New LED flame bulb - with schematic
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- Опубліковано 28 сер 2024
- The neon based flicker-flame bulbs have been around for a very long time, and although they were an interesting effect, they tended to be a bit unconvincing. So now it's time for the LED version with a much better emulation of a flame.
The power supply is very typical of the type found in smart bulbs to provide a 3.3V supply to the WiFi and Bluetooth modules. In this case the 3.3V just happens to be the perfect voltage for powering the microcontroller and the LEDs. It's actually perfect for powering many LED bulb projects, but note that it is not isolated from the mains supply.
The flame PCB has a surface mount 8 pin microcontroller and 32 flip-chip LEDs on one side, and then a layer of phosphor gel added on both sides.
The globe itself has a traditional glass construction, with the filament support bonded to the PCB and the small power supply in the base.
Glitching the bare module to get all the LEDs lit at once turns out to be a deliberate feature. Turning the power off and on again for the right amount of time sets the bulbs into constant illumination mode.
Here's the only listing I found for these in the UK:-
www.ebay.co.uk...
Shout out to a friend called Richard for letting me know these exist.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:- www.bigclive.c...
This also keeps the channel independent of UA-cam's algorithm quirks, allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.
#ElectronicsCreators
All those efforts that were made to develop the electric light bulb and now we want ones that look like candles! :-)
We seem to have an inherited affinity for flickering flames and the smell of benzene. This provided an evolutionary advantage for obviously modern apes that found shelter in caves and manipulated fire; so it makes sense that lights that recreate the visual experience of a controlled fire would be soothing to us. A lot of Yule Log videos went viral a few years ago due to this.
@@petersage5157 - Well, by that logic we'd prefer to live in rough-hewn caves instead of modern houses full of flat, smooth surfaces and right angles.
I don't think I know a single person who would like to have all their lighting replaced with flame bulbs (or real flames). They're just decorative, like garden flamingos or wind chimes.
@@RFC3514 Yellow (sunset) light is good in small doses. I actually can't stand it for long, overly yellow light (like, super warm amber colored bulbs) make me dizzy after the while.
Add flickering and that's puke-fest for me.
Decades ago indicator lamps were white incandescent bulbs. Then LEDs were invented and they all became red, then green LEDs came along and they were red, green and yellow, then blue LEDs were invented and after a short period of indicators all being blue, they are now all white again.
OH NO, we have evolved into Moth-Monkey things, that have worked out how to bring the fire inside.!
I can't decode what @thisnthat3530 is saying.
😉
"Thanks to the magic of buying two of them, here's an already-taken-apart one." Thanks, Alec.
@@PeteOfDarkness I can almost hear strains of "Floaters" by Jimmy Fontanez in my head.
I guess the white heat shrink is to give a vaguely candle style look. Should be longer though.
If I had a quarter for every time someone said that to me... I could play a game of Puck Man
Thanks you saved me having to type. I was thinking the same thing,
I think the Heat Shrink is to Mimic the part of the Wick, that’s not Burning. The Fixture would be the Candle Stick.
Who would have thought so much effort would be spent in designing a faux flame effect. It's pretty good
Now this is one of the advantages of COB (Chip On Board) LEDs. You can get super tiny and compact LED circuits on a translucent board.
They work really good on those strip lights...
Wow, led's are getting creative.
The miniaturization of microcontrollers these days is crazy...
yeah nowadays most designs implement microcontrollers even to do the job of a 555 IC. They are crazy cheap, especially the one-time-programmable ones
So cheap most of the cost (under $0.10 total) is the package and leads, I wouldnt doubt it if bare die gets below $0.01 in high enough quantities.@@marcogenovesi8570
Miniaturization??? This was a standard SO-8 package for the microcontroller. The same as existed in the '80s. Today with just more juice in it.
About 10 years back I made something very similar on a weekend, for my kids lantern.
And that package sort of traces back to the first milspec "flatpack" ICs developed in the mid 60s, at which point your average tech was complaining about how transistor radio parts were "too small" to easily work with, I think complaints about miniaturization are sort of a constant one should largely ignore. Some silicon aside its easier than ever to buy all the through hole stuff one desires. Stuff that stays useful stays in production, there are even a couple 1920s vacuum tubes still mass produced.@@matthiash.4670
"Through the magic of buying four of them"....#TechnologyConnections
Definitely came here to make such a comment :D
I caught that too!
Unfortunately we did not see BC separating the glass bulb from the base. "Nice hiss!" 😉
@@SharkoonBln Let's get this out onto the workbench. Nice!
As microLEDs have got so easy to manufacture, it is incredible how they spread among all possible applicative sectors.
I like how they made a geometrical flame outline, instead of using a rectangular matrix and emulate the flame with software. There is still room for improvement!
Thank you Clive...
EVERY TIME! It gets me when you write on the components on the printouts. It takes a few seconds of wondering how I would write on the top of a capacitor, especially the one that's "behind" two others. And then it hits me, 2D and 3D not the same thing 😅. I claim that I am just very good at spatial perception and imagination (which is actually definitely partly true).
I still have a couple of these old neon lamps, some with a (flickering/shimmering) cross (Christian) which my granny put next to those who were sick, overnight....And the flame ones....An a few with houses and with farm animals....I guess they're over 65 years old.
I have a cross version too. The old neon lamps are considered very collectable now.
Very interesting effect. But you took the fun out of it, we love to see you avoid cutting the fingers on the metal as you peel it back. ☺ Nice video 2x👍
These also have the positive of not having to evacuate the air in the bulb when they manufacture them.
Although, strangely the seal was tipped off.
@@user-gx6jb6wc5g probably as that's what the machines were already set to do.
The LED filament bulbs are filled with Helium for heat dissipation. Having recently bought a Helium Balloon in a card shop and thought about how many bulbs it would fill, mark ups etc the Helium required is probably only a couple of pence.
Would work well in a diffused glass lampshade, or decorative lantern.
However, as soon as you mentioned chandelier - Oh dear, nightmares of Del Boy, Rodney and Uncle Albert! But, yes, I think if you had say, a hundred of these flickering in a crystal chandelier, they'd look rather nice. Even half a dozen in a small domestic chandelier wouldn't look bad. 👍
That was quite an early episode, so it was Grandad rather than Uncle Albert.
A hundred of these would cost £1316.
That's a lot of flicker in the eyes.
I am currently in Taiwan, heading back to the UK at the weekend, but I've seen a number of things here I thought would have been perfect for you, the worse of which was a walking, squeaking panda toy, that played Christmas songs (and yes, it's february right now) in the worst quality and speed you could imagine 😅 - perhaps it too would benefit from a "flame effect" 😂
I see a flame farting panda toy coming up in the future.
As to crap quality and speed, Techmoan just did a video on 2 mini record players, and the one playing O Tannenbaum at "any speed but the right one" was rather haunting...
@@NaoPb one can only hope 😂
I really hope they put these LEDs in lanterns and candles. Can't wait!
Thanks for another great educational movie, Mr. Clive. I grew up with that neon flickering version. The LED one is so much nicer.
bulb videos are my favorite. i hope we will take it to bits!
I like it Clive thanks the lamp looks good 😊
At 1:38 "Let's Expl..." Alexa pipes up and tells me she doesn't know that one. Repeatable too! 😂
Heh...
"Let's Ah ... explore further"
Classic.
My echo remains silent from it.
I guess she didnt recognize the accent...
Reminds of the sketch of two Scotsmen in a voice activated lift.
@@tonysheerness2427 11!
It's probably because the "Let's, ah…" sounds remotely similar to "Alexa…" without the beginning "A".
very nice effect, would love a lower voltage version
Very nice, but I'd love them even more if they made orange-red ones to mimic the old neon flames!
Good to see a nice, well designed power supply.
They are great looking flamey light bulb. I remember the previous video with the poor flicker effect bulbs.
YES! They just need to make a little C7/E12 version 😍
I have next to no idea what you are talking about in any of your vids because I am useless with electronics ( yes I once tried to change a plug socket without turning the power off and got a very hefty shock, and yes I did try to fit a plate rack above a plug socket and drilled right through the centre of a cable and had to have my wall rebuilt) but I watch every video. Great stuff, never know I may learn something one day. Talking of which, I always have crappy Chinese electronic things stopping working, or doing weird stuff they are not supposed to, want me to send any to you?... "One moment please" 😊
Cool! Thanks Clive, I've ordered 4.
I'm trying to achieve a more realistic effect myself using an expensive maxim led matrix controller, but this video gave me an excellent idea! Thank you so much, I love your content!
Wlel, with them being in the warm white colour range, at least they'll be more flame-like than the neon kind, but that said, flames are usually stable and smooth when from a candle or oil lamp, so, flickering flames are more suitable for use in an ex-fireplace, stick 'em in amongst somw fake logs or coals with orangey-red light from below and there's a nice display... :P
I have some of the older style LED ones in my fireplace and they look really nice
I really like the one you had soldered the wires to. Where did you get those? They would make great additions to Christmas ornaments with a small Lithium cell inside
AliExpress.
2:44 That’s very good photography! 👌
Interesting concept and design. They look realistic when working too... Thumbs Up!...
Great content 🙂 I enjoy to watch yout videos all the time!
Nice, thanks for the teardown.
I have to say it looks pretty ugly when off. And of course the real neon one is so much cooler.
That's awesome, I love things like this. It's just a shame that my new house doesn't have any light fittings where these could be fitted!
Do they all follow exactly the same sequence or do they diverge? If they are synchronised, they would look very unnatural if switched on all at the same time, as they would in a chandelier!
They gradually go out of sync.
A pub near me has recently put something just like this (maybe it is this) in their outdoor lanterns. Looks pretty good actually!
No other electronics ⚡ channel can hold a candle to yours, Big Clive! 👍🤣
nice that's for taking the time to show us this
That first one looks like my burnt marshmallow at the camp site. All black and covered in smoke and flame 🔥
@0:37 - "This is currently drawing" ISWYDT
This reminds me of the episode where Stewie's repeated pronunciation of "Cool Whip" winds up Brian.
"Say whip."
"Whip."
"Now say Cool Whip."
"Cool Hwip."
my favorite! cant believe how nice it all looks! also miss u!
Wow 3d effect with the yellow capacitors on the photo of the chipboard :)
Awesome Video Big Clive 😊
Cool device... Adding color adjustment or spectrum shifting over time would be a fine addition.
I would love a version of this with frosted glass, to better hide the guts and slightly diffuse the light.
Those flicker lights like the one in the pink socket. They use the same technique as the lights you get like in a power strip on and off button..... Sometimes you get one where the button starts to flicker after a while :)
I wish there was a way to create the flame effect with analogue electronics, some kind of chaotic oscillator, but sadly that would be much more complicated than just programming a microcontroller with (I presume) a simple random number generator.
Seems you could make the deterministic prng just fine with a shift register and a few logic gates, or real entropy with a thermistor or temperature sensitive clock crystal. Sadly more expensive than mcu these days, tho...
Lots of these sorts of things don't even use any kind of RNG at all (or even a CPU). They've just got a pre-programmed pattern that they cycle through (they're basically just a ROM chip with a counter).
@@foogod4237 Where's the fun in that? ;-)
@@daliasprints9798but you can do the RNG exactly the same way as a "shift register and a few logic gates" with MCU code. Just add more bits and use amplified noise on the ADC input as a seed value.
nice bulb. the heatshrink might be there to stop the glass cracking off. one more thing.
the original gas filled flicker bulbs have a secret sideshow mode. the entire bulb can glow orange like one giant neon indicator with high voltage high frequency ac.
wire spiral or grid on the outside of the bulb functions as the second electrode. works with failed flicker bulbs.
I still have the flame bulb from my childhood. Probably over 50y old
There's a restaurant down the road from here that has some kind of neon flicker bulbs in their outside lights. I can't see what they are because the fixtures are white translucent, but that orange neon color is pretty explicit. They're surprisingly bright even in the daytime. Other than that I haven't seen those bulbs since the early 1970s...
Cheerz Clive.!
Is it just me or are these specialty LEDs becoming more phallic.
I remember when LEDs became affordable to the hobbyists, changed my life.
I have always had a great interested in "realistic" flame LEDs. I wish I had the knowledge to create one myself. I thought of using Warm white, yellow, orange, red and even blue LED's to simulate it, but then thought maybe a small OLED screen, somehow cut to shape to "play a video" might work. The last one is WAY above my pay grade.
i spot similar one nearby shop yesterday and i wonder how does that work from inside ..
Thank you for make my curiosity go away ❤
Nice light. I like it .😊
There’s a Restaurant in Williamsburg, VA that has huge Chandeliers with real Candles. We ended up going during the day, it turns out the Chandeliers are dripped in Candle Wax, and have LED Flame Bulbs. Very Realistic at Night. Also I have a friend who has Gas Mantle Lights, outside. Again a LED Fake, also has the tiny Speakers for the low hiss.
Waiting for someone to build a flame bulb supercomputer now.
Thank you, now take a coffee break.
This is a wonderful video, since long I was thinking to make something like this myself
I have some of these too, also when you switch the lamp on they go into the flickering flame mode, and when you switch the lamp off then back on it will switch to steady mode.
Love your videos, thank you for making them!! :)
7:50 Only thing "wrong" to me is that the light itsself sits too high in the glass....So the effect of flames of candles if used in a chandelier is a bit off...The flame is too high above its base (the "candle" so to speak).
We have a neon bulb like the first one shown. It goes back to the 1920s or 1930s.
You mentioned putting them in a chandelier or fitting. Do they slowly go out sync like the dumb flashing LEDs or stay in time with each other due to the micro controllers pulsing them?
Most likely go out of sync even if it is a microcontroller, the timing is usually not that precise in these applications._
They quickly go out of sync.
Perhaps the program tries to add some randomness, some micros have a random source inside them.
@@boilerbots It would have been very easy to implement a linear feedback shift register in code.
Those do look pretty good...
I've got some flame-imitating LEDs of various groupings around, and the problem I found is that out of the corner of my eye, I keep thinking there's something on fire... It was happening often enough that I had to stop having them plugged in because, with all the forest fires that have occurred up here one becomes hypersensitive. The color and the flickering pattern are just too realistic. I was figuring I'd replace the LEDs with various other colors that I like... as I have all kinds of crazy colors. my favorite is the high UV purplish-looking ones.
Speaking of LEDs- near where I live there's a giant scrap yard that sells stuff for the price of the scrap metal contained there-in... they have everything you could possibly think of including all sorts of giant capacitors, bins of restaurant-quality stainless steel cookware in almost brand new condition... I got a bunch of large solid-state relays... every manner of machine and material... I almost walked out of there with a "Hello Kitty" pink razor scooter... almost... and when I was there a couple days ago, they had bins of 170-watt industrial LED fixtures, which take 65 volts, so they run perfectly on my 50-some odd volt (48 volt nominal, around 58 point something when at top absorb voltage) home battery bank. These things are utterly blinding... I paid about $2 a pop for a whole bunch of them. Under-running them a bit like that they should last for freakin' ever. running them battery-direct should be as efficient as the most efficient light source... I'm going to install them all around my shop when I can get to it. Well anyway-
peace and love.
I was excited to buy a set of these and I must say I'm disappointed in the repeating throbbing of the flicker. All these years I have researched these lights and the industry still isn't getting it right. These are really good blinkers! ... Oh well, back to SimFlame!
I need one of those
The 1950's ( OSGLIM™) was my Neon of choice , but (S)Habitat did a very good repro .. ( ? ) ... DAVE™🛑
Why don't they produce these with a random flicker effect? It wouldn't be too difficult to accomplish, surely, and would make them look far more realistic.
Nice bulbs - was interested in the company, so I looked them up and they are in Ethiopia in the city of Addis Ababa. I guess China isn't the only place to get LED products any more.
I wonder how well this LED flame would come across at a distance. Might be interesting to use it in a magic trick to appear that you're lighting a cigarette with your fingers.
Hi Clive, I have a few flame bulbs based on a gas flame which are only available in the states that I know of. I have a spare one you’re welcome to have if you wanted to make a video on it. I think your viewers would be very interested in it. They’re sold by a company called The Copper Smith in the states.
I have some of the 5 Volt loose flame PCB lamps as seen here. A single lamp made from one will bother you as it flickers at night. Maybe several at once would be less annoying.
What's up with the hilarious Sean Connery impression?
It's my Scottish ancestry creeping in.
I would have guessed that there might be another resistor in circuit with the LEDs to drop their voltage.
But that would require breaking the glass and cut the shrink wrap.
Since the set of 7 LEDs in parallel is dimmer than the sets of 5 LEDs we can tell that there is _resistance_ in series, even if it is not in the form of an individually packaged resistor.
I suspect that the output transistors have a fairly high on-resistance. In other applications this would be considered parasitic resistance, but here it is useful and avoids the needs for additional components.
That looks great 👍
I think the white heatshrink is to simulate the top of a wax candle? It kind of works, actually.
Clive, you must have ordered the windy conditions version of the Neon style 😂
Death beam night lights. Nice
This would be much more useful in an E14 base. I wonder if they used E27 because the circuit would not fit in to the SES base?
It's definitely harder to fit a power supply in such a small space.
They need to start using flip chip ICs and cover everthing in phosphor.
Perhaps even red phosphor around the edges.
i was considering today that electronics has made me a better person. i think the break-through was starting, on BC's advice, to only solder one lead of a component, to then hold it up to eye level, reflow and push the component flat, then look again, to check, then solder the other lead, check again, then move on to something else. whereas my natural instinct, from making air-fix models 40 years ago, to assembling a new PC has always been ,previously, to think 'that will probably do'. then everything invariably failed. yet now i am using my new habit of scrupulousness everywhere.
The load resistor is probably for the case none of the LEDs are lit.
I bought some of these in the US from Amazon and they're very nice. I wish I could find an E12 version of this bulb.
Now available in US from Amazon in E12. YAY!
Amazing
The white heatshrink symbolises the ash of the burnt wood. 🤭😂
the invention of ws2812b etc addressable leds are also hugely fantastic. Install WLED via browser straight on esp32. connect and program it via browser or wifi, then power a whole load of them with 5v power bank. or even 12v 20amp for a really bright and decent amazing custom image display or scrolling text effects and all kinds. :) Clive, will you ever do any vids involving WLED ws28112 and esp32 ?
The local Social Club put up some strips on their ceiling last Christmas. I was surprised that they could do chase effects from one end to the other of a 50+ LED long strip with several strips perfectly synchronised.
Nice, I like the flickering effect. Looks sensible.
I don't know if it's the light, but the inductor looks like Red-Red-Brown (from top to bottom). But then again, could be the light, because at some angle the top strip looks also brown.
Wonder if the white heat shrink was to sort of make it look like a candle.
Nice video! These kind of chips like VIPer22 or LNK304 require 1mH inductor on the output at 60kHz.
I wonder if the glass blowing machines for these kinds of bulbs are much less complicated since they dont have to evacuate the bulb of air, or if they are using the same old machines and just skipping that step? 🤔
i like it alot too
They remind me of a kerosene heater wick that is spent of fuel and is sputtering off of the vapors. I am not awfully impressed with those lamps. But they're ok. I've seen battery operated candles that have a better flame effect.
But seeing your schematic is interesting.
Particularly the ones that have a separate tank and valve for the paraffin and a fixed wick in a around burner slot
Have you tried the Google Translate app and the camera on those datasheets? I like the way they write ‘confidential’ in English :-)
As always great video.
You mention that you previewed the LED flame module in a previous video but I cant seem to find it. Do you have a link to the the module or your previous video?
Neverminde I found it :)
ua-cam.com/video/4atbrGHLn1E/v-deo.html
Never seen the small bulbs with the big screw socket
Would love something like this in a pygmy size. Got a mains converted oil lamp that would look awesome with one.
That was great! Also, that meter is amazing. Anyone know of a US model for DC LED's? Thanks.
I wonder how long it will take before the bottom-part of the led's is getting lower-lit then the top-flashes
Curious if it would be possible to make one of these with the tip of it setup as one of those 'Tesla' arc- electric lighters, {maybe even a proximity sensor to trigger it?) it would be kinda cool you would have the led flame lamp, and move an object near its tip and the arc lighter could go off and then you have lit your match or 420 in a very unique way.