+John Ward The big resistor on lamp at 11:07 is a Fusible-resistor -- marked F1 -- they often come in funny body colours and unusual colour band patterns etc... Essentially they do have a specified, small, resistance value... when they get too hot they open-circuit permanently rather than going up in smoke...
THNXS for your uploads and work, for me it's very helpful .I like it when people have a mind to share what they know with other people on this way/road we can help without a bill to pay for.......again thnxs John Ward your a good soul .
And these are supposed to be environmentally friendly. It seems that unless they are made without cutting corners much more waste is created. Once I bought a new compact fluorescent tube lamp. It was housed in glass and lasted 15 years in my hallway. However newer models lasted about 1 or two years. I wish I had kept that lamp to show how good they were made back in the early 1990's
True - everything back in the good old days lasted longer - I still use my grandfathers Toshiba Microwave oven its over half a century old (50 years i mean 50 years!!!!) and still working with the only problem being the turntable needing a quick fix and a clean! I also have an old Marconiphone CRT Model 4715 colour telly its still going after 40 years as well - modern Plasmas andLeds last 4 years average and I just repaired my LGPK590 Plasma tv it lasted 4 years poor very poor - Built in obsolescence and terrible for the environment! Sad world!
Yep, power LEDs still aren't very reliable. The claim that LEDs last long probably goes back to those standard 5mm LEDs as indicators. For them it is true as they run very very cool. But those power LEDs run quite hot. I also have quite a few of them failed. If you want a lamp that lives long and saves energy, go with CCFL lamps if you dont turn them on/off very often. I have one that's now getting 15 years old, and is lit over 12hrs a day! Still working perfecty fine. Classic tungsten lamps are a lottery. Some last 20 years, some only a few months
Hi john, what do you or anyone make of these dim-able LED switches etc, I have come across some and are very unreliable they have a minimum and maximum load on a 6amp RCBO, it seems that you have to get the bloody things just right, or they simply don't work, they stay on or don't come on or come on but you can't turn them back off.... These are the ones that operate from a remote control as well as touch on the the face plate and have a driver unit in the face plate.... Maybe you could do a video on these as the control driver units don't seem to be a good idea.
ive had several in this style, but with a b22 connector, they have mostly failed by falling out of the b22 socket! they use some kind of cement type to hold it, and it fails
Hi John - thanks for piece on LED GU10; what is disappointing about these is that they purport to last 20000+ hours. Of course once they fail like this they're basically useless. I have had a number which have become u/s after approx 2-3 hours use per day over three years or less than 20% of claimed life, rendering the so called longevity claims ridiculous. Do you think they fail because of the heat factor or poor quality components or both? Best, Chris
Heat is the usual factor, particularly in the cheap ones such as these. There is really nowhere for the heat to go as the outer enclosure is glass and most of the internal space is just air. Better designs have the enclosure made from thermally conductive materials to help move the heat to the outside of the lamp. Some run the LEDs at rather high current to get a good brightness, and with them all in series as with these ones, it only takes a single LED failure to wreck the entire lamp.
Depends what you mean by an ordinary lamp.. a classic tungsten incandescent lamp is purely resistive and it's power factor is pretty much 1.0, just about everything else is worse.
The 400vDC dropping cap is very common cost cutting measure as its cheaper than the proper mains rated types. Engineered to fail, hopefully just outside the 1 year warranty, this is part where you get ripped off.
No bleed resistor on the radial design? So if a LED fails open-circuit, you go up a step-ladder, remove the lamp, accidentally touch the contacts, get a shock and fall off the ladder? *Nice.*
Capacitors used in those lamps are temperature sensitive components. Higher environment temperature will shorten their MTBF. Module package and typical bracket force them working in relatively high environtment temperature (sometimes above 60°C). Potensially cuts down their MTBF far below 20000 hours.
+NivagSwerdna Complex issue, all about the current waveform compared to voltage waveform 'in time'... Out-of-phase loads (e.g. inductive-wirewound-ballast or Capacitive-dropper-circuits), effectively pull more transmission capacity without using more actual power -- was explained to me!. Another problem is 'distorted' loads -- e.g. simple bridge rectifier into capacitors -- these are in effect taking only pulses of current to keep recharging the capacitors. This creates "harmonic distortion" .... which is also considered into power-factor equation!.... This could be the subject of a very complicated video unto itself...!, no doubt some already exist!
It describes the ratio of the actual power drawn to the apparent power as defined by multiplying RMS voltage by current. If the current is in phase with the voltage then the power factor is one. With a power factor of less than one the device is drawing current that isn't actually being used. See Wikipedia for more details (of a type which are almost incomprehensible even if you already know a lot about what power factor means). Why does it matter? Because the loss in a transmission line depends on the current, whether real or apparent. With a low power factor more power is wasted in the transmission line. Why does that matter? It costs the generating company money. The worse the power factor, the more money it costs them. Why does that matter? Power companies don't like losing money. Industrial power meters, where lots of power is used, also measure apparent power and your bill is higher if your power factor is low. Why does that matter to you at home? Because the new "smart" meters have the option to bill you for apparent power. Depending on your country, that may or may not be enabled or will be enabled in the future. When it's enabled those LED lamps won't save you as much money.
used to buy loads of these oddly i found them to be reliable (had maybe 10 die out of over 300 of them) the b&q ones in the UK that use a single LED are definitely brighter and have been slowly cycling them to them (as the LED ones hardly ever fail that may be some time ) i done the kitchen but rest of the house is on them china 5w ones as i have like about 10 spare ones now form the kitchen (that are 3-3.5w really)
Yes the reason is LEDs are a dc device so 240 AC rectified and smoothed is about 400v DC the only way round it is to use inverters as used in more expensive units The main reason for early like failure is heat as they need much larger heat sinks A lot start to flash when they get hot the leds warm up go open circuit then cool and restore connection in a cycle
Makes me laugh that they can't get household LED lamps to be reliably reaching their MTBF ratings... *AND NOW THEY'RE MAKING STREET LIGHTS!!!* need some broken logic? most lamp and luminaire manufacturers have it!! it's known as using unrefined new technology in an application that REQUIRES perfect reliability.
That's pretty standard, excessive heat will be the cause of failure, the design is terrible, all that heat will destroy the components on the back too. Two very common design flaws If the fools are not over-driving the LEDS, excessive heat will be the other typical cause of premature failure. Also the third is poor quality control and poor quality LEDS, factory seconds.
+John Ward
The big resistor on lamp at 11:07 is a Fusible-resistor -- marked F1 -- they often come in funny body colours and unusual colour band patterns etc... Essentially they do have a specified, small, resistance value... when they get too hot they open-circuit permanently rather than going up in smoke...
THNXS for your uploads and work, for me it's very helpful .I like it when people have a mind to share what they know with other people on this way/road we can help without a bill to pay for.......again thnxs John Ward your a good soul .
And these are supposed to be environmentally friendly. It seems that unless they are made without cutting corners much more waste is created. Once I bought a new compact fluorescent tube lamp. It was housed in glass and lasted 15 years in my hallway. However newer models lasted about 1 or two years. I wish I had kept that lamp to show how good they were made back in the early 1990's
Tangobaldy GU10 leds aren't supposed to be more environmentally friendly.
True - everything back in the good old days lasted longer - I still use my grandfathers Toshiba Microwave oven its over half a century old (50 years i mean 50 years!!!!) and still working with the only problem being the turntable needing a quick fix and a clean! I also have an old Marconiphone CRT Model 4715 colour telly its still going after 40 years as well - modern Plasmas andLeds last 4 years average and I just repaired my LGPK590 Plasma tv it lasted 4 years poor very poor - Built in obsolescence and terrible for the environment! Sad world!
Hey John do you ever play that organ behind you?
Funny but I have never had and luck with the GU10 LEDs either ?
Yep, power LEDs still aren't very reliable.
The claim that LEDs last long probably goes back to those standard 5mm LEDs as indicators. For them it is true as they run very very cool. But those power LEDs run quite hot. I also have quite a few of them failed. If you want a lamp that lives long and saves energy, go with CCFL lamps if you dont turn them on/off very often. I have one that's now getting 15 years old, and is lit over 12hrs a day! Still working perfecty fine.
Classic tungsten lamps are a lottery. Some last 20 years, some only a few months
Hi john, what do you or anyone make of these dim-able LED switches etc, I have come across some and are very unreliable they have a minimum and maximum load on a 6amp RCBO, it seems that you have to get the bloody things just right, or they simply don't work, they stay on or don't come on or come on but you can't turn them back off.... These are the ones that operate from a remote control as well as touch on the the face plate and have a driver unit in the face plate.... Maybe you could do a video on these as the control driver units don't seem to be a good idea.
Great stuff John, as always, thanks!
ive had several in this style, but with a b22 connector, they have mostly failed by falling out of the b22 socket! they use some kind of cement type to hold it, and it fails
love these, thanks John.. have a good day :)
I had a box of 20 from amazon out of which 5 failed within a few weeks of installation. All of them failed from a small inductance inside going open.
Hi John - thanks for piece on LED GU10; what is disappointing about these is that they purport to last 20000+ hours. Of course once they fail like this they're basically useless. I have had a number which have become u/s after approx 2-3 hours use per day over three years or less than 20% of claimed life, rendering the so called longevity claims ridiculous. Do you think they fail because of the heat factor or poor quality components or both? Best, Chris
Heat is the usual factor, particularly in the cheap ones such as these. There is really nowhere for the heat to go as the outer enclosure is glass and most of the internal space is just air. Better designs have the enclosure made from thermally conductive materials to help move the heat to the outside of the lamp.
Some run the LEDs at rather high current to get a good brightness, and with them all in series as with these ones, it only takes a single LED failure to wreck the entire lamp.
I used to have fluorescent GU10s which gave a great warm light, but when they failed, the failed short circuit and tripped the breaker.
Could you please do a video about discharge lamps and different styles etc? :)
great content
if led lamp has pf 0.5 what pf will have ordinary lamp (not led)
Depends what you mean by an ordinary lamp.. a classic tungsten incandescent lamp is purely resistive and it's power factor is pretty much 1.0, just about everything else is worse.
Great vid Jw, can you do a vid on block insulation resistance testing on multiple circuits at a consumer unit position, thax.
The 400vDC dropping cap is very common cost cutting measure as its cheaper than the proper mains rated types. Engineered to fail, hopefully just outside the 1 year warranty, this is part where you get ripped off.
No bleed resistor on the radial design? So if a LED fails open-circuit, you go up a step-ladder, remove the lamp, accidentally touch the contacts, get a shock and fall off the ladder?
*Nice.*
Capacitors used in those lamps are temperature sensitive components. Higher environment temperature will shorten their MTBF. Module package and typical bracket force them working in relatively high environtment temperature (sometimes above 60°C). Potensially cuts down their MTBF far below 20000 hours.
Great Video. Thank you very much.
Please could you explain a bit about power factor.... pretty terrible? what does that mean? Thx
NivagSwerdna power factor is how efficient an AC electrical item is when comparing electrical power input into work output.
+NivagSwerdna
Complex issue, all about the current waveform compared to voltage waveform 'in time'...
Out-of-phase loads (e.g. inductive-wirewound-ballast or Capacitive-dropper-circuits), effectively pull more transmission capacity without using more actual power -- was explained to me!.
Another problem is 'distorted' loads -- e.g. simple bridge rectifier into capacitors -- these are in effect taking only pulses of current to keep recharging the capacitors. This creates "harmonic distortion" .... which is also considered into power-factor equation!....
This could be the subject of a very complicated video unto itself...!, no doubt some already exist!
Power factor is on the list of videos to do, although it may be a while as it can be very complicated.
It describes the ratio of the actual power drawn to the apparent power as defined by multiplying RMS voltage by current. If the current is in phase with the voltage then the power factor is one. With a power factor of less than one the device is drawing current that isn't actually being used. See Wikipedia for more details (of a type which are almost incomprehensible even if you already know a lot about what power factor means).
Why does it matter? Because the loss in a transmission line depends on the current, whether real or apparent. With a low power factor more power is wasted in the transmission line.
Why does that matter? It costs the generating company money. The worse the power factor, the more money it costs them.
Why does that matter? Power companies don't like losing money. Industrial power meters, where lots of power is used, also measure apparent power and your bill is higher if your power factor is low.
Why does that matter to you at home? Because the new "smart" meters have the option to bill you for apparent power. Depending on your country, that may or may not be enabled or will be enabled in the future. When it's enabled those LED lamps won't save you as much money.
Brilliant close ups
3.4 watts how hot do those leds run thats probably why they all died
used to buy loads of these oddly i found them to be reliable (had maybe 10 die out of over 300 of them) the b&q ones in the UK that use a single LED are definitely brighter and have been slowly cycling them to them (as the LED ones hardly ever fail that may be some time ) i done the kitchen but rest of the house is on them china 5w ones as i have like about 10 spare ones now form the kitchen (that are 3-3.5w really)
bit high voltage, isn't it?
It's at the upper range of what is allowed (253V maximum).
John Ward such a shame they accommodated the National Grid by moving from 240 +-5% to 230 -5 +10%.
Yes the reason is LEDs are a dc device so 240 AC rectified and smoothed is about 400v DC the only way round it is to use inverters as used in more expensive units The main reason for early like failure is heat as they need much larger heat sinks
A lot start to flash when they get hot the leds warm up go open circuit then cool and restore connection in a cycle
Makes me laugh that they can't get household LED lamps to be reliably reaching their MTBF ratings... *AND NOW THEY'RE MAKING STREET LIGHTS!!!* need some broken logic? most lamp and luminaire manufacturers have it!! it's known as using unrefined new technology in an application that REQUIRES perfect reliability.
what kind of meter are you testing it i like it want to buy it please reply me it's details. thanks
LPT200 Lamp Tester, amzn.to/2HYppV2
thanks
That's pretty standard, excessive heat will be the cause of failure, the design is terrible, all that heat will destroy the components on the back too. Two very common design flaws If the fools are not over-driving the LEDS, excessive heat will be the other typical cause of premature failure. Also the third is poor quality control and poor quality LEDS, factory seconds.
why is he breathing and talking...