Well you can make a great make shift electric chair out of these with fifty dollars. If these were a dollar a piece, then YEP EASY EXECUTION REPLACEMENTS! Just rewire the logic boards then it can kill!
dude 60 milli amps id piss on that thing hahaha that aint shit he should get hit with my MSD ignition system on my 1000 hp dragster that will wake you up n it still wount kill ya n it hits the spar plug 4 times every cycle and has 60,000 volts at 30 amps dude haha
I was just looking at these bulbs last night on eBay, thinking of purchasing them. I thank you very much for this information! Not only did you save my house from burning down, you may have saved my life. In addition, I just got lucky landing here at your station, because I know nothing about electrical, and really wasn't looking for this information. I should have know that a country that puts poison in its baby food to save money would do anything! You have made a difference in my life. My heart felt thanks for sharing what you know with all of us!
I've owned one of these, which did have a see through plastic enclosure around the leds. But this caused the heat to stay inside and actually made some of the leds solder themselves off. What I did was take it apart and kept the leds for hobby projects, and threw the rest in the bin.
I thought something like that would happen if the bulb generates as much heat as the presenter said it did. So even with a protective covering over the LEDs this bulb is still far less than great, its design is still a serious problem if heat causes the LEDs to fail.
I like the way you 've decribed the safety and product lifetime issues. Expert level knowledge of fundamental AC electric basics, proof with professional measuring tools. Very well done! Now it's up to our politicians of the EU. They started the ban of incandescent lamps in 2007 onwards for 'energy saving' reasons. But on other hand they can not protect our EU citizens that via eBay or amazon this crappy stuff can find it's way into private households? It's a shame!!
Have you ever seen the SNL episode where they do a parady of Terms of edearment? only they call it "terms of internment" they do a cavity inspection, the flashlight they shine up their twat shines out their mouth ...hahaha
Very well produced video. As an electrician, I admire your ability to break things down to terms non-electricians can understand. Keep up the good work.
You're to be commended for bringing this horrific device to our attention. One has to wonder about the sort of person who would decide to produce and sell a lethal household product like this one.
wow it's crazy to see the impact of a product like that. Thanks a lot for making a video to show everyone how dangerous this is. I have seen them pop up on ebay a lot before but I never thought they would be dangerous at all. Keep up the good work.
+Mac Anix well i done you a favor, you could have spent 22 minutes watching shit "reality" TV. even if you only learnt one small thing from this video, than you have still learnt 10 time more that what you would having your intelligence drained form your skull, watching that archaic bollocks that makes up the pile of steaming shit that is - modern TV.
I'd buy a bunch of those bulbs just to tear them apart for the 5050 LEDs mounted on the aluminum PCBs. They'd make great individual lights powered by a DC source mounted to a suitable heatsink and not be dangerous.
Excellent engineering analysis of all the possible fail modes, including the use of voltage, current and power formulas of Ohm's Law.. If you were in the USA, I'd suggest turning this research over to Consumer's Union, publishers of Consumer Reports. Thanks for publishing this informative piece!!
well your luck, they are abusively not the same ones as these. i ordered 2 and the other one burned out after about 20 hours, even photonicinduction didn't have much luck with these bulbs. thanks for your comment.
Maybe you have a better one. Most times you can't even distinguish better chinese products and there are always exceptional cases. Well, it's not like it's always a case of killing someone, but the problem with this bulb is that you could be electrocuted when it's not working and you think it's turned off, this pose much more danger to your life.
LEDs were made in 1962 and released to public shortly after... Unless you're 60+ years old you don't remeber when LEDs first came to market, sorry to break it to you. LED technology has been around longer than even CFLs...
Yo James. I love all your videos. I stumbled upon your videos last week because I was about to pay someone to do some work on my Technics 1200 Mk2 tables. Long story short is that they were charging me a ridiculous price to do the work, and so I decided to do it myself. I was always skeptical about taking apart my Techs. I have them for over 20 years. Because of your videos I have gained that confidence to open up my turntables and and see what's going on inside. I am taking it day by day and waiting for my parts. For one, I have already taken apart the height adjustment and re greased it and now its like new. I'll be doing the RCA's, pitch sliders, led's for the pop up lights and greasing the spindles, and pitch calibration. I want to say thank you for all your valuable information. If you are ever in NYC, hit me up brother. Peace!!
BTW, not sure if you know this or not, but your power dissipation calculations are wrong. You assumed all the power is dissipated as heat by the LEDs ... but that would mean that the LEDs created free energy, since the LEDs also produce light! XDDD The LEDs are likely dissipating around half your calculated 315mW. :) (This bulb probably puts out somewhere around 1000 lumens, and using a poor efficiency of 80 lumens per watt, you can guesstimate around how many lumens each LED produces. Good LEDs can get up to 150 lumens per watt, or even more!)
yes and no, I agree but his power measurements are not true RMS and measure Peak to avg conversion in the DMM where all designs assume a sine wave to convert peak to RMS, which in the case of nonlinear loads will have a crest factor error to be corrected in the result. PWM corrected LED's are the best since they produce sine currents to grid so the DMM can measure correctly. Hydro e-meters only measure true RMS when properly designed with thermal loops comparing input and DC output to equal power draw ratio sensing. Only industrial meters that I know of measure PF where billing can be done accordingly.separated by peak VAR and W consumed.
Your calculations are wrong. You have assumed that 100% of the power consumed is given off as heat. If this were so, then there would be no light. Benjamin has suggested 50% efficiency. Good place to start heat calculation and assumptions.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge, great analysis. I had to watch it on 1.25 speed but it was really a nice experience. That led thing is really crap! (and illegal)
I would buy these, pull them apart, & use the LED's for something else, with proper current & voltage. This is why a lot of us here in Australia are against most Chinese products. I have LED lighting here, but the LED globes cost me somewhere in the region of $15 AUD. each, but well worth it. One other thing is some of the store brand units are very noisy. In a very quiet environment, you can hear the oscillator ringing if you have one of these cheaper store brand units.
Good post, I purchased a number of standard led BC from Ali Express over a year ago without any problems, but they are the normal lamp shape, slightly bigger and cool to the touch.I paid only $4,50 each delivered.
I wouldn't chunk it in the bin, me and my friends could take that thing apart and then configure it to run off of 12 V with the right resistance it will run like a champ ^_^
Hi, thought I'd share my experience w this type of "bulb": I have ordered 6pcs of "E27 240pcs SMD LED" "bulbs" more, than 4 years ago. I have changed 6 traditional 60W E27 bulbs in my home to these, and 4 of those are still working properly. One has a burned driver, and one is still working on half power since half of the SMD panels are dead. These corn type SMD leds are not new on the market at all. i have bought mine 4 years ago for GBP2 (two)... yes, 2 British Pounds, delivered to my door, in a decent cardboard box, packed one-by-one. I havend done any calculations on the power, but in terms of relyability, I believe these where a nice buy. I have checked it now, it has a whithe sticker w a CE mark printed on it, but no other marking, not even voltage, or power. It has oblong shaped SMD-s on it., wich seems to be smaller than the one you have shown, two rows on each panel. The panel itself is not aluminium, but plastic.
I've been running a couple of those corn on the cob bulbs in an ENCLOSED overhead light fixture inside my house for about 10 years, perhaps 10 hours a day. There is no regulator to burn out, just a resistor network current limiter. It is the most reliable light bulb I have ever owned. It's not real bright, and I'm not even sure it is as bright as it originally was, but reliability is most important to me because it is in a very high location, VERY hard to change. I am delighted with the purchase.
Surely its called a COB bulb (not corn on the cob) because its a 'chip on board' LED. Which means that a chip with multiple LEDs quite densely packed is used.
I think technically a cob led chip has all of it LEDs bonded to the same substrate with the phosphor coated gel over the hole construction to be classed as a chip on board. but what you said also makes sense, i think every manufacture has a different idea of what a COB construction actually is. but this was actually listed as a "corn on the cob design" so i guess that is what its called? Thanks for your comment.
Ive been shocked by 110 and 220, it aint fun but its far from deadly. The current it takes to kill may be low, but it has to TRAVEL across your heart to stop it. My fingers and my heart are far apart most of the time...
It has "lines potential" meaning that if you were to touch the bulb and prop yourself up on your fridge or sink for example, it would make a circuit through your core.
Benjamin, I touched a few times in my life current with my both hands and still nothing. One time I got feeling like "damn, intense", but my muscles even didn't twitch. We are talking about cables which lead to turned on 40-80 W bulb. And I was standing on the chair each time and I didn't felt. Of course IT'S NOT SAFE, I know, I made my mistakes, but author mistook some concepts and while there's possibility of lethal shock, it's rather small - not certain as author suggests. There's Wikipedia's "Electric shock" which explains everything.
krzysiu.net Thanks, that's good to know. According to the wiki, it would require having sweaty/damp skin at the point of contact to transfer deadly current at this voltage to your core. Still... going into a death grip could easily cause a bad ending. Falling/leaning on it would probably also be very dangerous.
i upgraded my apartment in waves (based on the rooms light use) as my wallet would allow. first was my living room, then my kitchen, followed by my bedroom and finally my closets.
Good video I agree with all that you have is said I have bought a lot of these cheap bulbs from China hundreds of dollars worth about 95% failure in the first year.(Many in just months) In the long run it will cost you more . Collecting on guarantees and warranties from China really bites. I will now only by LED bulbs from reputable local companies for a crazy more expensive price but they can last up to 20 years and the electrical savings is enormous well worth it over several decades.
I was going to buy one of these until I saw your video. I just deleted it from my eBay shopping cart. Thanks for the useful information. It's amazing the number of dangerous Chinese products allowed in this country from poison to all sorts of deathtraps.
Very useful, and thank you for sharing experience! This lamp would not be dangerous to touch if has some glass shield around, but cooling is still problem
Good point I use 18W or 2x9 aluminium heat fin projector type LED globes $12ea which use a low voltage power supply inside not a dodgy 220v direct series circuit as you show with this video Mine have lasted 4 years so far Occasionally a power supply dies but these can also be purchased on ebay as a replacement for $1.80ea I feel more secure with these type because the power supply is installed inside a aluminium body so its unlikely to catch on a fire They look great in a cool white as a ceiling globe replacement to the older incandescent mirror globe too................love the crisp light
it's always nice when you find a product that you can trust, I have some go-to lamp that I like to buy. they cost a bit more but I would rather that than go on eBay and buy the cheapest crap I can find, sometimes it's worth paying just a little more and get something reasonable. thank you for your comment.
Great video! I'm glad I never bought any of these. I changed all my bulbs around the house to LED last year hoping just to avoid having to change bulbs as often. I waited long enough until the industry stabilized some to avoid high cost & bulbs like this. The ones I got are made by Osram which I know to be a good lighting manufacturer & they look like regular light bulbs. I hit a sale at Lowe's & got them super cheap. So far I couldn't be happier.
i was considering buying a corn bulb, but im glad i saw this video now i prefer spend 20 pounds instead of 3 and actually know that i'm buying reliable safe product from decent manufacturer.
I purchased one of those on eBay around the time you released this video (last year) and it was the same way and judging by how little the light output was I managed to get my money back on it because it was obviously for the UK market as I have LED bulbs that took the same wattage and were 2-4 times as bright. I can only imagine the other way around as you said. Plug the sucker in and KERBOOM.
I bought a corn cob bulb from Aliexpress. The seller claimed it was brighter than a 95w incandescent bulb, but when I tested it with a light meter I found it was not even as bright as a 40W incandescent. And this was from a seller with an almost 100% rating. Don't bother buying any bulbs from China. You will be scammed.
lately i bought a similar chinease (E27 Berlong, sweet ) cob bulb, but unlike this one , it has a clear plastic cover. so my SOLUTION is : make a cover from small drink bottle. you can cut into 2 halves, preforate with small holes. Use Hot Glue to attach.
I got some cob bulbs which come with a clear plastic barrier, with slots built in so that the cob breathes, and so far it has been running nonstop for over a month now out at my barn so people can see to walk in the night time and not trip and fall. The bulb is rated at 5 watts, although I do not have a watt meter to test it, but it never seems to move my meter at the barn despite running 24/7 for over a month now, so its not costing me any significant energy.
Not being safety certified (CE or UL) is always a red flag. On the other hand, the heat output is still much less than an equivalent incandescent so most light sockets will no have a problem with the heat. Shock hazard is also quite low since most people don't handle hot light bulbs and would tend to touch the plastic frame out of reflex.
You neglected the fact that the surface area of the LED pad to your finger will limit the current by around 50k, not the same as a halogen bulb of around 50 ohms. You also caused a peak inverse voltage or excess current by shunt the LEDs in the way you did. Next time simulate a finger worst case resistor of 10k. Common sense dictates not to touch live bulbs, even SMPS isolated since the filer current of 0.5mA RMS will have a peak current much higher and at 50kHz will present a much lower impedance than 100 Hz offline rectified types so use the ESD finger model with C//R for simulating safety leakage effects on stinging currents. For equipment with many PSU's the IEC /CSA/UL limits are I believe 2.5mA and 0.5mA per device for safety limits, (avg) THe sensation current levels are much lower than a couple mA that you stated by at least 1 or 2 orders of magnitude. DMM current sensing is false since the DMM measures peak and converts to RMS assuming it is a sine wave, which in this case it is not, so even your current levels are incorrectly measured too high as root 2 / pi or something like that.of the peak rectified current. If a design is flawless, 85'C or a a 60'C rise is certainly too high for 50khr MTBF but it wont burn out in a few months, but most likely much less than 5 years. but if there are flaws in the process or parts, a shear force can be thermally shock induced to break the gold whisker wire bond to the LED anode if the cold weld strength is under spec.
This is about what I would expect from the night shift at cousin Fong's factory - much more disturbing is the brand name stuff that does clear CE/CSA/UL cert and is only marginally better executed and "safer".
You could always use the LEDs for something else and use thermal paste on what ever you are messing with. And also put in the right board so it won't kill you.
WOW, That's crazy!! I really didn't realize how dangerous LED bulbs could be. thanks, thanks for taking the time to make the video. very knowledgeable and informative.
I have 3 of the same size but 13W and they have alrealy 3 years of usage without any problem. Also i leave them on continuesly for more than 48 hours. Nice video btw!
My dumb ass once put my hand in the circuit breaker box of my home and I felt a shock that I NEVER want to feel again. I wanted to get a screw out that was left in there, but I ended up shocking myself really bad.
You have to think a little outside the box with the cost subject on quality LED bulbs. I know this doesn't apply to everyone but if you have £200 in savings in the bank you will earn nothing for your investment. If you're like me and there are five of you living in the house, spend that money on quality LED bulbs and guess what......You will save around £200 per year on your electricity bill. I actually did this November 2014 to November 2015, without changing any other habits my bill was £213 cheaper and I was on the same tariff all the way through.
I bought a couple of those bulbs - the glue melted and then the solder after a few weeks. Very disappointing. I didn't care so much about these bulbs - put it down to a learning experience. Unfortunately what I needed was a half corn cob bulb for housing in a combination ceiling fan/light. The bulb is mounted horizontally, so I thought I found the perfect solution with a bulb that had all the leds on one face, and that face could rotate so that even with an Edison screw I could guarantee the light would be directed down and out (the full corn-cobs had not failed yet). Anyway, these half corn-cobs failed pretty much the same way - unfortunately there doesn't seem to be an alternative to these bulbs yet. The corn-cobs I replaced by some very nice looking LEDs that look like regular bulbs except the half closest to the socket was a heat-sink, and the other half frosted. Those ones have lasted 4 years so far with a failure rate of 3 in 30 that died in a four year period. The one in my office runs 18 hours per day and has done for 4 years. Others have died within a few months, however they are on a different phase, and I suspect that particular circuit of overvoltage because halogens don't last a year in those sockets either. I only buy bulbs rated at a minimum of 100 lumen/watt or more, these new bulbs are rated at 135 lumens per watt, and are pretty close to the mark. The more recent ones of this variety also come in neutral colour temperatures, much better than the overly warm 3000K and the overly cool 7000K.
Thanks for the warning, I saw these bulbs and was looking for an efficient and really long life bulb and was considering these. Thank god I came across this video. Thanks viperfrank
James, your videos are superb mate. Your presentation skills are a pleasure to watch and all the effort and production skills you put in are appreciated by this subscriber. I always look forward to your postings. Well done pal. Cheers from Australia!
In the US, there are named brands that sell 60w equivalent bulbs for as low as $2.50 each and I have torn them down and and they have decent solder and bile quality. For example Wal-Mart has a 40w and 60w equivalent for $2.50 each, however they are actually made by tcp. Philips sells a pack of 2 60w equivalent led bulbs for $5.00 per a pack of two. Creepy makes led bulbs and they are pretty good. There 60w equivalent led bulbs and they look a lot like normal bulbs. All have very good light quality and are omnidirectional.
You have not even seen the worst. The way they attach the power to the socket in the higher wattage units is a mess. They put the neutral for the 120 or 240 to the return leg by crimping on the metal to the plastic and sandwiching the neutral in the middle. I once sold the big 80 and 100 watt units with the external drivers but I needed to modify the mechanical connection first. Not to mention when the guys would twist in the lamp they would always over tighten and break it.
Good video, I actually have the early large ebay 25 watt corn lamps, been running now 8 years, on 20 out of 24 hours a day, only now 1 week ago one of them lost 2 rows of lamps, replaced with small enclosed 25 watt corn lamp. Have a variety of corn, and other types, Ebay ones usually do not last real long, the early ones I got have lasted but the latest enclosed ones crappy in lasting, they driven way too hard. Light wise I prefer Cool white or daylight, very bright to the eyes. Trying that new 19 watt 2300 lumins cool white philips. They ultra super bright, see how long they last. Ebay do not specify the lumins which is what we need to know as this is how bright the lamp light is. For referance: (Not that I personally agree) 2600lm 25-28w led =150w incandescent 1600lm 16-20w led =100w incandescent 1100lm 9-13w led =75w incandesvent 800lm 8-12w led =60w incandescent 450lm 6-9w led =40w incandescent For human eye brightness 6500 colour spectrum is brightest. Ebay iesunled to date has the most reliable led bulbs, always out of cool white.
You really don't need a ton of LED lights. If you must have them replace them in a place where you need a lot of light (like a living room lamp) or something that stays on constantly (like a pantry light or a light over the stove) something like that. Use it where you get the most benefit. I have a LG light in my room because personally I've always found the orange-ish yellow glow of regular lights straining while reading so a nice cool white light is much appreciated and my room is fairly large to only have a single light. My light is rated at 7w and easily puts out just as much light as a 100w bulb.
OMG i laughed so hard after the amp test it failed and lit up when you put your lead on separate test points HAHAHA.... as I say at work when things fail due to manufacturing... "that's IMPRESSIVE!"
Too many JUNK GRADE LED bulbs are flooding in the market. Many of them are not DESIGNED correctly when it comes to POWER RATING requirements which lead to over excessive HEAT generated and finally burnt. Most of these JUNK GRADE bulbs lifespan can only last for about 4-6 months. This type of bulbs create huge amount of JUNK which is not environmental friendly.
Thanks for video, electronics going in to a home is one area I refuse to cut corners on. Sure , save a few bucks & burn your house down or lose you life. There is a serious reason for electrical codes & certifications.
It's not accurate if you place it on the hard surface. Cause there is no air from below to cool it down . The air flow will eventually cooling down the heat isn't it if you have it place on a lamp stand ?
Wait a minute, what kind of temperatures those nice 150W filament bulbs used to pour out? I remember having to let it cool down for ages prior to even touching it.
Thanks for this great informative video. I wonder if this product would be better suited as an outdoor light. The information given in this video would kinda lead me to believe that was the intended purpose. The heat of the unit isn't as much of a consideration I assume when it's built to have cool outdoor air helping to cool it off. I could see this light serving as a pretty good porch light inside one of those glass lantern type models, or maybe around a deck, poolside (around the pool NOT inside of it lol) or even driveway illumination. On the plus side of using it outdoors is that it could probably double as a bug zapper.
Thanks for your time doing this video, all this led technology is great but there is just so much crap coming out of China, it's nice to know good from bad led's, especially dangerous ones.
Do what I did, remove the plastic ring around the corn bulb there are two wires inside take a bayonet socket, shrinkwrap the one wire to the wire inside the bulb that is going to the bottom good now electrical tape the other wire inside the larger socket to the side of the bayonet now if you are still with me good now add a few dabs of hot melt to the inside now if all goes well you now have an RV bulb adapter rated now12 volts , I have seen that bulb before, it a 9W LED, heat could be from the transformer inside too
Most of these I've seen ship with a plastic covering around the leds - maybe these were rejects? A lot of these led bulbs, not just corn row, run mains at the LEDs but are protected with a 'bulb' to physically isolate you. Ha - I just checked - I'd bought one of these myself and have been running it for about a year - same as yours - no markings, no bulb - I hadn't even noticed.
I like the idea of LED light bulbs, but with how much they cost in Canada, Dollar store incandencent lightbulbs are still cheaper over a 3 year period then LED blubs, we have 15 light fixtures in the apartment (3 lamps with a single light, and 6 celing lights with 2 sockets per light to light up the room). Until the dollar store offers LED lights at an affordable rate like CFL blubs now, we wont be able to afford replacing all of our lights for 200-300 bucks when incandecents cost 150 over a 3 period.
I have several of these bulbs and they are NASTY dangerous. Almost all of them got so hot they melted the plastic. One was so bad it was charred. No flames, but some smoke. Sitting in the bottom of the trashcan now.
I kind of like the idea and design of these products. It's very good at spreading the light sideways to illuminate a room. Can someone please make a quality one with a white difuser?
I know it's dangerous to use them as they are supposed to, but would it be a bad idea to buy one and just...use the LEDs with another power supply? Perhaps to make a flashlight, or anything like that....
I re modified bulb like this to use 12v notebook adapter, safer too. I removed those capacitor and resistor stuff and connected that led board behind 12v. My bulb resistor/capacitor board just fried on same day when i got it from local market.
exellent video, i too love leds, its very hard to tell if they are any good untill you try them for your self, i only buy the corn bulbs that are plastic cased so not too dangerous, the last batch i bought get too hot and only last about 3 weeks so are crap but the batch i got 6 months ago all still work and are only warm to the touch after being on for hours, very strange as they all look identical,
I love these bulbs because they are dangerous. It adds excitement to my life.
Well you can make a great make shift electric chair out of these with fifty dollars. If these were a dollar a piece, then YEP EASY EXECUTION REPLACEMENTS! Just rewire the logic boards then it can kill!
Quinn The Quartz ...cool. Thanks for the tip. I'm going to start working on it.
Marc Wallace I dare you to try it! This is so sad, and dangerously cheap yet is funny! Hell, you can make a toaster out of it.
dude 60 milli amps id piss on that thing hahaha that aint shit he should get hit with my MSD ignition system on my 1000 hp dragster that will wake you up n it still wount kill ya n it hits the spar plug 4 times every cycle and has 60,000 volts at 30 amps dude haha
Raymond J What that theory was tested?
I threw mine in the bin as you suggested and it caught my bin on fire and burnt down my house.
I was just looking at these bulbs last night on eBay, thinking of purchasing them. I thank you very much for this information! Not only did you save my house from burning down, you may have saved my life. In addition, I just got lucky landing here at your station, because I know nothing about electrical, and really wasn't looking for this information. I should have know that a country that puts poison in its baby food to save money would do anything! You have made a difference in my life. My heart felt thanks for sharing what you know with all of us!
I've owned one of these, which did have a see through plastic enclosure around the leds.
But this caused the heat to stay inside and actually made some of the leds solder themselves off.
What I did was take it apart and kept the leds for hobby projects, and threw the rest in the bin.
I thought something like that would happen if the bulb generates as much heat as the presenter said it did. So even with a protective covering over the LEDs this bulb is still far less than great, its design is still a serious problem if heat causes the LEDs to fail.
Excellent advice and presentation .72 years young and still got a lot to learn . Congratulations. top man .
I like the way you 've decribed the safety and product lifetime issues. Expert level knowledge of fundamental AC electric basics, proof with professional measuring tools. Very well done!
Now it's up to our politicians of the EU. They started the ban of incandescent lamps in 2007 onwards for 'energy saving' reasons. But on other hand they can not protect our EU citizens that via eBay or amazon this crappy stuff can find it's way into private households? It's a shame!!
Him:...I've had more light coming out of my bum.
me: Have you called a doctor? 'cuz I don't think that's normal.
Have you ever seen the SNL episode where they do a parady of Terms of edearment? only they call it "terms of internment" they do a cavity inspection, the flashlight they shine up their twat shines out their mouth ...hahaha
Very well produced video. As an electrician, I admire your ability to break things down to terms non-electricians can understand. Keep up the good work.
I got really nervous every time you turned on the bulb lol.
You're to be commended for bringing this horrific device to our attention. One has to wonder about the sort of person who would decide to produce and sell a lethal household product like this one.
wow it's crazy to see the impact of a product like that. Thanks a lot for making a video to show everyone how dangerous this is. I have seen them pop up on ebay a lot before but I never thought they would be dangerous at all. Keep up the good work.
"I'm not being funny".... BUT ... that's a 22 minute video that could have been made into 5 minutes... smh...
+Mac Anix well i done you a favor, you could have spent 22 minutes watching shit "reality" TV.
even if you only learnt one small thing from this video, than you have still learnt 10 time more that what you would having your intelligence drained form your skull, watching that archaic bollocks that makes up the pile of steaming shit that is - modern TV.
+viperfrank Fair point... I retract my comment on that basis... & thanks for the video :)
I'd buy a bunch of those bulbs just to tear them apart for the 5050 LEDs mounted on the aluminum PCBs. They'd make great individual lights powered by a DC source mounted to a suitable heatsink and not be dangerous.
Glad I read your comment, I was about to say the same thing, great place for leds for your DC projects.
Nothing like having a Chinese corn cob go super nova on your ceiling. I never would have thought it possible to have indoor lightening storm.
Excellent engineering analysis of all the possible fail modes, including the use of voltage, current and power formulas of Ohm's Law.. If you were in the USA, I'd suggest turning this research over to Consumer's Union, publishers of Consumer Reports. Thanks for publishing this informative piece!!
I have had that same type of corn led bulb for 2 years and it still works.
well your luck, they are abusively not the same ones as these.
i ordered 2 and the other one burned out after about 20 hours, even photonicinduction didn't have much luck with these bulbs.
thanks for your comment.
Maybe you have a better one. Most times you can't even distinguish better chinese products and there are always exceptional cases. Well, it's not like it's always a case of killing someone, but the problem with this bulb is that you could be electrocuted when it's not working and you think it's turned off, this pose much more danger to your life.
I don't buy them anymore. I get the led filament bulbs, they come in 2-8 watt and warm white or cool white sizes.
Agree, thoce corn bulbs are actually the best, cheap and really long lasting
viperfrank Look at this on eBay www.ebay.ca/itm/172459888002
im not a professional but i have good understanding of mains and dc electrics, this bloke is absolutely correct, please take his advice.
LEDs were made in 1962 and released to public shortly after... Unless you're 60+ years old you don't remeber when LEDs first came to market, sorry to break it to you. LED technology has been around longer than even CFLs...
Yo James. I love all your videos. I stumbled upon your videos last week because I was about to pay someone to do some work on my Technics 1200 Mk2 tables. Long story short is that they were charging me a ridiculous price to do the work, and so I decided to do it myself. I was always skeptical about taking apart my Techs. I have them for over 20 years. Because of your videos I have gained that confidence to open up my turntables and and see what's going on inside. I am taking it day by day and waiting for my parts. For one, I have already taken apart the height adjustment and re greased it and now its like new. I'll be doing the RCA's, pitch sliders, led's for the pop up lights and greasing the spindles, and pitch calibration. I want to say thank you for all your valuable information. If you are ever in NYC, hit me up brother. Peace!!
BTW, not sure if you know this or not, but your power dissipation calculations are wrong. You assumed all the power is dissipated as heat by the LEDs ... but that would mean that the LEDs created free energy, since the LEDs also produce light! XDDD
The LEDs are likely dissipating around half your calculated 315mW. :)
(This bulb probably puts out somewhere around 1000 lumens, and using a poor efficiency of 80 lumens per watt, you can guesstimate around how many lumens each LED produces. Good LEDs can get up to 150 lumens per watt, or even more!)
yes and no, I agree but his power measurements are not true RMS and measure Peak to avg conversion in the DMM where all designs assume a sine wave to convert peak to RMS, which in the case of nonlinear loads will have a crest factor error to be corrected in the result. PWM corrected LED's are the best since they produce sine currents to grid so the DMM can measure correctly. Hydro e-meters only measure true RMS when properly designed with thermal loops comparing input and DC output to equal power draw ratio sensing. Only industrial meters that I know of measure PF where billing can be done accordingly.separated by peak VAR and W consumed.
+Benjamin: You are somehow everywhere! :D
*****
lol yep XD
I've seen a few others regularly as well. I've seen you comment on a number of videos, too :P
Benjamin Esposti
Haha, yeah.
Your calculations are wrong. You have assumed that 100% of the power consumed is given off as heat. If this were so, then there would be no light. Benjamin has suggested 50% efficiency. Good place to start heat calculation and assumptions.
1:59 The LED bulb he was introducing is one of the best lights i have ever installed. Sylvania or Osram are the best choice.
I had one of these and the plastic body warped due to heat and the end plate fell off. Would not trust this bulb in my home at all.
Excellent video! Thanks for explaining why LED bulbs that appear to be ridiculously cheap are also incredibly dangerous. Thanks for the good work.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge, great analysis.
I had to watch it on 1.25 speed but it was really a nice experience. That led thing is really crap! (and illegal)
I would buy these, pull them apart, & use the LED's for something else, with proper current & voltage. This is why a lot of us here in Australia are against most Chinese products. I have LED lighting here, but the LED globes cost me somewhere in the region of $15 AUD. each, but well worth it. One other thing is some of the store brand units are very noisy. In a very quiet environment, you can hear the oscillator ringing if you have one of these cheaper store brand units.
Good post, I purchased a number of standard led BC from Ali Express over a year ago without any problems, but they are the normal lamp shape, slightly bigger and cool to the touch.I paid only $4,50 each delivered.
I wouldn't chunk it in the bin, me and my friends could take that thing apart and then configure it to run off of 12 V with the right resistance it will run like a champ ^_^
Hi, thought I'd share my experience w this type of "bulb": I have ordered 6pcs of "E27 240pcs SMD LED" "bulbs" more, than 4 years ago. I have changed 6 traditional 60W E27 bulbs in my home to these, and 4 of those are still working properly. One has a burned driver, and one is still working on half power since half of the SMD panels are dead. These corn type SMD leds are not new on the market at all. i have bought mine 4 years ago for GBP2 (two)... yes, 2 British Pounds, delivered to my door, in a decent cardboard box, packed one-by-one. I havend done any calculations on the power, but in terms of relyability, I believe these where a nice buy. I have checked it now, it has a whithe sticker w a CE mark printed on it, but no other marking, not even voltage, or power. It has oblong shaped SMD-s on it., wich seems to be smaller than the one you have shown, two rows on each panel. The panel itself is not aluminium, but plastic.
I've been running a couple of those corn on the cob bulbs in an ENCLOSED overhead light fixture inside my house for about 10 years, perhaps 10 hours a day. There is no regulator to burn out, just a resistor network current limiter. It is the most reliable light bulb I have ever owned. It's not real bright, and I'm not even sure it is as bright as it originally was, but reliability is most important to me because it is in a very high location, VERY hard to change. I am delighted with the purchase.
Good for you. I'm glad it's worked out for you.
Surely its called a COB bulb (not corn on the cob) because its a 'chip on board' LED. Which means that a chip with multiple LEDs quite densely packed is used.
I think technically a cob led chip has all of it LEDs bonded to the same substrate with the phosphor coated gel over the hole construction to be classed as a chip on board.
but what you said also makes sense, i think every manufacture has a different idea of what a COB construction actually is.
but this was actually listed as a "corn on the cob design" so i guess that is what its called?
Thanks for your comment.
Ive been shocked by 110 and 220, it aint fun but its far from deadly. The current it takes to kill may be low, but it has to TRAVEL across your heart to stop it. My fingers and my heart are far apart most of the time...
It has "lines potential" meaning that if you were to touch the bulb and prop yourself up on your fridge or sink for example, it would make a circuit through your core.
but it can cause you to fall off your latter, and land on a stake in the ground...
Benjamin, I touched a few times in my life current with my both hands and still nothing. One time I got feeling like "damn, intense", but my muscles even didn't twitch. We are talking about cables which lead to turned on 40-80 W bulb. And I was standing on the chair each time and I didn't felt. Of course IT'S NOT SAFE, I know, I made my mistakes, but author mistook some concepts and while there's possibility of lethal shock, it's rather small - not certain as author suggests. There's Wikipedia's "Electric shock" which explains everything.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_shock#/media/File:IEC_TS_60479-1_electric_shock_graph.svg there you go
krzysiu.net
Thanks, that's good to know. According to the wiki, it would require having sweaty/damp skin at the point of contact to transfer deadly current at this voltage to your core.
Still... going into a death grip could easily cause a bad ending. Falling/leaning on it would probably also be very dangerous.
i upgraded my apartment in waves (based on the rooms light use) as my wallet would allow.
first was my living room, then my kitchen, followed by my bedroom and finally my closets.
Just come across your videos....very good presentation and very factual.
You are very good. You should be on the telly.
Good video I agree with all that you have is said I have bought a lot of these cheap bulbs from China hundreds of dollars worth about 95% failure in the first year.(Many in just months) In the long run it will cost you more . Collecting on guarantees and warranties from China really bites. I will now only by LED bulbs from reputable local companies for a crazy more expensive price but they can last up to 20 years and the electrical savings is enormous well worth it over several decades.
I was going to buy one of these until I saw your video. I just deleted it from my eBay shopping cart. Thanks for the useful information. It's amazing the number of dangerous Chinese products allowed in this country from poison to all sorts of deathtraps.
Perhaps the feared Chinese invasion has already started, only rather than being one of military it is one of market.
Very useful, and thank you for sharing experience! This lamp would not be dangerous to touch if has some glass shield around, but cooling is still problem
I have same model been using it for 5 years now and they still working fine
are they still working fine?
Excellent video! Thanks for being so thorough about this dangerous lamp!
+clydesight No worries, thank you for your comment and feed back.
nice one.
+clydesight
Good point I use 18W or 2x9 aluminium heat fin projector type LED globes $12ea which use a low voltage power supply inside not a dodgy 220v direct series circuit as you show with this video
Mine have lasted 4 years so far
Occasionally a power supply dies but these can also be purchased on ebay as a replacement for $1.80ea
I feel more secure with these type because the power supply is installed inside a aluminium body so its unlikely to catch on a fire
They look great in a cool white as a ceiling globe replacement to the older incandescent mirror globe too................love the crisp light
it's always nice when you find a product that you can trust, I have some go-to lamp that I like to buy. they cost a bit more but I would rather that than go on eBay and buy the cheapest crap I can find, sometimes it's worth paying just a little more and get something reasonable.
thank you for your comment.
Great video! I'm glad I never bought any of these. I changed all my bulbs around the house to LED last year hoping just to avoid having to change bulbs as often. I waited long enough until the industry stabilized some to avoid high cost & bulbs like this. The ones I got are made by Osram which I know to be a good lighting manufacturer & they look like regular light bulbs. I hit a sale at Lowe's & got them super cheap. So far I couldn't be happier.
i was considering buying a corn bulb, but im glad i saw this video now i prefer spend 20 pounds instead of 3 and actually know that i'm buying reliable safe product from decent manufacturer.
You can get them with clear plastic covers now. I don't know if they're built any better, but at least they're not a contact hazard.
I purchased one of those on eBay around the time you released this video (last year) and it was the same way and judging by how little the light output was I managed to get my money back on it because it was obviously for the UK market as I have LED bulbs that took the same wattage and were 2-4 times as bright. I can only imagine the other way around as you said. Plug the sucker in and KERBOOM.
I bought a corn cob bulb from Aliexpress. The seller claimed it was brighter than a 95w incandescent bulb, but when I tested it with a light meter I found it was not even as bright as a 40W incandescent. And this was from a seller with an almost 100% rating. Don't bother buying any bulbs from China. You will be scammed.
lately i bought a similar chinease (E27 Berlong, sweet ) cob bulb, but unlike this one , it has a clear plastic cover. so my SOLUTION is : make a cover from small drink bottle. you can cut into 2 halves, preforate with small holes. Use Hot Glue to attach.
I got some cob bulbs which come with a clear plastic barrier, with slots built in so that the cob breathes, and so far it has been running nonstop for over a month now out at my barn so people can see to walk in the night time and not trip and fall.
The bulb is rated at 5 watts, although I do not have a watt meter to test it, but it never seems to move my meter at the barn despite running 24/7 for over a month now, so its not costing me any significant energy.
Odd (to me) bayonet base on that first bulb. USA sticks with screw bases, pretty much.
i'll never buy cheap led bulbs again. the headache it gave me! not only is the color off, it also had a perceptible strobe that gave me the headache.
Not being safety certified (CE or UL) is always a red flag. On the other hand, the heat output is still much less than an equivalent incandescent so most light sockets will no have a problem with the heat. Shock hazard is also quite low since most people don't handle hot light bulbs and would tend to touch the plastic frame out of reflex.
Great video. This ought to be on the BBC as a Public Information Film.
You neglected the fact that the surface area of the LED pad to your finger will limit the current by around 50k, not the same as a halogen bulb of around 50 ohms.
You also caused a peak inverse voltage or excess current by shunt the LEDs in the way you did. Next time simulate a finger worst case resistor of 10k. Common sense dictates not to touch live bulbs, even SMPS isolated since the filer current of 0.5mA RMS will have a peak current much higher and at 50kHz will present a much lower impedance than 100 Hz offline rectified types so use the ESD finger model with C//R for simulating safety leakage effects on stinging currents. For equipment with many PSU's the IEC /CSA/UL limits are I believe 2.5mA and 0.5mA per device for safety limits, (avg)
THe sensation current levels are much lower than a couple mA that you stated by at least 1 or 2 orders of magnitude.
DMM current sensing is false since the DMM measures peak and converts to RMS assuming it is a sine wave, which in this case it is not, so even your current levels are incorrectly measured too high as root 2 / pi or something like that.of the peak rectified current.
If a design is flawless, 85'C or a a 60'C rise is certainly too high for 50khr MTBF but it wont burn out in a few months, but most likely much less than 5 years. but if there are flaws in the process or parts, a shear force can be thermally shock induced to break the gold whisker wire bond to the LED anode if the cold weld strength is under spec.
This is about what I would expect from the night shift at cousin Fong's factory - much more disturbing is the brand name stuff that does clear CE/CSA/UL cert and is only marginally better executed and "safer".
You could always use the LEDs for something else and use thermal paste on what ever you are messing with.
And also put in the right board so it won't kill you.
As an instructor I say good job explaining and demonstrating. Thank you for the great video
You can't run an ammeter in parallel, you shorted the light.
You failed to spot the GU10 in series with the ammeter
WOW, That's crazy!! I really didn't realize how dangerous LED bulbs could be. thanks, thanks for taking the time to make the video.
very knowledgeable and informative.
no worries, glad you found the video helpful, I appreciate the feedback.
thank you for your comment.
I have 3 of the same size but 13W and they have alrealy 3 years of usage without any problem. Also i leave them on continuesly for more than 48 hours. Nice video btw!
My dumb ass once put my hand in the circuit breaker box of my home and I felt a shock that I NEVER want to feel again. I wanted to get a screw out that was left in there, but I ended up shocking myself really bad.
You have to think a little outside the box with the cost subject on quality LED bulbs. I know this doesn't apply to everyone but if you have £200 in savings in the bank you will earn nothing for your investment. If you're like me and there are five of you living in the house, spend that money on quality LED bulbs and guess what......You will save around £200 per year on your electricity bill. I actually did this November 2014 to November 2015, without changing any other habits my bill was £213 cheaper and I was on the same tariff all the way through.
Wow imagine your kid touching that light bulb. definitely something you should NOT buy.
I bought a couple of those bulbs - the glue melted and then the solder after a few weeks. Very disappointing.
I didn't care so much about these bulbs - put it down to a learning experience. Unfortunately what I needed was a half corn cob bulb for housing in a combination ceiling fan/light. The bulb is mounted horizontally, so I thought I found the perfect solution with a bulb that had all the leds on one face, and that face could rotate so that even with an Edison screw I could guarantee the light would be directed down and out (the full corn-cobs had not failed yet). Anyway, these half corn-cobs failed pretty much the same way - unfortunately there doesn't seem to be an alternative to these bulbs yet.
The corn-cobs I replaced by some very nice looking LEDs that look like regular bulbs except the half closest to the socket was a heat-sink, and the other half frosted. Those ones have lasted 4 years so far with a failure rate of 3 in 30 that died in a four year period. The one in my office runs 18 hours per day and has done for 4 years. Others have died within a few months, however they are on a different phase, and I suspect that particular circuit of overvoltage because halogens don't last a year in those sockets either.
I only buy bulbs rated at a minimum of 100 lumen/watt or more, these new bulbs are rated at 135 lumens per watt, and are pretty close to the mark. The more recent ones of this variety also come in neutral colour temperatures, much better than the overly warm 3000K and the overly cool 7000K.
Thanks for the warning, I saw these bulbs and was looking for an efficient and really long life bulb and was considering these. Thank god I came across this video. Thanks viperfrank
James, your videos are superb mate. Your presentation skills are a pleasure to watch and all the effort and production skills you put in are appreciated by this subscriber. I always look forward to your postings. Well done pal. Cheers from Australia!
just like our wall sockets, the light bulb sockets should have also been 100% not universal to avoid worries like that
In the US, there are named brands that sell 60w equivalent bulbs for as low as $2.50 each and I have torn them down and and they have decent solder and bile quality. For example Wal-Mart has a 40w and 60w equivalent for $2.50 each, however they are actually made by tcp. Philips sells a pack of 2 60w equivalent led bulbs for $5.00 per a pack of two. Creepy makes led bulbs and they are pretty good. There 60w equivalent led bulbs and they look a lot like normal bulbs. All have very good light quality and are omnidirectional.
All have some form of heatsinking and are safe.
You have not even seen the worst. The way they attach the power to the socket in the higher wattage units is a mess. They put the neutral for the 120 or 240 to the return leg by crimping on the metal to the plastic and sandwiching the neutral in the middle. I once sold the big 80 and 100 watt units with the external drivers but I needed to modify the mechanical connection first. Not to mention when the guys would twist in the lamp they would always over tighten and break it.
Good video, I actually have the early large ebay 25 watt corn lamps, been running now 8 years, on 20 out of 24 hours a day, only now 1 week ago one of them lost 2 rows of lamps, replaced with small enclosed 25 watt corn lamp. Have a variety of corn, and other types, Ebay ones usually do not last real long, the early ones I got have lasted but the latest enclosed ones crappy in lasting, they driven way too hard. Light wise I prefer Cool white or daylight, very bright to the eyes. Trying that new 19 watt 2300 lumins cool white philips. They ultra super bright, see how long they last. Ebay do not specify the lumins which is what we need to know as this is how bright the lamp light is. For referance: (Not that I personally agree)
2600lm 25-28w led =150w incandescent
1600lm 16-20w led =100w incandescent
1100lm 9-13w led =75w incandesvent
800lm 8-12w led =60w incandescent
450lm 6-9w led =40w incandescent
For human eye brightness 6500 colour spectrum is brightest. Ebay iesunled to date has the most reliable led bulbs, always out of cool white.
Do not throw it to the bin, disassemble it and use LEDs in some low voltage project or use switching power supply and join diodes in parallel.
drinking game: take a shot every time he says "bulb"
And every time he says "light"
And every second the lightbulb is shown
@5:44, C.E, i actually thought it stood for "Chinese Equivalent" :) lol
am sure the only thing its good for is repurpose the leds as diy props and torches and put the right power through it and thats its really
17:03 the ⚡️ spark.... priceless lol!
You're the Gordon Ramsey of electricity.
You really don't need a ton of LED lights. If you must have them replace them in a place where you need a lot of light (like a living room lamp) or something that stays on constantly (like a pantry light or a light over the stove) something like that. Use it where you get the most benefit.
I have a LG light in my room because personally I've always found the orange-ish yellow glow of regular lights straining while reading so a nice cool white light is much appreciated and my room is fairly large to only have a single light. My light is rated at 7w and easily puts out just as much light as a 100w bulb.
Thank you very much, I was about to buy one of these bulbs for my desk lamp but I'm not ready to die. Thanks!
Seems like if you are dumb enough to use this bulb, the smartest thing to do is to use an emergency stop button (preferably red) next to it.
OMG i laughed so hard after the amp test it failed and lit up when you put your lead on separate test points HAHAHA.... as I say at work when things fail due to manufacturing... "that's IMPRESSIVE!"
very informative review of this product btw I only wish more people were knowledgeable about electricity.
Too many JUNK GRADE LED bulbs are flooding in the market. Many of them are not DESIGNED correctly when it comes to POWER RATING requirements which lead to over excessive HEAT generated and finally burnt. Most of these JUNK GRADE bulbs lifespan can only last for about 4-6 months. This type of bulbs create huge amount of JUNK which is not environmental friendly.
Running those chips at 30mA is irresponsible - the thing clearly needs to be modded to 20 mA.
Thanks for video, electronics going in to a home is one area I refuse to cut corners on. Sure , save a few bucks & burn your house down or lose you life. There is a serious reason for electrical codes & certifications.
Couldn't agree more.
Thank you for your comments.
It's not accurate if you place it on the hard surface. Cause there is no air from below to cool it down . The air flow will eventually cooling down the heat isn't it if you have it place on a lamp stand ?
Wait a minute, what kind of temperatures those nice 150W filament bulbs used to pour out? I remember having to let it cool down for ages prior to even touching it.
Thanks for this great informative video. I wonder if this product would be better suited as an outdoor light. The information given in this video would kinda lead me to believe that was the intended purpose. The heat of the unit isn't as much of a consideration I assume when it's built to have cool outdoor air helping to cool it off. I could see this light serving as a pretty good porch light inside one of those glass lantern type models, or maybe around a deck, poolside (around the pool NOT inside of it lol) or even driveway illumination.
On the plus side of using it outdoors is that it could probably double as a bug zapper.
Thanks for your time doing this video, all this led technology is great but there is just so much crap coming out of China, it's nice to know good from bad led's, especially dangerous ones.
To upgrade all the lights in my house, around 23, because we have 2-5 bulbs in each room, we would have to pay about £230
Do what I did, remove the plastic ring around the corn bulb there are two wires inside take a bayonet socket, shrinkwrap the one wire to the wire inside the bulb that is going to the bottom good now electrical tape the other wire inside the larger socket to the side of the bayonet now if you are still with me good now add a few dabs of hot melt to the inside now if all goes well you now have an RV bulb adapter rated now12 volts , I have seen that bulb before, it a 9W LED, heat could be from the transformer inside too
I loved the video and your Northern accent. Thank you for your warning. In the words of Christopher Eccleston: "Lots of planets have a North!"
What a shocker ! Just buy LED bulbs at Ikea and you are set!
Most of these I've seen ship with a plastic covering around the leds - maybe these were rejects? A lot of these led bulbs, not just corn row, run mains at the LEDs but are protected with a 'bulb' to physically isolate you.
Ha - I just checked - I'd bought one of these myself and have been running it for about a year - same as yours - no markings, no bulb - I hadn't even noticed.
That light was a right ball of wank. I'm a sparky in Ireland and I rarely see them here. I only put in branded led fittings and bulbs
Light is bright but light quality is bad what!
I like the idea of LED light bulbs, but with how much they cost in Canada, Dollar store incandencent lightbulbs are still cheaper over a 3 year period then LED blubs, we have 15 light fixtures in the apartment (3 lamps with a single light, and 6 celing lights with 2 sockets per light to light up the room). Until the dollar store offers LED lights at an affordable rate like CFL blubs now, we wont be able to afford replacing all of our lights for 200-300 bucks when incandecents cost 150 over a 3 period.
+Matt Brine You're ignoring the cost of power consumption though.
You forgot to mention it also emits dangerous led waves that would cook the insides of small children nearby...
I have several of these bulbs and they are NASTY dangerous. Almost all of them got so hot they melted the plastic. One was so bad it was charred. No flames, but some smoke. Sitting in the bottom of the trashcan now.
I kind of like the idea and design of these products. It's very good at spreading the light sideways to illuminate a room. Can someone please make a quality one with a white difuser?
I know it's dangerous to use them as they are supposed to, but would it be a bad idea to buy one and just...use the LEDs with another power supply? Perhaps to make a flashlight, or anything like that....
That intro makes me wanna drink someone who will probably reply to this comment
I re modified bulb like this to use 12v notebook adapter, safer too. I removed those capacitor and resistor stuff and connected that led board behind 12v. My bulb resistor/capacitor board just fried on same day when i got it from local market.
exellent video, i too love leds, its very hard to tell if they are any good untill you try them for your self, i only buy the corn bulbs that are plastic cased so not too dangerous, the last batch i bought get too hot and only last about 3 weeks so are crap but the batch i got 6 months ago all still work and are only warm to the touch after being on for hours, very strange as they all look identical,
Understand that LED does not produce heat... I suspect that the heat is from resistors , cap and those chip on the board...