal.

[@Brianredfern9]

The metal pins are for cleaning out migwelding tips. The rough sides are to smooth the inside of the tip so the welding wire doesn't grip the inside

[@28YorkshireRose12]

Hi Clive, thank you so much for this video. ✅ I have two of these "Magnatech" SOX-LED retrofits, one is exactly the same as yours, the other is larger (longer) to replace the 50W SOX, both are faulty, and I hadn't dared to try opening them up. I wasn't able to unscrew the plastic base, as you did, and that made me assume they were crimped, or glued in place. So now, I'll take another look at them. One has two dead LEDs that burst into life if you press simultaneously on their lenses, and one or two more where the silicone lenses have been 'blown' off. The other one did light when I first got it, but dimmed to almost nothing after a few minutes, and has never regained full brightness, but its LEDs all appear to be sound. One point you didn't mention, was the small grub screw to lock the lamp in place once you've levelled it up. I am curious about one thing though. Mine don't have the clear plastic front covers, and I'm wondering i they ever did, or if it was an option for certain applications. They are an interesting lamp, and ERYC (East Riding of Yorkshire Council) installed tons of them about ten years ago, but their failure rate was off the scale. About eighteen months later, the council then set about junking these in favour of completely new dedicated LED lamp heads with two clusters of LEDs in each head. Their failure rate is much lower, but still not perfect. These new lamps are affectionately known to some hereabouts as the "illuminated tom-cat testicles" - because if you look up at them when they're lit, they do have a bit of resemblance to a tom-cat's crown jewels! 🐈 💎 🌟 😂

[@bigclivedotcom]

These are the first of this style I've seen. I wasn't aware they did a version with no cover over the LEDs. You could take the PCB out, warm it, and replace the LEDs.

[@niek024]

I would have liked to see a close-up of the sodium lamp powering up as well. I like the monochromatic light they emit even more than the light of LEDs.

[@JerryDodge]

I just started this video, forgetting my volume was cranked up, quickly turned it down, and someone outside yelled "Big Clive!" I yelled "Big Clive!" right back at em.

[@NeuronalAxon]

lol, whereabouts do you live?

[@JerryDodge]

@@NeuronalAxon Louisville KY

[@NeuronalAxon]

@@JerryDodge - Ah, I was picturing Australia for some reason - 'Hey - Big Clive!'. lol

[@fadingbeleifs]

Jerry Dodge THAT WAS ME!

[@ashy1423]

I didn’t have a clue what this was about except for the three pin plug, however I really enjoyed this video seeing this light working again. Thanks Clive👍 Ash 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 (Glesga)

[@franglish9265]

These are awesome! I'm sure that astronomers will be happy that they have LED modules that look exactly like LPS. I wonder if the emission spectrum is similar enough.

[@asmolbean9300]

I love sox lamps, they're so nice and warm. Very nostalgic. Unfortunately all the ones in my area are LEDs, better for the environment, but not as nice to look at out the window.

[@Miata822]

Fixing things *is* fun, even if you have to break them yourself first.

[@gcewing]

If you use Suntan capacitors in your lamp power supply, does the lamp start putting out ultraviolet?

[@amorphuc]

Thanks Big Clive. That was cool and fun. I really liked how you discribed the functioning of the circuit while pointing at the various components. Over the past couple of years, I think I have learned a lot. I certainly have regressed into the childhood activity of "Taking Things to Bits". Perhaps with less of the mayhem requiring parental scolding.

[@jabba334]

My favorite tool for dealing with through hole component removal is the desoldering pump (AKA Solder Sucker) then you can clean up with the solder wick.

[@prodbydramatic]

those are are garbage

[@garyhardman8369]

One of the roads on my journey to work each day had the Sodium lamps swapped for LED's a couple of years ago. Within a couple of months, about 25% of them were flashing. About a week later, the local council replaced them. The lamps have been 'disco free' ever since. Makes me wonder if the original ones were bought 'on the cheap'.

[@JasperJanssen]

Or just a bad batch swapped under warranty.

[@peterg.8245]

Well if I was on public works and paid $100 a bulb I’d have returned them and purchased the $120 name brand after the embarrassment of having to swap them all.

[@peterg.8245]

Also our city had an entire LED bridge go dark for want of some MOV surge protection. They spent $470,000 USD on fancy LEDa and never bothered to fix it or It’s perma-borked. www.tulsaworld.com/news/local/power-surge-damages-lighting-on-boulder-bridge/article_fc8fe4f0-89de-11e3-9bee-0017a43b2370.html

[@Cammi_Rosalie]

I live in a little fart of a town in southwest Pennsylvania, and the house is right next to a secondary state maintained road. (Saying that PennDot, or anyone properly "Maintains" the roads is a bit of a stretch, but you get the idea) about every 1/8 mile or so, was a merc vapor ( I think ) streetlight. (the bluey-white ones) Recently they were all switched over to white LED heads. Maybe it's just me, but I think they are better. It seems that there is more contrast and sharper definition of items lit by them. The older lamps had curved, glass lenses that scattered the light, even sideways. IE light pollution. These new ones while brighter are flat panels behind flat, clear glass. You can see things lit up really well but not see the light source in the head until you get within a few dozen or so feet of the illuminated area. I kinda' like 'em. brighter, sharper light giving a more defined "image" of items & shadow with less glare and light pollution in windows at night. I could see the light from the old one in front of the house, shining in my window at night. The new one does not invade my darkness.

[@marinkhan3066]

I love to see things get fixed rather then thrown away

[@spiderjuice9874]

Personally, LPS are my favourite lamps. I find LED lamps quite glarey (glary? They both look wrong).

[@Marco_Onyxheart]

0:23 Wait, we're all in a vacuum streetlamp tube?

[@DJJAKEY2009]

If you have two lamps, you'd have a pair of SOX

[@graemebrumfitt6668]

Rite Big Dude, The other day was doing a bit of desoldering and some of the leads had a fair bit of solder on them and were a wee bit long so decided to cut the back with flush trim cutters to ease dwell time and the compenents to my suprise came out with a bit of a pull! I have just tried this with a CD40099BE chip! and the same thing happened. Conclusion, won't be doing much desoldering from now on!!! TFS, GB :)

[@raymondmucklow3793]

What Micheal Wynne said also used for cleaning carburetors, piano wire some call it, guitar string, but the set you have are files, so push thru the hole starting with a smaller one til desired size for electronics. I just woke up (so not awake all the way) but not sure what it would do to a double sided hole, im not sure. I'm guessing if ya filed to much it would eventually grind the doubled sided hole out.

[@bigclivedotcom]

It would definitely pose the risk of damaging the through hole plating.

[@-yeme-]

idk what those little file or needle things are but they arent desoldering needles. desoldering needles are like large (relatively) diameter, unsharpened hypodermic needles made out of stainless steel. the central bore means you can fit them over the leg of a hard-to-desolder component and of course solder doesnt stick to stainless steel so you can withdraw the needles once the joint has reset and the component is free

[@srp01983]

The pins are called broaches. Used for cleaning oxy-acetylene welding torch nozzles. Thanks for the interesting videos!

[@musicinspire1745]

Skimping out helps to ensure more purchases of replacements.

[@Umski]

And that's the irony - it probably costs the taxpayer hundreds of £££ every time one fails and either has to be repaired or gets chucked due to one component :( Wonder how many authorities actually bother to go down to component level to repair them - probably not many I imagine?

[@user-lq1dk6gr3p]

@@Umski every LED I've put up that doesn't work gets sent back to the manufacturer

[@Umski]

@@user-lq1dk6gr3p that's good to hear :) If there's a good repair loop then that makes sense, but can't help thinking there's a premium on that process rather than a tech repairing it in-house?

[@Knaeckebrotsaege]

Samsung has been very successful using the very same low quality "Sam Young" NXB series capacitors used in this street light in their LCD TVs in the past 15 years, making sure their power supplies will fail sooner or later from them drying out or puking their guts out. With newer, less powerhungry and less heat-generating LED backlit TVs they've started using even lower quality crapcaps to ensure something or another will fail, even without being assisted by waste heat from the PSUs heatsinks

[@musicinspire1745]

@@Knaeckebrotsaege That's a reflection of the twisted, modern ethic of "If it's legal, it's ethical."

[@johnheaton6705]

Thanks Clive as always, that mini file set used at 16:11 is on fleabay still in Feb 2021 and is called various things but use any of ... --Gas Welding Tip Nozzle Cleaner File Set for Soldering Weld-- to find them. I got one at £2.74, might be useful one day.

[@_Steven_S]

19:26 OrangeTek Arialed has LED banks that can be swapped out, and also has a few lens and colour temperature options.

[@Muonium1]

Even though the LEDs are now more economical, practical and longer lasting the sodium lamps will always be much more interesting. The physics of their operation is so much more rich and accessible to the curious. You have noble gas mixtures which you can use as an entryway to element ionization potentials and the nonintuitive Paschen's law governing dielectric breakdown gradient and gas pressure. The sodium itself is interesting for its phenomenal efficiency at converting electrical potential energy into yellow light at the two Fraunhofer D lines due to spin-orbit coupling in the electron transition from the 3p to the 3s levels. The D lines can be used to demonstrate Zeeman effect due to external magnetic field splitting of the lines (energy levels) (see Ben Krasnow's video). The spectral emission of the high pressure lamp exhibits an interesting property of self-inversion or self-absorption where the pressure broadened D-lines are partially reabsorbed by cooler sodium vapor surrounding the hot arc, just like the atmosphere of the sun and stars produce absorption spectra. The sodium in the tube is actually an amalgam with mercury, an interesting point to discuss eutectics. The discharge tube itself isn't even glass, it's sintered aluminum oxide which the corrosive sodium doesn't attack nearly as easily. The outer envelope of glass containing the discharge tube is coated with indium tin oxide, transparent in the visible but reflective in the infrared to increase heat retention in the arc tube and increase efficiency. The coating on the tungsten coils at the ends of the discharge tube used to enhance thermionic emission of electrons when hot is interesting. On and on it goes. So much more to enjoy thinking about than with the relatively boring, simple semiconductor band-gap of an LED and a little blob of posphor overcoat.

[@johnfrancisdoe1563]

10mintwo You need to also think of the complex physics of giving the transformer core the desired magnetic properties (involves shape and mixing of metals). The electromagnetics to store energy in that core for release on the other side. The tricky chemistry of turning wet paper into an efficient but long lasting capacitor. The even trickier chemistry and physics of making a blue spectrum LED die. The electron orbital physics and chemistry of the phosphor pasted over the LED. The tricky eutetics of making various solder compounds work, such as SnPb, SnAgCu and SnCu.

[@samuelfellows6923]

😀 I remember the old low pressure sodium lamps - particularly, when first struck, are red and slowly turn bright orange, (to me, they were more of a bright orange than yellow)

[@buddyclem7328]

The orange lamps are high pressure sodium. (HPS)

[@zspacecaptain8228]

@@buddyclem7328 The low pressure sodium ones also glow orange.

[@ianhosier4042]

Still got a couple of sox lamps and the best part is definitely the warm up phase

[@bigjd2k]

It’s a shame LPS lamps have gone because they were completely recyclable, unlike the modern e-waste & plastic equivalent.

[@jackmcgramm2259]

Astronomers also liked them. A simple sodium band was much easier for observatories to filter out.

[@Deepthought-42]

@@jackmcgramm2259 Astronomers may have liked them because the could filter out the objectionable monochromatic yellow. Unfortunately the human eye can’t. For the first time in forty years rural areas are free from urban skyglow.

[@trebo2348]

I love all your vidz very professional and educating, but I loathe and dislike l. e..d lighting , my eyes are very sensitive and the frequency through the on off cycles really give me a headache, I much prefer incandescent filimant bulbs still to this day. So to get in with saving power I fitted low consumption 12v lighting into my house with diffusers to spread the light and conserve energy through a solar battery Bank. Good stuff Clive keep it up I have been doing electronics since I was 6 my father taught me, and yet I'm still Learning from your videos. 👍👍👍

[@MissNorington]

It is the first time I have seen a SOX PSG up close. That solid-state getter looks cool! Sadly they never did 180 W PSG versions, so I have to live with my "normal" 180 W SOX outside in my driveway. Been running every night for almost 5 years now!

[@TheScottishSprayer]

Spoken like a true Scotsman "We all know what methylated spirits tastes like" 🙂 liked and subscribed, loved the 'for the dummies' explanations.

[@Paul_Au]

Here in Australia a man named Dick Smith founded an electronics store (Dick Smith Electronics). It started with one store and became huge, before he sold it. The new owners seemed to think they could make it better but the changes they made appeared to have the opposite effect and eventually it closed. They retailed that solder wicking tape (in the same holder as well). They marketed it under the name "Dick Wick".

[@uK8cvPAq]

Did they sell dick suckers and tip cleaners too?

[@Kostanj42]

i really enjoy watching your vids in the evening, they're so relaxing :D

[@rexnecis]

Hello Clive, I really enjoyed your Angelfire website as a kid. I just wanted to say that I really appreciate you. Thank you

[@bigclivedotcom]

I didn't have an angelfire website, but I did have a demon one.

[@rexnecis]

@@bigclivedotcom Well, either way, I still have the joule thief I made based on the instructions there. It was a cool website.

[@bigclivedotcom]

@@rexnecis It does sound like my website. Glad you enjoyed it.

[@1kreature]

Singlesided boards without plated holes are very weak. A light knock or push on a component or vibrations can rip the copper off the board and then it is just a matter of time till the foil breaks and you have an open circuit or a fire...

[@bdf2718]

A very important consideration in avionics. Not so important in a street light which isn't going to get much in the way of vibration.

[@sharkamov]

*bigclivedotcom* - The 'Attenborough' of electronics. - Thanks a lot for taking us along this tour in the 'jungle'! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️😉👍

[@ProdigalPorcupine]

Clive - I know I won’t be alone in wondering if you could do a video on discharge lamps, and show the ballasts, the tubes warming up etc. Any chance of this please?

[@donotatme]

I remember when the little town I grew up in joined the LED lamp game. It was quite 'early' in the LED craze, so they weren't as reliable. They replaced all the lamps in the housing areas of town with the LED ones. Well, the LED lamps didn't spread the light, so you had about 10-15m of very bright light and then darkness. Was very annoying to drive through because it was just a constant dark-very bright-dark-very bright. And to top things off, after a couple months they failed one after the other. Now they got decent ones that actually light up the street sufficiently. I guess they cheaped out on the first ones, because that's what they love to do around here...

[@etienneguyot9069]

Thinking about the long delay you experienced after fixing the bootstrap capacitor reminded me some issue I had too. The root cause was that stored electrolytic capacitors for a long time had a significative increase of their leaking (parallel resistor due to the aluminum oxide layer). They usually need reforming... This was done at the first power up, but as the bootstrap resistor has a quite high value, this took a lot more time until the parasitic capacitor leak reduce significantly. Using an ESR meter on an untouched spare capacitor could confirm that...

[@johnrhodes3350]

That keyring with needle pins is for cleaning Propane gas flame cutter or welding type nozzles. Like the pricked tool used on the nozzle of old Paraffin stove

[@RFC3514]

24:56 - The issue is probably that the camera is trying to record at 60 or 30 fps, and mains frequency there is 50 Hz, so you get a sort of temporal moiré effect (that adds a slower pulse on top of the actual shimmer). Look for an option to switch the camera to 50 or 25 fps, and you should get less shimmer.

[@danyk666]

Sodium-colored LED lamp with a lower efficiency and shorter life than the original sodium lamp. Not sure what's the point except that selling LED lamps is a good business...

[@dh2032]

????

[@millomweb]

The idea of LED yellow - so people don't notice the change isn't going to be too convincing if they don't go through the red (and sometimes flashy) warm-up stage :)

[@NeuronalAxon]

@@dh2032 - SOX lamps are incredibly efficient - often more so than thr LEDs that replace them.

[@randacnam7321]

Low pressure sodium lamps are complicated to make and making them depends a lot on the skill of the lampmakers, which crooked multinationals hate as they cannot export manufacture to some turd world cesspit using replaceable and expendable slave labor. Not to mention that it is an established and reliable out of patent technology. Which means that generations of specialist knowledge will have to be relearned by our descendants when they are crawling their way out of the rubble of this civilization.

[@RODALCO2007]

LP Sodium lamps are most efficient and very long lasting. The LED lamps have a lot of E waste and don't last as long as the power supply's often fail early. The red pink start up from a SOX lamp is simply beautiful.

[@iamaduckquack]

To anyone complaining about nostalgia, get with the times. We need to make changes like this for the environment which is infinitely more important that some feelings. Go take a photo of the old orange glow, it'll last longer.

[@markc2643]

Back in my VCR repair days, switching power supplies would chirp when the bootstrap capacitor went bad. We kept a stock of all the capacitors and would just replace them all when we saw that symptom, including the main filter cap. They were considered wear parts just like the belts and idlers.

[@dcallan812]

Big clive dips his wick again 🤣🤣👍👍

[@mattheww3116]

2 LED street lamps on my road have the same problem. Much prefer the sodium ones

[@danmackintosh6325]

2:00 let me stop you just here Clive... You must surely be in a minority if you found the old LPSox colour temperature annoying... Personally I really like it, not just for nostalgic reasons but I actually do find it better for visibility when driving at night. Not sure how many others note the same, maybe my eyes are just weird but I much prefer the colour... High pressure ones are good too, the LED ones just seem to lack something that makes it that much harder to see.

[@thesunexpress]

The sodium lamps also emitted barely any blue light. beneficial to humans as we are sensitive to that part of the visible light spectrum; it has a negative effect on our circadian rhythmn. Whether the inventors actually knew about this, I do not know... but possibly it was noted that the more yellow / orange light was, the more pleasing to the eye at night, or resembled the light emitted from burning a fossil fuel etc. There's a reason submarines cycle to red interior lights for a certain amount of time of a 24-hour day.

[@paulk8io445]

The pin set look like acetelyene torch tip cleaners. I use them for my torches of course but they are handy for your purpose. I have used them to clean orifices in air filtering equipment as well.

[@brudenell27]

Hi Clive Hopefully your see this but I really don’t know where to start on street lights. For 7 years i was up and down the country replacing the street lights... It was all a con and still is, under the guise of energy saving... If the case was just energy saving why didn’t SSE and up north was EON I think just change the heads and not the columns. The scheme that the councils had to pay for was scandalous.. It was dangerous work ( I’ve hit a few LV cables) call it careless but in certain situations and the added pressure with working on price the CAT &GENNY isn’t accurate. Off point and let’s forget the water, gas and telecoms. Strike any of these btw we had to pay for. I’ve never come across the bulb u have there but.. most of the columns we were pulling already had the new heads fitted with (fluorescent tubes?) blah blah then by the end we were fitting LED heads I know for the 6m columns were £400 a pop. The earthworks the diesel the cons people believe that it’s for the future is laughable. The old cast iron gas columns (obviouslyconverted to electric ) was criminal ... I could tell you everything if you’re interested but I did have some of the “new fluorescent “ lamps my garage... just left over when I cleaning the truck out for the next day, brand new old. Working in Bournemouth they had already changed a lot of the heads to LED... Have no idea how old they were but had a good alu looking case. Every single one of them were on Victorian columns.. Again what’s laughable there is I’ve worked all round the country and Bournemouth is the only place I’d say the actual columns needed changing cause they were rotten through.... all except for the old cast 1s . I couldn’t save any they were too heavy but... Hope some of what I’ve ranted their makes sense. I’m contactable if needed. And thank you for your valuable time and very helpful content Kind regards Carl

[@bigclivedotcom]

It's just another of the government's many eco scams which involve them taking a personal slice in the middle. The new LED lights will fail expensively in a few years.

[@brudenell27]

I’m pleased you didn’t take me the wrong way, and didn’t think I’m someone that doesn’t care.. cause im definitely all for genuine ways to help the future environment.. But so far all I’ve seen is a money making whitewash.. Cars for a start... the scrap scheme.. When is it environment friendly to throw away something before it’s usable life is up. The cost to scrap/ and produce a new car is more costly to the environment than keeping an old one. And where do they think the metals for batteries needed for “zero emissions “ cars come from and that they are not yet recyclable. We do have a newer car, but I also have an older 2000 bmw car which isn’t used often at all but does come in useful.. Reason I bring it up here is because they tried to make them recyclable. Pretty much every part on the car including the little pop out plastic but on the bumper for the tow eye is marked with the plastic it’s made from. And tonight the fireworks were on over the road and I had no torch 🔦 working for my little girl to have.. So to hand now I have the cars rechargeable torch out of the glove compartment... >ABS+PC< NIMH -AKKU That’s written on the torch alone ha ha.. Point is imo steps like that is what’s needed. And a rechargeable 20 year old torch is still working as a last minute thought to make her happy 😆 You can have it Clive and do a video on it and see how little life it may have left in it 🤔😂

[@SeanBZA]

Keyring thing is a torch tip cleaner, used for cleaning both acetylene welding torches and also usable to clean out clogged solder suckers. You want to have the plain stainless steel needles, so that you get the smooth surface. that capacitor is a regular failure point, typically though I see a 47uF 35V unit used there, so I keep a stock of 47uF 50V low ESR capacitors, so that they will have a longer life.

[@NeuronalAxon]

You fix a lot of these lamps.

[@TheEPROM9]

I love the colour of the old sodium lamps, I am sad that are all being replaced.

[@rahan573]

0:23 Will your videos be watchable in that KZbin?!

[@HuntersMoon78]

U-Tube

[@rahan573]

@@HuntersMoon78 Tube U.

[@refraggedbean]

Definitely not the right youtube, it isnt killing enough small creators

[@AAAyyyGGG]

As long as you're willing to sit in a bath of liquid sodium!

[@xsauce3858]

Good to see your hands back

[@bren106]

*Are the desolder tips on the keyring ribbed for your pleasure Clive?*

[@millomweb]

I presume the ribbing is for filing out clogged holes.

[@eugeneshealthproject]

bren106: I think that the ribbing is to help fight tooth decay. Can also be used on dentures but always check with your dentist and your doctor First (liability disclaimer) use at own risk.

[@edups3307]

5:36

[@crosstalk71]

Those tip look like oxy torch cleaning tips. I would imagine it also could be used for desoldering guns.

[@tcmtech7515]

@@crosstalk71 Torch tip cleaners have 1001 uses! I use them often to bore out small carburetor jets to get small engines to run right when they come from the factory set too lean to be worth a shit due to emissions compliance bullshit.

[@NOWThatsRichy]

These retrofit lamps could have been used in many areas instead of replacing the whole Previously installed SOX or SON lanterns, interesting to see the circuitry of the LED lamp explained as this flashing effect is a common failure mode of many LED flood lights. Unfortunately unlike the older fittings, when the circuits fail it usually means replacement of the whole fitting rather than just the lamp.

[@DigBipper188]

I personally prefer the light output of SOX... Especially as the LEDs being used in current replacements have a terrible greenish blue colour to themas the manufacturers are favoring raw LPW over modest colour rendering. Not to mention being absolute glare bombs seeing as the light they produce is far more concentrated than SOX.

[@Altamira-Arazz]

also leds are not good for human eyes

[@DigBipper188]

@@Altamira-Arazz It depends on the construction of the lamps to be fair. there are a few ways to drive LED lamps on AC, and a few of them, such as capacitive droppers and unfiltered bridge rectifiers, will introduce a lot of flicker, even if your lamp operates with opposing pairs to light on each half of an AC Sine wave. If it's a good quality lamp, you will normally get a properly filtered switching power LED driver in the lamp, which will completely remove the flicker from the light output. cheaper or more compact lamps that can't fit a switching supply in them will normally have a capacitive dropper arrangement instead, which produces significant flicker.

[@Altamira-Arazz]

@@DigBipper188 I mean white led lights emmit blue light also emmittes by computer screens

[@DrHarryT]

Some square LED fixtures (10"X10") were installed at new construction diners. Within a couple of months several of the lights at every location started blinking/flickering. I got one of those and found that the CREE 60W @24V chip would also blink with a different LED driver. So I just used the original power supply and retrofitted a 100W square chip into the unit. After a couple of months that LED chip started blinking too. I tested it with an alternate supply and sure enough the 100W chip would blink with that supply too. I will try another 100W chip and if that one starts blinking, I will trash the original supply thinking it is damaging chips and use another supply with another new chip and see what happens. The thing I find odd is that LED chips themselves can degrade to blinking just like in this video. Makes me think the little micro wire inside the LED is flexing when it gets hot breaking contact and then when it cools it flexes back connecting again, like an incandescent blinker light.

[@davethewhitedevil]

Dear Clive. I believe those tools "files" on the key ring you have are used for cleaning torch tips also.😁

[@20bluebug]

Nice video. I think that sodium lamp spent its working life vertical with the electrodes up, allowing the sodium to accumulate at the end. The smaller ones can run vertical. After many hours of use the Sodium does slowly boil out of the dimples and condenses in the cooler spots of the tube. I'm guessing that the bits of glass might be bits of mica from the mica support at the electrodes. I've seen it in my bulbs.

[@lynsnyder9165]

Your videos are a joy. Articulate with spots of humor. (c:

[@SkuldChan42]

Those pins are called "torch cleaners" - I've found they are useful for clearing blocks in solder sucking devices or - torches :).

[@crispin.]

Cool video .. that lamp your repaired costs £45 new 😲

[@Okabim]

It's often worthwhile to fix something instead of getting new. My dad recently had an ice machine break. Found the issue to be a rusted IR diode. Replaced it and saved him $200 for a new one. I hate products that are designed to not be repairable. Some IKEA electronics I own is all glue welded shut so you can't access the circuitry without breaking it.

[@Polite_Cat]

@@Okabim yeah.. a lot of the time when things break, even expensive things, the problem is just one 10 cent part and the knowledge to fix it. im sure so many things have been thrown out due to a blown capacitor or similar.

[@katrinabryce]

8p for the part to repair it, but how much for the electrician to carry out the repair? Unless you have a workshop that does hundreds of them every hour, it’s not worth it.

[@BerndFelsche]

Maybe somebody can run a business saving dead ones from landfill and selling reconditioned ones at half the price of new ones. There's a liability that has to be accepted... Swapping lamps costs more than the lamps.

[@millomweb]

Just think how much more reliable it'd be without the dodgy electronics in there. What's the point of charging up caps to power things when there's a power supply to hand already ?

[@JR-ys1kp]

Daft project idea: That sodium simulation lamp sucks! Let's see it done properly with additional led colours, a programmable controller to simulate the whole sodium warm-up experience :) Dont forget it goes yellow by the electrodes first! :)

[@noneentered1]

Quick tip for desoldering bad caps. Rock the can so it stresses the wires and breaks the component off the board with only a sliver of wire left through the hole. Then you can simply clean out the hole with your normal desoldering techniques, vacuum and / or braid. That way you aren't fighting the thermal inertia of the capacitor to heat up the solder. If you can access the leads on a bad component with snips, that works too. Just be careful not to pull on the lead and lift a trace or scrape the board with the cutters, ideally the wire will break just proud of the board.

[@subigirlawd_7307]

Nothing can beat those drawings 👍

[@Frogmancdw]

Those pins are used in soldering to clean the solder extractor tips. Look up the pace sx-100. They are magical for plated through holes.

[@hmarc417]

There is a set of those tiny round files in My dads shop there kept in his welding box to clean out his cutting torch tips.

[@perikon]

For clearing the through hole solder try using wooden toothpick. Heat up the pad and stick the pick in the hole. Works like a charm.

[@Graham_Langley]

Propelling pencil leads work nicely.

[@GlennHamblin]

I've had good luck heating the solder and smacking the board on the table for clearing through holes of solder. It's fairly quick, and easy.

[@shrikedecil]

The part that's boggling is the ALUMINUM is still the pricey part - and the cheap electronics failing still require replacing ... the aluminum.

[@user-rs8zg8ey2b]

Double sided boards with plated through holes are much more reliable for removing components as the pads are much less likely to lift. No need to remove that 470uF cap, just add your cap in parallel to test, much quicker. Same with the 22uF, specially with the shotgun approach.

[@NigelDixon1952]

Mr Carlson has a solder sucky thing that works really well 😀. Great video as always Clive, many thanks.

[@tactileslut]

Carlson's soldering is painful to watch.

[@Captaink-1]

The “pins” (files) are often used to clear the holes in the tips of desoldering stations. The metal tips of the more expensive commercial desoldering will clog and can be cleared when hot.

[@skmetal7]

There sooo many electronic parts that have to work just right for these leds to function properly. Companies like to cut costs and use cheap components and now cities that spent millions to install led street lights are now feeling the burn when these lamps are failing en masse.

[@robinwells8879]

I used to use a spring loaded syringe style solder sucker for desoldering. Used to work really well.

[@Darieee]

9:20 do try SWISSTONE desoldering braid .. way way better than these .. and doesn’t seem to need extra flux, which makes it way more comfortable

[@kevinm3751]

Those through hole pins you showed are in fact originally created as cleaning rods for welders to clean the orifices of their cutting torches.

[@StephenFarthing]

Clive, I use a stainless steel dressmakers pin to clear the solder out of holes.

[@PlanetRuncorn]

Hi Clive the keyring tools you were using to clean the through holes out, look very much like prickers, used for cleaning out gas nozzles, like the old parrifin blow lamps, i have two sets here that range from .46mm to 2,74mm in 12 steps had them for over 45 years ..

[@greglogan4443]

Hi Clive. Please see the SLR - single light regulations that are due to come in to effect regarding replacing power supplies within LED luninaires

[@bigclivedotcom]

I think we can safely assume that the Chinese importers will ignore those. It's disappointing that they are planning to ban T8 fluorescent tubes. They are still an efficient, serviceable, long lasting light source.

[@bob4analog]

It seems like the weakest park of these LED lights are the electrolytic caps. They'll fail before the LEDs do, which doesn't say much for the advertised longevity of LED type lamps.