In your first report on the Dubai lamps you mentioned that their use had "pissed the architects off completely" which is music to any civil engineer's ears!
So did I, now I'm slightly disappointed we won't see a similar thing to erecting the masts within a bottle, but with led strips, tweezers and a soldering iron!
Today I dubaied a standard lamp in my bedroom using a 220nF serial capacitor. Now it stays cool and still is bright enough. Thanks a lot for this jolly good advise, big Clive!
My 5yo daughter loves sitting with me to watch your videos Clive. I always appreciate the flicker warning as she unfortunately suffers from photosensitive epilepsy. Bless your cotton socks for being so contentious as I imagine some listeners think you’re being a bit nanny like with your warnings. Your next inebriated project should be concealing a cap and resistor in one of those ES/Bayonet adaptors
I agree, without that it's only flickery bulbs using less power. I've managed to do it without a lux meter, you can measure the efficiency curve of well-bonded LED chips via the heat output.
@@joshbowman874 A good chunk of my reasoning is the Dubai Lamps presumably have brightness comparable to the higher wattage LEDs and the original incandescents that we used for years and years. I get that we can under-power a lamp and both extend its life and reduce its current draw, but if we end up ganging lamps to make up for the reduced light and end up at the same power level again then we haven't really achieved much. I can't deny that the Dubai Lamp idea is interesting, but only if the light output is sufficient to justify the extra cost. Obviously since North American residential lamps run on 120VAC service we can't simply import gray-market Dubai Lamps because they won't work in 120V fixtures, but if a true 120VAC version were developed that would have appeal, especially if it had longevity. In my workshop I took a bunch of old candelabra-base nightlight lampsockets that were designed for up to 8W incandescent nightlight bulbs and stuck 4W or 6W LED bulbs in because I can have excellent nighttime safety lights without having to turn on the banks of 8' fluorescent fixtures if I'm just walking through. It would be lovely to reduce the power draw all that much further for places like that, like the entry to the house, like some exterior lights on the house, etc, to the point that it's almost no meaningful cost to keep these places illuminated 24/7.
@Robin Rastle I didn't measure at different temperatures because that increases the error (radiated heat losses). I could only measure the heat delivered to the heatsink, compared to a resistive load. idle-spark.blogspot.com/2021/01/measuring-led-efficiency-on-cheap.html
@@TWX1138 Afraid not. The efficiency infact lowers at higher powers. Clive has covered this and again mentioned it in this particular video. If you watch the original you'll see that it's more too do with continual sales of lamps rather than effectivness and efficiency hence the Dubai lamp as example
It was about time for someone to point out the extreme stress on those chinese led bulbs... now instead of a couple of months operating at water-boiling temperatures until premature failure, those lamps can truly last for the advertised 10,000 hours. Thank you!
•_•) Emm, I make a dropper using a E27 Lamp Holder EU Plug.. I just adding a small MKT/Plastic Film Capacitor 224J 275V, and 1M Ohm resistor, It's dropping 8-50w LED to 1w and dropping 1.6w-2w LED to 0.5-0.6w.. 😒 Kinda following on what mr BigClive have done.. Here's the photo drive.google.com/file/d/1CefVU79NKkFA_AT4sGrhQuHjTdrC-Kaa/view?usp=drivesdk drive.google.com/file/d/1taGm7EsjM8-xtpNFOjrEoV0yKqcOVOdO/view?usp=drivesdk
The whole point of banning incandescent bulbs in Germany was that most of their power was consumed in heat rather than light. After the ban someone started selling them as heating devices that glow (instead of "light" bulbs).
I had fun at work trying different LED lamps on our dimmers to see which ones were “compatible”. Capacitive dropper lamps can be dimmed quite well with trailing-edge dimmers, but they need to be hard-fired dimmers, and the control range is limited. Proper “dimmable” lamps vary considerably, and many take amps of inrush on each mains half-cycle on leading-edge dimming! Some detect the phase angle and set their output appropriately - these work especially well. “Dim to Warm” lamps are awesome, they’re bright white at full power and gradually get warmer as they’re dimmed down. They do this by mixing light from cool-white, warm-white and red LEDs.
You can use the amorphous panels from solar garden lights as rudimentary light-level meters. Simply slap a variable resistance across the solar cell and adjust that value until the output is say 1mV per lumen, which is more or less 1 candela - so you can use a candle with a ~1cm high flame, placed 30cm from the solar cell to do the calibration... After that, so long as you maintain the 30cm distance from the light source - you can measure light output / brightness (more specifically the Lux value) Note this does not work as well with poly / mono crystalline solar cells; as their output characteristics are not as linear as with amorphous cells!
@@Vilvaran This will only measure the light output in _one_ direction, and says nothing about how well it spreads the light. In fact, a light source of equal luminosity but half the spread will measure as twice as bright.
@@tybofborg This only measures light _received_ not light output, so thought and consideration must be taken on how you *read* the output... All in all it's a simple test-gadget for measuring light, there will be some compromise considering this is the top of a solar garden light! Best bet is to factor in beam spread when measuring the light source - A "normal bulb" can be considered as 360 degrees and a COB led panel would be 180. Your classic 5mm LED is typically 30 degrees beam spread - but can vary so it's a good idea to measure that too! I can deduct that the phone app version of this would suffer the same issue - maybe worse as the software might try something 'smart' and faff the reading, or worse - 60Hz flicker may cause the reading to be all over the place... ( A major bonus of the solar panel based device is that a capacitor can completely eliminate any flicker error from the measurement!)
This video inspired me to Dooby a 8W LED-filament lamp (bought at the local Action store for 2.79 euro) into a 3W lamp. It has 4 filaments, so not as good as a true Dubai lamp. I put a 1.2uF (450V) capacitor in series and build the hack into an old wall adapter housing. The lamp gives enough light for my living and runs at 26 degrees C. Hopefully it will run for a very long time now. Thanks mister Clive!
Very much the end of an era. Along with the demise of Tandy, possibly owing to the bitter fact that the customer base is disappearing - people are either not interested, or prefer to buy on line.
@@phils4634 You don't really save money by building things these days. At a car boot sale I picked up a frequency counter built from an uncased Tandy Kit. In the early 1980s the kit cost £40. Today you can buy a ready built one for the same price notwithstanding almost 40 years of inflation. It is a similar story with Synthesizers. Maplin published a magazine "Electronics and Music Maker" back when the likes of Vangelis were the only people who could afford to buy ready made ones.
@@MrDuncl In the 1970's Maplin did a complete synthesizer kit, I believe in conjunction with PW, and it was a challenging yet interesting build. VERY limited capability even by the standards of the day (polyphonic, but only just), and the overall cost of the components was pretty steep. Swapped mine (completed) for a secondhand "real" dual manual electric organ, that was a far better (and easier) keyboard instrument - Technics E33 I think - which was a pleasure to play, and which worked very reliably.
@@bigclivedotcom Clive, do you think that it's possible that there's a limit to how much a household meter can measure? I mean it's not a lot of energy but if it was harvested into a capacitor bank then stepped up via a DC to DC boost converter, you can essentially build up enough energy to run lights off or charge a phone... I think the question is, at which point does the meter begin reading? It might be possible to design a circuit that takes a 240V pulse at microamps or nanoamps that the meter can't pick up, it's not much but stepped down in voltage you get some useable current... It's probably not practical but I like the idea of getting something for nothing! Like sourcing 90V from the home phone line LoL...
Bravo! Lovely series of measurements doing something that would not have occurred to me, simple, efficient and life extending. A good antidote to a lot of modern "disposable tech." Thank you for sharing!
"That's strobing at 1Hz-that is not ideal." You see, the problem here is marketing. "Automatic light that draws less than a hundredth of the power of similar, non-automated lights."
@@mrfluffytailthethird There's a great one you missed, and I expect there's a marketing guy/girl out there who only needs to have the following line on their CV. "I got people to buy rape by calling it canola."
I tried your experiment of underrunning LED bulbs and got some interesting results. Here in the US the household voltage is 120 Volts AC. I didn't have regular electronic capacitors so I used capacitors that were salvaged from broken oscillating fans. The capacitors are 4 uf and I put two of them in series to get 2 uf. They're rated at 250 Volts AC. That's all I had to work with. Here's the results I got. Globe LED for Life (Dollar General brand) 60 W/9.5W - Slightly dim at both 4 and 2 uf. Sunbeam Warm White (Dollar Tree brand) 60W/9W - Slightly dim at both 4 and 2 uf Great Value (Walmart brand) General Purpose 60W/9W with metal heat sink base - Bright at 4 uf, Flickered at 2 uf ( Note: these bulbs were from 2016) Great Value (Walmart brand) General Purpose 60W/9W - Slightly dim at 4 and 2 uf (Note: These bulbs were from 2020/21) Great Value (Walmart brand) Daylight 5000K 60W/9W - Slightly dim/bluish at 4 and 2 uf Meijer General Purpose 60W/10W - Bright at 4 uf, Flickered at 2 uf.
Fantastic project, thank you for sharing it with us. I can't help feeling that you're going to be taken away in the night by big bulb for punching a hole in their planned obsolescence racket!
"While I tidy-up"... While I scoop the lot into a box so I can get on with the next thing. The box then joins the pile which can be excavated later by archaeology: If Clive's system is anything like mine :D
@@sleeptyper All my stuff is in boxes, all tidy, what is in the boxes? No bloody idea :-D lol It is all stuff I have collected and dare anyone throw it out!!!
Visitor: "You have no idea what is at the bottom of that pile!!!" Me: "Yes I do... it's the first stuff I... *ahem* ...archived since I moved in here!"
I can see this video getting a million views before the year is out. I will certainly now be looking at new LED mains bulbs with an eye to extend their runtime through capacitors. This would be a perfect moment for someone to create a bulb adapter (socket+capacitor+plug) just for this purpose, perhaps one with a 2 or more position switch to select different capacitors for different brightness levels.
I do that all around my house. This is the way I dim bulbs. If I have double switch I connect one to series capacitor. So I have two settings of intensity. The downside is that the bulbs have to be identical in the lamp.
I did the exact same thing, but for different reasons. Built a 300nF capacitor into a socket. The somewhat recent trend to have naked fancy filament led bulbs I kinda liked, but I hated having to stare into an 8W LED all the time. So I had a rather nice T30 tube led underrun for aesthetic reasons. Oh and I did the same with a household fan so that I could run it at night without making sound, for the super hot days. Very gentle night breeze. It's really nice.
Thanks for this video! After replacing the 1-gang living-room lightswitch with a 2-gang (1 for on-off and 1 for hi-low) and wiring the dropper capacitor from a broken light bulb in behind the switch, I am now able to dim the living room lights to a relaxing level but have full power back at the flick of a switch. Genius!
you earned yourself a dooby snack. i too am fond of underclocking light bulbs. i think light switches should all have a 'i want light yes plz' setting and a 'its 2am, dont wake me up too much geez' setting.
11:26 "It fires an interrupt to your brain". I love it when an electronics engineer tries to explain how the brain works. Its basically correct indeed. When neurons fire more frequently (higher pulse width or higher pulse frequency) it's usually perceived as more urgent. And in general signals just get higher priority over others in your brain.
THANK YOU! Exactly what I asked for last week, and you did the complete experiment. Now I will do exactly the same! I gave you 3 thumbs up! (o well, maxing out on 1).
Lovely. Thanks clive. I run a couple of "night lights" in the bathroom and my hallway battery operated in order to not get killed by my cat and to see where I walk at night. I often wished that if possible, I would have a three-way switch. On, Off and "night light". So if you walk in the bathroom at night, you can see properly. Thought of a secondary circuit with an extra tiny lamp and whatnot. This would be neat. Now if only the manufacturers would stop overdriving the LEDs so mad.
If you fit in a 2-gang switch you can have one switching power and the other switching between full and nite-lite mode. Or given the tiny amount of current they use in nite-lite mode, just add a cap in parallel with the switch and have them dim when "off".
Good to see the idea checked out here, I like my LED cold. The difficult part for implementation is the fact that the capacitor cannot be installed into the lamp itself, it is going into the socket. And then the tricky part start.... remembering that you have installed a capacitor in there. Strange things could happen if you forget it. Same to say when putting a capacitor into light switches, better remember to remove it before you move out ✨
Also, I believe a lot of the camera-induced flicker would be gone if you put a simple grey filter ("neutral density") over its lens, perhaps a gel, reducing the light that reaches the sensor, forcing the camera to compensate by increasing the shutter times.
You could put a microwave sensor or PIR sensors relay O/P to short the capacitor out when its in a corridor or stairs landing to automatically dim the lamps when no one is detected. Soon as the PIR detects movement it returns to full brightness. Self dimming, energy saving lamps hmmm... even build it into the lamp itself.
..... We have a similar brain, Philips produce a 8W PIR LED. I modified two of them into night lights, replacing the warm LEDS with 8 blue in parallel. Just enough light to see in hallway and toilet but not waking the brain up in the middle of the night. They draw less than 2W and stand by unmeasurable.
@@robbieaussievic if sou dont wanna wake the brain then you did it wrong. Blue (and UV) is high energy light and will activate the brain cells fast. So does the blue old xenon and new led strobe light on policecars and other emergengy vehicles. Do it with a dark red and you'll be perfectly fine on your way to pee without waking the braincells.
The disco lamp you take out at about the 4:50 mark, I got one of those if you turn the lense slowly with your hand the LEDs light up (while it is not screwed in), the little motor works a a dynamo-generator.
Those things are (potentially) dangerous and would make many lamps flicker above legal limit (health hazard) and their drivers to overheat (fire hazard) But I bet that won't stop Chinese factories. Some seem to grab any idea they can find on the net and run with it.
They used to sell a thin disk you stuck in a lamp socket (edison style) that did just that back in the incandescent days. They had a thermistor type (bulb-miser) and a diode type(the button).
Many thanks for sharing all this knowledge to the world. Such a simple trick or hack that can make a big difference on controlling, not only the light output, but also saving our wallet from the dirty strategies of many manufacturers. Empower the people. Love light. Cheers from 🇵🇹
Thanks for all the work testing all these lamps Clive. I was thinking how you could get the capacitor in behind the lamp holder until you mentioned the light switch, totally overthought that one :D
PLOT TWIST: Clive forgot to record the sound on this video. He overdubbed it after and all the glass sounds are dead soldiers from Saturday night drinks 😁
That's strage, after I've seen your Dubai-Lamp-Test, I've got the same idea, to give my lamps a longer lifetime, And I thought, I don't want to convert them just to a nightlight, but to a longer lasting, but still at daytime usable lamp. I found a 1.8µF capacitor on my desk, and give it a try. Mostlyall the lamps I tested have reduced the power by roughly 2, I'm very happy with. Only one of my lightsources are extremely strobing, but here I have not expect, it is working at all. Also my desktop-magnifier, wgere I have replaced the old ringform fluorescen tube by a chinese LED-Ringlite, I only choose by the size, so it fits in, and I'm totally happy with, cause no flickering, much more brighness, super good CRI, and after all this stays cool after long time of use (only slightlyhand warm) is noz change anything, with that additiönal capacitor.
Kinda curious to see a comparison of light output for each, plus light output per watt consumed... Measuring lumens accurately is tricky, but even a cheap light meter for photography would allow for comparative analysis.
Fun fact: I just tried it on a Floodlight (20W from the German "Meister" brand) and it worked perfectly. I'm measuring effetive current with my Fluke. 95mA Without a capacitor -> 21W 59,5mA @ 1180nF -> 13,8W 54mA @ 940nF -> 12,5W 41mA @ 690nF -> 9,5W 33mA @ 470nF -> 7.5W 11,8mA @ 220nF -> 2.7W 4,6mA @ 68nF -> 1W Didn't test below that as 68nF is so low in brightness you can easily see the individual chips on the die, but it does still light and doesn't flicker. So in essence this also works with Floodlights/Worklights that tend to have somethat complex circuitry inside. Very interesting. The particular light's I've tested are completely sealed, making them unhackable and unservicable. If you can get at the pcb changing the current sense resistors is definitely the more elegant solution. I can't measure the power factor with my current test setup but it's not gonna be great.
The Wiz A21 1600 lumen bulb is $22 but if you dim it down to 800 lumens it only uses 5 watts which is really close to the efficiency of the Dubai bulbs. I’m installing them wherever I keep them on 24 hrs a day.
I’ve added a 1uF capacitor to my led garden string lights and the light is much more acceptable to the eye!! And saving money. Thankyou for your time and research Clive 👍
Casually drops a brilliant idea; light switches with a inbuild nightlight function. Yes a dimmer potentially does the same but this is so much simpler. And not just for home. Would be great for offices and schools and other buildings where it's desirable to not have it completely in darkness. Fun video, I agree.
I was expecting a full bulb rebuild, putting loads if filaments in one bulb. This was a pleasant surprise. I love the super easy hacks. Im halfway through a make a electric heater less eco nanny, IV done the reverse engussing (your content has helped greatly) tomorrow I do the deed and see it it blows up. Thanks uncle Clive 😀
That's why I'm always seeing these LED car lamps flickering in my rear view mirror. The Audi ones are the worst because they seem to contain a lot of blue which makes me think there's an emergency vehicle in my mirror. Should be illegal IMO.
That Lap 6 watt made a perfect strobe light. I have somewhere a light switch you were supposed to install for your porch light. It has on, off and flash. You are supposed to use flash if you ever have to call an ambulance. That way instead of slowing down to read house numbers the EMTs can just go to the house with the flashing porch light. The Lap 6 watt would be good for that (without the flashing light switch of course). Any other strobe light uses I can think of are on moving vehicles and those tend to be 12 or 24 volt.
When you mentioned light switches I thought you were going with something else. If you used a dual-gang light switch where both switches feed the same light, but one has a capacitor in series, you can have two brightness settings for your lights. If you used multi-gang and different values of capacitors you could even have several brightness settings depending on which switches and combination of switches you turned on.
I liked the idea of putting a tiny capacitor across the switch for night mode, but I'm thinking my insurers and landlord wouldn't be keen on switches that don't actually turn off. Anyone know a good make of three+ position light switch that would work for this?
@@marcforrester7738 You can buy grid switch modules that are 3 position (e.g. www.cef.co.uk/catalogue/products/506614-10a-3-position-switch-module-polar-white )
It's amazing how much light these LEDs put out. I put a dusk to dawn floodlight unit in my carport, I think the two bulbs draw about 12 watts but the place lights up like an operating theatre. Hopefully the elements aren't being overdriven and will last a few years.
3 года назад+4
I would like to see a tutorial on how to do an underrunning LED flashlight! :)
I think I commented on one of your videos a while ago that I mod all the LED lamps I buy to lower their power for ~30% and add thermal paste for better heatsinking. I've been doing this for years and none of the lamps I've modded has died yet (must be about 20 lamps by now). I like the normal heatsinked models with the switching regulator that are easy to mod. Take them apart, pull the power supply, replace the current sense resistor with one ~30% higher resistance, put it all back together with extra heatsink paste between the aluminum heat spreader and the case and between the LED PCB and the heat spreader. This makes them run a lot cooler and last a lot longer. For example I mod the 7-9W version to 5-5.5W. The version with the capacitive dropper isn't good for this as you then need to buy new capacitors, whereas resistors are dirt cheap and I have loads of them. Also this imitation filament style you're showing here is a lot less reliable than the normal style even if you would mod them (which is impossible as the base is cemented onto the glas, plus I HATE the way they flicker...
I remembered watching this ages ago. At the On the weekend my wife brought home a new light fitting and six vintage style led bulbs. Way too bright and the bulbs are too harsh to look at (clear glass, visible filament). Put 4 x 560nF in series. Total watts down from 42 to 15. Looks great. Thanks Clive.
This works in part because LEDs don't change colour when under-run in the way incandescent bulbs do. I had thought to achieve a similar outcome by adding a 200w 36v transformer with opposed secondary phase to reduce the voltage of an entire 5a fused lighting ring converted to led bulbs down to about 200vac.
LOVE the idea of an "On / Standby" switch yielding a full-time night light. I can already think of 3 fixtures I'd want to use it on. I might use safety capacitors though, 'cause I'm a wuss. 😁
This was a lot of fun! Not to mention that if I want to cut my already lowered LED lighting bill, or have a nightlight that will glow forever, I now know what two or three components to add. I was picturing the cap and resister built into a screw-in base that the LED bulb screws into. The bulb would just sit higher in the lamp.
I like the "night light" mode. Change the (bathroom) light switch for one extra SPST lever and one can completely turn a circuit off, have it in "night" mode or full on. Years ago - I added a diode so a normal incandescent lamp came on at half light (with a bit of flicker).
Would be nice to see an integrated E27/E14 adapter which include a capacitor (extra bonus for switchable capacitance). Any chinese manufacturer reading here ? 😉
I didnt buy into this until the comment about putting a small one across the switch so you get a night light when off and full bright when on. Thats genius!
Intrigued by the thought of getting a small amount of light from a silly amount of leccy I did a few experiments with the lamps in my spares bin. I got excellent results from a 5W GU10 lamp and a 0.1µF cap. Enough light to find my way around a room and zero power and current on the Hopi. Well done Clive - thanks for the tip. Then, ‘cos I can’t resist fiddling, I modified a desk lamp by putting the cap in series with a 100Ω across the on/off switch. Now I have full light when switched on and a night light when it’s switched off.
@@ericbraithwaite8497 nice result, worth the 'fiddle' then. LRC circuits + LEDs are very intriguing, especially when you realize that, technically, they harvest power from the past.
For a year or so I have done this with a number of lamps (as per your prior suggestion). I'm very pleased to get my desired light levels and save a bit of power. I tried your dimmer circuit too with the capacitor in parallel with the switch (desk lamp) but after a few months the switch started acting up...maybe arcing on the switch contacts? Possibly needs a current limit resistor but I didn't try it yet.
if i just run my dimmable lamps with the dimmer switch on half it's essentially the same efficiency and life gain, right? a smart product idea would be an inline e26 to e26 adapter that has the capacitor in a little plastic housing. call it a 'power saver' and sell them for cheap and you'd probably make a lot of moneys
I have so far found it impossible to dim it down far enough. They tend to start at (what feels like) 30-50% power minimum as most dimmers have a minimum hold current. So, for a big room with several bulbs it might be ok... but I personally question dimmers for low power applications as the efficiency of the system might suffer... also some might have that annoying buzzing sound. Works fine for kitchen but I would go ballistic if it was my home theater.
I did this with cheap analog timer switches, open them up and put 2 capacitors in it. The timer switch has a manual override, so by having 2 capacitors you can use either 1 cap or 2 in parallel, so you have 2 output options. So now you can plug a power cord of a lamp or other device in it. I like your idea as well though.
@@TheFreak111 I have an electromechanical timer where I removed the failed motor. Rather than keep it as a useless toy I think it will be more practical to copy your project and make a mini-dimmer.
Didn't watch it yet. I started it and then realised I want to save it up for a bit later before bed. Then felt alrogythm-guilt for stopping and closing the video after 4 Seconds, so I liked it straight away.
@@bigclivedotcom Lovely! I always get exited if a longer video comes out. I'm one of the weirdos who really enjoys your soothing voice. Big thanks for your work!
If you made up a PIR light with a continuous live feed via one of these capacitors, you could have low-level lighting that brightens up when you walk into the PIR's view & switches in full mains, useful for outdoor lighting where a nice glow is good looking, but with a brightening up feature to actually see where the trip hazard of doom is... :P
Nice idea. I had a front door light like that, obviously didn't work with LED and it broke last year. I suppose PIR needs to drive a relay which disconnects the capacitor when PIR detects motion (I.e light will get brighter)?
One capacitor could run three matched identical lamps, but it be better to use a capacitor per lamp mounted (and insulated) where the wires from the lamp are commoned.
If it is a single switch which just turns on all 3 at once kinda lamp, the lights are probably in parallel. That would mean you would need one of the values as seen in this video (or something in between), times 3. So for example a 1 uF capacitor.
I have tested this by installing a 1uF capacitor into the light switch. Early indication is promising! A bulb which was burning hot, too much to handle, after about 5 minutes in an unrestricted light socket was warm, slightly too warm to keep my fingers on for an extended period of time, after a couple of hours of being on in the dooby'd socket. I need to experiment to see if the actual light level has changed much
Also too I've found common LED bulbs detect reverse polarity on AC circuits because they will glow dimly when the switch is in off position! Test reverse polarity
Thanks Clive. This is brilliant. I've tried what you demonstrate on all my ceiling LEDs- GU10s, COBs, Filament etc. I've now converted every single light switch into a two way double so I have on/off + low/high brightness choice. It was fun playing around with the capacitor values to get the dimness right for the LED load and quantity in question. I don't have a lumen meter but I'd say switching in the capacitors as shown by you gave me 20-30% reduction in brightness
I discovered the hard way that my eyes like the warm white (or even cooler warm, whatever the name is) when I first made a COB LED lamp for my room. It felt very uncomfortable on the eyes. The same light output in warm? Perfectly fine.
I've lit the room I'm in using cheap 5050 LED strings, hung from the ceiling, attached to 1 meter lengths of extruded aluminium angle to help with heat dissipation, pointing towards the walls/shelves so the chips aren't immediately visible. However I put a strip of warm white LEDs next to cool white LEDs to get a nice even neutral combination of the two since I find their individual colours too harsh on their own. Powered from an old Xbox360 PSU, with remote I added :)
Same. Warm white COBs seem to be nicer in terms of colour rendition with less glare. I’ve also noticed that white LED numberplate lights make a slightly dusty yellow rear numberplate absolutely unreadable. Scattering is a problem. I had some older COBs that had very poor phosphor mix in them, very blue-white and dreadful CRI. I couldn’t tell the difference between a red wire and a brown wire. Not good.
I've got a system of each running independantly but I find I almost never use the cold white ones. I like running them on tabletop dimmers for maximum control. @IncertuseNescio That's because the body actually changes how it responds to the light. For instance, White/Blue light increases my nerve pain while warm white keeps me much more mellow. Which isn't much of a surprise considering the body will not even produce melatonin with the blue light about 2-2.5 hours before sleeping.
Very interesting test with useful results. A lot of patience involved, some good wine too 🙂. For electronic beginners who might try to reproduce the circuit, I believe, it would be worth noticing that capacitors need to be properly voltage rated, 400V for 230 electric network and 200V for 115V electric network.
I once used a two gang two way switch on one gang we had a diode so you could switch between full brightness and half and the other gang was used purely to switch the circuit on or off. Capacitors would be even better with these LED numbers. Maybe you could try that for a wee project?
That capacitor across the switch trick might work well with some sort of motion sensor in the housing. You could maintain some illumination, have the lights be visible, and make it less likely that you get a disoriented when the full power floods come on.
In your first report on the Dubai lamps you mentioned that their use had "pissed the architects off completely" which is music to any civil engineer's ears!
It's difficult to imitate the Dubai lamps cause they have a Genie inside each one.
I have ordered a genie from eBay to put in one.
@@bigclivedotcom Has your genie arrived? And more importantly, is it pink and a potential fire hazard?
@@bigclivedotcom Chinese genies don't work :)
Djinn do you mean...?
@@Ironic1950 Actually it's جني
Aww, and here I thought you'd crack a few overdriven ones to salvage LED strips and build an actual DIY Dubai lamp.
This is better because it can be done externally.
@@bigclivedotcom B-but we like the more intrusive hacks! Not least because they often mean story time with Uncle Clive, hahaha!
So did I, now I'm slightly disappointed we won't see a similar thing to erecting the masts within a bottle, but with led strips, tweezers and a soldering iron!
@@bigclivedotcom Damn, that sounds rude. 😱
@@josephking6515 chill bro, life isn't long we are here for a good time
Today I dubaied a standard lamp in my bedroom using a 220nF serial capacitor. Now it stays cool and still is bright enough.
Thanks a lot for this jolly good advise, big Clive!
My 5yo daughter loves sitting with me to watch your videos Clive. I always appreciate the flicker warning as she unfortunately suffers from photosensitive epilepsy. Bless your cotton socks for being so contentious as I imagine some listeners think you’re being a bit nanny like with your warnings.
Your next inebriated project should be concealing a cap and resistor in one of those ES/Bayonet adaptors
I would like to see this test repeated with a lumen meter to see output differences.
I agree, without that it's only flickery bulbs using less power. I've managed to do it without a lux meter, you can measure the efficiency curve of well-bonded LED chips via the heat output.
@@joshbowman874 A good chunk of my reasoning is the Dubai Lamps presumably have brightness comparable to the higher wattage LEDs and the original incandescents that we used for years and years. I get that we can under-power a lamp and both extend its life and reduce its current draw, but if we end up ganging lamps to make up for the reduced light and end up at the same power level again then we haven't really achieved much.
I can't deny that the Dubai Lamp idea is interesting, but only if the light output is sufficient to justify the extra cost. Obviously since North American residential lamps run on 120VAC service we can't simply import gray-market Dubai Lamps because they won't work in 120V fixtures, but if a true 120VAC version were developed that would have appeal, especially if it had longevity.
In my workshop I took a bunch of old candelabra-base nightlight lampsockets that were designed for up to 8W incandescent nightlight bulbs and stuck 4W or 6W LED bulbs in because I can have excellent nighttime safety lights without having to turn on the banks of 8' fluorescent fixtures if I'm just walking through. It would be lovely to reduce the power draw all that much further for places like that, like the entry to the house, like some exterior lights on the house, etc, to the point that it's almost no meaningful cost to keep these places illuminated 24/7.
@Robin Rastle I didn't measure at different temperatures because that increases the error (radiated heat losses). I could only measure the heat delivered to the heatsink, compared to a resistive load.
idle-spark.blogspot.com/2021/01/measuring-led-efficiency-on-cheap.html
Exactly my thought
@@TWX1138 Afraid not. The efficiency infact lowers at higher powers. Clive has covered this and again mentioned it in this particular video. If you watch the original you'll see that it's more too do with continual sales of lamps rather than effectivness and efficiency hence the Dubai lamp as example
It was about time for someone to point out the extreme stress on those chinese led bulbs... now instead of a couple of months operating at water-boiling temperatures until premature failure, those lamps can truly last for the advertised 10,000 hours. Thank you!
But where is the profit in that for those Chinese made bulbs? Those asians would talk up a dodgy sale on their own grandmother for a quick sale...
@Соломон Ртутный 😒 thats a dangerous experience..
•_•)
Emm, I make a dropper using a E27 Lamp Holder EU Plug..
I just adding a small MKT/Plastic Film Capacitor 224J 275V, and 1M Ohm resistor,
It's dropping 8-50w LED to 1w and dropping 1.6w-2w LED to 0.5-0.6w..
😒 Kinda following on what mr BigClive have done..
Here's the photo
drive.google.com/file/d/1CefVU79NKkFA_AT4sGrhQuHjTdrC-Kaa/view?usp=drivesdk
drive.google.com/file/d/1taGm7EsjM8-xtpNFOjrEoV0yKqcOVOdO/view?usp=drivesdk
The whole point of banning incandescent bulbs in Germany was that most of their power was consumed in heat rather than light. After the ban someone started selling them as heating devices that glow (instead of "light" bulbs).
@@JohnSmith-qq6wi it seems your xenophobia is showing. Might want to check on that.
When will someone invent a proper "night light" bulb? One that sucks ALL the light out of the room so you can sleep in complete darkness?
We need Dark Blubs! Dammit! ...the second best option is to just paint all with Vantablack.
You can have that, you'd just need to put CERN into your house.
I just want a surgical implant that makes my eyelids fully opaque.
Are you thinking of the "Dark Sucker Theory"? - totally odd-ball but highly interesting - web.mit.edu/kolya/misc/txt/dark_suckers
There are next to the reverse microwaves that cool food.
I had fun at work trying different LED lamps on our dimmers to see which ones were “compatible”. Capacitive dropper lamps can be dimmed quite well with trailing-edge dimmers, but they need to be hard-fired dimmers, and the control range is limited. Proper “dimmable” lamps vary considerably, and many take amps of inrush on each mains half-cycle on leading-edge dimming! Some detect the phase angle and set their output appropriately - these work especially well. “Dim to Warm” lamps are awesome, they’re bright white at full power and gradually get warmer as they’re dimmed down. They do this by mixing light from cool-white, warm-white and red LEDs.
An interesting follow up to this video would be to include lumens per watt for each capacitor/lamp combo to determine which is most efficient.
You can use the amorphous panels from solar garden lights as rudimentary light-level meters.
Simply slap a variable resistance across the solar cell and adjust that value until the output is say 1mV per lumen, which is more or less 1 candela - so you can use a candle with a ~1cm high flame, placed 30cm from the solar cell to do the calibration...
After that, so long as you maintain the 30cm distance from the light source - you can measure light output / brightness (more specifically the Lux value)
Note this does not work as well with poly / mono crystalline solar cells; as their output characteristics are not as linear as with amorphous cells!
Or you could use the light meter on your phone, I've asked a photographer, they're apparently about as good for point light measuring.
@@Vilvaran This will only measure the light output in _one_ direction, and says nothing about how well it spreads the light. In fact, a light source of equal luminosity but half the spread will measure as twice as bright.
@@tybofborg This only measures light _received_ not light output, so thought and consideration must be taken on how you *read* the output...
All in all it's a simple test-gadget for measuring light, there will be some compromise considering this is the top of a solar garden light!
Best bet is to factor in beam spread when measuring the light source - A "normal bulb" can be considered as 360 degrees and a COB led panel would be 180.
Your classic 5mm LED is typically 30 degrees beam spread - but can vary so it's a good idea to measure that too!
I can deduct that the phone app version of this would suffer the same issue - maybe worse as the software might try something 'smart' and faff the reading, or worse - 60Hz flicker may cause the reading to be all over the place... ( A major bonus of the solar panel based device is that a capacitor can completely eliminate any flicker error from the measurement!)
This video inspired me to Dooby a 8W LED-filament lamp (bought at the local Action store for 2.79 euro) into a 3W lamp. It has 4 filaments, so not as good as a true Dubai lamp. I put a 1.2uF (450V) capacitor in series and build the hack into an old wall adapter housing. The lamp gives enough light for my living and runs at 26 degrees C. Hopefully it will run for a very long time now. Thanks mister Clive!
Videos like this remind me, painfully, how much I miss Maplin.
They were hugely convenient for spontaneous component needs.
Very much the end of an era. Along with the demise of Tandy, possibly owing to the bitter fact that the customer base is disappearing - people are either not interested, or prefer to buy on line.
And devices being mostly SMD or having all the interesting stuff done inside a uC means there's less opportunity to repair, experiment or modify.
@@phils4634 You don't really save money by building things these days. At a car boot sale I picked up a frequency counter built from an uncased Tandy Kit. In the early 1980s the kit cost £40. Today you can buy a ready built one for the same price notwithstanding almost 40 years of inflation. It is a similar story with Synthesizers. Maplin published a magazine "Electronics and Music Maker" back when the likes of Vangelis were the only people who could afford to buy ready made ones.
@@MrDuncl In the 1970's Maplin did a complete synthesizer kit, I believe in conjunction with PW, and it was a challenging yet interesting build. VERY limited capability even by the standards of the day (polyphonic, but only just), and the overall cost of the components was pretty steep. Swapped mine (completed) for a secondhand "real" dual manual electric organ, that was a far better (and easier) keyboard instrument - Technics E33 I think - which was a pleasure to play, and which worked very reliably.
Clive - "Yes That Is Live, I'll Try Not To Touch It" 02:20 Then proceeds to caress it with his bare hands. 😆
Clive eats EU voltages for breakfast.
I winced and said "Jesus!" when he did that.
Likewise, then I noticed the transparent heatshrink round the resister :)
well... he tried.
Wait. This is BigClive, not ElectroBoom. 😆
Sees 0W
"Free energy, finally!!!"
It's pretty much as good as free.
@@bigclivedotcom Hopi say "too cheap to meter".
Untill they start taxing you by aparent power, not by real power.
@@bigclivedotcom Clive, do you think that it's possible that there's a limit to how much a household meter can measure? I mean it's not a lot of energy but if it was harvested into a capacitor bank then stepped up via a DC to DC boost converter, you can essentially build up enough energy to run lights off or charge a phone... I think the question is, at which point does the meter begin reading? It might be possible to design a circuit that takes a 240V pulse at microamps or nanoamps that the meter can't pick up, it's not much but stepped down in voltage you get some useable current... It's probably not practical but I like the idea of getting something for nothing! Like sourcing 90V from the home phone line LoL...
@@PeterMilanovski if you want free electicity why don't you use the telephone cable?
16:09 now sell that as an industrial beacon, no microcontroller needed!
Is it dim in real life or is the camera making it look weak
@@thepurdychannel8866 yes, true. Maybe a beacon for dim environments. ;-)
Bravo! Lovely series of measurements doing something that would not have occurred to me, simple, efficient and life extending. A good antidote to a lot of modern "disposable tech." Thank you for sharing!
didnt expect big clive to be teaching me how to make a doobie
I like how Clive says watch your eyes because he knows we're all just sitting in the dark watching his videos eating popcorn like a gremlin
I thought a doobie lamp was a hookah with a lamp shade on it.
"That's strobing at 1Hz-that is not ideal."
You see, the problem here is marketing.
"Automatic light that draws less than a hundredth of the power of similar, non-automated lights."
Introducing "The Mothbotherer"...
Your not wrong
Patagonian toothfish= eww chilean sea bass= yum politicians taking bribes= oh no
lobbying=ok
@@mrfluffytailthethird There's a great one you missed, and I expect there's a marketing guy/girl out there who only needs to have the following line on their CV.
"I got people to buy rape by calling it canola."
Haha I don't think that most people would see strobing at 1Hz as being a useful feature for an LED lamp!
I tried your experiment of underrunning LED bulbs and got some interesting results.
Here in the US the household voltage is 120 Volts AC.
I didn't have regular electronic capacitors so I used capacitors that were salvaged from broken oscillating fans. The capacitors are 4 uf and I put two of them in series to get 2 uf. They're rated at 250 Volts AC. That's all I had to work with.
Here's the results I got.
Globe LED for Life (Dollar General brand) 60 W/9.5W - Slightly dim at both 4 and 2 uf.
Sunbeam Warm White (Dollar Tree brand) 60W/9W - Slightly dim at both 4 and 2 uf
Great Value (Walmart brand) General Purpose 60W/9W with metal heat sink base - Bright at 4 uf, Flickered at 2 uf ( Note: these bulbs were from 2016)
Great Value (Walmart brand) General Purpose 60W/9W - Slightly dim at 4 and 2 uf (Note: These bulbs were from 2020/21)
Great Value (Walmart brand) Daylight 5000K 60W/9W - Slightly dim/bluish at 4 and 2 uf
Meijer General Purpose 60W/10W - Bright at 4 uf, Flickered at 2 uf.
Fantastic project, thank you for sharing it with us. I can't help feeling that you're going to be taken away in the night by big bulb for punching a hole in their planned obsolescence racket!
"While I tidy-up"... While I scoop the lot into a box so I can get on with the next thing. The box then joins the pile which can be excavated later by archaeology: If Clive's system is anything like mine :D
My wife says I'm a hoarder... I prefer the term "curator" :D
Is your stuff too in "chronological order"?
@@sleeptyper All my stuff is in boxes, all tidy, what is in the boxes? No bloody idea :-D lol It is all stuff I have collected and dare anyone throw it out!!!
Visitor: "You have no idea what is at the bottom of that pile!!!"
Me: "Yes I do... it's the first stuff I... *ahem* ...archived since I moved in here!"
@@Paxmax Yeah, that sounds right. First stuff put in the box before the move house! The stuff on top is what you see. :-))
I can see this video getting a million views before the year is out. I will certainly now be looking at new LED mains bulbs with an eye to extend their runtime through capacitors.
This would be a perfect moment for someone to create a bulb adapter (socket+capacitor+plug) just for this purpose, perhaps one with a 2 or more position switch to select different capacitors for different brightness levels.
Or, someone could resell Dubai lamps outside Dubai.
I do that all around my house. This is the way I dim bulbs. If I have double switch I connect one to series capacitor. So I have two settings of intensity. The downside is that the bulbs have to be identical in the lamp.
Oh shit, I’ve edited the comment to correct the misspelling and I’ve lost the ❤️ 🥲
Give this man his heart back Clive!
;((( hahaha
I did the exact same thing, but for different reasons. Built a 300nF capacitor into a socket. The somewhat recent trend to have naked fancy filament led bulbs I kinda liked, but I hated having to stare into an 8W LED all the time. So I had a rather nice T30 tube led underrun for aesthetic reasons. Oh and I did the same with a household fan so that I could run it at night without making sound, for the super hot days. Very gentle night breeze. It's really nice.
I've done that with fan motors myself. Much quieter when the full force isn't needed.
I kept waiting for this to be a surprise ElectroBOOM video.
Thanks for this video! After replacing the 1-gang living-room lightswitch with a 2-gang (1 for on-off and 1 for hi-low) and wiring the dropper capacitor from a broken light bulb in behind the switch, I am now able to dim the living room lights to a relaxing level but have full power back at the flick of a switch. Genius!
I've just done this too! And just for the price of a new switch and recycled cap...
Very interesting. Also means that if you want a cheap dimmer you could just use a selector switch and a couple of capacitors!
you earned yourself a dooby snack. i too am fond of underclocking light bulbs. i think light switches should all have a 'i want light yes plz' setting and a 'its 2am, dont wake me up too much geez' setting.
Cool video Clive does the leg work we can have the fun
You really need your own forum! Love to see what your community would get upto
11:26 "It fires an interrupt to your brain". I love it when an electronics engineer tries to explain how the brain works. Its basically correct indeed. When neurons fire more frequently (higher pulse width or higher pulse frequency) it's usually perceived as more urgent. And in general signals just get higher priority over others in your brain.
THANK YOU! Exactly what I asked for last week, and you did the complete experiment. Now I will do exactly the same! I gave you 3 thumbs up! (o well, maxing out on 1).
"yes that is live. i will try not to touch it" - famous last words
Excellent description of why flickering lamps grab the attention - with a flickering Hopi display in the field of view. :)
Lovely.
Thanks clive.
I run a couple of "night lights" in the bathroom and my hallway battery operated in order to not get killed by my cat and to see where I walk at night.
I often wished that if possible, I would have a three-way switch.
On, Off and "night light". So if you walk in the bathroom at night, you can see properly.
Thought of a secondary circuit with an extra tiny lamp and whatnot.
This would be neat.
Now if only the manufacturers would stop overdriving the LEDs so mad.
If you fit in a 2-gang switch you can have one switching power and the other switching between full and nite-lite mode. Or given the tiny amount of current they use in nite-lite mode, just add a cap in parallel with the switch and have them dim when "off".
Good to see the idea checked out here, I like my LED cold.
The difficult part for implementation is the fact that the capacitor cannot be installed into the lamp itself, it is going into the socket. And then the tricky part start.... remembering that you have installed a capacitor in there. Strange things could happen if you forget it. Same to say when putting a capacitor into light switches, better remember to remove it before you move out ✨
Also, I believe a lot of the camera-induced flicker would be gone if you put a simple grey filter ("neutral density") over its lens, perhaps a gel, reducing the light that reaches the sensor, forcing the camera to compensate by increasing the shutter times.
It would help, but I try to have as much intensity for the camera as possible to avoid compromising image quality.
@@bigclivedotcom I thought that's why you zoom in on the workbench...
You could put a microwave sensor or PIR sensors relay O/P to short the capacitor out when its in a corridor or stairs landing to automatically dim the lamps when no one is detected. Soon as the PIR detects movement it returns to full brightness. Self dimming, energy saving lamps hmmm... even build it into the lamp itself.
..... We have a similar brain, Philips produce a 8W PIR LED. I modified two of them into night lights, replacing the warm LEDS with 8 blue in parallel. Just enough light to see in hallway and toilet but not waking the brain up in the middle of the night. They draw less than 2W and stand by unmeasurable.
@@robbieaussievic if sou dont wanna wake the brain then you did it wrong. Blue (and UV) is high energy light and will activate the brain cells fast. So does the blue old xenon and new led strobe light on policecars and other emergengy vehicles.
Do it with a dark red and you'll be perfectly fine on your way to pee without waking the braincells.
@@robbieaussievic Cool :-)
From the Thumbnail I was expecting you to smash the bulbs and reconfigure the LED filaments!
same here
This is def missing! Would love to see this too!!
The disco lamp you take out at about the 4:50 mark, I got one of those if you turn the lense slowly with your hand the LEDs light up (while it is not screwed in), the little motor works a a dynamo-generator.
now 3d print an assembly to put between the lamp and holder boom product to sell "make your lamps last longer"
You forgot - and save on your bills
Those things are (potentially) dangerous and would make many lamps flicker above legal limit (health hazard) and their drivers to overheat (fire hazard)
But I bet that won't stop Chinese factories. Some seem to grab any idea they can find on the net and run with it.
They used to sell a thin disk you stuck in a lamp socket (edison style) that did just that back in the incandescent days. They had a thermistor type (bulb-miser) and a diode type(the button).
Many thanks for sharing all this knowledge to the world.
Such a simple trick or hack that can make a big difference on controlling, not only the light output, but also saving our wallet from the dirty strategies of many manufacturers.
Empower the people. Love light.
Cheers from 🇵🇹
Thanks for all the work testing all these lamps Clive. I was thinking how you could get the capacitor in behind the lamp holder until you mentioned the light switch, totally overthought that one :D
It does almost booby trap it for other people in the future though.
@@bigclivedotcom Only if you conveniently forget to remove it when you move house
@@Okurka. Much more sanitary than using chicken parts, which I’ve heard of as a bad tenant’s revenge for bad landlords.
Really loved the 1st part, I was thinking about the Dubai lamps all week, loved part 2 too.
PLOT TWIST: Clive forgot to record the sound on this video. He overdubbed it after and all the glass sounds are dead soldiers from Saturday night drinks 😁
That's strage, after I've seen your Dubai-Lamp-Test, I've got the same idea, to give my lamps a longer lifetime, And I thought, I don't want to convert them just to a nightlight, but to a longer lasting, but still at daytime usable lamp. I found a 1.8µF capacitor on my desk, and give it a try. Mostlyall the lamps I tested have reduced the power by roughly 2, I'm very happy with. Only one of my lightsources are extremely strobing, but here I have not expect, it is working at all. Also my desktop-magnifier, wgere I have replaced the old ringform fluorescen tube by a chinese LED-Ringlite, I only choose by the size, so it fits in, and I'm totally happy with, cause no flickering, much more brighness, super good CRI, and after all this stays cool after long time of use (only slightlyhand warm) is noz change anything, with that additiönal capacitor.
Kinda curious to see a comparison of light output for each, plus light output per watt consumed... Measuring lumens accurately is tricky, but even a cheap light meter for photography would allow for comparative analysis.
What's the point without measuring lumen output? If i don't plug them in they don't draw any watts.
I love the clinking of the glass bulbs as he moved them around
Clive talks about flickering lights drawing your attention away when the HOPI is going wild over there due to the shutter.
Fun fact: I just tried it on a Floodlight (20W from the German "Meister" brand) and it worked perfectly. I'm measuring effetive current with my Fluke.
95mA Without a capacitor -> 21W
59,5mA @ 1180nF -> 13,8W
54mA @ 940nF -> 12,5W
41mA @ 690nF -> 9,5W
33mA @ 470nF -> 7.5W
11,8mA @ 220nF -> 2.7W
4,6mA @ 68nF -> 1W
Didn't test below that as 68nF is so low in brightness you can easily see the individual chips on the die, but it does still light and doesn't flicker.
So in essence this also works with Floodlights/Worklights that tend to have somethat complex circuitry inside. Very interesting. The particular light's I've tested are completely sealed, making them unhackable and unservicable. If you can get at the pcb changing the current sense resistors is definitely the more elegant solution. I can't measure the power factor with my current test setup but it's not gonna be great.
The Wiz A21 1600 lumen bulb is $22 but if you dim it down to 800 lumens it only uses 5 watts which is really close to the efficiency of the Dubai bulbs. I’m installing them wherever I keep them on 24 hrs a day.
I love the clinking of the glass lamps in the background of bigclives voice!
"Built into humans and other animals" ... hah I approve of that way of thinking :)
I’ve added a 1uF capacitor to my led garden string lights and the light is much more acceptable to the eye!! And saving money. Thankyou for your time and research Clive 👍
You are always very precise in your explanations, and you have created a very nice community for yourself, I hope to succeed one day too.
Casually drops a brilliant idea; light switches with a inbuild nightlight function. Yes a dimmer potentially does the same but this is so much simpler. And not just for home. Would be great for offices and schools and other buildings where it's desirable to not have it completely in darkness. Fun video, I agree.
"Will it Dubai? That is the question" doo doo doo doo doooo doo do do do do doooo
led lamp dust - don't breathe this !
I was expecting a full bulb rebuild, putting loads if filaments in one bulb.
This was a pleasant surprise. I love the super easy hacks.
Im halfway through a make a electric heater less eco nanny, IV done the reverse engussing (your content has helped greatly) tomorrow I do the deed and see it it blows up.
Thanks uncle Clive 😀
That's why I'm always seeing these LED car lamps flickering in my rear view mirror. The Audi ones are the worst because they seem to contain a lot of blue which makes me think there's an emergency vehicle in my mirror. Should be illegal IMO.
You have not experienced badly alligned xenons then 😎
What about those new lazer headlights
@@thepurdychannel8866 Personaly I prefer the 130/90w sold as rally headlamp bulbs (try claiming you did not see me mwhaha)
@@johnmccallum8512 i seen thoe i have seen 100w hella rally bulbs
Desync between your vibrating rear view mirror and cars headlights. Turn your bass heavy music down lmao
A very good job and a great subject as usual! Thanks for what you do, Clive!
"Yes this is live, I'll try not to touch it" - Immediately touches the resistor that is also live in the circuit
Sleeved resistor in clear heatshrink.
That resistor appears to be sleeved in transparent heatshrink tubing.
That Lap 6 watt made a perfect strobe light.
I have somewhere a light switch you were supposed to install for your porch light.
It has on, off and flash.
You are supposed to use flash if you ever have to call an ambulance.
That way instead of slowing down to read house numbers the EMTs can just go to the house with the flashing porch light.
The Lap 6 watt would be good for that (without the flashing light switch of course).
Any other strobe light uses I can think of are on moving vehicles and those tend to be 12 or 24 volt.
When you mentioned light switches I thought you were going with something else. If you used a dual-gang light switch where both switches feed the same light, but one has a capacitor in series, you can have two brightness settings for your lights. If you used multi-gang and different values of capacitors you could even have several brightness settings depending on which switches and combination of switches you turned on.
And you could put a diode in one of the switches to activate party mode.
I liked the idea of putting a tiny capacitor across the switch for night mode, but I'm thinking my insurers and landlord wouldn't be keen on switches that don't actually turn off.
Anyone know a good make of three+ position light switch that would work for this?
@@marcforrester7738 You can buy grid switch modules that are 3 position (e.g. www.cef.co.uk/catalogue/products/506614-10a-3-position-switch-module-polar-white )
Oooo, modular DIY switch plates. That's perfect.
Excellent! We are going to need this tech to get our power bills down when energy shortages really kick in.
Have you done a video about capacitor classes? Might be a good compliment to this one.
Complement?
It's amazing how much light these LEDs put out. I put a dusk to dawn floodlight unit in my carport, I think the two bulbs draw about 12 watts but the place lights up like an operating theatre. Hopefully the elements aren't being overdriven and will last a few years.
I would like to see a tutorial on how to do an underrunning LED flashlight! :)
I think I commented on one of your videos a while ago that I mod all the LED lamps I buy to lower their power for ~30% and add thermal paste for better heatsinking. I've been doing this for years and none of the lamps I've modded has died yet (must be about 20 lamps by now). I like the normal heatsinked models with the switching regulator that are easy to mod. Take them apart, pull the power supply, replace the current sense resistor with one ~30% higher resistance, put it all back together with extra heatsink paste between the aluminum heat spreader and the case and between the LED PCB and the heat spreader. This makes them run a lot cooler and last a lot longer. For example I mod the 7-9W version to 5-5.5W.
The version with the capacitive dropper isn't good for this as you then need to buy new capacitors, whereas resistors are dirt cheap and I have loads of them. Also this imitation filament style you're showing here is a lot less reliable than the normal style even if you would mod them (which is impossible as the base is cemented onto the glas, plus I HATE the way they flicker...
The good ones don't flicker visibly. This mode allows the dropper cap to be added without opening lamps.
Have you done a teardown of a dimmable LED lamp? Id love to see a comparison to other non-dimmable cap dropper and electronic supplies.
I remembered watching this ages ago. At the On the weekend my wife brought home a new light fitting and six vintage style led bulbs. Way too bright and the bulbs are too harsh to look at (clear glass, visible filament). Put 4 x 560nF in series. Total watts down from 42 to 15. Looks great. Thanks Clive.
That thing with the switch would be great for a porch lamp.
This works in part because LEDs don't change colour when under-run in the way incandescent bulbs do. I had thought to achieve a similar outcome by adding a 200w 36v transformer with opposed secondary phase to reduce the voltage of an entire 5a fused lighting ring converted to led bulbs down to about 200vac.
LOVE the idea of an "On / Standby" switch yielding a full-time night light. I can already think of 3 fixtures I'd want to use it on. I might use safety capacitors though, 'cause I'm a wuss. 😁
same.
This was a lot of fun! Not to mention that if I want to cut my already lowered LED lighting bill, or have a nightlight that will glow forever, I now know what two or three components to add. I was picturing the cap and resister built into a screw-in base that the LED bulb screws into. The bulb would just sit higher in the lamp.
"This one draws zero Watts". See, the 'free energy' boys were right after all
The Hopi could not reg below 0.5 W. But did reg V & I So W=V*I all be it low W, but not zero. Pity !
I like the "night light" mode. Change the (bathroom) light switch for one extra SPST lever and one can completely turn a circuit off, have it in "night" mode or full on. Years ago - I added a diode so a normal incandescent lamp came on at half light (with a bit of flicker).
Would be nice to see an integrated E27/E14 adapter which include a capacitor (extra bonus for switchable capacitance). Any chinese manufacturer reading here ? 😉
Yes because so safe: It has EU sticker. So safe. You buy many now! Twenny Dorra.
I didnt buy into this until the comment about putting a small one across the switch so you get a night light when off and full bright when on. Thats genius!
"I can see clearly now, Clive's shown the way. It's gonna be a bright, oh, not so bright Dubai daaaay ..." ;)
Intrigued by the thought of getting a small amount of light from a silly amount of leccy I did a few experiments with the lamps in my spares bin. I got excellent results from a 5W GU10 lamp and a 0.1µF cap. Enough light to find my way around a room and zero power and current on the Hopi. Well done Clive - thanks for the tip. Then, ‘cos I can’t resist fiddling, I modified a desk lamp by putting the cap in series with a 100Ω across the on/off switch. Now I have full light when switched on and a night light when it’s switched off.
@@ericbraithwaite8497 nice result, worth the 'fiddle' then. LRC circuits + LEDs are very intriguing, especially when you realize that, technically, they harvest power from the past.
Thanks for the strobe warnings - as a photosensitive epileptic the "close your eyes/look away" warning is very welcome!
"That was good" - well said!
For a year or so I have done this with a number of lamps (as per your prior suggestion). I'm very pleased to get my desired light levels and save a bit of power. I tried your dimmer circuit too with the capacitor in parallel with the switch (desk lamp) but after a few months the switch started acting up...maybe arcing on the switch contacts? Possibly needs a current limit resistor but I didn't try it yet.
if i just run my dimmable lamps with the dimmer switch on half it's essentially the same efficiency and life gain, right? a smart product idea would be an inline e26 to e26 adapter that has the capacitor in a little plastic housing. call it a 'power saver' and sell them for cheap and you'd probably make a lot of moneys
I have so far found it impossible to dim it down far enough. They tend to start at (what feels like) 30-50% power minimum as most dimmers have a minimum hold current. So, for a big room with several bulbs it might be ok... but I personally question dimmers for low power applications as the efficiency of the system might suffer... also some might have that annoying buzzing sound. Works fine for kitchen but I would go ballistic if it was my home theater.
I did this with cheap analog timer switches, open them up and put 2 capacitors in it. The timer switch has a manual override, so by having 2 capacitors you can use either 1 cap or 2 in parallel, so you have 2 output options. So now you can plug a power cord of a lamp or other device in it. I like your idea as well though.
@@TheFreak111 I have an electromechanical timer where I removed the failed motor. Rather than keep it as a useless toy I think it will be more practical to copy your project and make a mini-dimmer.
Dimmers don't generally add simple capacitors though, they use variable resistors or pulse the power supply.
@@marcforrester7738 i know; but the end result is reducing the average amperage flowing thru the LED the same, no?
Didn't watch it yet. I started it and then realised I want to save it up for a bit later before bed.
Then felt alrogythm-guilt for stopping and closing the video after 4 Seconds, so I liked it straight away.
It's a good bedtime video
@@bigclivedotcom Lovely! I always get exited if a longer video comes out.
I'm one of the weirdos who really enjoys your soothing voice.
Big thanks for your work!
@@juweinert He's the Bob Ross of electronics.
If you made up a PIR light with a continuous live feed via one of these capacitors, you could have low-level lighting that brightens up when you walk into the PIR's view & switches in full mains, useful for outdoor lighting where a nice glow is good looking, but with a brightening up feature to actually see where the trip hazard of doom is... :P
Nice idea. I had a front door light like that, obviously didn't work with LED and it broke last year. I suppose PIR needs to drive a relay which disconnects the capacitor when PIR detects motion (I.e light will get brighter)?
You have no idea how happy I am to see this video right now.
If I was to do this on a 3 bulb fitting would I need to use 3 capacitors or is there a way I could use a different value capacitor to run all?
One capacitor could run three matched identical lamps, but it be better to use a capacitor per lamp mounted (and insulated) where the wires from the lamp are commoned.
If it is a single switch which just turns on all 3 at once kinda lamp, the lights are probably in parallel. That would mean you would need one of the values as seen in this video (or something in between), times 3. So for example a 1 uF capacitor.
thanks!
I have tested this by installing a 1uF capacitor into the light switch. Early indication is promising! A bulb which was burning hot, too much to handle, after about 5 minutes in an unrestricted light socket was warm, slightly too warm to keep my fingers on for an extended period of time, after a couple of hours of being on in the dooby'd socket. I need to experiment to see if the actual light level has changed much
I expected to see the envelope removed, capacitors replaced and extra filaments added to REALLY make your own Dubai lamp. Future video perhaps?
It's a sealed glass globe in many instances, so would require cutting the glass.
@@bigclivedotcom That didn't sound like a definite no :D
m8 these lightbulbs have driven you absolutely bananas
Who else was thinking "Doobie lamp? You put your weed in there?" LOL!
Excellent! Being off grid solar in America, efficiency is king! I don't use light much but I still value every microwatt.
Also too, using mfg circuits debilitating unless I build my own circuit designs
Also too I've found common LED bulbs detect reverse polarity on AC circuits because they will glow dimly when the switch is in off position! Test reverse polarity
"That was good." So sayeth Clive, cleric of the circuit.
Thanks Clive. This is brilliant. I've tried what you demonstrate on all my ceiling LEDs- GU10s, COBs, Filament etc. I've now converted every single light switch into a two way double so I have on/off + low/high brightness choice. It was fun playing around with the capacitor values to get the dimness right for the LED load and quantity in question. I don't have a lumen meter but I'd say switching in the capacitors as shown by you gave me 20-30% reduction in brightness
I discovered the hard way that my eyes like the warm white (or even cooler warm, whatever the name is) when I first made a COB LED lamp for my room. It felt very uncomfortable on the eyes. The same light output in warm? Perfectly fine.
I've lit the room I'm in using cheap 5050 LED strings, hung from the ceiling, attached to 1 meter lengths of extruded aluminium angle to help with heat dissipation, pointing towards the walls/shelves so the chips aren't immediately visible.
However I put a strip of warm white LEDs next to cool white LEDs to get a nice even neutral combination of the two since I find their individual colours too harsh on their own. Powered from an old Xbox360 PSU, with remote I added :)
Same. Warm white COBs seem to be nicer in terms of colour rendition with less glare. I’ve also noticed that white LED numberplate lights make a slightly dusty yellow rear numberplate absolutely unreadable. Scattering is a problem.
I had some older COBs that had very poor phosphor mix in them, very blue-white and dreadful CRI. I couldn’t tell the difference between a red wire and a brown wire. Not good.
@@licensetodrive9930 nice, I’ve got an overhead bench lamp and I used two each of warm and cool white for 200w total. It works out well.
I've got a system of each running independantly but I find I almost never use the cold white ones. I like running them on tabletop dimmers for maximum control.
@IncertuseNescio That's because the body actually changes how it responds to the light. For instance, White/Blue light increases my nerve pain while warm white keeps me much more mellow. Which isn't much of a surprise considering the body will not even produce melatonin with the blue light about 2-2.5 hours before sleeping.
@@johnpossum556 this is why I like the “night shift” setting on my phone. The blue light is atrocious for sleep.
Very interesting test with useful results. A lot of patience involved, some good wine too 🙂. For electronic beginners who might try to reproduce the circuit, I believe, it would be worth noticing that capacitors need to be properly voltage rated, 400V for 230 electric network and 200V for 115V electric network.
I once used a two gang two way switch on one gang we had a diode so you could switch between full brightness and half and the other gang was used purely to switch the circuit on or off.
Capacitors would be even better with these LED numbers. Maybe you could try that for a wee project?
I was thinking along similar lines. Maybe swap a single gang switch for a 3-gang, then each extra switch could add in another series capacitor?
That capacitor across the switch trick might work well with some sort of motion sensor in the housing. You could maintain some illumination, have the lights be visible, and make it less likely that you get a disoriented when the full power floods come on.