A troubling trend in lighting?

[@TechnologyConnections]

Well, _I_ might have taken a break but my hair sure didn’t. Editor’s note: you may have noticed that I didn’t really come to a firm position on this topic. That’s because, well, I don’t really have one. Certainly some of the items I featured I think should be avoided, but the more basic thingamabobs I’m holding through much of the video? I still kinda like them. Time will tell how good these really are, I suppose, but they have the right stuff. Whether that’s worth axing the bulb socket? I’ll leave that up to you.

[@themadatheist1976]

Hair today, gone tomorrow.

[@Danny_Boel]

The hair looks great 👍 Hey, I just noticed you got Pentax camera's , they're the coolest if you like working with old lenses 👍

[@hopingforthebest1.9]

We have a bunch of these in our house, Ill report back in 20 years with a report of how long they lasted

[@SilentRacer911]

Yea, breaks over PAL… back to making us content!!! PS, I don’t have the fortitude to let my hair grow, but it would be nicer 😉

[@BrianFarleyMusic]

Hey man, love your content! I always look forward to your uploads, and pretty sure at this point I've watch All of them. Just wanted to mention in case it went unnoticed: the camera focus doesn't appear to be on you, at least you appear to be slightly out of focus in the shot (noticeable in 4k, to my eyes at least). I don't pretend to be expert, but It seems like the camera focus is on the back shelving; perhaps it's tracking that blue lava lamp in the background camera right, instead of your eyes/face. I've run into similar issues myself once or twice, pain in the butt. Normally your content has little issue with facial focus, just thought you'd like to know for future shoots. You're awesome!

[@gingerman5123]

I’d love a history of batteries and how they were standardized video.

[@jajssblue]

That's a great idea! Should be fascinating to learn

[@craftycraff7938]

Yes!

[@riddler356_fuck_you]

Sounds like a video that would be nice, it could even be two parts or an extra long video especially if it is batteries in general like car, household, industrial ect.

[@shatteryib]

I would like to know about A sized batteries

[@Hoolahups]

Please do!

[@seafood459]

Let's apreciate the fact that this man actually goes through the trouble of putting subtitles on his videos (not the crappy auto-generated ones). THANK YOU!

[@jasonreed7522]

Auto-generated subtitles are hilarious, but not accurate. I know a chanel that did a 1min history summary that had him talking at a blistering pace (i think it had something to do with the war of the roses) and the autogenerated subtitles were just so wrong it was amazing. (In their defense i don't think a breath was taken for the entire video) (its OSP if interested) But yes always make your own subtitles so people actually know whats being said, they are obviously important for accessibility but also for when the audio is garbled (several factors including people talking over eachother to weather to bad mikes).

[@vinstinct]

I always appreciate it even though I don't have any hearing deficiencies. Just makes it easier to follow along for me.

[@Asummersdaydreamer14]

Yes! Also the stream of thought subtitles during the end credits and outtakes are a nice way to end an already satisfying video.

[@IMarvinTPA]

I'm sure that it helps that he is reading from a teleprompter, so he already has the words written to feed into the subtitles.

[@DeputatKaktus]

From my experience, generating the subtitles alone takes about as long as cutting/editing the rest of the *entire* video, with what typing them (or copy/pasting them) and making sure their timing is right and all of them are in the right places. Truly an impressive effort that is much appreciated (but sadly goes unnoticed much of the time).

[@guyfriendo2917]

You take stuff that seems like it should be soul-crushingly boring and make it fascinating in the most midwestern way and this Michigander trying to learn home maintenance skills truly appreciates it

[@AdhamOhm]

@@Andrei-xl1xe Making boring topics fascinating in the most midwestern way?

[@violetsteele350]

My grandparents are from Redwing and hearing his Midwesternedity makes me feel at home. It's calming in a way I don't know how to describe

[@yesto3rrishuman]

michigan mentioned rahh 🦌

[@fantasticalfascination]

When my mom had her kitchen remodeled, she was talked into one of these fixtures, and was extremely angry when it stopped working within a few months and she couldn't replace it herself.

[@hung8969]

You absolutely can. You go to home depot and buy an light lmaoooooooooo. It’s literally a cable to plug in. Easier than a bulb

[@fantasticalfascination]

@@hung8969 Perhaps my phrasing was imprecise. She didn't know how to replace it herself, and was not comfortable dealing with the wiring in her 100+-year-old house directly. The electrician she hired agreed that she was right not to do it herself once he got the unit out. But hey, good for you that you know how to do it yourself and are comfortable doing so.

[@chamberlane2899]

@@hung8969I fail to see how removing 2-4 screws, running back and forth between the circuit board and a voltmeter (I ain’t getting zapped again over assuming everything is on the same circuit), untwisting a pair of wires, wire knutting a new light, pull testing the new wires (I ain’t risking a house fire either), and then screwing it back in is easier than just swapping a bulb.

[@stevenn1940]

@@chamberlane2899 You missed the 100 year old house bit. Living in a 123 year old house myself (I'm enjoying that as much as I can until next year), there's a key aspect: not everyone that worked on the house was a professional, and certaainly not everyone actually knew what the hell they were doing. Likely, whoever did or redid that electrical section, did it wrong. I know they did in my house: Why is the bathroom outlets on the same circuit as two outlets in a bedroom on the other side of the house? No idea! They shouldn't be, but they are! Personally, we installed these kinds of lights in our house after a house fire (unrelated, just the initiating incident), and I'm super happy with them. They've lasted 5 or 6 years, and are really bright.

[@chamberlane2899]

@@stevenn1940 I don’t know about you, but I’m not about to redo my houses wiring just because a bulb burnt out. Unless I see a compelling reason to do otherwise, I’ll just replace the bulb. So again, I ask, how is replacing a self-contained light like this any easier than just swapping out a dead bulb?

[@mistressalisi6392]

Great video, Just a comment! I'm an LED Engineer. In fact i was involved with designing some of the first Direct-AC Drive systems that you showed on the video. Seoul Semiconductor boards are pretty (just like the ones you showed :D) Everything is pretty accurate; but the ONLY comment i have to make is that the long, squiggly filament style bulbs are NOT driven by a driver. They're using a cheap trick which is, four diodes in a normal bridge; and then using 120VDc LEDs. That's what those filaments are: 120V voltage LED strings that are just powered at 120Hz by the dual waveform rectifier. You can validate this using a camera to see the shutter and the 60/120hz flicker. That's why they last so long: There's no switchmode driver, just a couple of diodes.

[@billyponsonby]

LEDs in filament style lamps aren’t 120Vdc but the usual 3Vdc or so, in long series chains. The simplistic driver circuit would be L+N, capacitor with resistor across, bridge rectifier, resistor (to cut off the after glow) and then likely parallel series of 40 LEDs.

[@brag0001]

@@billyponsonby That's literally what he said, when he said 120V LED strings. A string of LEDs put in serial, which leads to the individual voltage drop of each LED being added together 😉

[@luipaardprint]

In some of the really cheap ones they use the LED's as the rectifier diodes.

[@jimcrelm9478]

@@luipaardprint Ew. Wouldn't that put a lot of stress on the first or last LED in the series?

[@circuitbreaker1434]

@@billyponsonby most of the crappy fillament bulb designs don't even contain a smothing capacitor 😀

[@chrayez]

“I have feelings about this - which you are all about to hear!” Truly the tagline of Technology Connections.

[@mangamaster03]

James Hoffman says this as well. When he says he has feelings about a carafe, you better know he has complaints.

[@asdfghyter]

What we really need is a new standard for connecting flat LED lights (with circuitry) to fixtures. That would provide a lot more flexibility for the consumers, while still being possible to sell in a pre-mounted package so it's just as convenient as these disposable fixtures.

[@montgomeryfortenberry]

As an electrician that would be amazing. We always have customers that are reluctant to install built in led fixtures but finding new fixtures with sockets can be tricky sometimes

[@silashinton6873]

@@montgomeryfortenberry it doesn’t seem like it would be that hard to implement a new standard. Just a 3 pin plug design would suit the needs maybe a clamping mechanism to fight gravity

[@montgomeryfortenberry]

@@silashinton6873 a new standard would be great

[@ontdekkingszeiler1114]

@@silashinton6873 just like normal electrical sockets but a bit bigger with maybe a small handle for easy taking out and

[@silashinton6873]

@@ontdekkingszeiler1114 that's what i was thinking. if the conversion components are separate from the LEDs then ideally you don't want compatibility with current wall standards to prevent people plugging the strips directly into the wall (without a voltage regulator/power converter) and blowing them up

[@abigailedyth1604]

I really appreciate how often you brought up how comfortable someone is replacing the fixture. I think that's a super important and often overlooked safety factor!

[@kirakaffee9976]

and it's such an unnecessary problem, and not completely new. 3 wires coming out of the ceiling, 3 wires coming out of the fixture. I wondered for decades why they don't fit them with some standard connectors...

[@BlazingKhioneus]

Absolutely, if my dad or I didnt live with my mom, she wouldve had to pay someone to install the new ceiling fans around the house because she is terrified of handling bare wires (partly due to not having a full understanding of how safe it is despite my attempts to explain but i digress).

[@Krunschy]

​​@@kirakaffee9976 true. Using cable clips can be so painful, especially when installing lamps in hard to reach places, as one usually does.

[@gtoger]

Recently took over an office building where the previous owner had put 6000+K PAR replacements in the can lights in the corridors. Everything looked purple, dingy and gross. Wound up replacing around 80x 3000K and the tenants' response was universally positive.

[@ondrejsedlak4935]

Good seeing you here. Really miss your videos.

[@spacemissing]

I'll take 6000's over 3000's any day(light). Anything less is only a mimic of an incandescent bulb.

[@JohnKerbaugh]

Doing God's work!

[@JasonW.]

I had replaced sodium lights in my parking lot with 5W lasers on pan/tilt mounts. The tow trucks know which ones to pull, as they have "tow me" etched into their hoods.

[@MsHumanOfTheDecade]

@@GoingtoHecq personally i dont like it, i land very heavily in the "blue" part of the spectrum and everyone that comes over complains. but i live in complete happiness.

[@Entropic_Nightmares]

The tough thing for me is trying to find replacements for all in one led fixtures because by the time the light starts to fail, the company doesn't even make them anymore in that style, in fact it's so old it not even on their discontinued list anymore. So then I go down the rabbit hole of trying to find a chip that can safely work for that driver but the specifications for the driver are extremely confusing and I just give up. And when it's a commercial building you can't just replace on light fixture in a room full of them without having to change them all so I'm not entirely keen on them for commercial use when you have 20 of them and the product is sold a unit that no longer exists.

[@St0rmcrash]

Not to mention that often when you change a fixture you may have to end up doing paint touch up too if the old one was painted around or the edges left a fade shadow or line on the paint over time

[@jonjohnson3027]

And that's why I put used fluorescent strip lights in my workshop. They came with fluorescent tubes, which I figure I'll use until they fail. And when they fail, I'll disconnect the ballast and put LED retrofits in.

[@LowVoltage_FPV]

In a commercial installation it is a good idea to purchase a few extra as spares in case you later have one fail.

[@davidjames666]

and by “old”, you mean anything made in 2021 already is obsolete, and no longer in stock

[@endykun]

Yeah and every 5 minutes the "trends" in home stuff changes, so you're going to end up replacing them ALL because ONE died. That's gonna lead to some e-waste. That or you have to suck it up and deal with your house stuff not matching (which almost no one will do).

[@Paios]

Interesting side note: Some LED bulb drivers are known to interfere with garage door opener radio frequencies. Happened to me. Bought this great LED flood for the front of the garage and couldn't open the door. Took about a half a day of head scratching and googling but I just wanted to share 🙃

[@bennyattar8862]

Paios, a LED light which interferes wiyh your remote control would never pass FCC regulatory compliance. You want to take a good, hard look at where you bought that dodgy LED light from.

[@mernok2001]

@@bennyattar8862 LOL, do you actually think that chinese manufacturers of cheap LED light sources care about fcc or any regulation at all? It wild west or wild east for them with no laws.

[@alaskanjackal]

Omg. Light bulb just went on over my head. I have a garage door opener remote that seems to work fine to open the garage door but then takes gobs of frustrated mashing to close it. This could very well be what’s happening! It works fine to open the garage door, because the lightbulb is off at that point. But then the lightbulb turns on for a minute or so, so then when I back the car out of the garage and try to close the garage door, it doesn’t work reliably. I kept thinking it must be a low battery in the opener or some thing, and I’ve replaced the battery several times, but it has never gotten better. This is probably what is happening (I replaced the incandescent on the opener with an LED bulb a couple of years ago, and it probably started about that same time). I will have to test this!! Thank you, random Internet stranger!!

[@user-co6ww2cm9k]

​@@bennyattar8862 benny, it's a common problem. Maybe you should pen a letter about it if you're concerned.

[@retropcs88]

My grandma has a few square led lights built in the ceiling of her hallway, and when you turn them on, her radio loses signal

[@DallasHerrmann]

I really want a standardized driver/chip format for these so that just the failed component can be replaced.

[@drphosferrous]

Yeah, just switch it out like we do with flouro ballasts. In the old days, flouro fixtures had plug and play starter relays to frequently switch out and the ballasts lasted longer.

[@brianbauer3148]

We had a fixture in our bathroom fail that looked exactly like a round dome fluorescent fixture from another bathroom. I went to change the bulb and found it was led and not a great assembly procedure. I looked around for a new driver at the rating I needed cost the same as a new fixture. I think it would be beneficial these days for people to have basic wiring skills, it may save a lot of frustration and time. Hopefully parts will be a thing some day replacing the whole thing for a bad part is crazy.

[@TheLittleAlien]

We actually produce fully repairable, serviceable, recyclable modular LED lamps for E27 retrofit and highbay - but few customers want to spend more money than for fake plastic LED bulbs with no real heatsink that will die or loose luminosity real quick.

[@benjurqunov]

But how can that support homosexual special rights ?

[@drphosferrous]

@@benjurqunov radical leftist light sources shine on everyone with the same intensity with no regard to their sexuality or racial identity.

[@DanKillam]

They're selling desk and floor lamps now with these integrated, unreplaceable LED panels. So when the LED fails you have to toss out the whole lamp. Huge amount of additional e-waste.

[@humorss]

I think you have a better time with component level repair, if not replace the board

[@travcollier]

Well, same amount of e-waste as a LED bulb, just with more non-e-waste attached to it ;)

[@dougankrum3328]

Floor lamps...yes, my next door neighbor has tossed a couple of the (cheapo I'm sure) floor lamps, I retrieved them and found they only needed a $9 'bulb' but still I'm stuck with the 'drivers' on the same part as the LED's...

[@Pidalin]

When it fails, you just open it and replace capacitor or power supply, it's repairable. Classic bulbs to socket E27 or E14 are not repairable, it just fails and you throw it to dust bin even when led chips are still good. I prefer things which can be repaired. Also, tiny power supplies integrated to socket are bad and every single bulb has it's own power supply, which is very inefficient, much better is when you have one good 12V power supply and more leds connected to it. 12V bulbs should be future, there is no electronics inside so when it fails, you know that it's really failed led chip and not some shit around it.

[@Veso266]

@@Pidalin when will they create leds that plug direcly to mains and can puls with 50/60hz like normal incondecent lightbulbs can?

[@WanJae42]

I'd like to add that having any kind of microelectronics circuit hardwired into your house increases the relevance of a whole house surge suppressor. At my last house, electronic things would often get fried due to noise and swings in the mains power. I finally installed a monitor to prove my power quality was terrible. It doesn't take much to fry an LED board. And during a thunderstorm, even a strike a mile away can raise your voltage to levels unkind to electronics. At least with screw-in LED bulbs, you can CHANGE THEM when they fry.

[@WanJae42]

Afterthought: When I got a whole house surge suppressor (which cost $120 and took 15 mins to install) all my electronics quit having mysterious problems. The difference was dramatic.

[@jdatlas4668]

That’s a thing I had no idea existed and now it feels like such an obvious idea I’m surprised I never considered it before. I’ll have to look into how one gets such a thing now.

[@WanJae42]

@@jdatlas4668 If you have two free slots in your breaker panel, any electrician can do it in 15 mins.

[@meh_lady]

Ours have separate boxes between the wire and fixture to control voltage. A bit more hassle to install but (hopefully) that is a solution to that issue.

[@Avantime]

@@WanJae42 Where was your last house? Rural? I can't imagine this stuff happening on urban/suburban supply.

[@DIYBuilds]

When I renovated my garage to make it into my "studio" I chose to put in 20 evenly spaced octagon boxes and bulb holders for the very reason of choice and future proofing. Had I installed 4 ft led fixtures, if one goes bad I had better have a spare or I'm f-ed. Not to mention the ever changing technology advancements in lighting, I figure the bulb holders are the smart way to go. Also helped that it was far and away the cheapest option.

[@JeskidoYT]

What do you mean by octogon boxes?

[@DIYBuilds]

@@JeskidoYT the standard ceiling electrical box for lights.

[@SamuelLudden]

How is an electrical box not future proofed? If the fixture is cost effective and mounts directly to a box, that's no less future proof than an Edison socket.

[@johnnygotti1568]

If a socket was standardized that utilized some of the advantages mentioned in this video, would your decision have been different?

[@DIYBuilds]

@@SamuelLudden you need to re-read

[@maikatase]

I can confirm, I was plagued with dead led bulb, I always bought the cheapest that had the plastic base/plastic cap design. After I switched to the filament/glass design, I had much better longevity. I still get defective bulbs, but the defective bulbs normally show issues nearly immediately.

[@Adamanthil]

The thing I like most about the “disposable” LED light fixtures is that the light diodes are evenly spaced, causing a nice even glow through the transparent casing. With traditional fixtures, you can always see where the bulb(s) are underneath and I think it looks much worse in actual usage.

[@JasonW.]

The boob lights looked like they had cancer lumps.

[@ivanjelenic5627]

good point

[@exoticcar5482]

I also like how they're entirely downward firing. The design itself, disregarding the planned obsolescence, and if available in 2700k more mainstream, really is a better use of resources, contrary to Alec calling it "arguable".

[@MAGGOT_VOMIT]

I'm more concerned that he's lookin' more like Rosie O'Donnel every vid. {0.o}

[@exoticcar5482]

Also, I discovered that even many LED light bulbs on sale that do say they are suitable for use in enclosed fixtures may have additional caveats. For instance when I looked at the package of a Philips LED bulb on sale saying it's suitable for enclosed, there was a star next to that statement and in the tiny fine print at the bottom it said that the expected lifespan of 25000 hours it was rated at would be halved if used in this way. It's not all "without worry" unlike what Alec said in his CFL video when talking about LED advantages. That being said this design just needs some improvement and more serviceability and it would be great for what it is. At the same time though I feel like if these companies made something easily serviceable they would cheap out even worse on the LED module and make it last even less long than they currently do. I base this thought off of the large amount of premature LED bulb failures I've heard of which are of course the most serviceable type. We are currently at the beginning of all these developments so only with time will we truly be able to see how long most of these integrated LED fixtures last. I did install these in a few rooms of my house that only take a single light fixture in the center (so color temperature and brightness clashing is a non issue) and they are all at least a couple years old and still going strong, including the first one of these installed 4-5 years ago. It's smart to be skeptical and look at things from all sides, but this concept of integrated LED fixtures is definitely an innovation that should be noted as a functional improvement from the old design

[@IanSlothieRolfe]

The obvious answer to the maintenance problem of these fittings would be for the industry to settle on a standard design of flush-fitting socket for wall and ceiling lights so that the fittings could just be twist-and-remove for householders not trusted with a screwdriver. You could also make a ceiling rose adapter for people that suddenly decide they need a pendant lamp in their life. The cost for these need not be any more than a normal lamp holder once economies of scale are taken into account.

[@jusb1066]

It is twist to remove for the fitting he's just using the wrong holes.. then you need to use wago connection

[@ADMNtek]

that would make sense but it would probably result in an xkcd 927 situation. you could go as war and make a nor circuit board that use connectors similar to what is used in PC memory so you can just pull out the old board and plug in a new one. you could even go as far as make the driver independently replaceable. but nobody is going to do it unless they are forced to.

[@drmr_music]

This exists, both in concept and standard. In Japan, it is standardized as JIS C 8310 and it is ubiquituous: A simple 2-prong bayonet socket that is supposed to provide both electrical and surprisingly strong physical connection. It comes in a few housing formats, some round, some only barely housing the contacts, some with locking tabs and some with additional mounting points for really heavy fixtures. It does protrude some 10 mm from the surface, but many light fixtures take that into account. Edit: I realize it's a bit hard to find using "western" search terms. Search for "引掛シーリング" (yes, this translates to "Hook Ceiling" ... those quirky Japanese!) It also exists out of neccessity: Japanese apartments regularly don't come with lights or even light fixtures, you are supposed to bring your own lights and ... twist them to the ceiling.

[@SerifSansSerif]

I agree to an extent but honestly, I would say that doing something more like a USB plug in leg "bulb" housed within the fixture is better. You get far, far, far less waste when replacing LED's. Even if the fixture itself is standardized but needs to be tossed out is a bad design because you have to toss out the whole thing when just the led itself is bad.

[@TacComControl]

Either a flush fitting socket, or replacing bare-wire twist-crimping with some form of standardized plug and socket arrangement where no bare part of the wire is ever fully exposed.

[@jajssblue]

Oh man, that digression on "planned obsolescence" could be a video all on its own! I'd love to watch it!

[@thodkats]

@@jfolz That needs some serious recycling prerequisites, that currently isn't really happening. And with overproduction under capitalism, which also brings short-term profits over long-term stability, respect towards human need and the environment, the future does indeed seem bleak.

[@DistortionUltra]

@@jfolz I think that's the least of our worries vs the massive use of products who's reasourses we might need in the future and what end up in a landfill in ten times the volume

[@FlorianLinscheid]

Watch the video by Veritasium, I think Alec made a reference to that in a half-sentence.

[@SonofTheMorningStar666]

@@thodkats Oh man. He deleted his comment instead of trying to refute yours. lol

[@jfolz]

@@SonofTheMorningStar666 no, it's just gone somehow.

[@litchibunny7016]

As a lighting designer I’m so impressed by how well you covered the topic in just 30mins! Though when I read the title “disposable”, I was hoping that you would cover the environmental impact of producing LEDs too. Everyone is using LEDs these days but rarely people think about the environmental consequences of it (carbon footprint in manufacturing, end of life recycling, etc). LED fixtures that includes many components made of plastic, silicone, metal, etc is much more difficult to take apart and recycle properly compare to traditional light bulbs including mostly glass and metal. Commercial projects have a massive demand on fixtures that you can’t really just “change the lamp” when the fixture dies or switch brand without take off the whole thing, because each manufacturer has their own standard. Yet we are all still jumping on it because it’s convenient, cheaper, and efficient. Sometimes I worry this is the new invention that would end up like plastic bags-because it’s so convenient, we overlook the long term consequences it brings, ending up overuse it and only to realize the trouble in the future. It would be great if you could make another video in the future covering this topic too, and raise some awareness to people.

[@NickzAndMikz]

How does one properly dispose of LED fixtures and bulbs?

[@litchibunny7016]

@NickzAndMikz Here's what I would suggest: 1. Try to see if there's any stores or organizations near you that has drop off point for LED recycling. Curbside recycling usually can't recycle LEDs because of the electronic component and the microchips containing heavy metal. 2. There are probably some recycling programs online that you can mail in your recycles. It could be nice to collect a box of old leds in your neighborhood and mail in together--spreading knowledge and awareness as a community! 3. For certain led fixtures, the components could be easy to take apart (like some linear fixtures are just acrylic extrusion lens+metal extrusion base+light source+driver), then at least you can recycle the plastic/metal part. 4. For LED bulbs, recycling programs take them in as a whole. Though I still try to separate the components like the diffuser / lens and play with it with different light source to see how it changes the effect. I like using random things to see how i could use them for fun creative projects. I know in a lot of places there are few resources for recycling, and cities that don't even recycle very common plastics. We just try our best to avoid letting these things end up in landfill as much as possible, and reduce unnecessary/impulsive purchases from the beginning (which applies to other materials we think we "need" in life too). Lighting manufacturers are late but at least starting to pay attention for sustainability. Many products advertise that they have a high percentage of recycled materials. As consumers if we use our actions to show we care about where the products go after its life cycle, eventually there will be a better recycling/upcycling system designed into the product development.

[@psychickumquat]

As far as recycling filament bulbs though, how often does it actually happen? Most people (myself included) have always just thrown bad filament bulbs in the trash. So while they can be recycled, I doubt they actually would be sadly.

[@litchibunny7016]

@psychickumquat true, lots of people are unaware about if things are recyclable, or simply don't have a recycle facility in their city. I think that's another type of issue of general education of recycling and improvement to the whole recycle system, making it more accessible and easier for people to do.

[@cosmicosmofour6883]

I'm here to provide the aforementioned inevitable wire nuts vs wagos argument. Integrated LED fixtures are a great application for wagos, because they're quick to remove when the fixture dies, easier to install correctly than wire nuts, and more easily handle the joining of solid wire with the stranded wire from the fixture.

[@DrHarryT]

Funny??? Here in the USA I have been using wire nuts for over 40 years and have never had a problem. The key is to use them correctly by stripping at least 1/4" of the wires and then critically aligning the tips of the wires holding them firmly while twisting the nut on. Also, don't over/under exceed the amount of wires inserted into the size selected and it's wire size/quantity rating. ie... Don't try to insert only two 12ga wires into a red wire nut. For the red nut at least 3 or more 12ga or two 10ga minimum. You can look up the specifications for each size nut and then use them correctly.

[@quinnobi42]

GreatScott! has a video on this very topic.

[@DrHarryT]

@@quinnobi42 I've seen it and probably made a comment there too.

[@alvaros.]

@@DrHarryT So we can say that you need 40 years training with wire nuts to be able to use them as easily as a Wago? 🙂

[@kyungrix1112]

100% the WAGO lever nuts are PERFECT for this lighting application. I have never seen the lights this dude has in the video. I buy the kind that have the electronics in a separate electrical box and the light itself connects to that with a secure but easy to remove connector.

[@UselessDuckCompany]

I broke one of those fluorescent bulbs above my head once when trying to change it and I'm pretty sure I felt mercury vapor hit my face, so that's nice. Still waiting on my super power.

[@SimonBuchanNz]

Best match is the Mad Hatter, surely, so I think you need to try making mind control devices.

[@jsnsk101]

old fluorescent tubes were instant light sabers when i was a kid! So im pretty sure you will be ok!

[@UncleKennysPlace]

@@jsnsk101 And they were amazingly difficult to break, until they broke.

[@Tunkkis]

@@UncleKennysPlace That's what glass tends to be like. Really strong, until it's not.

[@jamesdlin7]

My home has recessed 4-pin GX24Q fixtures in the kitchen thanks to CA Title 24 building requirements. This means that it had recessed CFL bulbs that needed to be pushed in and pulled out with significant force. The recessed nature also meant that I could not push/pull on the bulb base and instead needed to apply force to the glass. Needless to say, I broke bulbs and potentially contaminated my food preparation area with mercury dust multiple times. I got fed up and bypassed the ballasts so that I could use cheap LED bulbs with Edison screws.

[@zh9664]

To get a good temperature reading on glass, you can just stick a square of electrical tape on the surface wherever you want to measure and measure from the tape.

[@patricktennant1585]

Try to pick some tape that isnt shiny. The gloss of the tape will affect an ir temp gun.

[@bait28]

excellent advice!

[@Myndale]

Wouldn't the presence of the tape mess around with the overall thermal profile i.e. the exact thing he's trying to get an accurate reading on?

[@FuttBuckerByMutt]

I prefer my tongue

[@Cinkodacs]

@@Myndale Not significantly.

[@gloomyblackfur399]

It's terrifying to think that someone with epilepsy could be hurt (or worse) in their own home when they enter a room and find the LED fixture is strobing.

[@mikep490]

Yep and similar can happen with other light sources, such as fluorescent and neon... or even the old CRT screens.

[@qwerty112311]

Cry more. More terrifying that tourists in places like Chicago get rolled on the regular and murdered with relative frequency.

[@mernokimuvek]

@@mikep490 I never had that problem with fluorescent lamps and CRT TVs. What do you mean by neon? Neon sign are not used for residential lighting. I hope you know that fluorescent tubes don't contain neon but argon and mercury.

[@mikep490]

@@mernokimuvek Yes, some people are more sensitive to flickering than others. You can see the 60 hz flickering of the old screens by filming one. It was particularly bad when the screens were single sweep and under flourescent lights. I didn't say neon was used in homes, but there was a time they were common in street advertising. It's particularly bad when lamps are older and/or the ballast failing. Even w/o epilepsy it was hard on eyes and could cause depression. Along with flickering you can get that annoying hum. It can be bad enough that it even affects other electronics in the vacinity.

[@G6JPG]

I once (1960s I think!) had it with an ordinary filament lamp: I think a bit of the filament had lain such that when powered, it got hot and jumped, thus breaking the circuit, then it fell back into contact - four to ten times a second I think. When it was turned off and then on again, it didn't come back, so was then just a dead bulb and was changed as normal.

[@miradrgn]

i just wanna take a second to thank you for always taking the effort to have high quality captions on your videos. it seems like they must all be done by hand since they're not filled with the kind of mistakes and mis-hearings that crop up when people hire cheap subtitling sites where underpaid, overworked ✨independent contractors✨ are incentivized to slap out stuff that's barely passable and move on*, and they also don't have the inconsistencies and timing issues that tend to crop up when youtubers copy in their script for subtitles, but whatever the case, they're pretty much always accurate and well-timed and it's really nice as someone who often uses subtitles to help with comprehension but gets totally brain-twisted when the words on the screen clearly don't match up to the words i'm hearing. i know not every youtuber can afford the money or time for quality subtitles, and youtube's absolutely goddamn boneheaded move of removing community contributions has removed the best option a lot of people had, so i do really appreciate it when people go that extra mile to add captions that Don't Suck *side note, this is a dig at transcription companies and not those workers. i used to be one of them (until the hours of constant typing caused me chronic pain and nerve issues that still persist 5+ years later! with of course no unemployment or medical assistance because It's Gig Economy Baby and you're not considered an "employee"!) and frankly it's miserable work and if you try to be perfectionist like i was then you make a fraction of minimum wage, because the amount they pay their workers is simply not enough for the time it takes to thoroughly double-check a transcript

[@TopHatJackStudios]

I loved how “And.” “And!” was perfectly timed and punctuated.

[@ajmacphoto]

His videos are highly scripted. He has a video on his prompter set up where he discusses his writing process. There are a couple videos where he goes unscripted but they are rare.

[@thetruthisonlyperspective4872]

What do you mean by youtube removed community contributions

[@Nicolas_GE]

@@thetruthisonlyperspective4872 youtube used to allow anyone to submit subtitles to the youtuber for a video, which they could approve this was a great way to make any popular video translated in many languages through subtitles, as long as the creator accepted the community subtitles and had the feature enabled nowdays, youtube has removed that feature for the absolutely stupid reason of: it was only used by a low amount of pepole (~0.2% watchtime) this is an obvious issue in terms of accessibility for deaf or hard of hearing pepole, and this removes the wider audience videos could reach with fully translated subtitles, the only compensation youtube ever did is a free 6 month subscription to a translating service for pepole who used community subtitles on more than 3 videos.

[@Greenhourglass]

@@ajmacphoto I think they're referring to when some youtubers will just copy-paste a version of their original script as subtitles, which becomes obvious because they'll reword, add, or cut entire sentences during the recording/editing process which then means the original script - and thus the subtitles - don't match the final video. Alex's videos seem to never have this issue, which likely means he's putting time and attention into the subtitles after the video is finished.

[@peterjszerszen]

I'm a commercial lighting engineer that specializes in retail and started in the field in 2012 just as it was coming into mass market. You hit a lot of the most important points and how it has been commoditized. A lot of those earlier projets are now being replaced again despite us assuming a 15 year life. For one, in commercial settings there are often "night lights" or certain fixtures that stay on constantly. We found that those fixtures became noticeable and color shifted over time compared to others so now we often designate separate (different) fixtures for that purpose. Also, what one manufacturer calls "3000K" varies from others. It shouldn't, but it does. Especially with the Chinese brands. A spectrometer confirms it and it's simple technology but... China labels things however they want. I think the biggest advancement has been in the optics, it has opened up a world of options we would have never dreamed of 20 years ago with different beam patterns and the like and the diode elements are powerful enough that we can afford to diffuse it. Earlier generations typically didn't. This is a big deal wth street lighting and glare. But yes, unfortunately in retail environments where we have defined a brand standard for our clients, if a few fixtures shift color, we need to replace EVERYTHING and that is becoming more and more common. Whereas in the past with 2x2 fluorescent fixtures with FB lamps we could just relamp one fixture and nobody would know, we often have to replace an entire sales floor of fixtures now and the store managers can't do that. It's great business for us (as we also do that work and service thousands of locations) but it's incredibly wasteful. We've recently started supplying tunable fixtures and have reverted from integrated track fixtures/lamps to track lampholders where the lamps can be changed out. Except, ironically, in California there are Title 21 requirements that still require us to replace entire fixtures as they require integrated lamps. Also, as you mentioned, Chicago (and NYC) are both oddballs and require all exit signs and emergency lighting to have metal housings and other special fixture requirements like "tenting" the fixtures in plenums, etc., the codes are well-intentioned but haven't caught up to the technology. Another huge benefit has been in emergency lighting, we can meet the 1/0.1fc requirement for an entire store on just a single inverter unit which greatly simplifies inspection and battery replacement compared to transfer switches or standalone "bugeyes"'. Also, it's worth noting that fluorescent fixtures can be just as "efficient" as LED. In the 1970s, it was common practice to route HVAC ducts _through_ the fixtures to pick up heat and deliver it to the occupied space below. But this only works in the heating season. But this could also be used with cooling, conceivably, to cool the LED fixtures and prolong their life (though it's not, in practice). But it's something we run into with our energy simulations when lighting is "too" efficient and the HVAC is inefficient, overall heating bills can increase and negate the lighting savings. Moreso in northern climates, obviously. It used to be that lighting contributed a substantial heat load to a building and we have simulation software that takes that into account.

[@jakemj03]

Thanks for the info - super interesting!

[@christianstorms3950]

second that, great insight

[@tgibridays]

I design HVAC systems and I can confirm LED's change how we size systems. We definitely factor in a lot less heat from lighting than we used to. I mainly work in the southern US, so it's usually a good thing for the HVAC system.

[@kargaroc386]

Your job is the electrical equivalent of digging and filling trenches.

[@jakemj03]

@@kargaroc386 Except anyone can dig and fill trenches. His job requires skill and education….

[@senaidyl]

I love hearing how you explain lighting to laymen. Being in the lighting industry, we don't really focus on consumer grade lights so it's interesting to see where things are technology wise compared to the architectural grade products I'm used to. My graduate school is working on trying to come up with some solutions for the disposability of LEDs though.

[@frenchfriar]

It seems like the answer to the "replacement" problem would be a standardized unit that clipped in and out of the basic fixture. Probably not a realistic thing to hope for, but oh well.

[@Hephera]

"a standardized unit that clipped in and out of the basic fixture." so....a lightbulb

[@bland9876]

@@Hephera he is talking about something similar to what those smoke detectors use. The ones that get power from the mains as well as the 9volt.

[@bpark10001]

Put an Edison plug socket on the fixture & have the lamps with short cord & plug, the way more disposals under the sink are wired.

[@nighteule]

RVs have something similar, at least in my admittedly limited experience

[@pascal6871]

Standardisation ? The EU will probably do it in a couple years unless we go up in smoke.

[@palarious]

The obvious solution would be a standard "flat bulb" design that can slot into any of these.

[@NicholasSouris]

With some sort of click-in socket.

[@leDespicable]

Yeah, but that's not gonna happen since they wanna make more money off new lamp models.

[@fabiosemino2214]

Indeed, just watching this video I thought of variants of the m.2 sockets, maybe with click ins instead of screws, a termal pad in the back, the possibility to choose between m.2 2242 to 2280 and properly modified terminals. Now your fixture is just a big heat sink

[@kargaroc386]

This is where regulatory action should step in. Of course it would probably require a revolution to get a government interested in such things.

[@bradleymorgan8223]

I'm not sure if that's so obvious, what kind of socket would you use? It also would likely run hotter than this style

[@SteveAkaDarktimes]

Had a "disposable LED fixture" in my apartment. of course it failed after a two years and was left sitting in the dark. Replaced it with a timeless hanging Bulb socket from IKEA and a paper screen thingy, with a 100 watt LED bulb screwed in. I agree completely with this video. *I* know how to unmount, wire and replace fixtures safely and correctly because my Dad taught me how. but in this age of waste not everyone has those sort of handyman skills passed down in the family.

[@smileyeagle1021]

Speaking of waste, something that has bothered me with the larger fixtures that use integrated LEDs is that now, I don't have to just dispose of an replace a small LED bulb, I have to replace the entire large fixture. There is no way that isn't going to drastically increase plastic waste in the future.

[@CM-mo7mv]

I completely disagree... I have had fixtures with sockets and had to replace either lamp every 1-2 years. With my rgb fixtures i am in the 3rd year and counting. And changing the fixture isn't rocket science, either. I also dont like that fixture and LEDs are joined but that is something I believe will resolve once these are properly ubiquitous and people demand for separate power units and lights. Similar to how every phone charger is interchangeable.

[@ke6gwf]

And chances are that your replacement lighting system took more energy to manufacture and get to you then the one that failed, so while it may make you feel better, chances are it didn't actually do the environment or anything else any benefit! Just get a higher quality led fixture that will last a little longer.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

A 100W LED? Are you trying to light up a stadium? I'm running around 7W here for ~1200 lumen and can't say anything besides that the room is bright.

[@Tunkkis]

@@HappyBeezerStudios Perhaps it's an LED equivalent of a 100 watt incandescent bulb.

[@quazy1328]

I had one that lasted a few years and the ballast went, I just replaced the ballast and that was 3 years ago now. They should make the board that is held in with 3 screws with some contacts on the back that are standardized. You can have what ever you want on the board, even smart controls where you just leave the switch on and turn it off with a application or change the temperature and/or color of the light.

[@newton21989]

Pro lighting guy here. Thanks for calling the lamps "lamps" and the fixtures "fixtures." Well, much of the time. In addition to the lack of attention the average user pays to color temperature, one of my major gripes with consumer LED lighting is the lack of flexible, user-friendly control.

[@blairanderson5925]

It drives me nuts when I go into a house for a service call and all the lighting is different temperatures.

[@yannick7230]

@@blairanderson5925 I've had so many of my led bulbs fail over time and can't find the exact same lamps. So after 15 years of changing out lamps the color temperature is all over the place even though I always buy warm white lamps.

[@blairanderson5925]

@@yannick7230 that can be simply because over time, the color of the diodes shift a little. And that doesn’t really bug me, although manufacturers definition of “warm white” can vary drastically depending on the brand. I’ve seen warm white bulbs rated at 2000k and as high as 3000k. Regardless, what bothers me is seeing a cooler white bulb next to warm white next to a daylight bulb. All because the homeowner didn’t understand what a color temperature rating was.

[@jasonreed7522]

@@blairanderson5925 i bought a bulb for my bedroom rated "daylight" expecting it to be fairly close to the yellow-white of sunlight that makes everything look nice when the curtains are pulled back. I was very not prepared for the super blue-green tint that clashes with the rest of the house's lighting. In isolation its fine and its nice enough for reading but it isn't what i intended. I will never trust the descriptors from manufacturers and will instead have to learn what color temps actually look like. (I understand they are the color of a black body radiator glowing at that temp, but that doesn't correlate to qualitative understanding) i doubt that bulb is getting replaced any time soon since i moved out i doubt its getting much use.

[@HughJeffreys]

Never would I ever. I can see people having miss matched lights because they needed to replace one of these unfixable fixtures but couldn't but an exact replacement.

[@MartinThmpsn]

Eh, it’s not a problem in rooms with a single light. I have this style of light in most places in my house (including garage and porch lights), and the few fixtures that remain that accept a bulb will be replaced immediately when the bulb in them dies. I haven’t changed a bulb in a few years. And I’m not at all worried if each bedroom has a different design of light on the ceiling. They’re just better lights. And if they last as long as the boxes claim (30-50 years) they might get replaced just for a new look well before they wear out.

[@hannahranga]

I'm planning on buying a few spare when I do my house with them.

[@kjrehberg]

My thought exactly. I have recessed cans and you can't have mismatched designs and color temperatures. It has been a nightmare relamping my house.

[@MaddRamm]

I deal with this every month as facility maintenance for several buildings that get remodels and upgrades at different times. I can never find replacement lights/modules/fixtures/etc. because what was installed is out of production after even just a few years.

[@heehaw316]

when this fixture dies, who replaces it, the tenant or landlord?

[@Jajarra]

I feel like something like the smoke detector brackets style things would be a decent solution for the replaceability problem. Naturally, that does require committing to that style of lamp instead of a bulb socket.

[@sporkafife]

I feel like it would be relatively simple to design an adapter for that style of fitting that would accept a light bulb, which might mean you don't have to sacrifice flexibility. If you want one of the light fixtures shown in the video, you just slot it straight in. If you want a light bulb, an adapter would only need be a dumb, cheap thing

[@billsherman6129]

I seem to recall that in some places (Europe I think) they use a standardized mounting brackets that are installed when a round/octagon lighting box is installed. When you buy a fixture you just snap it into place on the ceiling and voila! Done! I wonder where that's done? HEY ALEXA!!!

[@bland9876]

The funny thing about your comment is that I posted that before scrolling down to the comment section. So multiple people have thought of it meaning it's probably a good idea.

[@MrScorpion132]

@@sporkafife they exist, i have one of these types of light fixtures and its mounted on a push and twist bracket that actually attaches to the ceiling, the bracket supplies the power to the fixture and its so simple to just take out. Gets rid of 99% of technology connection's issues while keeping full color temp selection

[@dmitripogosian5084]

It could be standard adapter that you screw on electrical box, and then any fixtures click on (or screw on) that standard interface

[@superior451]

As a general contractor and builder in Chicago my professional life has been on the crest of this lighting wave since 2000. You have touched on so many issues we have experienced in these 24 years where the previous 40 years saw the knob and tube age slowly evolve with resistance dimmers, different gas bulbs run into the trainwreck CFL revolution which I am convinced made everyone look significantly during that phase. Heat management has been the big gain in our conditioned spaces. What a great video.

[@dlloyd6300]

Pro tip. When tryin to measure temperature on something that is thermally transparent, put a small piece of painters tape on it. It will heat to the surface and allow accurate measurement.

[@wargamingrefugee9065]

I was going to suggest he paint the light bulb black, but yeah, I guess that works too.

[@antilogism]

Two things I found to work really well is classic white-out (I use this for shiny electrolytics) and also dye penetrant developer---a white powder that's really easy to spray on and remove. They have surprisingly good emmisivity, no gloss and are super thin (poor insulators/lots of heat-flux).

[@pumpkinhill4570]

I like the Japanese ceiling light sockets, 引掛シーリング The modern “rosette” ones are very flush, and they allow for all kinds of different lights while being completely plug and play (and earthquake safe). In fact, in Japan apartments don’t even usually come with ceiling lights, everyone moves with their own lights that they like since the socket is completely standardized. 🇯🇵

[@pqlasmdhryeiw8]

Oh! They look like unplugged smoke alarms! How clever!

[@Leo0718]

This is the cleverest and neatest lighting solution I've seen. Marvelous.

[@DFX2KX]

oh that right there is NIFTY.

[@RossMitchellsProfile]

They're not exclusive to Japan, got a light fitting from IKEA about a year ago that used that fitting, was a GX53 fitting. Nice to see they took off somewhere, thought the design was neat and had potential for LEDs.

[@AileTheAlien]

Japan has all the nice things. ^^;

[@darkwoodmovies]

I can only imagine how much effort these videos take. The research, the footage you need to capture... oh my god. And then the fact that you're editing what amounts to a quarter of a feature-length movie. This channel is amazing.

[@mcplayer152]

I hope KZbin shifts it's algorithm towards lengthy, less frequently uploaded yet high quality content Instead of.. well, KZbin shorts.

[@dgurevich1]

I'm sure he spent more effort then the designers and engineers of this lamp.

[@Kable_TV]

@@mcplayer152 this isn’t for everyone we should be grateful he puts this much work into informational documentary like long form content I’m the age of tik tok

[@Kable_TV]

In the age*

[@danielsjohnson]

@@mcplayer152 KZbin's algorithm still values longer watch time last time I checked.

[@yeolemillinial8295]

they should make these fixtures but make the led bits a removable disc, it wouldn't really even need many changes to achieve, it would have two slots that would also be the power terminals on the disc and have two fixtures that drive the power that they lock into with a simple quarter twist, just have like a button in the middle of the disc that unlocked the power/mounting tabs safely and replace.

[@emeraldhill8294]

In australia you have 2 choices for oyster/ceiling lights; 1 when the led lamp goes you replace the whole thing, or 2 the dearer version has a disc which when the light fails you just replace the disc which of course comes with the components on it.

[@dodecahedron1]

GX53 puck bulb

[@user-tg4hi6bj3j]

your taste in lighting is beautiful. indoor lighting is so important and almost no one cares about things like colour temperature etc. The worst is when you move into a new apartment and the landlord just put in whatever cheap and mismatched bulbs they had lying around which cast the most ugly, sterile, and clinical looking light

[@chuckhoyle1211]

I am one of those freaks that likes sterile white light without the orange tint.

[@Cheesus-Sliced]

​@@chuckhoyle1211 whether you use warm or cold white depends on the room. bathrooms and kitchens should have cold, bedrooms and living rooms should have warm

[@kazzajaxon7566]

@@Cheesus-Sliced No, what light you use depends on personal taste.

[@doctorwholover1012]

I like white lighting during the day + warm lighting at night, so my ideal setup is a solid medium colour in the ceiling light, and then a lamp with 2 bulbs, which I set up with a crisp white in one and a deep warm in the other, so I can alternate as needed 😅

[@k1m198]

I use chromalux incandescents all throughout my house. Best, glow, ever.

[@jdatlas4668]

TC is back! And honestly I feel like I’m with you on this. I’ve watched this happen, and it feels like we’re a bit quick going from “why, this LED lasts practically forever!“ to “we don’t need to consider replacing them“, I’ve seen it in car lighting and now it seems to move over into home lighting. It allows for some really neat designs you couldn’t have with bulbs, but it also creates more waste and makes it harder to fix stuff, which isn’t great. It’s a messy situation and I’m not sure what the best solution is, here.

[@TechnologyConnections]

That's the thing, this topic is chock full of nuance. _If_ a light fixture manages to last 20 years, well by that point maybe you'd want to do some updating anyway. And it does seem quite likely to me that these devices will outlast the vast majority of bulbs. But I really don't like how locked in you become in this situation, on various levels. Especially when you're not confident to change these yourself (and in some parts of the world that's not even allowed!).

[@minecraftchest1]

They do make led can lights that use molex connectors. Those are wonderful.

[@katbryce]

On the other hand, in terms of e-waste, if you replace one of those all-in-one fittings, it isn't actually any different to replacing a light bulb. The all in one fitting is just a light bulb with bare wire connections rather than an E27 connection. I agree though that the E27 type is much easier to replace.

[@ThatSoddingGamer]

Yes, this is one of those cases where "Situationally pretty good. Bad to have it forced on you" applies. Pretty sure the contractors that replaced the damaged (from water leakage) fixture in the house used one of these....Well, if all goes well it'll keep working for over a decade, so not really an issue, probably. Mind, it's really inconveniently located (It's on a landing, but the ceiling is for the floor above it, so you need a ladder that can go high enough in a narrow space), which would make an already nerve wracking situation (replacing a bulb in a precarious location) several times worse since you'd have to do rewiring and mounting.

[@jakespacecadet]

1:13 I skipped back because I was surprised you mistakenly said "today" twice but soon realized I'd been had when I heard the third one

[@daviddiaz2082]

My brain broke a bit when this happened

[@andydt82]

When LEDs started becoming useful in professional lighting (about 10 years ago) there was a push for ease of replacement through standardisation of modules - take a look at the zhaga consortium. It seems to have fallen by the wayside for the most part though, probably because the lifetime of a commercial lighting installation is about the same as an LED luminaire!

[@kliepmann]

Zhaga wasn't meant for the end user. It was meant to give traditional fixture manufacturers the ability to design around a standard module that could be purchased instead of needing to hire engineers.

[@Markle2k]

I knew what a luminaire was. But until I looked that up, I had never seen the term "light engine".

[@WhenDoesTheVideoActuallyStart]

@@kliepmann It doesn't matter who it was made for, but if it can solve these issues. If it can, great!.

[@pongusikya]

Japanese ceiling mounted light fixture sockets are worth taking a look at also. As lighting has to be taken with you when you leave an apartment it's easy to swap fixtures and now they sell LED versions which I use in my apartment.

[@nanayanet]

Yes, I first saw this on my second apartment which didn't come with main ceiling light (just the socket). I bought a rather fancy one and when I moved again, I brought it with me and installed it on new place, replacing the preinstalled fluorescent light (with no remote etc). The mover company even helped me detaching and installing it. The main problem is I have to keep the old one, filling up my room... The general term for it seems to be 引掛シーリング or JIS C 8310 (there are various types with their own names). It's first invented in 1977 (!) and becomes widespread in 1980s according to Japanese wikipedia.

[@dmitripogosian5084]

@@nanayanet in the 1980-s Japan was ahead of the world in many things electronic

[@SDA921]

As the lead tech at my University's auditorium, I can confirm that some people should never work with electricity. Even after numerous 1 on 1 training sessions, they won't get certain aspects, and that's ok. It just means their talents are elsewhere. But because of that, making sure there is a safe way for the average person who isn't inclined or able to work with custom electrical jobs is that more important. Certainly, I can teach a 5 y/o how to be an electrician and swap out fixtures, but I would argue it would be irresponsible of me to then ask that 5 y/o to go change said fixtures on their own. If you wouldn't ask a young child to do it, then it's not a user friendly task. That doesn't mean we can't have the freedom to do the more fun aspects of getting into the wires, rather that it shouldn't be a requirement for basic changing of the light XD

[@juergenschimmer960]

You are abolutly right with the 5y/o, but some child might be more capable of doing this job and observing the safty rules as some much older Person that should never do any electical work.

[@EAKugler]

I don't think I would ask a five year old to change an edison lamp either. I certainly wouldn't let them use an outlet. So, maybe the bar you are setting is too high? An eight year old can certainly do those tasks though. And I'd say a ten year old can handle basic wiring.

[@JohnAdams-qc2ju]

Those are just lazy people who don't want to use 5 brain cells. Turn light of, go to break box and turn them off one by one until it goes off, take a $1 screw driver and undo two screws. Then on an outlet unscrew the 3 wires or light with normally the twistnuts, exchange the device and match the wires back up. Trust me anyone can use a screw driver and remember 3 colors (4 as ground might be bare cooper or green) but care enough.

[@bryanhumphreys940]

Agreed. I'd be much more comfortable with these if they had something like a standard socket behind it.

[@Kyohan137]

@@JohnAdams-qc2ju I would agree with you if I hadn’t worked in the trade and seen the nightmares created by some peoples inability to correctly perform that simple task

[@snappybabby4646]

They can simply use the metal frame and plastic lens but have a control board that clips in place and has a simple plug so it would be easy to change out the flat board. They could also add the switch on the board to choose the type of output color.

[@kasuha]

Ability to change lightbulbs in our lamps is just too great comfort to give up on it. We just need some new kind of connector standard that does not need the light to be rotated to connect and then we can easily migrate from light*bulbs* to light*plates* which are much more suitable form factor for LED lighting.

[@areadenial2343]

Situation: There are 14 competing standards. "14?? Ridiculous! We need to develop one universal standard that covers everyone's use cases." *Soon...* Situation: There are 15 competing standards.

[@ghoulbuster1]

@@areadenial2343 90% use screw in bulb - 1 standard 10% use everything else - the other 14 standards I don't see the problem.

[@charlie_nolan]

Light edge connector?

[@discodubber85]

I suggest we take a page from automotive tech. Have the FIXTURE part be a slightly recessed base of a standardized design (and perhaps ventilated) and have a standardized wire connector (pigtail) built into the base. Then the replaceable component - the bulb, if you will - features the opposite design wire connector and mounting lock ring (male connector to the base’s female, female lock ring to the base’s male). This would allow for a simple twist to unlock the lamp from the base and simply unplug the wires, then plug the replacement in and twist-lock it into place.

[@becauseimafan]

@@discodubber85 This sounds like a _fantastic_ way to move forward! 👍👍👍

[@discodubber85]

I found an interesting compromise on the flush-mount “boob” light. The make these led bulbs that look like flush-mount fixtures. They only require a simple screw fixture, and when you screw these bulbs in, they stick out a few inches (like boob lamps) and they are - depending on what design you’ve chosen - several inches wider with a valance that touches the ceiling when fully installed. They LOOK like a fixture, but they have the function of a screw type bulb and are easily replaced without rewiring.

[@cheyannei5983]

Can you link me an example?

[@flatfingertuning727]

I would think someone should standardize an electrical box cover plate with a low-profile receptacle on the bottom, so that one could take an existing box, wire in the cover plate and then be able to interchange fixtures easily without having to work with exposed electrical wiring. An ordinary receptacle would need to be somewhat deep because the prongs insert perpendicular to the surface, but a design similar to what is used to made the plugs with some multi-format power adapters could probably be less than 10mm deep.

[@MrJest2]

@@flatfingertuning727 I figure something like a NEMA twist-lock would do the trick. Includes ground, and isn't prone to "falling out" if either plug or receptacle gets worn or bent.

[@flatfingertuning727]

@@MrJest2 I think those have prongs which are inserted perpendicular to the surface, but the twist-lock concept is good. I was thinking of a round piece in the middle of the fixture with metal blades that stick out the sides and slide under a mating surface on the mounting plate.

[@TheOneTrueCasanova]

This is the exact reason that when shopping for ceiling fans for my house, I avoided models with built in led lights. No temperature control and I have to go through that manufacturer when the proprietary bulb they use eventually goes out.

[@exoticcar5482]

Plus socketed designs for ceiling fans can still be beautiful and direct light properly unlike other fixtures

[@kellymyers8671]

This is a good thought. I actually hate the LED halo in the ceiling fan in my bedroom. it's not bright enough and flickers when dimmed. I actually have contemplated rewiring it with socket fixtures.

[@Free-g8r]

Exact same with me. It narrowed down my options considerably. But I simply couldn't stomach the thought of one day tossing out a perfectly good ceiling fan because the LED light went out.

[@cooperschwartz318]

I hate how I have to search a thrift or antique store just to find a ceiling fan with bulb sockets instead of permanent LEDs. It’s such a huge increase in e-waste and also a waste of time since I have to search twice as long to find a good one.

[@jimbobur]

Surely there's a compromise where you can install fixtures like those but with the guts being self-contained and replaceable rather than needing to swap out the entire fixture. A 'lightplate' rather than a bulb.

[@TheRiddler491]

They do make those. I know Halo makes those. You hook up the wire to a separate box. The light plate itself is separate and connects really easily. Throw the box in the wall, then if you need a new light, you get a new plate, unplug it and plug a new one in. No wiring required. They look pretty nice too

[@Pidalin]

But this light with integrated led source can be easily repaired and it has much better cooling. I am constantly throwing led bulbs to dust bin because there is some failed capacitor or something like that inside, but you can't open it and not destroying it. I am thinking about fixture lights because I have good experiences with them, it works many years without failing, while classic led bulbs to E27 socket are really bad, it can fail even after 1 week of using it, that's really bad. There are only 2 types of LED bulbs - first fails in first few weeks and second is working for 10 years, there is nothing between, but you can't know what type is that led you are buying, even good brand doesn't mean anything, it's everything cheap shit from china.

[@CaTastrophy427]

@@Pidalin you didn't read the comment you replied to.

[@UbernostrumPrime]

I got a set for my last house (so I can't get the brand for you) but they were light plates that had an edison adaptor that went into the existing can light fixture. It was a pretty solid compromise.

[@tobias_bohne]

I really love that when my friends tell me I'm a grumpy old man stuck inside the body of a 25yo when I talk about how new design ist not always better in all cases, it usually only takes a couple of months for a Technology Connections video to come out on the exact same topic. Hats off to you, good Sir

[@Earthneedsado-over177]

Speaking of " new design " I think about our dependence on everything electronic every time there is a massive coronal mass ejection and scientists tell us what could happen as a result if it came directly our way.

[@neglectfulsausage7689]

you cna keep buying incandescents on amazon. I get regular shipments to stockpile.

[@ManoredRed]

New technology often allows designers to get lazy. Aka: leds last a lot longer, lets get lazy and stop caring about making stuff easily replaceable.

[@charlie_nolan]

Same, but I’m not even an adult yet. I’m 17.

[@neglectfulsausage7689]

@@charlie_nolan adulthood is defined less by age and more by capacity and self-responsibility. See: millennials.

[@Rebelnightwolfe]

"That's not gonna bother some folks but, it DEFINITELY would bother me." I feel this in my bones and everyone around me never understands my brand of perfect order.

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

It's like we have a curse.

[@LawF250]

Different in any way would bug the crap out of me.

[@GraveUypo]

meanwhile i have a 5700k and a 2700k bulb on the same fixture ON PURPOSE and i love it

[@AdubsMMA]

Such a better teacher than any teacher I've ever met. Been binge watching shit I'm not even that interested in just because of how you explain stuff. ❤️🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼

[@Rman0712]

When I bought my house in 2013, I replaced all the bulbs with led bulbs. To date, I've only had one fail, and that was the yellow tinted bug light I had outside. Which was on 24/7 for about 5 years.

[@jar407]

i had the same experence i bought a few when they became generally available,. but then dollar tree got them in some 3 years now and going great 60nwatt are most of my lamps 2 with 100 . was going to redo my dome celing in kitchen but the plastic yellow and replacements too much so i going to buy a set of led and scrap the old fluorescents

[@ChrisD__]

I think we bought a bunch of Philips and Great Value in 2013 or 2015, lots of them have failed in the past few weeks. Lots turning on lights and getting horror movie lighting. They tended to be in enclosed fixtures and or just got hell of a lot of use out of them.

[@Rman0712]

@@ChrisD__ Well all mine are Philips as well, guess I should start preparing for this to start happening too. Although I do happen to have some spares, since I replaced a few with Hue bulbs. If they do start, 9 years aint too shabby. And with the advancements since I bought those, any new ones will hopefully last even longer.

[@SteebMo]

This is EXACTLY what I ran into when shopping for a new ceiling fan. Lots of the expensive ones have an integrated LED light kit and their own "smart" features and stuff.... which is fine for people that want them, but I want to continue using my 'smart bulbs' because I have more control of them than what's possible with the integrated LED kits.

[@bretticus4]

came here to make this exact comment. the ones i liked the style of all had an integrated LED light kit that i'm damn sure will be unobtainium by the time it fails.

[@themadmallard]

many of those smart fans I thought still included a 'cap' with an edison socket instead of an led, and also included a slug-cap with neither.

[@waheeddoesstuff]

when it eventually dies, instead of replacing the entire fan just replace the light part. most of these standard fans are built with many pieces and you can replace the entire light with another one with edison screws

[@Michaelonyoutub]

I feel like a new lighting standard is needed, like a LED disk/chip standard instead of bulb, then those kind of lights could have replaceable disks which you could switch out. The new standard could also account for things like cooling and lack of ventilation.

[@mousermind]

Kind of like cards in PCs, right?

[@AstoundingAmelia]

@@mousermind yeah, a new socket standard would make everything better

[@Michaelonyoutub]

@@mousermind i was think like the center of those lights in the video but detachable and interchangeable, not sure of the best way they could go about connecting it electronically and stuff though

[@failbot1986]

My wife had pediatric cataracts and had her eye lenses removed. The way this surgery was done in the 90s left her with an unfiltered view of light. Namely, she can see the blue light emitting from LED bulbs, regardless of light color or temperature. Lights like this would be a nightmare for us to deal with.

[@WorkableWax]

Woah…that’s crazy. Eyes are wild

[@drphosferrous]

I get alot of calls from retirement homes to get rid of their led fixtures because they drove some people crazy. Maybe it's cataract surgery?

[@trogdor8764]

It would be super easy to redesign these things to separate "bulb" from "fixture" to make replacement as simple as a push-n-twist that provides a mechanical and electrical contact connection, as Edison bases do. Then you can choose your bulb and fixture independent of one another in a variety of hopefully-standardized sizes.

[@gregorymalchuk272]

They have that. It's called GU10. It was developed for compact fluorescents because of California title 24 which considered hard wired Edison socket lamps not to be "high efficacy" for their code requirements. They just never became mainstream and the lamps for them remain expensive. I thought they would begin getting rid of these requirements now that incandescent bulbs are unobtainable, but they have not let up on their war on the Edison socket.

[@3vIl3aGl3]

@@gregorymalchuk272 GU10 seems to be quite common here in Europe. Pretty much every "spotlight" based lamp has them and led bulbs for the socket aren't more expensive than Edison socket ones.

[@jovangrbic97]

@@3vIl3aGl3 Yeah but glass GU10 sucks at cooling and suicides very quickly because of it!

[@3vIl3aGl3]

@@jovangrbic97 As is the lightbulb problem, to resolve it while keeping an interchangable format you'd need a sort of socket that has a large surface area to transfer heat. Perhaps something like in these lamps but with the AC input as a plug and a standardized format for the LED ring.

[@HaloWolf102]

The only thing holding in the LEDs and driver circuit board are 2, or 3 tiny screws. The board is easily replaceable. I have done it myself.

[@vincedameion2631]

As a handyman that occasionally has to explain some of this to customers, standards would be really nice

[@jgharston]

As a qualified sparks, I'm also regularly pissed at having to *again* patiently explain to a customer that their fancy piece of crap they've contracted me to fit is a piece of crap.

[@Samahiel]

There are standards. Some manufacturer invents another one at least once a year. :P

[@gabrielmalta1962]

There's this saying my father always told me: "standards are such a cool thing that everyone ends up having their own"

[@spontanioussponge]

I've had this exact argument with my home builder dad! I feel like at this point we could at least get a plug socket in the box and have these new fixtures come with plugs, so that a typical home owner would feel more comfortable replacing them. Most bathroom fan and light combos (at least that I've installed) already do this to make installation easier.

[@bnasty267]

That's a really good analogy. For those bathroom fans, the part that can break (the motor) can be replaced with a couple of screws and unplugging it from the integrated outlet in the fan casing. The actual casing, which is probably screwed into the joists and attached to an exhaust hose can be left in place, because it would otherwise be much more of a PITA to rip the whole thing out.

[@BothellPlaysMusic]

LEDs, especially those super thin ceiling LEDs have more advantages: 1. You often don't have to compromise light placement if a stud is over the area you intend to install 2. Jevon's paradox holds up. Now that you have lights that 'cost less' amperage on your breaker, you'll likely find more opportunities to put more total lights in your home. I look forward to this style becoming standardized so replacing dead lights becomes simpler.

[@BothellPlaysMusic]

I went almost as cheap as possible on Amazon on my last home and went with Amico ultra-thin recessed 6". It had 5 color temperatures that were satisfactory (although it went up to 5000k, which doesn't feel humane), had a driver box that's separate from the chips+diffuser, which leads to some cool possibilities for burn out. The driver box has Wago connectors to your neutral and line, which then has a twisty connector to the chips+diffuser. This makes replacing the visible part of the light fixture laughably easy (assuming you have extras). It also seems like a fair system for keeping the heat-vulnerable components away from the heat-producing ones. If I could change anything, I would want the Wago connectors to have levers to make it easy to switch out the driver box.

[@DeviantOllam]

It is awesome to learn that the filament style LED bulbs potentially last longer... in addition to simply looking so much cooler* than many of the alternatives! * The good kind of cool 🕶️ not the bad kind of cool ❄️ as far as lighting is concerned. 😉

[@TechnologyConnections]

They really are my favorite innovation in the lighting space. Lots of old-school bulb styles are being faithfully LED-ified, like the spherical globe. I bought a couple of table lamps and have frosted "vanity" globes in them and they look fantastic. The cool-white versions of them, though? They exist, but they're... unsettling. At least to me!

[@turinggirl6432]

hey dev!

[@insu_na]

Did not expect to see a pentester in the comments tbh. but I don't know why I expected that. Sorry for this useless comment

[@DeviantOllam]

@@turinggirl6432 👋😉

[@DeviantOllam]

@@insu_na it's my job to show up in unexpected places ☺️

[@GameSack]

I put one of these in a closet where the old fixture had a pull chain. I very mush dislike pull chains. I put a remote switch in the closet which will turn it on and off just like a regular light switch, no battery needed. That switch will work from the opposite end of my house on a different floor so I hope I'm not turning on/off a neighbor's bulb/device if they bought something similar. Also hooray for lights that will let you select from several different color temperatures like mine does. This should be standard.

[@johndododoe1411]

Selectable color "temperature" is usually done by including LED elements with different colors and then using them selectively. So whichever color you choose, some elements will be underused and a waste of materials.

[@rars0n]

Awesome to see Joe chiming in on another of my favorite KZbin channels!

[@GameSack]

@Les While you're not wrong, I've never seen the same fixture for sale in standalone selectable colors. It's usually just one color and that's it for that particular design. Yeah I'm paying for diodes that I may likely never use, but a few extra bucks won't break me. I can just not feed my kid for a few weeks or maybe not send them to college. I think having a choice is more important than their education. I mean by the time their education matters I'll be dead from a severe heart attack so might as well splurge!

[@jonhohensee3258]

Game Sack - mush?

[@christianstorms3950]

those self powering remote switches are neat, indeed. Selectable light warmth is kinda neat and helped me matching my various light fixtures, but now I have a drawer full of remotes that all look the same and probably won't be used again forever.

[@zfotoguy71]

Another problem is that the manufacturers are overdriving the LEDs which shorten the life which ensures the customer is coming back to buy more. Anyone with some electronics background can hack these LED lights to reduce the voltage going to the LEDs but 5-10% which will increase the life expectancy significantly.

[@markpearson3490]

Good point - BigClive has several videos on how to do this with really cheap LED bulbs

[@akivaweil5066]

Those companies should be specifically held to account by the free market. Would be so kind and point me in the right direction? I assume you have some actual evidence to back this claim.

[@SimonBauer7]

i mean even the power leds of some old 80s computers still work so new ones should last even longer

[@h.celine9303]

@@akivaweil5066 As Mark already pointed out, BigClive has videos on that topic. I'm sure there are more to find here on YT.

[@samuelfellows6923]

😠

[@dansan4393]

The ones in my hallway will last half a year and then strobe like a spooky disco.

[@anthonyedmonds4123]

Looks like you might benefit from re-aligning the visible and infrared sensors of your FLIR. This can be done fairly easily in software.

[@BaltimoreAndOhioRR]

Another great example of why I love this channel so much! 👍👍

[@metricstormtrooper]

Here in Australia those lamps are available that mount into the ceiling and they plug in to a plug base in the ceiling with a standard 3 pin plug, so the are easily replaceable by the end consumer ,but I prefer to not through out the whole light fitting. Here in Australia it is illegal to do your own electrical work.

[@ZboeC5]

It's only illegal if you get caught. Like speeding or underage drinking.

[@johnshite4656]

@@ZboeC5 Or underage other things. Lookin at you, Matt Gaetz.

[@nubreed13]

They also have a version of these in the US that just screw into regular sockets. That way it's a 2 minute replacement instead of having to turn power off

[@TheOneWhoMightBe]

@@ZboeC5 But if you get caught (say theres a fault) then your home insurer can void your contract.

[@joshuaportinga187]

I’m a lighting engineer who has looked into the filament style LED bulbs a fair bit. At first they look like they would have overheating issues. However there is something going on in these bulbs that people are unaware of. The glass capsule is filled with helium gas which is actually a great heat conductor. The helium gas effectively wicks the heat off the LED filaments and deposits transfers the heat to the glass Envelope. The light conversion efficiency is also very high on this style bulb some of which can achieve over 200lm/w because the phosphor is applied to both sides of the LED chip.

[@markboomgaarden4679]

I had a hand in bringing these “disc light” products to market. I’m one of a few inventors listed on the original patents from back in ~2010. That being said, I have none in my home. I prefer small diameter recessed downlights for that purpose.

[@Naptosis]

A celebrity! It must be nice to have your name going down in history, for something that must have benefitted many people, even if it might seem a small thing to you. I love to see technology progressing!

[@ethanmarch2478]

The smaller recessed downlighting are indeed much nicer also.

[@MrPaxio]

@@Naptosis now we know whos name to curse when you encounter one of these. easy to remember too!

[@markboomgaarden4679]

@@MrPaxio haha!

[@robertshort9487]

Solution: Outlets in the ceiling boxes. Just plug in the new one, no more danger than the old Edison ones, and more flexible

[@jkbrown5496]

Just specify a NEMA L5-15 twist-lock connector. Or develop a more compact design. But many of these lamps have free floating power supply connector boxes, though that should be going away as the drivers are appearing on the boards.

[@toddosty]

@@jkbrown5496 The free-floating power box on puck lights is important because it allows the puck to stay thin (as thin as .5" drywall) so that you can use the pucks in places where a deeper fixture would be impossible, like where a joist is in the way of the optimal location for a light. You can usually squeeze the power supply/driver box up into the ceiling by the side of the joist, and then the puck will slip right in and sit flush where a can light or thicker puck could never fit. IMHO, the better option is to standardize the power box and then sell replacement pucks separately. That way a puck replacement is as simple as detaching the old, attaching the new, and using its spring loaded clamps to mount it in the ceiling.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

You get your NEMA L5-15, I keep my GU10, and we all can get rid of the old E27 and E14 screw sockets.

[@thog9987]

I mean they already do it in bathrooms that have those fan lights. Usually the bulb and fan are just on house plugs.

[@ulogy]

Stopgap: Mandate Wago connectors for these. Makes swapping faster and easier.

[@pawala7]

Huh, never realized this was an issues since Japan has its own solution to the replaceability issue with their standardized flat light sockets. They make it tricky to design fixtures that lie flush with the ceiling, but I'm realizing just how convenient they are.

[@Waitwhat469]

yeah that seems like the correct answer to me.

[@adrianflo6481]

Same in the EU. Any apartments built after year X has to have standardized grounded sockets. Ours arent sleek and flat but they are instead mounted from the side or inside the ceiling to save space for flush fixtures.

[@drewwassel3367]

For applications where linear fluorescent fixtures would traditionally be used, you may want to consider led ready fixtures, which use type B led tubes. Some tubes have the same life as regular led fixtures because the leds are spread out over a large area instead of being crammed into a small spot, which allows them to dissipate heat better. Additionally, many led tubes have leds that point down, meaning almost all the light is directed downward .

[@fangthewarrior]

I think you're right about thermal cycling, there was a time I used those exact "Ecosmart" bulbs and many of them failed prematurely, the only ones that lasted for a little longer is fixtures that are on almost all the time. They do indeed get warm and I suspect it's the drivers that are failing. I for sure can't stand clashing colors and cooler LEDs I really don't like, I prefer the "cozier" look.

[@markf3908]

2 years ago I bought 20 of the LED domes like the one you were holding on amazon for $100. I put 16 of them in my 3 car garage since it does not have drywall. For the price I could not be happier, I was able to distributed the light around the garage and for a very affordable price compared to other LED options out there or using the florescent tube options.

[@danap.235]

After two years of use lighting up the garage; would you do it again the same way? And were there any issues of light fixture lifespan or effects due to temperature?

[@markf3908]

@@danap.235 . If money was not into consideration I would get a some other design, like some hex shape honeycomb grid patters I have seen some you-tuber use in there studios. But for my purpose of having a very well lit garage for the lowest cost possible, the disk shape 4000K Cool White LED lights have worked very well. No issues so far and Yes for the price per lighting output I would do it again.

[@flyingark173]

I love these videos. Interesting subject that I would never actually learn about on my own + soothing voice + dry humor = gain in knowledge. Thankful to be alive in this era.

[@platinumsky845]

I got a bunch before this video was made and they clip into one of those boxes that have a little spring clip mounting holes, the same kind that are used to hold anything from light fixtures to vent fan covers, so they can easily be replaced physically, and they come with both a screw type connector and a removable two-prong plug. They were also much cheaper at about $5 a piece (got mine at a Menards sale, with a rebate as well, at the end of the day they were about a buck fifty a piece, got the last four boxes in the store), so a lot of the shortcomings listed in this video in terms of user serviceability and stuff like that have already been addressed.

[@tjsynkral]

22:09 In this shot you can tell which fixtures have horrid smoothing and which have acceptable smoothing

[@guguigugu]

an oft overlooked topic about LEDs. i cant handle any flickering its so distracting, but its starting to show up everywhere. lighting, car headlights, phone displays...

[@PileOfEmptyTapes]

@@guguigugu Team Nystagmus assemble! ;) I must say I've had pretty good luck with LED bulbs recently, but it can definitely be an issue. Monitors and laptop screens about a decade ago could be quite bad for PWM flicker... sometimes (Intel onboard graphics) you could at least do something about it by increasing PWM frequency. My impression is that automotive LED lighting has actually gotten substantially better already.

[@Owen_loves_Butters]

@@guguigugu I genuinely do not understand how you notice a flicker at 100 or 120 times a second. Flickerless LEDs exist as well.

[@guguigugu]

@@Owen_loves_Butters they do but you cant know until you bring them home and install. i notice the strobe effect when moving my eyes or an object. also even high-frequency flicker is noticeable in peripheral vision.

[@darylgraham4313]

love the talk about heat dissipation and life span. Glad someone is paying attention to things like color matching incase someday I'm in a position to care. Also the lightbulb cartel fact setting them to an efficiently bright standard was a neat fact

[@mickmiah7605]

I love this show It has just the right balance of science and quirky domesticity. I am glad you covered this very topic as I have replaced the old style chandeliers across my house with new funky designs. Most are bulbs, luckily, as most of them are large fixtures but in the bathrooms they are relatively compact and they will have to be replaced entirely once the LED's are dead. This irks me, firstly, because of the electrical work but mostly because it will take weeks for my wife and I to decide on a replacement and we boys know about being shouted at by our wives for having a poor aim an issue un-helped by using the facilities in the dark.

[@aaronvurgason8547]

As an electrical contractor I always try to avoid built-in LED fixtures in spaces where multiple fixtures are to be installed. It doesn’t matter as much with one-off fixtures like a chandelier above a table.

[@rocbolt]

I went all in on the Hue bulbs years ago, I never throw multicolored raves with them but I absolutely MUST change the white color temperature with the time of day. With window daylight, the cool white is perfect. At night it slide it to the warm side. The opposite at either time of day is completely intolerable. I still have all my original bulbs too, I haven't had a failure yet come to think of it.

[@viperjason777]

We also have hue bulbs. 50 bulbs in the house. I suggest tuning the "white" of the bulb to match or complement the color of your walls. For instance, if you have a green wall then make the white of the light more in the green space (RGB: 250,250, 255 ... see more green light) and the room will feel better. at least it does for us. Each room has a different shade of white on the walls and the bulb "white" matches it to give a complete feel of the room.

[@flapjack9495]

I have Hue bulbs throughout my house and I've had a frustratingly high failure rate with them. Some of them last forever, others die after a few months. I'm also really irritated that they tweaked their hub firmware to ignore the color I send them via the API and instead pick some color sort of vaguely near the one I asked for. If I send an RGB of 0,0,255 I expect pure blue, not some purplish color. Older revisions of the firmware did just what they were told to.

[@AntonioCunningham]

This is understandable. As much as I hate 2700k light, it's not that bad at night. I have my bathroom lights switch to this at a certain time at night just incase I wake up in the middle of the night and b Need a bathroom break. However 2700k at any other time looks so bad to my eyes that I would rather go without light and use a headband light.

[@LRM12o8]

I do the same thing in my living room/home office, because on the side of the room opposite the window, where my desk is, there often just isn't enough daylight for me, but turning on warmwhite/yellowish light at 3 pm would be depressing. Except it's not Philipps Hue, it's a cheaper smart home system and it's one of those sleek looking lamps with integrated LEDs. I don't like the fact that I'd have to replace the entire lamp (it's quite a big one, too), *if* tge LEDs were to break, but it was the only option for me to get adjustable color temp within my budget at the time I moved in. In all other rooms I use fixtures with socketed LED bulbs for the very same reasons TC pointed out, except for the bathroom, where I got a neat looking spot lamp with integrated LEDs for 10 bucks. As I didn't care much about the lamp design in the bathroom so long as it's not unobtrusive (and it's actually quite pleasant) and it cost about the same as two bulbs, that was a no-brainer. Plus, if that one fails, not much (non-recyclable) material would have been lost anyway. Two rooms are 2700K, two others are 3000K, though I usually don't notice the difference.

[@sectokia1909]

I was shocked recently when I went to get a new light fitting. The hardware store was almost entirely disposal fittings. I could only find 2 with actual light bulb sockets. Its insane.

[@k1m198]

All by design by a group of wealthy internationalists whom may or may not have also invented bagels.

[@billywillaims293]

@@k1m198 Ah yes. Those damn Austrians.

[@Romin.777]

@@k1m198 You really need to be an antisemite over this? Shame on you.

[@campkohler9131]

If nearby landlords upgrade fixtures, I scrounge the old Edison-based ones. If the new LED fixtures then fail, I scrounge the defectives in hopes of fixing them.

[@littlesnowflakepunk855]

​@@k1m198Are you seriously blaming "the jews" for fucking planned obsolescence? How on earth did more than one person see that and go "yeah, man, you're right."

[@timlavoie]

I just bought a standalone fixture with built-in LEDs, and after watching this video, hope it works out well. It is at least a single unit, that does not need to match with others. On the other hand, my main complaint is that it fails in some usability aspects, where assumptions coming from a century of bulbs just behaving the same way no longer hold. This unit has adjustable brightness and color temperature, which is a nice feature. However, all of that is dependent on being set by, and turned on or off with the remote only. If a switch is used to turn the entire unit off, it resets to its default color and maximum brightness when turned back on.

[@calonkat]

Yeah, I replaced my mom's and my center kitchen fixtures with the hardwired LED kind. Need light in a kitchen, and neither of us have young eyes. For $40 each, I am willing to replace them when needed. But I'll keep this in mind for other areas of the apartment.

[@pahbi1]

I don't mind these, but I'm surprised that they don't have some kind of plug pigtail you can install on the 110 feed, so they are easy to replace.

[@joeburly]

The Cooper Halo have a system where you drive 6 lights on one driver and you attach the lights to a “self healing” cable. I have not used them so don’t know how great they are.

[@captainvol]

Some of the integrated LED fixtures actually are designed to have the circuitry replaced, so the fixture is still saved. I went this path for my recently purchased house. Granted, there is the chance they stop making the replacement parts but since it seems as if they are using it for other fixtures I doubt it’ll be anytime soon.

[@gblargg]

That's the real problem, a lack of a widely-used standard, making replacement effectively impossible years later. The same problem happened with digital cameras, except the ones that take AA batteries. Perhaps it could be a socket where you turn the fixture to remove it (like you remove smoke detectors), then unplug a wire from the back.

[@Zardif]

Generally it's just a wafer with 2 wires that is screwed in. You shouldn't be worried as it should be an easy modification to retrofit a new wafer into it.

[@tonebonebgky2]

I doubt that you'll have to replace any time soon.

[@thekingoffailure9967]

"Recently purchased house" in this economy?!

[@farmkid94]

I’m an electrician an I totally agree with this, I openly encourage picking fixtures with Edison style outlets because it serviceable , nothings worse then replacing a $200 ceiling fan just because the light on it’s not replaceable.

[@t.c.b4722]

Unless you're the company who makes the ceiling fans that is.

[@dwaynezilla]

Finally someone is talking about the trade-off and not just going to pLaNnEd ObSoLeSeNce. If someone says "build me a thing," your first question is "how long does it need to last, or how cheap do you need it to be?" And that's just a reasonable beginning to anything, not some kind of grand conspiracy.

[@pailofawesome]

Agree! I hate these things. We had an LED "bulb" go on the fritz so we replaced it in one of our rooms. We wanted a cooler color so I bought enough to replace the rest in the house under the assumption they were all "bulb-like" and then store the warmer bulbs for a "just in case". Whatever genius did our apartment used half replaceable-bulb fixtures and half of these throw-away's. It's insane. So we couldn't replace half the bulbs/lights without tearing out the entire fixture if we wanted ( we didn't ).

[@NinjaSynFrey]

Yup. I agree! I was actually considering these fixtures for a renovation for one of our bedrooms in our house. But man, there's just too much caveats in the long run. If they die then you need to replace the entire unit. Even worse when they don't have the same model and you'll live with an inconsistent design. So rather than dealing with the headache later, I just went with pendant lights that uses a regular socket. That way, i don't need to worry about replacing the whole unit. Bulbs are so cheap to buy and it doesn't require much work to change.

[@DFX2KX]

@Narja It's design lifespan, more than planned obsolescence. Planned obsolescence would be charging $30 for these things, than having them intentionally cook themselves like clockwork after two years. or making them turn on and off via app, which then cuts support for older lights. I don't have a problem with these things, but it's one area where spending a bit more really does make sense. it also seems like a new 'socket' standard built around LED light fixtures wouldn't be a bad idea. something flat, or maybe just an XT60-esque kind of connector with some norms around cooling. Edit: apparently Japan thought of the above issue, and came up with a pretty nice solution for it, see: 引掛シーリング as mentioned in the comments. lower profile than a traditional socket, and snaps in like a smoke detector from the looks of it.

[@randybobandy9828]

@Narja how is it "still planned obsolescence"? Do you think every product made has planned obsolescence in mind?

[@m0rthaus]

The complaints echoed in this video are largely around buyer lock-in. You buy these, you're locked in with ONE supplier and it may be quite hard to source replacements or repairs into the future. This is a very similar outcome (and complaint) to planned obsolescence - ie "build me a thing, but lets make it flawed in some way to therefore guarantee quicker future sales". They're both anti-consumer practices that should be discouraged.

[@dangarrett8260]

The previous owners of my house put up a couple of these. There was an odd surge in one bedroom that fried the disposable fixture. I swapped the fixture and have had a couple more surges, but I can swap bulbs instead of fixtures!

[@robertt9342]

I guess I wished they had a standardized sizing and fitment that allowed for the retention of the frame and replacement of the lighting part, maybe with a quick connector. Could even have some of the electronics remain in the housing.

[@marzi_kat]

GX53

[@AndreiRObertYTB]

@@marzi_kat Yeah, bi-pin fittings are pretty good. My whole house has G9's everywhere, and they're pretty varied. There are even incandescent models

[@lkeil84]

For the most part, the LED and the driver are designed with simar lifespans. No use just changing the LED when the driver is at end of life. They are both very cheap and disposable. I did in one case though change the guts of a new light to an old one I liked better. Does void the listing though.

[@chrisshiffermiller3492]

I have noticed the the “vintage style” also produce less electronic interference so the work great for garage door openers that other led bulbs cause remote issues.

[@wingerrrrrrrrr]

@@halcyonoutlander2105 is that only when the garage door was opened and the light turned on? So you'd have to wait for it to time out before you could remote it closed?

[@chrisshiffermiller3492]

@@zaandam0172 the electronic drivers in most bulbs emit a low level radio wave that interferes with the reception of the signal from the remotes. From what I have found the vintage style bulbs get around this because the driver is in the metal base of the bulb which shields it from the receiver of the opener. This is double shielded being the bulb is also screwed into the metal socket. My family found this out through trial and error and I thought that this would be good to share since trying different bulbs can get annoying and expensive.

[@eDoc2020]

@@zaandam0172 Some LED bulbs use switching power supplies which generate interference, but some use linear power supplies which are much cleaner. Due to the limited space in the base filament style bulbs are invariably always the latter.

[@magnus49]

Not sure if it was mentioned, but another problem is that you probably have to drill new holes in your ceiling when it's time to replace the fixture (don't count on the same model being available in a few years). That's especially bad in a bathroom because of the moisture in the air, and unfortunately most of the light fixtures rated for bathrooms nowadays are LED fixtures... I went with a traditional ceramic fixture.

[@FandCCD]

I’m with you on sensitivity of color temperature. That said, I will only standardize with daylight balanced lights. I can no longer tolerate tungsten balanced lights.

[@Argedis]

Heat is an even bigger issue for LEDs in Automotive applications since they are exposed to more extreme temperatures. However they are also much simpler since they can directly work on DC power.

[@exoticcar5482]

The same could be said for LED traffic light modules yet I've seen quite many in my town that are over 10 years old and still going strong and here on the mid-Atlantic we have the most dramatic temperature swings

[@blakel4595]

The worst part about the automotive ones is that they are many times more specific and expensive. If you're $1,200 headlight goes out on your F-150 you can't go down to the store and pickup any old light to replace it with you are pretty much stuck with the $1,200 option. And yes they can easily cost that much. At least in your house if a fixture goes out and you are broke or something you can go down and fix it for $5-$10 or maybe go without like use an old lamp or something, on a car you are stuck

[@Argedis]

@@blakel4595 Yes you are correct. You have to replace the entire headlight assembly even to fix the LED Daylight Running light if it fails. They need to make the factory LED headlights modular so they can be removed and installed just like a regular light bulb for future repairs. Or have all manufacturers come together to create a new 'standardized LED socket' so replacement ones can be bought at the Auto Parts Store. Unfortunately I doubt manufacturers want to do that since they are in the business of making money.

[@exoticcar5482]

@@Argedis They shouldn't do the LED socket since its implementation would take away from the LED's directional advantages. It should just be modular. Believe it or not, replaceable modules, though uncommon, have existed at some point in time, such as on the 2004-2008 Acura TL

[@BrokenLifeCycle]

The only thing I hate about LED automotive lights is when it's installed post-sale by idiots. What do you mean that's your low beam? Turn that shit down before you blind everyone through their mirror!

[@ThePickleSoup]

As someone who has experience with selling whole light fixtures like these, and let me tell you, there are a whole lot of them; I just can't find any advantage that they may provide that trumps the whole "install and replace when broken" of a mounted, hard-wired fixture. I believe that the led light bulb works perfectly in that type of situation, as a generic light socket will last much longer than any 10 year led bulb can dream of.

[@wumi2419]

I never saw whole fixtures like that, but I saw very similar sockets you put a flat LED lamp in, which can then be replaced by rotating and pulling.

[@KekusMagnus]

He mentioned it in the video, LED "bulbs" have a tendency to overheat and die almost as fast as incandescent bulbs because the vast majority of them are designed like shit. That's a major reason for installing these fixtures instead

[@gregorymalchuk272]

So you don't believe that the better thermal management will lead to extended lifespan compared to socketed LED light bulbs?

[@ThePickleSoup]

@@KekusMagnus he also mentioned in the video that filament style led bulbs are designed with better thermal efficiency. Stating that his camera, while there is a chance that it is inaccurate, reports that a singular bulb will get as warm as a flush mount fixture. I have plenty of led bulbs similar to the design of the cheaper one around my house. They have yet to destroy themselves due to heat.

[@trqoiz]

@@KekusMagnus I work for a company that sells both, I can tell you that LED bulbs, on average, have about 10x the lifespan of incandescent type bulbs, and some can last years of constant operation. the heat that they do produce is also way below the flashpoint of any common materials, so they're much safer.

[@fccuccchesterfieldva8567]

Thanks for excellent pros and cons. One con I find is with fixtures that don’t filter the DC, so the LEDs strobe at line frequency. I think that caused the black bands in your hardware store videos. My eyes and brain are sensitive to that, and I imagine a return to sick building syndrome of the days of magnetic ballasts.

[@Jeff-oe1yx]

A lot of cheap led xmas lights are also done this way. Makes them looks trange, especially when they move like from the wind or something

[@musicnerd72]

@@Jeff-oe1yx I was going to mention LED Christmas lights. I hate them for that reason! As long as I can keep getting incandescent ones I will. Plus they have a warmer glow to them than LEDs.

[@AndreiRObertYTB]

Yeah, the strobing is pretty annoying. I don't think I'm sensitive to it, but I notice it immediately when I move an object. An easy way to test for that is to slowly move your hand, with your fingers open, close to your face, and notice if the hand motion looks interrupted

[@pinecone606]

If your fixture has a separate driver / ballast, replacing that with a better model can fix this. The cheapest embedded-LED fixtures with AC-to-DC driver-on-board designs tend to be bad at this.

[@k1m198]

@@pinecone606 or just use incandescent... boom, done

[@TheLocoNick]

We need a repair culture instead of a replace habit.