Rob Simpson I tried it last time I was soldering some stuff. Not as easy as Clive makes it look. But I guess a bunch of cheap kits off eBay for practice would fix that 😀
I use these lamps with white bright LEDs for my bench lights, get the whole kit minus diffuser from the bay and they work great in bendy lamps, I aways put the bottom circuit on the white stand of in the bottom of the lamp housing and just hit the plastic stand off with the soldering iron to secure the PCB Mine have always come with a 100 ohm resistor, great videos.:)
I was kinda hoping for the BANG when it was plugged it...but Clive built it right...damn it ;) Never had a neon go bad on me...I still have an old (40+ years) nightlight that works perfectly!
In my experience in every single modern 4/6/8 gang extension the neons go bad. From what I have read its that the manufacturers use too low a value resistor to make them bright. :( Its so annoying, as my Masterplug with an earth good and surge good neon is completely impossible to identify them now. But I guess that sells more because people think the surge isn't working, when in fact its just the neon (in pitch black you can JUST about make out its still lit).
Thanks for the comparison, Clive! Lovely kit, and the orange glow is dead-on, colorwise. I agree that the neon wins in size and simplicity, which is great for panels in industrial environments. But I've an additional reason I prefer them: they handle mains voltage transients more gracefully, at least to a certain extent. Not really an issue in domestic/residential use, though.
I once disassembled a faulty kettle which had two LED's to indicate that the power was on and they were wired directly to 240v mains with just a resistor and a single IN4007 diode. I've noticed in recent years that LED's are frequently being used in place of neon indicators in a similar manner.
another way electrolytic capacitors go bang aside from what you mentioned, Clive, is if one is replacing an electrolytic cap with one of much lower value than the high voltage chassis circuit required, also making it either vent in either controlled, or on rare occasions, violent manner
APU, love your work.................purchased some Chinese oven neons after seeing the previous video. They state 240AC, no resistor, orange. Should be fun. They are so tiny and straight across 240ac.....$20 for 40 of them, wired, on ebay. Going to use them as indicator bulbs inside clear 240v 3 pin plugs....just to show the current is active when they are lying around. Cheers, David (from Downunder)
Hi Clive, I should have sent you the URL. Here it is. Tell me if it doesn't work. They appear to have no resistor. I do not understand. You may be able to enlighten me. David www.ebay.com.au/itm/351507231232?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
Hi Jim, I neglected to pay attention that it was you who left me the reply. Thank you. I need all the help I can get. I have never seen these little neons before. They look pretty handy for some applications. Cheers
Check there is a resistor inside the sleeving when you get them. Either way, it's a good idea to add another series resistor in the region of 100K to 220K as they often push both the neon and resistor quite hard for maximum intensity at greatly reduced lifespan.
I'm still always gonna maintain that neon looks waaaaay nicer than LEDs for signs and art and whatnot. Take a look at the Museum of Neon Art in Glendale, they have some crazy stuff down there.
Thank You for bringing me 'footery'; my vocabulary is now enhanced to a level that would make me feel comfortable in the presence of my northern cousins! :-)
Nicely done video. I've been trying to get Electronupdate to do a build/analysis of one of these things for a while. I was interested in your comment that the design seemed to be suffering from for want of a better term 'copy degradation', but then I've always been fascinated by the circuit boards in the more generic Chinese products.
Very, very easy if you have the part, a hot air gun and some solder paste. Would take me about 5 minutes. However, if you've never done surface mount stuff before, it might not be the best first project. If it's a through-hole SIM carrier, which I highly doubt, then that would be easier.
Hey Clive, I have a Hakko 888D, which looks very similar to that soldering iron. What tip are you using? The stock conical tip my iron has doesn't have much heat capacity.
Now here when this first started I thought you were going to make both an LED and neon lamp out of two lamp kits and see what the result was. BTW, I was looking a few days ago, and you can get monochromatic LEDs with exactly the same wavelength as those lovely sodium street lights with a CRI of about minus twelve. Oh goody, a LED retrofit lamp that would look every bit as ugly as the original sodium lamp!
Voltage range for these kits is 85-277 but the polyester cap is 470uF. Surely that could be adjusted for 120V use. And yes kits with the LEDs included are £1,14 or $1.45. Easily found with ebay's own suggestions. However they are 3mm, and colour temp is not stated.
Very nice!!! Is there a way we could try a neon on a capacitive dropper, and see how hard you can drive it until it go's bang? I hooked one directly to 240v as a kid, and I think it lasted about 10 seconds before going supernava!
You know it's weird, I never noticed myself doing that one handed board soldering trick until you pointed it out. Not sure when I started doing it but it's probably been a while.. I guess I just assumed that's what everybody did.
Is there a preference to which mains connection hits the capacitor before the bridge rect? On the screw fittings you can always guarantee which are live and neutral, right?
I don't know how you're going to do this but do you know how to get any LED clusters from the Blackpool Tower and test and Pull those apart.that I would like to see .thank you keep up the good work and visit Blackpool in the summer
In the first test you give the leds almost 50 times less power so even if they are 10 times more efficient they are dimmer. ( remember power = voltage x amperage not just amperage ). The second test is then much better. Also in the first test the neon is almost alone plus the resistor so it's brighter than in the original device.
Hi Clive, what soldering Iron are you using? I plan on buying a new one and want the same as you as it works :) I brought a cheapo before and only used it a couple of times and it's already snuffed it. Thanks :)
Still like the Neons better. Would there be a way to get Neon indicators like that in a different color? Xenon or Argon, for example. What's the best circuit to drive neon indicators off of a set of batteries?
The only circuit to drive neon off of batteries would be a boost convertor. The forward voltage of a neon lamp is around 50V, as Clive said. So you either need 50+ volts of batteries, or a boost convertor that can handle 50v. Assuming you want just one neon -- more than one in series will multiple that by the number of lamps.
Roflcopter4b An LED is a Light Emitting *Diode*. All you need to light an LED off the mains is a suitable resistor (or capacitor) to drop the voltage and that’s it.
@@mrb692 LEDs are notoriously bad at being diodes though. They really do not tolerate reverse voltage well at all. In my experience they just die instantly even at fairly low voltages. They may technically be diodes, but in reality they might as well be more like electrolytic capacitors. Put them in the right way, use a real diode, or suffer.
There are vintage sets of glow discharge Christmas lights, but they're very hard to find. A common effect in some parts of the world is strings of the neon flicker flame lamps.
"gasp Imagine a string of Christmas lights, but it's little neon bulbs instead. :o" 20 lights in series... for even more fun.. 20 x 50 volts per lamp.. when lit.... 100v to strike... 20kv to be sure of striking the lot.. with the whole thing powered by a TV Line output transformer... what could possibly go wrong... sounds like fun to me.. };¬)
I wonder if they use the flicker flame lamps on trees, I'm not sure I'd want it to look like my tree was on fire but then again I am a bit of a pyromaniac so hmm.
At 4:40 - "And that one is still drawing less current than that neon". Don`t think so: As you yourself explained at 4:05 "they're both going to be drawing the same current because the current is constant throughout the circuit. ;-P
Yeah, I was thinking skipping the capacitive dropper and rectifier board and putting mains onto the LED board. Probably not really a good idea, especially if there is not enough track isolation on the PCB.
But now I got the great idea to build a single neon lamp flower like yours into a clear bulb. I'll put that on my never ending lit of weekend projects :)
I have an OSRAM Lunetta LED nightlight which I really like very much. I've not intention of opening the unit up because I do use it and I probably would break it if I were to open the unit up, but I'd be curious to know if it uses a capacitive dropper or power transformer? I assume it's using a capacitive dropper to drive the LEDs. I know that viperfreak and others have talked about dangerous LED bulbs that use capacitive droppers and which are not isolated/insulated correctly and can pose a major shock hazard. If done correctly, are capacitive droppers safe to use in electrical devices?
i want to ask you about thermal compound/ thermal paste for our processors and graphics cards how to measure its conductivity for electric current so to be sur if it's spread over a board its will not make a shortcut in circuits but its transfer heat in the same time .. thanks alot .
thanks alot for reply i understand now if the lamp didn't light that mean by logic the compound will not be light for all under 12 v . thanks alot for your time .. :)
Ahmed Shimi definitly use a current meter, most components are quite sensitive and a normal light-source cannot quite simulate that. Also you will need to go for ceramic thermal paste or plastic base sine the more common metal based ones will be conductive.
Not to mention, very VERY few thermal compounds are conductive. Just buy one that says it's specifically not conductive. I don't think I've seen one for sale commercially in the last few years that didn't say that.
hi clive. i was wandereding if you can look inside one of those cheape 5$ rechargeble led light beanies from ebay. i bought one localy for 10$ but it sadely was not chargeing propely and was very warm.
I'm surprised you didn't replace any components when you assembled the lamp. I thought for sure you would have replace the discharge resister with a 1M ohm.
Hi Clive, I'm just about to add a few neon indicator lamps in a vacuum chamber I'm recycling from an old autoclave. (wastedprops on FB). I'm in Australia and have 240v. from what I can find online, they recommend a 330k resistor in series with the neon bulb. can I use a 390k 1/4 watt resistor instead?
is it worth changing my normal house lights to these leds lights ? 4bed house many kids :) so i can choose certain colour for each room looking on your ebay link there all screw connections i only have bayonet and i dont want conversions in every room
Why do you need all these components when it's possible to run these LEDs on mains voltage with just a single resistor like you showed in the beginning of the video? If it flickers it'll only come closer to looking like neon I guess?
Ni5ei the circuit will live longer. One resistor will either overheat quickly or degrade over time. This circuit is still not pretty but will survive much longer and has the added bonus of more light due to its better efficency
The neon lasts longer, needs just one resistor, multi angle view, low power. The neon wins on so many levels, leds are just crap in comparison. For power indicators ill stay with the humble neon :-). Leds need more parts, they are directional, they dont cast the light well, and wont last like a neon. Your led lamp is really nice for its use, a propper diffuser needs to be fitted though. leds are just better for other uses.
Hi Clive, I have the lithium ion battery and charger from a cordless henry vacuum cleaner, it has 10 cells which i would like to use split down into 5 sets of two to run my rc models, can i still use the original charger in some way or buy a new one.
Is there a particular make of through-hole LED's that is a reliable one to buy? I have been slowly working through a 25-pack I bought a couple of years back from Maplins, but I think it is time to get a job lot from an eBay supplier. The Maplin ones came without any details so it has been hard to properly choose a current limiting resister for them. I'm thinking about having a go at making a clock with an LED matrix for the display. I know this is a pretty unimaginative 'apprentice piece', but I want to do it with only 74-series logic and no micro-controllers or any other clever stuff.
For reliability I'd recommend red LEDs as they are the most rugged technology. If you search on eBay for keywords like 100pcs red LED you will find bulk bags. You can also add extra keywords like 5mm diffused and straw hat for different styles.
@@bigclivedotcom Would you say the diffused over the 'super bright' ones for general indicating and display use? I get the feeling the latter, really bright ones have a much more limited angle of view. I think you can get Straw Hat configuration in both? I definitely agree about choosing the red ones though--although the novelty of having blue LED's still feels pretty intense to me!
my car needs new indicator bulbs as its not a bmw or audi, i was thinking leds, warm white behind the amber plastic diffuser should work, but no, i think i should fill it with neons......
Somebody needs to invent the bigclive drinking game. Take a sip every time a capacitive dropper is used. A hearty chug if the "precious xuron snips" are mentioned and finish your vessel if the vice of knowledge comes out.
Watching this man Soldering is like watching an artist at work. I am just amazed by it
love the way you hold everything in one hand when soldering...great skill...
Rob Simpson
I tried it last time I was soldering some stuff. Not as easy as Clive makes it look. But I guess a bunch of cheap kits off eBay for practice would fix that 😀
tin2001... I need to use my Trusty helping hand when soldering
I burnt my fingers several times trying :)
It comes with time and practice. Sometimes I wish I had 6 fingers :)
I'm sure he's good with chopsticks, too. :-)
I think Clive just made new type of video: Visual ASMR for electricians xD
My relaxing mode just kicked in, and I didnt want to stop watching it...
This guy has probably forgotten more then I'll ever know. Great video as always Clive.
i used to take apart shit like this too when i was younger, watching you do it is relaxing.
Excellent Clive, such brilliant dexterity and a terrific result!
I use these lamps with white bright LEDs for my bench lights, get the whole kit minus diffuser from the bay and they work great in bendy lamps, I aways put the bottom circuit on the white stand of in the bottom of the lamp housing and just hit the plastic stand off with the soldering iron to secure the PCB Mine have always come with a 100 ohm resistor, great videos.:)
I was kinda hoping for the BANG when it was plugged it...but Clive built it right...damn it ;)
Never had a neon go bad on me...I still have an old (40+ years) nightlight that works perfectly!
In my experience in every single modern 4/6/8 gang extension the neons go bad. From what I have read its that the manufacturers use too low a value resistor to make them bright. :(
Its so annoying, as my Masterplug with an earth good and surge good neon is completely impossible to identify them now. But I guess that sells more because people think the surge isn't working, when in fact its just the neon (in pitch black you can JUST about make out its still lit).
Thanks Clive, really enjoyed watching you build this. Something very zen about it.
Thanks for the comparison, Clive! Lovely kit, and the orange glow is dead-on, colorwise. I agree that the neon wins in size and simplicity, which is great for panels in industrial environments. But I've an additional reason I prefer them: they handle mains voltage transients more gracefully, at least to a certain extent. Not really an issue in domestic/residential use, though.
Clive, if you are not already. You could become a very good slight of hand / closeup magician, with such agile fingers! :)
thanks Clive I really like watching you build stuff its very calming Cheers
14:20 "and it'll burst into either life or flames."
I vote for flames. 😁
I once disassembled a faulty kettle which had two LED's to indicate that the power was on and they were wired directly to 240v mains with just a resistor and a single IN4007 diode. I've noticed in recent years that LED's are frequently being used in place of neon indicators in a similar manner.
Maybe you could mix in some white LEDs to create a very warm colour, which still lets you distinguish colours of the surfaces being lit by the lamp
thanks for that clive. i spent my early years soldering things together just like that and you do develop 'asbestos fingers'.
If you have asbestos fingers, you'll find yourself banned, by the HSE. 😁
I love watching you work, Clive
another way electrolytic capacitors go bang aside from what you mentioned, Clive, is if one is replacing an electrolytic cap with one of much lower value than the high voltage chassis circuit required, also making it either vent in either controlled, or on rare occasions, violent manner
I would have loved to see you stuff the massive led array into the plug where the neons were located.
One handed soldering is magical. I've been soldering for 50 years and never even considered it.
APU, love your work.................purchased some Chinese oven neons after seeing the previous video. They state 240AC, no resistor, orange. Should be fun. They are so tiny and straight across 240ac.....$20 for 40 of them, wired, on ebay. Going to use them as indicator bulbs inside clear 240v 3 pin plugs....just to show the current is active when they are lying around.
Cheers,
David (from Downunder)
Indicator lights have the resistor built in. Some neons use the resistor as one of the leads going in to the lamp.
Hi Clive,
I should have sent you the URL. Here it is. Tell me if it doesn't work.
They appear to have no resistor. I do not understand. You may be able to enlighten me.
David
www.ebay.com.au/itm/351507231232?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
Hi Jim,
I neglected to pay attention that it was you who left me the reply.
Thank you. I need all the help I can get. I have never seen these little neons before. They look pretty handy for some applications.
Cheers
Check there is a resistor inside the sleeving when you get them. Either way, it's a good idea to add another series resistor in the region of 100K to 220K as they often push both the neon and resistor quite hard for maximum intensity at greatly reduced lifespan.
I really like that light it has a nice orange glow I want one just like it
I built a few of these. I used red and yellow flicker leds.
I'm still always gonna maintain that neon looks waaaaay nicer than LEDs for signs and art and whatnot. Take a look at the Museum of Neon Art in Glendale, they have some crazy stuff down there.
I think that neon and LEDs look great when combined together.
I like this type of videos where you are enjoyed by the assembling
9:37, what component(s) would you need to smooth it more?
Just a larger capacitor, unless there's something else I'm not thinking of.
Larger cap, smaller resistor would help but that would also make the LEDs brighter.
Larger cap as in more Farads or physically larger?
More capacitance.
In tube amp power supplies there are typically 3 capacitor-resistor pairs to really smooth the DC.
amazing demonstration of opposable thumbs there lad!
Thank You for bringing me 'footery'; my vocabulary is now enhanced to a level that would make me feel comfortable in the presence of my northern cousins! :-)
Clive in the zone had a strange "Bob Ross" air to it, except here happy accidents go "Bang!"
Rich Booth
I was thinking it was a bit Bob Ross too. More, please Clive. It's oddly relaxing.
That's just what I was thinking! Clive's "softer" voice is like a Scottish Bob Ross. Happy little LEDs!
Nicely done video. I've been trying to get Electronupdate to do a build/analysis of one of these things for a while. I was interested in your comment that the design seemed to be suffering from for want of a better term 'copy degradation', but then I've always been fascinated by the circuit boards in the more generic Chinese products.
Where can one buy this powermeter? It's pretty nice and seems to work well for lower power levels.
Mine is identical and came from Maplin.
Very impressive soldering, any idea how difficult it would be to replace a sim carrier in a mobile phone.
this is an unqualified answer by me but I'd say it'd be footery difficult
but why let that stop you
Very, very easy if you have the part, a hot air gun and some solder paste. Would take me about 5 minutes. However, if you've never done surface mount stuff before, it might not be the best first project. If it's a through-hole SIM carrier, which I highly doubt, then that would be easier.
Aurelius R Thanks.
I would really like a video explaining capacitor dropper. With pros and cons.
Hey Clive, I have a Hakko 888D, which looks very similar to that soldering iron. What tip are you using? The stock conical tip my iron has doesn't have much heat capacity.
I use the 3mm angled tip.
James Pourroy He uses a 3mm chisel.
Thank you! Exactly what I needed to know.
"You could buy a lamp, you could desolder all the LEDs, that would just be a delight!"
It would also be a de-light.
Clive, I'm looking for that lamp holder with the built in plug and mains switch that you are using. Please guide me o bearded one.
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wall-plug-in-Screw-Base-Round-Light-Bulb-Lamp-Socket-Holder-Adaptor-E27-250V-/282098955198?hash=item41ae6873be:g:c3UAAOSwyKxXhRs4
Teresa, you are a star. Just bought the last one. Many thanks.
Note that these do not contain a fuse and that if it's the Edison Screw type the polarity may be random. (switch on neutral and outer thread live.)
Now here when this first started I thought you were going to make both an LED and neon lamp out of two lamp kits and see what the result was.
BTW, I was looking a few days ago, and you can get monochromatic LEDs with exactly the same wavelength as those lovely sodium street lights with a CRI of about minus twelve. Oh goody, a LED retrofit lamp that would look every bit as ugly as the original sodium lamp!
Voltage range for these kits is 85-277 but the polyester cap is 470uF. Surely that could be adjusted for 120V use. And yes kits with the LEDs included are £1,14 or $1.45. Easily found with ebay's own suggestions. However they are 3mm, and colour temp is not stated.
build more clive, it is enjoying to watch you build stuff. :)
Very nice!!! Is there a way we could try a neon on a capacitive dropper, and see how hard you can drive it until it go's bang?
I hooked one directly to 240v as a kid, and I think it lasted about 10 seconds before going supernava!
FYI: For anyone wanting to change the R2 resistor, to allow for different LEDs, it's a 1watt resistor.
7:07 why wouldnt you want this to happen? that would be a cool night light kinda
How hot do you have your soldering iron for the stuff you did in this video - seems to melt solder real quick (big tip, I guess)?
3mm angled tip at about 330C.
Big Clive is a big guy, he's bound to have a big tip!
You know it's weird, I never noticed myself doing that one handed board soldering trick until you pointed it out. Not sure when I started doing it but it's probably been a while.. I guess I just assumed that's what everybody did.
Getting into the mood, with mood lighting!
Is there a preference to which mains connection hits the capacitor before the bridge rect? On the screw fittings you can always guarantee which are live and neutral, right?
no its ac, 1- 50th of a second it will be the other way around anyway
Polarity doesn't matter, but I prefer the live to go to the capacitor if I can control the polarity of the connections.
Clive soldering with his bear hands. (Pun intended.)
I don't know how you're going to do this but do you know how to get any LED clusters from the Blackpool Tower and test and Pull those apart.that I would like to see .thank you keep up the good work and visit Blackpool in the summer
In the first test you give the leds almost 50 times less power so even if they are 10 times more efficient they are dimmer. ( remember power = voltage x amperage not just amperage ). The second test is then much better. Also in the first test the neon is almost alone plus the resistor so it's brighter than in the original device.
those led kits work very well, be careful, some don't actually include leds
@14:30 - How many fingers do you actually have Clive?^^ Looks like a lot while you are holding the pcbs, solder and iron...x)
Let's be honest, Clive just wanted to show off his unique soldering style. 😁
Hi Clive, what soldering Iron are you using? I plan on buying a new one and want the same as you as it works :) I brought a cheapo before and only used it a couple of times and it's already snuffed it.
Thanks :)
Mines a Yihua 8786D station. But the general purpose Hakko 936 clones are usually OK.
Thank you so much Clive, I shall be buying the same one you use :)
@@chrischeltenham the clones are actually rather good.
Edit: at least compared to the cheap bargain bin electronic shop ones
Thanks for the tip, Clive!
Still like the Neons better. Would there be a way to get Neon indicators like that in a different color? Xenon or Argon, for example.
What's the best circuit to drive neon indicators off of a set of batteries?
The only circuit to drive neon off of batteries would be a boost convertor. The forward voltage of a neon lamp is around 50V, as Clive said. So you either need 50+ volts of batteries, or a boost convertor that can handle 50v. Assuming you want just one neon -- more than one in series will multiple that by the number of lamps.
As you've seen with some Chinese builds, you CAN run an LED with just one resistor
It ain't pretty but it's possible
Surely you need at least a resistor and a diode??
Roflcopter4b
An LED is a Light Emitting *Diode*. All you need to light an LED off the mains is a suitable resistor (or capacitor) to drop the voltage and that’s it.
@@mrb692 LEDs are notoriously bad at being diodes though. They really do not tolerate reverse voltage well at all. In my experience they just die instantly even at fairly low voltages. They may technically be diodes, but in reality they might as well be more like electrolytic capacitors. Put them in the right way, use a real diode, or suffer.
ChengX? These LED bulbs are supposed to last HOW long?
Thanks clive, a really nice result 👍🏼🙎🏼
@7:45 - The joy of building electronics with Big Clive (similar to 'The joy of painting with Bob Ross)
do you ever use any circuit simulator programs clive? i use livewire sometimes, i find it quite useful
Bob ross mode engaged :p
remember, there's no mistakes here, only happy little explosions.
I'd be interested to see one of those built, with UV LEDs.
Apologies for replying to my own comment, but I've just built one of these kits, with UV LEDs.
It looks pretty 😎
*gasp* Imagine a string of Christmas lights, but it's little neon bulbs instead. :o
There are vintage sets of glow discharge Christmas lights, but they're very hard to find. A common effect in some parts of the world is strings of the neon flicker flame lamps.
Wait, are you from LG?
"gasp Imagine a string of Christmas lights, but it's little neon bulbs instead. :o"
20 lights in series... for even more fun.. 20 x 50 volts per lamp.. when lit.... 100v to strike... 20kv to be sure of striking the lot.. with the whole thing powered by a TV Line output transformer... what could possibly go wrong... sounds like fun to me.. };¬)
I wonder if they use the flicker flame lamps on trees, I'm not sure I'd want it to look like my tree was on fire but then again I am a bit of a pyromaniac so hmm.
They do. While I was working in France I noticed that the flicker lamps in foliage was popular. It looked very good.
At 4:40 - "And that one is still drawing less current than that neon". Don`t think so: As you yourself explained at 4:05 "they're both going to be drawing the same current because the current is constant throughout the circuit.
;-P
Could you make one of those diy led lamps but with neons instead?
Not without a different PCB. The neons have a strike voltage over 40 times higher than an orange LED.
Yeah, I was thinking skipping the capacitive dropper and rectifier board and putting mains onto the LED board. Probably not really a good idea, especially if there is not enough track isolation on the PCB.
But now I got the great idea to build a single neon lamp flower like yours into a clear bulb. I'll put that on my never ending lit of weekend projects :)
What's a neen? :P
CyclingMikey ye fekin w0t m8 ?
Zegt iemand iets? 😂😂😂
great vid again Clive, ever thought of doing a live stream?
Is it healthy to breath the fumes when soldiering? Because I avoid it because the first time I tried it smelled like lung cancer ;(
Thank you for posting the search link! I tried finding these without it...and failed...
I have an OSRAM Lunetta LED nightlight which I really like very much. I've not intention of opening the unit up because I do use it and I probably would break it if I were to open the unit up, but I'd be curious to know if it uses a capacitive dropper or power transformer? I assume it's using a capacitive dropper to drive the LEDs. I know that viperfreak and others have talked about dangerous LED bulbs that use capacitive droppers and which are not isolated/insulated correctly and can pose a major shock hazard. If done correctly, are capacitive droppers safe to use in electrical devices?
Capacitive droppers are fin in enclosed devices like lamps. Your OSRAM lamp probably uses a switchmode supply.
Interesting how both the neons and the LEDs show most flicker when the main lights are on.
i want to ask you about thermal compound/ thermal paste for our processors and graphics cards how to measure its conductivity for electric current so to be sur if it's spread over a board its will not make a shortcut in circuits but its transfer heat in the same time .. thanks alot .
thanks alot for reply i understand now if the lamp didn't light that mean by logic the compound will not be light for all under 12 v . thanks alot for your time .. :)
Ahmed Shimi definitly use a current meter, most components are quite sensitive and a normal light-source cannot quite simulate that.
Also you will need to go for ceramic thermal paste or plastic base sine the more common metal based ones will be conductive.
ok . thanks for reply thanks for your time
Not to mention, very VERY few thermal compounds are conductive. Just buy one that says it's specifically not conductive. I don't think I've seen one for sale commercially in the last few years that didn't say that.
hi clive. i was wandereding if you can look inside one of those cheape 5$ rechargeble led light beanies from ebay. i bought one localy for 10$ but it sadely was not chargeing propely and was very warm.
I've just ordered one to take a look at.
bigclivedotcom
thanks clive
I'm surprised you didn't replace any components when you assembled the lamp. I thought for sure you would have replace the discharge resister with a 1M ohm.
bigclivedotcom what microphone do you use to record your videos. It's nice and clean. Thanks for any info.
He's done a few videos on it. Go check the video list out.
Do these lamp kits work on 120v?
Watching Clive solder is like watching Bob Ross paint
Hi Clive, I'm just about to add a few neon indicator lamps in a vacuum chamber I'm recycling from an old autoclave. (wastedprops on FB). I'm in Australia and have 240v. from what I can find online, they recommend a 330k resistor in series with the neon bulb. can I use a 390k 1/4 watt resistor instead?
Yes you can. It'll be a bit dimmer, but will last longer.
@@bigclivedotcom you made my night mate!!! Your videos keep me sane. Would love to meet you one day. Thank you for your help!
is it worth changing my normal house lights to these leds lights ? 4bed house many kids :) so i can choose certain colour for each room
looking on your ebay link there all screw connections i only have bayonet and i dont want conversions in every room
Now that makes me wonder: Could you populate that lamp kit with the same number of neons?
It would need a different circuit board.
How did you guess, how much solder you'd need?
I'm wondering if I could mix neons and LEDs in that lamp kit's board...
The neons would all have to have their own resistor and be in parallel with the mains supply.
you should make a bunch of those lamps with every colour LED you can find
Why is it, that led fixtures come with switch mode power supplies, when a (dead cheap) capacitive dropper seems to be enough?
Why do you need all these components when it's possible to run these LEDs on mains voltage with just a single resistor like you showed in the beginning of the video? If it flickers it'll only come closer to looking like neon I guess?
Ni5ei the circuit will live longer. One resistor will either overheat quickly or degrade over time. This circuit is still not pretty but will survive much longer and has the added bonus of more light due to its better efficency
Thanks
Clive what temperature do you run your soldering iron at ? (Assuming 60:40 tin:lead solder yes?) Cheers.
330C
I bought some similar kits to slap some neon indicators in. If I'm using eight neon bulbs, what wattage of resistor do I need? (on 120 volts, Murica!)
What's the neon wattage compared to the leds?
what kind of solder do you use? just generic cheap chinese?
I had the same question
he uses lead based and not lead free as its better , i have found they all seem much the same
I get my solder from Rapid Electronics in the UK. Standard own-brand 60/40 tin/lead.
The neon lasts longer, needs just one resistor, multi angle view, low power.
The neon wins on so many levels, leds are just crap in comparison.
For power indicators ill stay with the humble neon :-).
Leds need more parts, they are directional, they dont cast the light well,
and wont last like a neon.
Your led lamp is really nice for its use, a propper diffuser needs to be fitted though.
leds are just better for other uses.
You keep bring up stuff blowing up. Ever think of making a video of coolest bangs?
Hi Clive, I have the lithium ion battery and charger from a cordless henry vacuum cleaner, it has 10 cells which i would like to use split down into 5 sets of two to run my rc models, can i still use the original charger in some way or buy a new one.
Excellent as always
Is there a particular make of through-hole LED's that is a reliable one to buy?
I have been slowly working through a 25-pack I bought a couple of years back from Maplins, but I think it is time to get a job lot from an eBay supplier. The Maplin ones came without any details so it has been hard to properly choose a current limiting resister for them. I'm thinking about having a go at making a clock with an LED matrix for the display. I know this is a pretty unimaginative 'apprentice piece', but I want to do it with only 74-series logic and no micro-controllers or any other clever stuff.
For reliability I'd recommend red LEDs as they are the most rugged technology. If you search on eBay for keywords like 100pcs red LED you will find bulk bags. You can also add extra keywords like 5mm diffused and straw hat for different styles.
@@bigclivedotcom Would you say the diffused over the 'super bright' ones for general indicating and display use? I get the feeling the latter, really bright ones have a much more limited angle of view. I think you can get Straw Hat configuration in both?
I definitely agree about choosing the red ones though--although the novelty of having blue LED's still feels pretty intense to me!
my car needs new indicator bulbs as its not a bmw or audi, i was thinking leds, warm white behind the amber plastic diffuser should work, but no, i think i should fill it with neons......
youre going to need a boost converter/inverter to run neons on 12V.
I'm sure you can pinch zoom on an ipad?
Are there neon lights that fit into those normal lamp sockets?
You used to get neon lamps for ordinary sockets, but they tend to be a novelty now, like the flicker flame and flower lamps.
@@bigclivedotcom Mind pitching me a link to a place where I can find/buy them?
Somebody needs to invent the bigclive drinking game. Take a sip every time a capacitive dropper is used. A hearty chug if the "precious xuron snips" are mentioned and finish your vessel if the vice of knowledge comes out.
Congratulations, you just invented it.
Wish they did B22 versions
What version of iOS is the iPad running? It's strange to me that the iPad can't zoom (unless you meant it doesn't have optical zoom)