Gotta say that I was just staring at the bare wires as well for that whole time, until I saw the clear sleeving. I thought that there might have been an @ElectroBoom moment there. 😅
So the power factor is so good because it's basically just LEDs in series with plain resistors and then a constant current IC that probably works with a MOSFET internally? Is there any way you could get a power factor similarly good like that with a buck converter?
@@kwinzman Yep, that's exactly how it works, the previous replier meant resistive, not inductive. A pure inductive load has a P.F. of 0. Yeah, you can get nice power factors with a buck converter, but they require quite a lot more complexity to track the input voltage, and decide when to switch. Of course that costs money, so you're unlikely to find it at the price point of consumer lighting.
@@newscotlandtv Inductive loads lag voltage capacitive lead. Also I'm pretty certain some "smart" meters have been changed to apparent power from real power. IE many of my friends who went "smart" saw their bill increase by 30% in 2019.
@@gordonlawrence1448 Would be very nice to see a solution for power factor that could be added to the "hacked lamp" Dubai recipe. The valley-fill network maybe? ( cap-diode, diode-cap, bridged with diode )
I find it fascinating to think how we've gone from dodgy-looking massive clusters of white 5mm LEDs as replacements for incandescent and CFL lighting, to these tiny high-voltage LED modules in a little teensy package that can be stuck inside things like these, rather amazing to think how LED technology has come so quickly... :D
If you look at what happened to processors the LED's are doing the same thing they did. Moore's law and all that. I'm just waiting for someone to make a GaAsS processor. (Gallium Arsenide on Sapphire) as that could potentially increase clock rates by up to 15 with no change to layout. Last time I looked though it would have worked out more for a processor than people would pay for a whole PC.
@LabRat Knatz • Buck regulator • Low-pass filter for low power • High frequency PWM (for lighting, you don't need flickerless, just "Quick, so no one see!")
@LabRat Knatz _Inductors and 'current lag'_ sounds like a buck regulator to me. I think PWM and filtering is the best most efficient way to modulate power, but maybe im not thinking outside of the box enough. You left me wondering if there's a way to seamlessly modulate voltage. However, I thing you're trying to solve an inexistent problem (no shame, tho, I do the same everytime, it's what leads to good engineering xD) BTW Even tho I worked with electronics for quite I while, i would call my self an advanced beginner yet, so, idk lol
Ive been working in the sign business for 25 years. The LEDs have been phasing out neon for the last 15 years. Agilight is a good brand. Got a sign thats been on for 8 years straight (12v). Its been running on a meanwell power supply.
@@bigclivedotcom I used to work for an led sign module company. Their main products ran on 24v with constant current circuits in each module. Often problems faced were manufacturers of the actual leds either getting bought out by other companies or color temp bins varying slightly from batch to batch. They made their own power supplies which came with their own set of issues.
I've installed a bunch of those type of lights. They do a great job. I was surprised, I didn't think they would turn out to be so effective. None have failed so far, despite hot summers and frozen winters. They're tough little bastards, for certain. Great teardown job.
Those series resistors might be for the stability of the current regulator. LEDs have quite a low and variable impedance and those resistors would swamp that while using very little power. I've used that trick myself.
I've had 2 sets of the 12v version strung round my shed for years. I've got them hooked up to an old 12v lead acid alarm battery and a little solar panel
I also use MeanWell. We had a couple straight years at work where it seemed like all I ever did was replace power supplies. (I probably have a mild PTSD from that time span -- my eye twitches every time I see that tell-tale "hiccup.") The MeanWell ones have been bomb-proof, especially for the money. I've got a 12v 5a tabletop one that's 10 years old and still fully powering a 55 watt 4-port USB charger. Not the cheapest solution, but one gets what one pays for. 👍️
When you had the 240V lights going on the HOPI, were the brown and white wires stripped back and LIVE that whole time you were waving your hands around them?
How long you expect them to be so bright? There was a huge area of luminophore in t12, and they fade in few years. LEDs have few sq mm of luminophore, guess they'll degrade pretty fast.
Jumping Jeebus, Clive! You had me on the edge of my seat watching you push around that mains voltage set with the bare leads at the end. I kept waiting for either the ends to short or your bare hand to short the ends.
I bought a set of batton lights recently and it was 3 sets of LEDs like this internally (around ten or so sets of 3). I checked the voltage across the sets (each three pairs) and got 72V. I've been scratching myself over it since and assumed I did something wrong when measuring. I guess it's just these new chips!
Could the resistors in the 240 VAC one be for a sort of load balancing to take up V-forward differences or something? Also might limit inrush as that regular starts up. Just some guesswork thoughts.
Big Clive, I love your videos. If you want to get rid of this blinking in camera, set your shutter speed to 180° or even 360°, it means probably 1/50 or 1/25 or 1/30, I dont know in what FPS you record
@@bigclivedotcom So its not the ElectroBOOM crossover I was hoping for, disappointing. ;) I did think the ends looked a bit odd but YT compression smudged it all up so you can't really tell what's going on.
Q1) A time-travelling DeLorean draws a current of 107 sillyamps to supply its time circuits with 1.21 jigawatts of power. Calculate the voltage required for the power source.
I think a small lighting business around here started selling these to other small businesses as marketing lights. Instead of in signs, they were installed around front doors and windows just BLASTING blinding light into customer faces as they'd walk up. They were way, WAY too bright. I think within a month, all the places that had them installed stop using them. 🤣
Interesting little modules Clive... Thanks for opening them, I have bought a few of these and you saved me time and destruction, great video, Thank mate! I was actually watching the croc clips almost shorting out :P Watch back lol
one of the importing point is optics. the main usage of these led modules are illuminated sign boxes and channel letters. The sign makers use cabinets 6-12cm depth so the led module light must be distributed on front surface without hotspots so what is the optic quality is main core. For bigger depth they need to without optics LED signage modules.
Thank you, Clive for another great video. Can I ask which technical forum you were on when you encountered the bad-mannered seller? You have impeccable perception when seeking out quality electronic sites of interest.
I mean yeah but I’m interested in the cheaper things that may or may not be of quality in this case, 1. Because I’m thinking of buying one and I’m on a budget and 2. Because I think it would be a cool video and something I’d like to understand
I have like a 1000 of these. Very useful little buggars! Primary use for me is putting them under the railing on our deck to light it up :P We have 3s, 2s, 6s, and all in frosted and non frosted lenses.
For that mains voltage one, what would happen if you made a simple rectified smoothed mains supply and just fed it off of that? Would it simply become less "flickery" or would there be some other effect, other than worse power factor and a little bit of voltage drop from the (pre)rectifier?
It would increase the voltage from 240V RMS to the peak voltage of 330V DC. That would increase the power dissipated by the regulator by about half a watt, potentially causing overheating and current throttling issues.
Hi Big Clive. I'm looking to buy a stip of RGB 240V neon. They are on eBay. I would really love you to let us know if they are safe or deadly. I'm looking to installing them outside and they come with a "UK" plug and remote and are supposed to also react to sound.
Got the square 4 LED ones "in the back of the van". . . . cut holes in the Hardboard headliner and poked heeds through, gaffer taped wires roughly hidden to board. They run off the internal light with a bulb fitting adaptor, which is handy as they can come on when needed, but won't stay on longer than 10mins.
Personally in situations where the precise voltage is not critical I use a Schottky or two forward biased to reduce 12V DC to 11ish The reason for them being Schottky is to reduce power dissipation per diode.
Hey Clive, would you be interested in looking at a failed 60W MeanWell LED-Driver module? I have 20 of them. I might have used them slightly out of their specification, but funny enough they all failed on me almost at the same time. (after several hours)
@@bigclivedotcom Yes sadly they are. The Units are ELG-75-12. I run them with a Diode and a low resistance at the output. That seems to kill them within minutes.
@@bigclivedotcom I need to drive small electical heaters with a variable constant current source. So on the output their is a Diode so that the PSU works, a currentshunt to measure the current and the heater wire in series.
I noticed that the current regulator was labeled Q1, which seems to indicate that it's a transistor. I suspect that it's a depletion mode FET, and the source has the 82 ohm resistor between it and the gate and the 82 ohm sets the negative bias to give the current. Thanks, Clive.
The passive power supply certainly ups the convenience and compactness factor a good bit over the more traditional low voltage style. But how do these circuits protect the LEDs from burning out after some significant voltage spikes come down the mains (as it does, a microsecond at a time)? Such as when lightning strikes nearby, big inductive loads switching in the same building, etc.. I'm used to seeing pro grade LED fixtures that have mains inputs having some kind of surge protection, or even several levels of protection, and these have...nothing? The 'black box' component that helps regulate current doesn't look like it could absorb much energy if it serves a dual role as surge protection. It's hard to believe these modules would last very long in regions where thunderstorm activity is frequent.
I got stacks of the 12v ones and a driver box when the shop across the road got rid of their old signage. I've got a couple under my monitor, lighting my keyboard.
The resistors might be there for transient suppression, to prevent mains spikes from flowing through the parasitic capacitances of the LEDs and the IC, reducing their lifespan. That's all I can think of. Why putting the resistors there, as opposed to putting them before the bridge rectifier, is just beyond me.
I live in Pennsylvania and there is a little convenience store that have these exact ones, they ran them inside the refrigerators since they are glass doors on the sides and some of them flicker bad
Hi Big Clive. How do you fancy doing a video setting out the facts about the power consumption of appliances (TVs, Amps, PCs etc) left in "Standby" or simply "Plugged in"? I've searched in vain for some sort of info, but probably not used a sensible search term. Given the recent massive increases in the cost of lecci, I'd love to know what can be done
It's generally very low. But some people miscalculate the actual power of some types of standby circuits and it makes them look ten or more times higher than they are
I have a couple of Logitech Z-5500 5.1 speaker systems that each run around 10W in standby: LCD is off, etc., but the subwoofer emits a noticeable hum 24/7 when it's plugged in, which prompted me to check the power. (Both systems are >10 years old, to be fair.) Those now get disconnected from the mains when not in use (via 433 MHz RF remote controlled sockets), but that's the only case of unexpectedly-high standby power I've noticed for a long time. Most things are only 0~3W, which is below my personal "worth the hassle" threshold. Even at the 35p/kWh I've been paying for much of the last few months, each continuous 1W is roughly 25p/month. Have you tried using one of those pass-through power meters with the LCD that shows the power, voltage, current, energy, etc? They were pretty affordable when I last checked, and will quickly show whether each appliance/device's standby power is worth worrying about :)
Maybe you've seen these, but someone is building "air purifiers" that look just like a wireless router. Small, squat box with antenna-like projecting rods on either end. The one I saw had the rods labeled + and -. It's either some kind of ionizer or, more likely, complete crap. I've forgotten the brand name.
Hello . I wondered if you knew anything about valve crt tvs . Im scared to attempt to power one i have up, i bought it faulty , it looks all original, i just wondered if maybe i should remove the valves before powering it up since i dont have a variac ? I also dont have an old light bulb to act as a fuse/current limiter ..i just want to try get it to power but i dont have all the replacement caps dont really have anyone to ask for advice , this is all before my time .
Look for a youtuber called Uncle Doug. He shows how to build a device that can keep everything from blowing up if it's shorted anywhere. He also does a great job explaining how valves/tubes work. If you take those out it will likely just be open circuit and not do anything past the power switch.
Hey Clive I have a really dodgy soldering iron from China included in a DIY kit, the soldering iron seems to just turn on but not regulate temperature to the point that it begins melting the iron tip hot red to the point where I must unplug it to avoid the tip melting off, I could send it your way for a video of you wish to contact me.
"You could try to blow the fault clear".. Is this a technique that is actually used in some scenarios? It's definitely not something I learned in school but there are many things I didn't learn in school =) I have to say the 0.95 PF is quite amazing.
@@bigclivedotcom I was referring to the quantity of elements in each chip thus making each chip run on 12V So what you are saying is that each LED chip is designed to run on 9V but they use a 91ohm dropper resistor in series so that they get the desired current.
I’ve installed 3 72led 12volt lights in parallel in my garage. I took one of the light units apart just to see what makes it tick and I was pretty intrigued. I saw that they all appeared to be placed in series with resistors placed roughly every 6 leds. Anyway although they are super bright (3 units lights up the garage like daylight) I was pleasantly surprised at just how low their operating voltage and wattage is. On a fully charged 12 volt car battery their power consumption is as good as negligible. The units are rated as 10 watts as a whole.
Hi clive. I've just watched a video on how to build your own ultrasonic phased array for levitation, haptics and directive audio. Is that a project that is within your capabilities? It would be great to see such a project on your channel. Great channel and awesome projects👌
You mention that they can be used in vehicular applications - but I would preferrably abstain from this, at least with the models you have. Specifically on modern vehicles the system voltage can reach up to 15 V, which would push the LEDs to over 60 mA. But other than that, great video as always and an interesting case of product optimization.
Clive i brought some cheap LED dmx lights for backlighting sets for my livestreams but they flicker can they be fixed could we send you one for a teardown?
The studio grade ones have very high PWM frequency. Cheap ones are usually low and it's not easy to calm the flicker unless the rest of the lighting is turned down to slow the "shutter".
Since you mentioned the lack of an aluminium core PCB Clive: You can not have double sided PCBs on aluminium core material with vias, all the vias would be shorted together! And I guess the aluminium core PCB is not worth the effort, since everything is encapsulated in a watertight plastic case and the inside will establish a thermal equilibrium after a minute anyway.
i purchased some 240v led strips from ebay, 5m length, and it appeared to be just the live an neutral running the lenght with leds and resistors, some leds have gone after a few weeks ofd constant use. they get warmish but looked dodgy as prince andrew is.
I can imagine Quality Fade taking over after a while, and all the circuitry in the hv ones being replaced with just a diode and ballast resistors. Gotta shave off those few cents...
At about 2:15 I'm looking at the bare ends of the white and black wires and assume he's going to cram them into the non-compliant clips on the HOPI. BUT NO! He plugs in the other end and leaves me to stare at the 240v exposed bare wires for the next few minutes while he wiggles the illuminated strip around.
These are actually low voltage,not high voltage units.High voltage in electronics is above 1kV. In energetics,like transmission and distribution its medium voltage above 1kV up to 35kV and high voltage above 35kV.
The shimmering or flimmering in your Cam is a setting problem in your cam. You should set it to 50Hz instead of 60Hz. This will not change the fps of the Video, but eliminate the problems with the flimmering, from LEDs. Even those from the HOPI
Why do these things flicker on camera but not to the naked eye? What is it about the light you see that doesn't flicker, to the light that I see that does? All very confusing.
The camera is more sensitive than the human eye and also scans the image as opposed to our eyes which use phenomenal levels of pre-processing and parallel interpretation.
I couldn't take my eyes off how close the low voltage DC leads were to touching and the bare 220v leads at the end of the LED string.... just waiting for a bang!
Thanks for the info on all of the things you do Mr Big Clive. Have you seen the home made Heat paste on Tech Ingredients channel, talk about full instructions and information. Anyway Thanks I really enjoy this channel
I was in southern China a above 20 years ago they were a lot dimmer then what they are today,every time you go the wholesalers there’s always something new😵💫
107 sillyamps sounds like a rather fun(ny) measurement. I had to replay that few seconds of video a couple of times! 20+ years ago, I was playing around with Redhat Linux, which gave a rather long textual readout while loading in the kernel and auxiliary modules and there were several rather funny sounding "measurements" in the text. You had to read really fast to catch them though!
@@bigclivedotcom I bought two strings of 20 of the more usual led units you find on eBay along with a PSU and an inline rotary dimmer switch. They have double sided '3m' tape but I'll buy some L shaped aluminium extrusions to screw them to. This should help dissapate any heat build-up. One day I'll get round to it 😁
neat, special use product... but no sign company worth a hoot would reuse an old neon power supply/ballast/whatever for a new LED installation. just no way. all of the old everything comes out every time in a retrofit to LED. what am I missing?
@@bigclivedotcom right? that felt weird saying... but you were telling me that was the design intent of the product and i wasn't going to question it. what we must need now is SUPER high voltage LEDs.
Gotta say that I was just staring at the bare wires as well for that whole time, until I saw the clear sleeving. I thought that there might have been an @ElectroBoom moment there. 😅
same, I was waiting for something to happen
Same I was just waiting cause it's on the high voltage set as well lol
I came here just to say the same thing lol
Exactly - to the point I wasn't listening so had to go back!
It had my undivided attention
That Power Factor of 0.947 is indeed an amazing value. I seriously did not expect to see this. Was expecting 0.45 or somewhere in that area.
So the power factor is so good because it's basically just LEDs in series with plain resistors and then a constant current IC that probably works with a MOSFET internally?
Is there any way you could get a power factor similarly good like that with a buck converter?
@@kwinzman Yep, that's exactly how it works, the previous replier meant resistive, not inductive. A pure inductive load has a P.F. of 0. Yeah, you can get nice power factors with a buck converter, but they require quite a lot more complexity to track the input voltage, and decide when to switch. Of course that costs money, so you're unlikely to find it at the price point of consumer lighting.
@@newscotlandtv Inductive loads lag voltage capacitive lead. Also I'm pretty certain some "smart" meters have been changed to apparent power from real power. IE many of my friends who went "smart" saw their bill increase by 30% in 2019.
@@gordonlawrence1448 Would be very nice to see a solution for power factor that could be added to the "hacked lamp" Dubai recipe. The valley-fill network maybe? ( cap-diode, diode-cap, bridged with diode )
An incandescent lightbulb has a power-factor of 1.0 - doesn't inherently mean that it's any good ;)
I find it fascinating to think how we've gone from dodgy-looking massive clusters of white 5mm LEDs as replacements for incandescent and CFL lighting, to these tiny high-voltage LED modules in a little teensy package that can be stuck inside things like these, rather amazing to think how LED technology has come so quickly... :D
If you look at what happened to processors the LED's are doing the same thing they did. Moore's law and all that. I'm just waiting for someone to make a GaAsS processor. (Gallium Arsenide on Sapphire) as that could potentially increase clock rates by up to 15 with no change to layout. Last time I looked though it would have worked out more for a processor than people would pay for a whole PC.
@@gordonlawrence1448 Nice, I read "Valentina: Soul In Sapphire" years ago, but didn't know that was actually a thing. s/years/decades/, jeez...
More than anything this is just the result of chinese manufacturers cutting out every piece they can before it all stops working lol
@LabRat Knatz
• Buck regulator
• Low-pass filter for low power
• High frequency PWM (for lighting, you don't need flickerless, just "Quick, so no one see!")
@LabRat Knatz
_Inductors and 'current lag'_ sounds like a buck regulator to me.
I think PWM and filtering is the best most efficient way to modulate power, but maybe im not thinking outside of the box enough.
You left me wondering if there's a way to seamlessly modulate voltage. However, I thing you're trying to solve an inexistent problem (no shame, tho, I do the same everytime, it's what leads to good engineering xD)
BTW Even tho I worked with electronics for quite I while, i would call my self an advanced beginner yet, so, idk lol
Ive been working in the sign business for 25 years. The LEDs have been phasing out neon for the last 15 years. Agilight is a good brand. Got a sign thats been on for 8 years straight (12v). Its been running on a meanwell power supply.
The tricky bit is finding a dependable LED source. Some of the early stuff was a disaster for intensity loss, flickering and corrosion.
sign guy of 15 years here, howdy neighbor! also a Miller... weird.
@@bigclivedotcom I used to work for an led sign module company. Their main products ran on 24v with constant current circuits in each module. Often problems faced were manufacturers of the actual leds either getting bought out by other companies or color temp bins varying slightly from batch to batch. They made their own power supplies which came with their own set of issues.
I've installed a bunch of those type of lights. They do a great job. I was surprised, I didn't think they would turn out to be so effective. None have failed so far, despite hot summers and frozen winters. They're tough little bastards, for certain. Great teardown job.
Those series resistors might be for the stability of the current regulator. LEDs have quite a low and variable impedance and those resistors would swamp that while using very little power. I've used that trick myself.
I've had 2 sets of the 12v version strung round my shed for years. I've got them hooked up to an old 12v lead acid alarm battery and a little solar panel
I have similar but hooked up to a Lion power bank of about 200Wh (minus losses).
i love how you always feature the most random things
Amazing exploits of LED's
Thanks for the ride Clive
What are some of the keywords we can use to find such led strings from CN?
I also use MeanWell. We had a couple straight years at work where it seemed like all I ever did was replace power supplies. (I probably have a mild PTSD from that time span -- my eye twitches every time I see that tell-tale "hiccup.") The MeanWell ones have been bomb-proof, especially for the money. I've got a 12v 5a tabletop one that's 10 years old and still fully powering a 55 watt 4-port USB charger. Not the cheapest solution, but one gets what one pays for. 👍️
When you had the 240V lights going on the HOPI, were the brown and white wires stripped back and LIVE that whole time you were waving your hands around them?
I saw that too and couldn't stop watching the wires! Would have been exciting if they had shorted....
Look carefully. They had clear heatshrink over them.
They got close a couple of times...
I could almost hear Clive yelling "Fu*K" and laughing.
@ Dom, ahh - didn't notice, that makes sense. Phew.
@@rpdom Love these little 'easter eggs' Clive leaves for us to stop and ponder over... lol
I did an upgrade on a box sign that had 60" high output Florescent t12. Replaced with direct wire led tubes and it worked great, so bright.
How long you expect them to be so bright? There was a huge area of luminophore in t12, and they fade in few years. LEDs have few sq mm of luminophore, guess they'll degrade pretty fast.
Don't know about anybody else but I couldn't take my eyes off the reflection of your ring light in the solder blobs! lol
Jumping Jeebus, Clive! You had me on the edge of my seat watching you push around that mains voltage set with the bare leads at the end. I kept waiting for either the ends to short or your bare hand to short the ends.
Sleeved.
@@bigclivedotcom Sneaky.
I bought a set of batton lights recently and it was 3 sets of LEDs like this internally (around ten or so sets of 3). I checked the voltage across the sets (each three pairs) and got 72V. I've been scratching myself over it since and assumed I did something wrong when measuring. I guess it's just these new chips!
Could the resistors in the 240 VAC one be for a sort of load balancing to take up V-forward differences or something? Also might limit inrush as that regular starts up. Just some guesswork thoughts.
I think they're for limiting current spikes before the linear regulator can catch up.
Big Clive, I love your videos. If you want to get rid of this blinking in camera, set your shutter speed to 180° or even 360°, it means probably 1/50 or 1/25 or 1/30, I dont know in what FPS you record
Now that's a waterproof module construction!
Look like they may hold up in the weather better than some other options. great videa 2x👍
I wonder can 24V ones be used with 12V just a lot dimmer or is there more LED chips in series to prevent it?_
Was totally freaking out at seemingly exposed conductors on the end as he waves his hands around in close proximity.
(Clear heatshrink.)
Me too. I was expecting a flash at any moment. 😧
@@bigclivedotcom So its not the ElectroBOOM crossover I was hoping for, disappointing. ;)
I did think the ends looked a bit odd but YT compression smudged it all up so you can't really tell what's going on.
So simple of a construction especially with mains power going through the other set.
I never knew I needed these but thanks to you now I have some on order.
Q1) A time-travelling DeLorean draws a current of 107 sillyamps to supply its time circuits with 1.21 jigawatts of power. Calculate the voltage required for the power source.
Easy - that's 0.0113 frigavolt, or 11.3pitevolt, if you prefer. Because, metric.
I think a small lighting business around here started selling these to other small businesses as marketing lights. Instead of in signs, they were installed around front doors and windows just BLASTING blinding light into customer faces as they'd walk up. They were way, WAY too bright. I think within a month, all the places that had them installed stop using them. 🤣
Interesting little modules Clive... Thanks for opening them, I have bought a few of these and you saved me time and destruction, great video, Thank mate! I was actually watching the croc clips almost shorting out :P Watch back lol
one of the importing point is optics. the main usage of these led modules are illuminated sign boxes and channel letters. The sign makers use cabinets 6-12cm depth so the led module light must be distributed on front surface without hotspots so what is the optic quality is main core. For bigger depth they need to without optics LED signage modules.
Extremely interesting and AWESOME big Clive
Just what I needed to cheer me up today
I pretty much watch this guy to hear him say "Schematic" and "One moment please" and "Right, then"! (again - awesome soldering dexterity too!)
I appreciate the destructive teardowns sir,thank u👍
Thank you, Clive for another great video. Can I ask which technical forum you were on when you encountered the bad-mannered seller? You have impeccable perception when seeking out quality electronic sites of interest.
New T-Shirt: "107 Silly Amps"
The resistors in the 240V unit are probably there to reduce the burden on the current regulator and prevent it from getting too hot.
I think it's to limit current spikes. The voltage dropped across the resistors in normal operation is very low.
One of those small £20 ish oscilloscopes would be interesting to see you tear down and investigate the quality of.
He's got a good scope.
I mean yeah but I’m interested in the cheaper things that may or may not be of quality in this case, 1. Because I’m thinking of buying one and I’m on a budget and 2. Because I think it would be a cool video and something I’d like to understand
Is someone making 20 buck scopes that aren't kits? Mine was a kit so it came self-torn-down
I have like a 1000 of these. Very useful little buggars! Primary use for me is putting them under the railing on our deck to light it up :P We have 3s, 2s, 6s, and all in frosted and non frosted lenses.
I can’t find them, what do I search for?
Very interesting design I’ll be getting some. I was worried watching those alligator clips
For that mains voltage one, what would happen if you made a simple rectified smoothed mains supply and just fed it off of that? Would it simply become less "flickery" or would there be some other effect, other than worse power factor and a little bit of voltage drop from the (pre)rectifier?
It would increase the voltage from 240V RMS to the peak voltage of 330V DC. That would increase the power dissipated by the regulator by about half a watt, potentially causing overheating and current throttling issues.
damn bro your coming up on a quarter BILLION views !!!
Hi Big Clive. I'm looking to buy a stip of RGB 240V neon. They are on eBay.
I would really love you to let us know if they are safe or deadly.
I'm looking to installing them outside and they come with a "UK" plug and remote and are supposed to also react to sound.
Got the square 4 LED ones "in the back of the van". . . . cut holes in the Hardboard headliner and poked heeds through, gaffer taped wires roughly hidden to board. They run off the internal light with a bulb fitting adaptor, which is handy as they can come on when needed, but won't stay on longer than 10mins.
I got some square 4-LED versions recently. Quite easy to peel off the cover. Just two LEDs in series with resistors, so 50% efficient use of 12V.
Personally in situations where the precise voltage is not critical I use a Schottky or two forward biased to reduce 12V DC to 11ish The reason for them being Schottky is to reduce power dissipation per diode.
Hey Clive, would you be interested in looking at a failed 60W MeanWell LED-Driver module? I have 20 of them. I might have used them slightly out of their specification, but funny enough they all failed on me almost at the same time. (after several hours)
Intriguing. Tell me more. Are they potted? bigclive1@gmail.com
@@bigclivedotcom Yes sadly they are. The Units are ELG-75-12. I run them with a Diode and a low resistance at the output. That seems to kill them within minutes.
@@korbiniansimmeth5325 What are they actually powering?
@@bigclivedotcom I need to drive small electical heaters with a variable constant current source.
So on the output their is a Diode so that the PSU works, a currentshunt to measure the current and the heater wire in series.
Nice lights with live wires out of the end🙂
(clear sleeves.)
What is the best way to send you an interesting item, as I have a dodgy China special RCD
I was watching your video from 5 yrs ago :banging a nail through a li ion cell
I noticed that the current regulator was labeled Q1, which seems to indicate that it's a transistor. I suspect that it's a depletion mode FET, and the source has the 82 ohm resistor between it and the gate and the 82 ohm sets the negative bias to give the current. Thanks, Clive.
Could be, but the linear current regulators in the same package are very common and also include automatic current reduction if they get too hot.
The passive power supply certainly ups the convenience and compactness factor a good bit over the more traditional low voltage style. But how do these circuits protect the LEDs from burning out after some significant voltage spikes come down the mains (as it does, a microsecond at a time)?
Such as when lightning strikes nearby, big inductive loads switching in the same building, etc.. I'm used to seeing pro grade LED fixtures that have mains inputs having some kind of surge protection, or even several levels of protection, and these have...nothing? The 'black box' component that helps regulate current doesn't look like it could absorb much energy if it serves a dual role as surge protection. It's hard to believe these modules would last very long in regions where thunderstorm activity is frequent.
The series resistors will deal with most current spikes before the regulator kicks in.
I got stacks of the 12v ones and a driver box when the shop across the road got rid of their old signage. I've got a couple under my monitor, lighting my keyboard.
The resistors might be there for transient suppression, to prevent mains spikes from flowing through the parasitic capacitances of the LEDs and the IC, reducing their lifespan. That's all I can think of.
Why putting the resistors there, as opposed to putting them before the bridge rectifier, is just beyond me.
I live in Pennsylvania and there is a little convenience store that have these exact ones, they ran them inside the refrigerators since they are glass doors on the sides and some of them flicker bad
Wonder if these would make good under cabinet lighting?
Single insulated, so not the 240V ones. But the 12/24V ones are used for things like that.
Hi Big Clive. How do you fancy doing a video setting out the facts about the power consumption of appliances (TVs, Amps, PCs etc) left in "Standby" or simply "Plugged in"? I've searched in vain for some sort of info, but probably not used a sensible search term. Given the recent massive increases in the cost of lecci, I'd love to know what can be done
It's generally very low. But some people miscalculate the actual power of some types of standby circuits and it makes them look ten or more times higher than they are
I have a couple of Logitech Z-5500 5.1 speaker systems that each run around 10W in standby: LCD is off, etc., but the subwoofer emits a noticeable hum 24/7 when it's plugged in, which prompted me to check the power. (Both systems are >10 years old, to be fair.)
Those now get disconnected from the mains when not in use (via 433 MHz RF remote controlled sockets), but that's the only case of unexpectedly-high standby power I've noticed for a long time. Most things are only 0~3W, which is below my personal "worth the hassle" threshold. Even at the 35p/kWh I've been paying for much of the last few months, each continuous 1W is roughly 25p/month.
Have you tried using one of those pass-through power meters with the LCD that shows the power, voltage, current, energy, etc? They were pretty affordable when I last checked, and will quickly show whether each appliance/device's standby power is worth worrying about :)
Maybe you've seen these, but someone is building "air purifiers" that look just like a wireless router. Small, squat box with antenna-like projecting rods on either end. The one I saw had the rods labeled + and -. It's either some kind of ionizer or, more likely, complete crap. I've forgotten the brand name.
Sounds interesting. Could well be dual ionisation if one electrode catches dust. Or it could be crap.
Hello . I wondered if you knew anything about valve crt tvs . Im scared to attempt to power one i have up, i bought it faulty , it looks all original, i just wondered if maybe i should remove the valves before powering it up since i dont have a variac ? I also dont have an old light bulb to act as a fuse/current limiter ..i just want to try get it to power but i dont have all the replacement caps dont really have anyone to ask for advice , this is all before my time .
Look for a youtuber called Uncle Doug. He shows how to build a device that can keep everything from blowing up if it's shorted anywhere. He also does a great job explaining how valves/tubes work.
If you take those out it will likely just be open circuit and not do anything past the power switch.
Thanks Big Clive. Very interesting.
Hey Clive I have a really dodgy soldering iron from China included in a DIY kit, the soldering iron seems to just turn on but not regulate temperature to the point that it begins melting the iron tip hot red to the point where I must unplug it to avoid the tip melting off, I could send it your way for a video of you wish to contact me.
Excellent as always Clive
I was SO waiting for you to get zapped there , you totally forgot they were live .. jees . Be careful man ffs ..lol .
The ends were sleeved.
Cables injection moulded in? How does that work?
The PCB and cables are laid into the mould and the plastic injected around them.
"You could try to blow the fault clear".. Is this a technique that is actually used in some scenarios? It's definitely not something I learned in school but there are many things I didn't learn in school =)
I have to say the 0.95 PF is quite amazing.
In my dark city Xmas lighting past I may perhaps have used some fancy circuitry to make faulty festoon "announce" the shorted lampholder.....
On the 12v lights it is likely 4 chips in each LED. [4S3P] This is because they typical voltage for white LED's is 3v-X-4=12V
would be amazing if the chips were just in series its the simplest and most reliable way to wire up leds
Three chips and a resistor. Makes it more stable with a range of voltage.
@@bigclivedotcom I was referring to the quantity of elements in each chip thus making each chip run on 12V So what you are saying is that each LED chip is designed to run on 9V but they use a 91ohm dropper resistor in series so that they get the desired current.
I’ve installed 3 72led 12volt lights in parallel in my garage. I took one of the light units apart just to see what makes it tick and I was pretty intrigued. I saw that they all appeared to be placed in series with resistors placed roughly every 6 leds. Anyway although they are super bright (3 units lights up the garage like daylight) I was pleasantly surprised at just how low their operating voltage and wattage is. On a fully charged 12 volt car battery their power consumption is as good as negligible. The units are rated as 10 watts as a whole.
You could have probably seen the construction through the package quite well with the thermal imaging camera.
Wow! this is totally informational Clive. thank you for the questionable circuitry and the solutions to such. :)
I second using the Mean Well power supplies, very handy and reliable
why did you leave them on so long? you forget about us that can't look at flickering lights?
When are you going to disassemble the calculator of pinkness?
It shall be staying intact. For such a camp calculator it actually has 10 digits instead of the usual 8, so is perfect for electronic calculations.
Quite Illuminating thanks
Hi clive. I've just watched a video on how to build your own ultrasonic phased array for levitation, haptics and directive audio. Is that a project that is within your capabilities? It would be great to see such a project on your channel. Great channel and awesome projects👌
I spotted that. It looks a bit specialist.
You mention that they can be used in vehicular applications - but I would preferrably abstain from this, at least with the models you have. Specifically on modern vehicles the system voltage can reach up to 15 V, which would push the LEDs to over 60 mA.
But other than that, great video as always and an interesting case of product optimization.
Clive i brought some cheap LED dmx lights for backlighting sets for my livestreams but they flicker can they be fixed could we send you one for a teardown?
The studio grade ones have very high PWM frequency. Cheap ones are usually low and it's not easy to calm the flicker unless the rest of the lighting is turned down to slow the "shutter".
@@bigclivedotcom Back to the drawing board, Thanks ill have to look at getting better ones I had figured that but looking to be a cheapskate :P
Since you mentioned the lack of an aluminium core PCB Clive: You can not have double sided PCBs on aluminium core material with vias, all the vias would be shorted together!
And I guess the aluminium core PCB is not worth the effort, since everything is encapsulated in a watertight plastic case and the inside will establish a thermal equilibrium after a minute anyway.
You can. There are now insulated via aluminium PCBs.
A very good Friday morning to you all from Wellington Somerset
sometimes i forget how big 3M is
so im a Minnesotan and 3M stands for Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing
i purchased some 240v led strips from ebay, 5m length, and it appeared to be just the live an neutral running the lenght with leds and resistors, some leds have gone after a few weeks ofd constant use. they get warmish but looked dodgy as prince andrew is.
I can imagine Quality Fade taking over after a while, and all the circuitry in the hv ones being replaced with just a diode and ballast resistors.
Gotta shave off those few cents...
At about 2:15 I'm looking at the bare ends of the white and black wires and assume he's going to cram them into the non-compliant clips on the HOPI. BUT NO! He plugs in the other end and leaves me to stare at the 240v exposed bare wires for the next few minutes while he wiggles the illuminated strip around.
It looks like they're shrinkwrapped
@@RobotTheIndustrial I think you are correct.
They were sleeved, but black sleeve would have been more obvious.
Same! I had to stop watching and scroll down to the comments to find like-minded folk.
I saw those and thought BigClive was setting us up for an ElectroBOOM "teaching moment"
These are actually low voltage,not high voltage units.High voltage in electronics is above 1kV. In energetics,like transmission and distribution its medium voltage above 1kV up to 35kV and high voltage above 35kV.
I'm aiming the high voltage bit at users. It just causes confusion when I describe 240V as low voltage.
Could you give your view on Ecochip that claim to save 50% of fuel on cars? Does the electrics on ecochip can really save fuel?
They're fake.
Thank you!
The shimmering or flimmering in your Cam is a setting problem in your cam. You should set it to 50Hz instead of 60Hz. This will not change the fps of the Video, but eliminate the problems with the flimmering, from LEDs. Even those from the HOPI
Why do these things flicker on camera but not to the naked eye? What is it about the light you see that doesn't flicker, to the light that I see that does? All very confusing.
The camera is more sensitive than the human eye and also scans the image as opposed to our eyes which use phenomenal levels of pre-processing and parallel interpretation.
Do have a link or maybe search word for these strips? I am very interested.
These came from a UK seller. I haven't been able to test their long term reliability yet.
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254626958934
Hello again Clive. Can you one day take apart a Philips hue play light bar? These are expensive. I'd like to know if I got my moneys worth.
i wonder if the shimmering of the mains version helps achieve a vintage flicker effect when used inside a sign .
It would be similar to a neon sign.
I couldn't take my eyes off how close the low voltage DC leads were to touching and the bare 220v leads at the end of the LED string.... just waiting for a bang!
The bare leads actually had clear heatshrink on them.
@@bigclivedotcom lol.. anxiety averted
Thanks for getting the junk so that we don't have to. ... Cheers to you ...
Thanks for the info on all of the things you do Mr Big Clive. Have you seen the home made Heat paste on Tech Ingredients channel, talk about full instructions and information. Anyway Thanks I really enjoy this channel
Clive, what’s your true opinion on LED lighting,
It's getting better after a very rocky start. A lot of the high output LED lights are operating on the edge of failure deliberately.
I was in southern China a above 20 years ago they were a lot dimmer then what they are today,every time you go the wholesalers there’s always something new😵💫
107 sillyamps sounds like a rather fun(ny) measurement. I had to replay that few seconds of video a couple of times! 20+ years ago, I was playing around with Redhat Linux, which gave a rather long textual readout while loading in the kernel and auxiliary modules and there were several rather funny sounding "measurements" in the text. You had to read really fast to catch them though!
Loved your Chinese expression Clive🤣
Kink Palculator, from the makers of Moamory Fem.
I miss the neon or florescent signs! Leds are so generic and modern 😢
My Fish tank has something similar for lighting, it came as a kit from Walmart (I believe it's Asda in your neck of the woods)
Looks like the 12/24v ones, if sealed as solid as the 220v ones, could make good under cupboard lighting in the kitchen.
I think they are sometimes used as kitchen style concealed lighting. I've been considering trying that out.
@@bigclivedotcom
I bought two strings of 20 of the more usual led units you find on eBay along with a PSU and an inline rotary dimmer switch.
They have double sided '3m' tape but I'll buy some L shaped aluminium extrusions to screw them to. This should help dissapate any heat build-up.
One day I'll get round to it 😁
I like the circuit board in them. I'd be tempted, if I got some, to take them a part and just use the circuit board.
I see these three-LED modules strung around the windows of gas stations and convenience stores locally.
They're super-annoying when put around windows.
neat, special use product... but no sign company worth a hoot would reuse an old neon power supply/ballast/whatever for a new LED installation. just no way. all of the old everything comes out every time in a retrofit to LED. what am I missing?
These don't run on either a neon transformer or ballast.
@@bigclivedotcom right? that felt weird saying... but you were telling me that was the design intent of the product and i wasn't going to question it. what we must need now is SUPER high voltage LEDs.
I think your title is wrong, should be 12V/240V :)