One of the factors that allows lamps like this to operate in an enclosed fixture is that the chip will self regulate the current if it starts getting too hot. If you put it on a power monitoring plug you may see it start to creep down after it's been on a while. It's a clever trick, since they light at full intensity instantly, but then creep back imperceivably . It looks like a nice lamp.
I have a bunch of lights that feature the exact same outer shell, but the inside is different. I know this because one of them failed yesterday, the first one in almost 2 years. It was also the only lamp I've ever seen fail while on. It was on and it just turned off uncerimoniously. Looks like the switchmode power supply failed, because the LEDs flash on for an instant when powered. I think I'm gonna try to salvage it by switching the power supply for a capacitive dropper.
Well, if anyone wants an update... I did build a capacitive dropper with the capacitors I scavenged from the original PSU, but the damn thing still won't light up. The capacitive dropper works. At least I know the smoothing electrolytic is being charged with a very high voltage - and yes, I found that out in the traditional fashion. One thing I noticed is that if I touch one of the input leads with my soldering iron some of the LEDs do light up. I don't read continuity on the LED board input. I can't see the tracks, but the board has 12 LEDs and it says '9V' on it so I'm thinking 4 series of 3, it would be very unlikely that all of them blew a chip at the same time. I'm thinking burnt track? Does anyone have other ideas?
I have some of the poundland bulbs you reviewed a while back and I did notice after a few hours the corners in my room looked a little dark and now I know why thanks.
Thanks so much for posting this. I broke a compact fluorescent bulb last week, thought about the mercury in it, thought about my grandkids, and decided to replace all my CFLs with LEDS. I saw your video last night, and went to my local Dollar Tree here in Morgantown, WV where I was delighted to find them in stock. They were such a good deal I bought 40!
Been running two of these bulbs outside 24/7 for a year now with no problems other than UV rays are yellowing the plastic dome!Yes I have them exposed to the all the weather conditions they have tripped the GFCI once not bad for a 2 bulb ceiling future out of the kitchen I hooked a 50ft cord and it is a great way to put lighting items threw hell 🤙🤙❗Of course I had to break down a new one cause no failures of this sunbeam led bulbs and there in all the light fixtures in my house.most are sealed I figure those will fail first. I put sunbeams led bulbs in my house 2 months ago so far no failures. But for a $1 there GOOD.
Thanks for doing this review. It is obvious that you have technical knowledge and you are able to convey information in an informative way that helps viewers make a decision about whether or not this product is a good choice or not.
I'll tell you man, people will thumbs down for the stupidest reasons. How could anyone thumbs down this video? You broke down every part of this bulb to show exactly what components it has. Those 63 people that thumbs down the video must either be racists against the Chinese and their sweat shop factories or just don't like Sunbeam, but how is that your fault? You deliver great content and you explained everything very well. Don't worry about the 63 haters, they simply and clearly have adapted to the culture of Idiocracy.
Tungsten filaments actually tend to stretch and mangle when hot, break when cold. Aircraft accidents have been solved this way, based on what the filament in the bulb looked like after impact (low fuel light on, etc). In my personal experience, filaments more often strech out and tangle, welding to themselves in a shorter current path resulting in less resistance, drawing more power and becoming brighter. Sometimes the path is so short they blow instantly, but very often with light drops, they become brighter and then fail prematurely later down the road. More than one time, the extra heat from the now more powerful bulb has damaged the fixture the bulb was in. . Also, the body of this bulb, like all others I have seen so far, is likely painted aluminum, not plastic. I thought they were all plastic, too, until I started cutting them for post-mortem investigation. It explains why there is so much heat available to the touch in what we thought was "plastic". . I'm also in Portland, and picked up a bunch of 800lm Sunbeams from the dollar tree on Foster, with the dutch brothers. I had seen your BigCliveoid teardown of the Globe Lighting unit (th-cam.com/video/g8bGdM-Y_is/w-d-xo.html), though hadn't seen this one until after I did a writeup (facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10156538900872704.1073741833.512027703&type=3) on the "same" sunbeam. Mine is different, the bridge is on the board with the lights, as well as the cap, which is kept entirely reflective. I'm assuming this is to avoid absorbing light.
Outstanding Review of the $1 Dollar Tree LED bulb. I just discovered these about 2 months ago. You cant go wrong with these cost effective, energy efficient LED bulbs.
I use a light to fumble around when arc welding (don't have an auto-helmet) and incandescents don't last long; keep getting holes burned in the glass by hot metal. LEDs might last longer. But you can't use an LED as an oven light.
Doesn't make much sense. If your shop has water splashing around then either type of bulb should be behind a globe or panel with a waterproof gasket, unless you like having the bulb base corrode into the socket at the very least, and unless the LED bulb is rated waterproof for outdoor use, possibly frying it out too.
It makes sense if you have a trouble light and you're working on a wet car. The lamp doesn't really get wet, but there's always a chance that water will drip at just the right angle to fall on the bulb.
Stinky Cheese I use a led in my drop light at work And perfect conditions do not prevail in the field Pipe fitter by trade so having a bulb now that doesn't burst when water hits it is a plus as well not breaking when dropped
it also destroys your melotonin production,and that gives you cancer and low testosterone leds are very,very,toxic blue light blue light dangers extreme health radio www.oneradionetwork.com only stetzler electric non blue light bulbs dr jack kruse leds are for suckers
I bought several of these from the local dollar tree and I'm really impressed at how naturally bright they are! Replaced 5 in each bathroom and now I may get a better shave. I had 4 clear 40 watts in front of the mirror but was always missing an unshaved spot but now its like the burning bush bright in there... reminding me how much i need to clean the mirror but only burning 36 watts total is a great bargain. Thanks for the GREAT video!!!, I was about to pop open an extra until I found your internal video. I'm no electrician like yourself but can follow a bit of what you say thanks to my school kid Radio Shack Electro-Set. Thanks again, keep em coming please. Ciao.
Sunbeam is an ancient brand Name, 107 years old. Today in 2017 the name is owned by Newell Brands, NYSE ticker NWL. Newell bought Jarden in 2016. Jarden bought American Household in 2005 that was rise from the ashes bankrupt old Sunbeam of 2002. From 1997 to 2001 Chain saw Al Dunlop cooked the books in Sunbeam and it went into chapter 11 in 2001. After WW2 Sunbeam used their products name as the company name ie Sunbeam Corporation. The incorporated company back to 1897 was Chicago Flexible Shaft Company in Chicago, before that to 1893 it was not incorporated. The electric iron for clothes was in 1910 as the new sunbeam brand by Chicago Flexible Shaft Company. Today a brand like Sunbeam, Bell and Howell or Kodak or Polaroid has a worth to hawk goods to older folks whether the item is sunglasses, diapers, hearing aid batteries, flashlights, earphones or lightbulbs. Folks buy the stuff that is made in China but has an old brand name so they somehow connect that it is worth more. :) Thus one has tactical flashlights and sunglasses by Bell and Howell, eyeglass repair kits, hearing aid batteries by Kodak, 3.5mm jacked earphone at Walgreens by Polaroid, lightbulbs by Sunbeam. Polaroid brand AA batteries were around too. Kodak made earphones, a bluetooth speaker, SD cards. USB thumb drives. Kodak even had 5 1/4 floppies disks in yellow boxes in the IBM XT/AT era, then Yellow 3.5 inch floppies too. The real fear is will a Polaroid Webster connect to a iPhone 8 with a Kodak cable? :)
Sunbeam is also a well recognised old brand in Australia...the Australian arm not affiliated with the US branch but through some ancient licensing it uses the same brand font. In Australia the company makes a whole range of small kitchen appliances. They were once almost all made in Australia but, like the US, much of the stuff comes from China now.
Yep, it is a dog breakfast with the Sunbeam name. Newell licenses the use of the name to several companies. Sunbeam light bulbs and Sunbeam batteries are imported by two different companies here in Canada, the same as two different companies in the USA. All products made by the "CHI NAH company". :-)
Sunbeam is owned by a massive outfit that owns Rubbermaid, Oster, Parker, Papermate, Rotring, and Waterman pens, Rexair Rainbow vacuum cleaners, Yankee Candles, Coleman camping equipment, Shakespeare fishing equipment, Spaulding sports equipment, Bicycle and Bee playing cards, and heaven knows what else.
And probably anything else that is not nailed down. Yep, these big companies buy up the little companies for the names. And then they license off the usage of the names. here in Canada the Sunbeam name is licensed to several companies; one for light bulbs, one for batteries, and a couple for appliances. You need a list of who owns what today.
Thanks for the teardown. Always wondered how these work. Best part for me was to put one of these bulbs in my shop light, seems durable enough. God knows it gets bounced around enough.
I purchased one of these recently and was surprised at how well it's holding up and it puts out great light. I also am using it in an enclosed fixture in a higher-humidity environment (bathroom). I also have used Great Value bulbs without a problem, but these Sunbeams for $1 have been surprisingly good.
Because of your video I bought two and have already put one to use outside for our yard light. It works great! Thanks for doing such an in depth review! :)
Really enjoyed your teardown and review of these bulbs. I had purchased 2 of these Sunbeam bulbs at Dollar Tree last week and liked them so 2 days later I went back for more and of course they were all gone. But in their place I found 2 packs of dimmable LED bulbs for a dollar. The color and light output of these seem similar to the sunbeam bulbs.
Very nice review and tear down. You hit on the most important points that many reviewers miss. Most bulbs fail to live up to their rated life due to under-engineered power supplies and/or over stressed LEDs. This bulb seems better than most in both areas. I would suggest you test more of the popular bulbs from Amazon and places like Lowes and Home Depot. Dollar Tree is very random in what they carry month to month and some areas don't even have a Dollar Tree. Basically anyone finding this review in a few months probably will have a hard time finding the same bulb which makes your review a lot less useful.
Huh? A large # of series LEDs is now the norm for inexpensive LED bulbs, and it would be hard to under-engineer a supply more than this one does. Nay, impossible to engineer any less than this unless you just slapped a diode in series, lol.
Thank you! I recently began switching to these exact bulbs and wanted to know if they actually only used 9 watts. Seems they only actually use 7-8. I found another one at dollar tree that said it only used 8 instead of 9 and they have a two pack 100 watt equivalent for a buck that say they use 14.5 watts.
I've used these before and I think the only reason they sell them at "dollar stores" is the simple fact that they are just not bright enough for normal use. The 100 watt version of this bulb, which you can't get at dollar tree, is perfect for most uses. Of course this bulb works well in "mood lighting" situations and it is ONLY a dollar. Great video, by the way. I always wondered what was inside these things. I think they are worth the price.
Except you are forgetting something very important. A teardown can definitively tell you how it's designed, but it is only speculation that the low part count will lead to long life. I do not feel that this is a safe bet due to the controller chip sitting on line voltage and subject to power surge damage.
Unfortunally the review is about one properly build bulb. The price is subsidised. There is a lot of real junk out there. But good to know you can buy this brand.
It's interesting that your cheap "dollar stores" in the US can supply LED bulbs at such a low price. The closest thing in Australia would probably run to about AU$3 (about USD2.60). I suppose it's because you have such a vast market with huge economies of scale. The same component set up is used in cheaper LED bulbs here which can either be of the Edison screw type so common in the US or, more likely, the English-style B22 bayonet fitting. The big difference is in the voltage. Aussie voltage is around 240v standard for all power outlets and lighting. European 220v stuff will run here but not (obviously) US 110v stuff. The higher voltage necessitates a different capacitor and resistor series in the bulbs which, I suppose, inflates the price a bit. The best use for these bulbs apart from standard lighting applications is in situations where you need impact and vibration resistance. The lights on power garage door motors used to have to be "high vibration resistance" incandescent bulbs but now with the advent of LED bulbs you can use a cheap LED bulb without any trouble at all.
Dollar Tree and Dollar General instead of Poundland and Poundworld, a few less wounds from carelessness on the hands, no accent, and a bit less commentary/jokes.
I've used this for a few years now to replace all the incandescent and CFL bulbs in my home. The only one I have had go out so far is in my bedside lamp, and that gets turned on and off several time a day, and left on for several hours in the evening. Otherwise, I have not yet changed any others. Well worth the small price tag.
Sunbeam still makes some good stuff such as their alkaline batteries which can be found at Dollar Tree. They're good for remote controls and other devices which don't use much power.
Really enjoyed your breakdown. Never thought about taking one apart. I had found this Sunbeam bulb at DollarTree, but never used it because all my bulbs were CFL. However, CFL bulbs are dangerous in other ways other than dropping them. I was looking for the best way to dispose of CFL bulbs when I came across a website that was hosting the youtube video on the dangers of emissions FROM CFLs. Since we are a family of reactions to strange substances, emissions, chemicals and allergies, I decided not to take any chances with the CFLs, and replaced them with LEDs. That done, it makes me wonder whether other fluorescent lights are spewing out emissions??
Just grabbed one of these the other day for S&G, and the damn thing flickers. Just sort of randomly ticks up or down a touch in brightness(usually flicking low). IIDK if anyone else has experinced this, or i got what i paid for(hey, its a $1 bulb, im not exactly heart broken), but something to be aware of I guess. With how simple they are on the inside, i wonder if its just a bad solder or a crappy cap.... looks like im gonna have to open mine now too...
I will pick up a few if I can find them. Seems to be ok quality. Thanks for the tear down and review and your personal opinion are appreciated. Cheers mate!
I checked after your last video in VA and they didn't have them. Then after you said they were subsidized I figured they wouldn't have the sunbeam ones either. I just happen to be out tonight and passed a dollar tree, they had 2 large boxes full of bulbs, picked up 4 for my office.
Just bought a couple cases of these bulbs. Unfortunately I won't be able to use them. We have an on-demand hot water heater here and these bulbs flicker really bad when the heater is on. We have several other brands of led bulbs and those are immune to the flicker. Something to keep in mind if you're planning on buying some of these.
I found these LED bulbs in one of my local dollar tree stores, and I grabbed the three or four that were on the shelf. Haven't seen them since. That was sometime in 2016 or early 2017. Good bulb. I am on the East coast/New England. I would grab more if they were ever back on the shelves.
I found the same with the Luminus LED bulbs sold by the dollar stores in Canada. Ours are more like 3.00 here as there is no subsidy on them but for 3 bucks I found they work great. The luminus bulb has a full metal base as it's heat sink with a plastic insert inside that holds the inverter board. I did a tear down of 2 on my channel, but didn't destroy the base as I intend to put mind in a long term test and see how they hold up.
I've never disassembled a light bulb before this was honestly VERY informative to me, thanks! So I could take apart a bunch of these bulbs and wire the circuit boards together (bypassing the bulb fixture, straight to power cord) to make one big ass light?
I bought about 12 of these a few months ago and have had 3 fail. All failures were in open fixtures and not related to heat. The interesting thing is that only one of the failed bulbs is like the one described here. The other two have a buck switching regulator circuit instead of the series regulator. I haven't found any difference on the bulb or box markings between the two types of regulators. The switching regulator bulbs both failed with open LEDs. The series regulator bulb started working after disassembly so it might have been a bad connection to the base. The switching regulator bulbs have fewer LEDs so are probably driving them at higher current.
I have several of these bulbs and I love them. They have a good light color. I share your view about the opaque neck of these LED bulbs. I have noticed some lower wattage, higher priced bulbs don't have this opaque neck. Perhaps the future holds some improvement with this issue, on all LED bulbs. In general LED bulbs tend to weigh more than traditional bulbs. As much as I like LED bulbs I feel that regular bulbs will be around for some time for special uses such as oven lights and low wattage applications such as decorative lighting. Thanks for a well made informative video.
Opague neck doesn't matter. 1) Behind it is the metal that would block light anyway, where it not for... 2) The LEDs are pointed upward and the interior of the globe is not metalized to reflect any light the other direction, only diffuse it and protect the high voltage from contact with the outside world, and pointed upward on a (metal) mPCB that light won't shine through either. The LEDs would need elevated and rotated 90' to achieve significantly better beam width.
Adrian please post the description on the chip and the values of the cap. I guess it would be possible to make the chip compatible with a dimmer and maybe in the next iterations of the chip they include power factor correction too.
I am in the UK and i bought LED bulbs for the ceiling lights in my bedroom and lounge to replace CFLs. Without taking them apart, they look identical on the outside (large Edison screw, same shape and colour). They cost £1.09 each so similar price. I wonder if they are the same inside with the LEDs and BP chip. I suspect not since UK mains is 240V (sometimes can be as high as 255V in my area depending on load and time of day). Probably made by the same Chinese factory as your one though.
I have not pulled one of those apart to check it yet, but I did one of their Sunbeam 9.5 watt bulbs and that one has 8 LED's at 24 volts each, I didn't check the current draw yet.
Nice! I had no idea that there was $1 led bulbs out there. The cheapest in my area that I could find was $5 a bulb. Now people don't have excuses to not make the switch and start saving on electricity. Totally affordable.
Thanks for this review. I was wondering about the quality of these bulbs. Everyone once in a while dollar tree has a 10% off coupon (I think it might be a 10 dollar minimum) makes it really worth it to pick up a few of these if no other brands are on promo. Thank again!
I have bought them before and they are the only ones i use. I also notice that the light output is brighter than cfs bulbs. I can use the 40 watt equivalent led bulb to replace a 60 watt equivalent cfs
The ironic thing about energy company saving programs is they work so well they land up raising your electric rates 3 times a year to make up for the drop in profits. So yeah, well worth it!.....(insert sarcasm here)
Oh wow! Something I actually have! Though up here in Canada I bought it from Dollarama. Its been going almost non-stop for 4 months now, and I like that it looks a little brighter and the color temp makes it a little whiter then the incandecents or CFL's I've bought before from Sunbeam. Though I believe they sell them for 2 Dollar in Dollarama here in Canada.
They're available in the dollar trees I've visited along the east coast in my recent road trip and most of them seem to have them. Cant imagine that every single one of those states were subsidizing the bulbs. Might be a loss leader/over stock from elsewhere+subsidies in certain states to help a bit more.
I'll have to keep my eyes open here in S.C. next time I go to Dollar Tree, and see if they have any of these to replace the last remaining CFL's in my RV, and a few shop lights.
I just picked one up out of curiosity, and noticed that they stopped using the silicone. It's also way lighter than my GE bulbs. The GE bulbs are about 20% more expensive but have better thermal transfer.
Here in Pittsburgh area not available it's just a dollar great. I wonder if cold winter weather out on porch will pop it like them merc" bulbs ? Sunbeam bulbs I been using. That fcc rating for RF noise is nice they at least tell operators about it's RF cool.
I took one apart like you did...curious. googled the chip part number and this video came up! The "fuse" you mentioned is a 10 ohm resistor. Great video though, saved me some testing time!
Just had one of these fail, but it was apparently a slightly different design, similar circuit, but single PCB with a surface mount cap. One of the LED packages died internally, so I bridged it out and the bulb works again. I also think the version I have uses two chips per LED package.
Thanks for showing this. I am not going to waste a bulb by tearing it down. Did you rebuild the bulb afterwards & is that a capacitor or the board ? I admit to knowing little about electronics. I was a mechanical assembler once.
I have to wonder about your assumption that the cap will stay cool back there. If the case is metal with no ventilation, it's pretty safe to assume that the air inside is at the same temperature as the metal case, which gets pretty warm. It's also going to be experiencing a fair bit of ripple, seeing as it's just rectified straight from the mains. I'd say the reliability of the whole thing will be set by how hot the case actually gets, and how good the cap is. Since there's no inductor there, there's a bit of a tradeoff. Lower ESR caps would generally be better, but they'll also charge a lot faster, meaning more ripple current. could that "fuse" actually be an inductor?
I've wondered for a long time why these LED bulbs do not have some sort of vents to disperse heat. I bought some cheap bulbs, and have been drilling vents into the bases. They're used 6 hours a day and are currently 6 years old
Looked for these at a "Portland Area" dollar tree this weekend - they didn't have anything resembling a lightbulb anywhere in the store! Lowes had some 2700k 9W ones for $9 for 8 bulbs, so pretty close.
these bulbs are awesome I replaced all my bulbs and my house with the energy efficient ones and also had been very surprised how bright they are. there is one conception they do not last they do fizzle out within a month or two. but my light bill has went from almost 200 something dollars to about 110 which is amazing. So I think these bulbs are the best
Just found this after watching your Greenlite video. As I said there about these Sunbeams, I've put two in some enclosed ceiling lights in a stairwell where they have burned 24/7 for a month or so with no apparent issue. I put an early generation Sylvania ($10) in one of these lamps four plus years ago and while it didn't fail, it dimmed greatly and went down in color quality. The technology has really matured in the past few years. Personally like the slightly crisper, halogen like 3000K as apposed to 2700K. Of these, I found some branded Hyperikon which I consider best. They claim a CRI (color rendition index) of 92 and have very low flicker, but they are several times the price of these on Amazon and are not for fully enclosed use.
I purchased these same Sunbeam bulbs in Dollar Tree in New Jersey. When I used one in the living room, I noticed that it would briefly dim when the refrigerator compressor in the kitchen - or some other appliance it turned on. I switched back to a CFL bulb for the living room and the dimming is much less noticeable. Good for other locations though. Great for the price and in another dollar store I got a two pack for a dollar!
You should check your wiring for hot spots or bad connections. Maybe use a thermal camera. A light that dims when a small motor starts on another circuit tells me that there is a supply problem. If you have any aluminum wires check for a voltage drop across the connections while under load, they may need cleaning and re-doping. My outlets were doing weird things and finally some quit, no air conditioner or outside outlets. I could live with that but when the computer outlet quit, well... When I checked the breaker box I found when it was installed they didn't strip the wires, just stuck them in and expected the screws to bite through the insulation. After I clipped the burnt ends off, stripped and installed them correctly everything works. I also replaced the outlets with proper screw terminal ones instead of those push in crap. I only have a 30A 120V main and with the washer running then the fridge kicks on the lights won't dim and the computer and TV don't cut out like they did before the fix.
Thanks for the tips. Like you, I always use the screw terminals when replacing an outlet. Wish I had a thermal camera for testing! As for the dimming light, I assumed that dimming (or flickering) is more noticeable on LEDs than other bulb types when the voltage drop occurs. I'll have to do more research. I do have copper wiring - so that's good.
These are very peak voltage sensitive. The electronic ballast ones probably won't dim at all. It's a little scary that a voltage spike can go right through the capacitor, so it might blow them up.
I’m going to check my local dollar tree for these bulbs. I put LED bulbs in my outside light fixtures last year and have been very happy with them. I use to use those crappy CFL bulbs but I’m done with them. They were costly and they contain mercury.
Very good tear down and analysis. Have you done any analysis of LED bulb life? I've been keeping track of the life of all of the screw-in LED bulbs in use in my home since I started using them in January of 2017. I didn't replace all the bulbs in the house, just replaced the existing bulbs as they failed. So far, the average life is about 26.75 months. No where near the 15-20 years of advertised life!. I'm sure the LEDs in all the bulbs were still functioning perfectly. The point of failure is almost certainly the main filter capacitor, but I have not done any failure analysis. It's interesting to me that the average life of the CFL bulbs in my home was about 35.3 months. About half the manufacturer's predicted 7 years. It's also interesting to me that the average life of a incandescent bulb is about 3-5 years. So we are paying a lot more for bulbs that don't last as long as incandescents. Does the energy saving offset the price/life of these newer bulbs. I doubt it, but saving energy is still a good objective.
Seems like stores around here are phasing out these Sunbeam bulbs with a different, generic version that comes in a blue and green package. Wonder how those compare.
Just got a few of these from a dollar store down here in Arizona. Not sure where Adrian is but apparently these are getting around the country. Surprisingly nice light quality, I'm a real nerd for color temperature and I've thrown away more LED bulbs than I've kept because of nasty colors, but these are good enough to stay. For a dollar!
I should add that I put mine in a dimmer and it did dim just fine. No noise, no visible flicker, decent dimming range. I know that non-dimmable LED bulbs usually die faster when put into dimmers, I think Big Clive explained that in one of his videos. But for $1 I can accept some additional failures.
I just bought bulbs at Dollar Tree same Sunbeam, same original specs but now is dimmable. I have not seen them on their site yet only in the store. A TWO pack for a dollar. LED bulbs now in the price range of incandescents.
I bought one. It's much brighter than the spec suggests.(and less than half the price of others, claiming 80 watts Equiv.) I'm hoping that they start selling ones in daylight color.
Have bought several of the generic lamps here in the EU and they have both failed, one after 6 months and one just after 3 weeks. Both suffered burnt led chips. It would appear that they were overdriven to cause this issue. One lamp will be converted to 12 volt use with a 1 watt Luxeon Star element and its associated driver board. The other goes to recycling. I have two others from a name brand electrical vendor and knock on wood so far so good after about nine months usage. Also from the same vendor trying out a direct wire 4 foot fluorescent tube replacement. Utilizes approximately 18 watts with excellent light output.
I never thought about how leds actually flicker to produce light. So I have two questions. 1. Do incandecent bulbs flicker technically? 2. Does this flicker have any negative side effects to your health/perception? (Like, does it produce extra eye strain or headaches over time?)
incandescent bulbs have a tungsten filament glowing white hot. the current thru that filament is a 60hz (north america) sine wave but the time constant of white hot metal typically negates any flicker. Your eyes also have a time constant and they simply cannot respond to very fast flicker. LEDs do not need to flicker, and a non-dimmable LED with a rectifier and smoothing capacitor like this one has little flicker (it is 'modulated' bright and dim rather than on and off) due to the time constant introduced by the cap. I'd be surprised if anyone would suffer any ill effect from this but it is in theory possible. Cheaper supplies with no smoothing (or completely inadequate smoothing) produce enough flicker that you see the blinking out of the corner of your eye or when scanning past the illuminated bulb such as when moving your head or eyes. Some LED decorative lighting even uses just 1/2 wave rectification and so only illuminate for 1/2 of the time, or in other words 1/30 of a second on then 1/30 off. Those do cause irritation for many people. you can make a flicker detector by using a small photovoltaic (PV solar) cell which outputs the typical approximately 1/2 volt and connect it to the line or aux input of an audio amplifier. A 120hz buzz like old "magnetic" fluorescent lights produces a deep hum, and depending on the quality of the amplifier and your hearing you should be able to hear flicker up to 15khz or so (with around 20khz the typical theoretical audio upper limit).
D Clems Try these bulbs out,personally I like them as they replaced my cfl's and are way better in every way.I had the same concerns that you do and so far its been 4 months since I switched all my bulbs to these and haven't had any side effects so far (knock on wood). I'm very particular about my lighting and I'm impressed.
Yes it can create eyestrain and headaches if the flicker is pronounced enough and your exposure is long enough. I would only use a bulb like this for short duration utility purposes. That and the probbable low CRI. It makes me wonder why the fascination with super cheap bulbs if a decent one will last several years.
Because I don't want a bulb that only lasts several years. I already have bulbs that last several years they are called CFL's I want a bulb I will never likely have to replace ever. an LED should be able to do that (over 80,000 hours of run time is my target and over 80 lumens per watt is my target) the way I get this is with an Array on a Dimmer (voltage regulator) I figure out how much light i need. then I double it and them dim that doubled array down to as bright as the "what I need" amount. increases lumen per watt efficiency lowers heat and dramatically extends lifespan. also lets you get excellent CRI by mixing different colors (mixing day white and warm white so you get a nice mix of color)
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One of the factors that allows lamps like this to operate in an enclosed fixture is that the chip will self regulate the current if it starts getting too hot. If you put it on a power monitoring plug you may see it start to creep down after it's been on a while. It's a clever trick, since they light at full intensity instantly, but then creep back imperceivably . It looks like a nice lamp.
I have a bunch of lights that feature the exact same outer shell, but the inside is different.
I know this because one of them failed yesterday, the first one in almost 2 years. It was also the only lamp I've ever seen fail while on. It was on and it just turned off uncerimoniously.
Looks like the switchmode power supply failed, because the LEDs flash on for an instant when powered.
I think I'm gonna try to salvage it by switching the power supply for a capacitive dropper.
I was watching this and was wondering why Bigclivedotcom sounded so strange..
Well, if anyone wants an update... I did build a capacitive dropper with the capacitors I scavenged from the original PSU, but the damn thing still won't light up.
The capacitive dropper works. At least I know the smoothing electrolytic is being charged with a very high voltage - and yes, I found that out in the traditional fashion.
One thing I noticed is that if I touch one of the input leads with my soldering iron some of the LEDs do light up.
I don't read continuity on the LED board input.
I can't see the tracks, but the board has 12 LEDs and it says '9V' on it so I'm thinking 4 series of 3, it would be very unlikely that all of them blew a chip at the same time.
I'm thinking burnt track?
Does anyone have other ideas?
I have some of the poundland bulbs you reviewed a while back and I did notice after a few hours the corners in my room looked a little dark and now I know why thanks.
bigclivedotcom hi Clive!
Only Adrian can make a 11 minute video about a lightbulb interesting.
Agreed.
Bigclivedotcom can do the same thing.
Thanks so much for posting this. I broke a compact fluorescent bulb last week, thought about the mercury in it, thought about my grandkids, and decided to replace all my CFLs with LEDS. I saw your video last night, and went to my local Dollar Tree here in Morgantown, WV where I was delighted to find them in stock. They were such a good deal I bought 40!
Been running two of these bulbs outside 24/7 for a year now with no problems other than UV rays are yellowing the plastic dome!Yes I have them exposed to the all the weather conditions they have tripped the GFCI once not bad for a 2 bulb ceiling future out of the kitchen I hooked a 50ft cord and it is a great way to put lighting items threw hell 🤙🤙❗Of course I had to break down a new one cause no failures of this sunbeam led bulbs and there in all the light fixtures in my house.most are sealed I figure those will fail first. I put sunbeams led bulbs in my house 2 months ago so far no failures. But for a $1 there GOOD.
Thanks for doing this review. It is obvious that you have technical knowledge and you are able to convey information in an informative way that helps viewers make a decision about whether or not this product is a good choice or not.
I'll tell you man, people will thumbs down for the stupidest reasons. How could anyone thumbs down this video? You broke down every part of this bulb to show exactly what components it has. Those 63 people that thumbs down the video must either be racists against the Chinese and their sweat shop factories or just don't like Sunbeam, but how is that your fault? You deliver great content and you explained everything very well. Don't worry about the 63 haters, they simply and clearly have adapted to the culture of Idiocracy.
83 now.. Seems you really can't please everyone
Bng210 If the world was perfect some people would still thumbs down !!!!
Tungsten filaments actually tend to stretch and mangle when hot, break when cold. Aircraft accidents have been solved this way, based on what the filament in the bulb looked like after impact (low fuel light on, etc). In my personal experience, filaments more often strech out and tangle, welding to themselves in a shorter current path resulting in less resistance, drawing more power and becoming brighter. Sometimes the path is so short they blow instantly, but very often with light drops, they become brighter and then fail prematurely later down the road. More than one time, the extra heat from the now more powerful bulb has damaged the fixture the bulb was in.
.
Also, the body of this bulb, like all others I have seen so far, is likely painted aluminum, not plastic. I thought they were all plastic, too, until I started cutting them for post-mortem investigation. It explains why there is so much heat available to the touch in what we thought was "plastic".
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I'm also in Portland, and picked up a bunch of 800lm Sunbeams from the dollar tree on Foster, with the dutch brothers. I had seen your BigCliveoid teardown of the Globe Lighting unit (th-cam.com/video/g8bGdM-Y_is/w-d-xo.html), though hadn't seen this one until after I did a writeup (facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10156538900872704.1073741833.512027703&type=3) on the "same" sunbeam. Mine is different, the bridge is on the board with the lights, as well as the cap, which is kept entirely reflective. I'm assuming this is to avoid absorbing light.
They are great bulbs. I've been running my whole house with them for a year now.
Outstanding Review of the $1 Dollar Tree LED bulb. I just discovered these about 2 months ago. You cant go wrong with these cost effective, energy efficient LED bulbs.
Added benefit of an LED shop light: if a drop of water gets on the bulb, it doesn't shatter like a hot incandescent will.
I use a light to fumble around when arc welding (don't have an auto-helmet) and incandescents don't last long; keep getting holes burned in the glass by hot metal. LEDs might last longer.
But you can't use an LED as an oven light.
Doesn't make much sense. If your shop has water splashing around then either type of bulb should be behind a globe or panel with a waterproof gasket, unless you like having the bulb base corrode into the socket at the very least, and unless the LED bulb is rated waterproof for outdoor use, possibly frying it out too.
It makes sense if you have a trouble light and you're working on a wet car. The lamp doesn't really get wet, but there's always a chance that water will drip at just the right angle to fall on the bulb.
Stinky Cheese
I use a led in my drop light at work
And perfect conditions do not prevail in the field
Pipe fitter by trade so having a bulb now that doesn't burst when water hits it is a plus as well not breaking when dropped
it also destroys your melotonin production,and that gives you cancer and low testosterone
leds are very,very,toxic blue light
blue light dangers
extreme health radio
www.oneradionetwork.com
only
stetzler electric non blue light bulbs
dr jack kruse
leds are for suckers
I bought several of these from the local dollar tree and I'm really impressed at how naturally bright they are! Replaced 5 in each bathroom and now I may get a better shave. I had 4 clear 40 watts in front of the mirror but was always missing an unshaved spot but now its like the burning bush bright in there... reminding me how much i need to clean the mirror but only burning 36 watts total is a great bargain. Thanks for the GREAT video!!!, I was about to pop open an extra until I found your internal video. I'm no electrician like yourself but can follow a bit of what you say thanks to my school kid Radio Shack Electro-Set. Thanks again, keep em coming please. Ciao.
Who would have thought a $1 bulb being given a thumbs up. First time viewer and liked the video! Thumbs up for that too!
Replaced all my old bulbs with these and I'm pleased with them. Have had them in for about a year now.
Sunbeam is an ancient brand Name, 107 years old. Today in 2017 the name is owned by Newell Brands, NYSE ticker NWL. Newell bought Jarden in 2016. Jarden bought American Household in 2005 that was rise from the ashes bankrupt old Sunbeam of 2002. From 1997 to 2001 Chain saw Al Dunlop cooked the books in Sunbeam and it went into chapter 11 in 2001.
After WW2 Sunbeam used their products name as the company name ie Sunbeam Corporation. The incorporated company back to 1897 was Chicago Flexible Shaft Company in Chicago, before that to 1893 it was not incorporated.
The electric iron for clothes was in 1910 as the new sunbeam brand by Chicago Flexible Shaft Company.
Today a brand like Sunbeam, Bell and Howell or Kodak or Polaroid has a worth to hawk goods to older folks whether the item is sunglasses, diapers, hearing aid batteries, flashlights, earphones or lightbulbs. Folks buy the stuff that is made in China but has an old brand name so they somehow connect that it is worth more. :)
Thus one has tactical flashlights and sunglasses by Bell and Howell, eyeglass repair kits, hearing aid batteries by Kodak, 3.5mm jacked earphone at Walgreens by Polaroid, lightbulbs by Sunbeam. Polaroid brand AA batteries were around too. Kodak made earphones, a bluetooth speaker, SD cards. USB thumb drives. Kodak even had 5 1/4 floppies disks in yellow boxes in the IBM XT/AT era, then Yellow 3.5 inch floppies too.
The real fear is will a Polaroid Webster connect to a iPhone 8 with a Kodak cable? :)
Indeed, at 2:00 mins you can see they're using the name under license :)
Sunbeam is also a well recognised old brand in Australia...the Australian arm not affiliated with the US branch but through some ancient licensing it uses the same brand font. In Australia the company makes a whole range of small kitchen appliances. They were once almost all made in Australia but, like the US, much of the stuff comes from China now.
Yep, it is a dog breakfast with the Sunbeam name. Newell licenses the use of the name to several companies. Sunbeam light bulbs and Sunbeam batteries are imported by two different companies here in Canada, the same as two different companies in the USA. All products made by the "CHI NAH company". :-)
Sunbeam is owned by a massive outfit that owns Rubbermaid, Oster, Parker, Papermate, Rotring, and Waterman pens, Rexair Rainbow vacuum cleaners, Yankee Candles, Coleman camping equipment, Shakespeare fishing equipment, Spaulding sports equipment, Bicycle and Bee playing cards, and heaven knows what else.
And probably anything else that is not nailed down. Yep, these big companies buy up the little companies for the names. And then they license off the usage of the names. here in Canada the Sunbeam name is licensed to several companies; one for light bulbs, one for batteries, and a couple for appliances. You need a list of who owns what today.
Thanks for the teardown. Always wondered how these work. Best part for me was to put one of these bulbs in my shop light, seems durable enough. God knows it gets bounced around enough.
Thank you for taking the time to do this video. I went to my local Dollar Tree and picked some up today!
I have 14 of those Sunbeam bulbs and love them. I'm slowly going through and replacing all the CFL bulbs in my apartment with those.
Just stumbled on this channel, love the big Clive feel of it lol
Annabella Williams look up. ;)
I purchased one of these recently and was surprised at how well it's holding up and it puts out great light. I also am using it in an enclosed fixture in a higher-humidity environment (bathroom). I also have used Great Value bulbs without a problem, but these Sunbeams for $1 have been surprisingly good.
As he who shall not be named always says, "gentlemen welcome back to the wife's sewing room."
Because of your video I bought two and have already put one to use outside for our yard light. It works great! Thanks for doing such an in depth review! :)
I've only watched your vintage computing related videos until now, This was interesting and I learned a little bit about lightbulbs.
Really enjoyed your teardown and review of these bulbs. I had purchased 2 of these Sunbeam bulbs at Dollar Tree last week and liked them so 2 days later I went back for more and of course they were all gone. But in their place I found 2 packs of dimmable LED bulbs for a dollar. The color and light output of these seem similar to the sunbeam bulbs.
Very nice review and tear down. You hit on the most important points that many reviewers miss. Most bulbs fail to live up to their rated life due to under-engineered power supplies and/or over stressed LEDs. This bulb seems better than most in both areas. I would suggest you test more of the popular bulbs from Amazon and places like Lowes and Home Depot. Dollar Tree is very random in what they carry month to month and some areas don't even have a Dollar Tree. Basically anyone finding this review in a few months probably will have a hard time finding the same bulb which makes your review a lot less useful.
Huh? A large # of series LEDs is now the norm for inexpensive LED bulbs, and it would be hard to under-engineer a supply more than this one does. Nay, impossible to engineer any less than this unless you just slapped a diode in series, lol.
Thank you! I recently began switching to these exact bulbs and wanted to know if they actually only used 9 watts. Seems they only actually use 7-8.
I found another one at dollar tree that said it only used 8 instead of 9 and they have a two pack 100 watt equivalent for a buck that say they use 14.5 watts.
Thanks for the video. I have always been worried about buying dollar tree bulbs. But you’ve changed my mind 👍
I've used these before and I think the only reason they sell them at "dollar stores" is the simple fact that they are just not bright enough for normal use. The 100 watt version of this bulb, which you can't get at dollar tree, is perfect for most uses. Of course this bulb works well in "mood lighting" situations and it is ONLY a dollar. Great video, by the way. I always wondered what was inside these things. I think they are worth the price.
That was a great review. Really makes me not worry about cheaper gear if I can see a review that breaks it down as well as this.
Except you are forgetting something very important. A teardown can definitively tell you how it's designed, but it is only speculation that the low part count will lead to long life. I do not feel that this is a safe bet due to the controller chip sitting on line voltage and subject to power surge damage.
Unfortunally the review is about one properly build bulb. The price is subsidised. There is a lot of real junk out there. But good to know you can buy this brand.
It's interesting that your cheap "dollar stores" in the US can supply LED bulbs at such a low price. The closest thing in Australia would probably run to about AU$3 (about USD2.60). I suppose it's because you have such a vast market with huge economies of scale. The same component set up is used in cheaper LED bulbs here which can either be of the Edison screw type so common in the US or, more likely, the English-style B22 bayonet fitting. The big difference is in the voltage. Aussie voltage is around 240v standard for all power outlets and lighting. European 220v stuff will run here but not (obviously) US 110v stuff. The higher voltage necessitates a different capacitor and resistor series in the bulbs which, I suppose, inflates the price a bit.
The best use for these bulbs apart from standard lighting applications is in situations where you need impact and vibration resistance. The lights on power garage door motors used to have to be "high vibration resistance" incandescent bulbs but now with the advent of LED bulbs you can use a cheap LED bulb without any trouble at all.
I have a sunbeam iron and its working pretty well after 2 years
The US version of Big Clive? Big Clive 110v? NTSC Big Clive?
Dollar Tree and Dollar General instead of Poundland and Poundworld, a few less wounds from carelessness on the hands, no accent, and a bit less commentary/jokes.
So far, no smoke. So he has a lot to learn from the sensei.
James Van Damme, NoName, if he could curse more and drink beer me could be like a AVE/Big Clive hybride.. FOCUS YOU FACK!
Thanks for the review. These Sunbeam bulbs look a lot like the Home Luminaire LED bulbs Dollar Tree sold last year.
wildbilltexas sunbeam and lumnar same company
Thanks for the review. Just purchased three to try out. If they are still going in a week I will probably buy a half-dozen more.
I've used this for a few years now to replace all the incandescent and CFL bulbs in my home. The only one I have had go out so far is in my bedside lamp, and that gets turned on and off several time a day, and left on for several hours in the evening. Otherwise, I have not yet changed any others. Well worth the small price tag.
Thanks for sharing. I wonder if you can take the LEDs out and make a homemade flashlight with them.
Nice video. Now tomorrow I will be off to the local Dollar Tree to find some of these to put in these fixtures at the house. LOL!
These are great! They do not get hot. They remain cool to the touch.
Sunbeam still makes some good stuff such as their alkaline batteries which can be found at Dollar Tree. They're good for remote controls and other devices which don't use much power.
Really enjoyed your breakdown. Never thought about taking one apart. I had found this Sunbeam bulb at DollarTree, but never used it because all my bulbs were CFL. However, CFL bulbs are dangerous in other ways other than dropping them. I was looking for the best way to dispose of CFL bulbs when I came across a website that was hosting the youtube video on the dangers of emissions FROM CFLs. Since we are a family of reactions to strange substances, emissions, chemicals and allergies, I decided not to take any chances with the CFLs, and replaced them with LEDs. That done, it makes me wonder whether other fluorescent lights are spewing out emissions??
Just grabbed one of these the other day for S&G, and the damn thing flickers. Just sort of randomly ticks up or down a touch in brightness(usually flicking low). IIDK if anyone else has experinced this, or i got what i paid for(hey, its a $1 bulb, im not exactly heart broken), but something to be aware of I guess.
With how simple they are on the inside, i wonder if its just a bad solder or a crappy cap.... looks like im gonna have to open mine now too...
get your dollar back or a new one from Sunbeam, Have 2 of these that went dim and flicker after about 2 months in the bathroom.
I will pick up a few if I can find them. Seems to be ok quality.
Thanks for the tear down and review and your personal opinion are appreciated.
Cheers mate!
I checked after your last video in VA and they didn't have them. Then after you said they were subsidized I figured they wouldn't have the sunbeam ones either. I just happen to be out tonight and passed a dollar tree, they had 2 large boxes full of bulbs, picked up 4 for my office.
Just bought a couple cases of these bulbs. Unfortunately I won't be able to use them. We have an on-demand hot water heater here and these bulbs flicker really bad when the heater is on. We have several other brands of led bulbs and those are immune to the flicker. Something to keep in mind if you're planning on buying some of these.
I bought 2 last week from dollar tree and I am happy...works great
I found these LED bulbs in one of my local dollar tree stores, and I grabbed the three or four that were on the shelf. Haven't seen them since. That was sometime in 2016 or early 2017. Good bulb. I am on the East coast/New England. I would grab more if they were ever back on the shelves.
I found the same with the Luminus LED bulbs sold by the dollar stores in Canada. Ours are more like 3.00 here as there is no subsidy on them but for 3 bucks I found they work great. The luminus bulb has a full metal base as it's heat sink with a plastic insert inside that holds the inverter board. I did a tear down of 2 on my channel, but didn't destroy the base as I intend to put mind in a long term test and see how they hold up.
I've never disassembled a light bulb before this was honestly VERY informative to me, thanks! So I could take apart a bunch of these bulbs and wire the circuit boards together (bypassing the bulb fixture, straight to power cord) to make one big ass light?
Who knew that an LED bulb from the Dollar Tree could be so interesting!
I bought about 12 of these a few months ago and have had 3 fail. All failures were in open fixtures and not related to heat. The interesting thing is that only one of the failed bulbs is like the one described here. The other two have a buck switching regulator circuit instead of the series regulator. I haven't found any difference on the bulb or box markings between the two types of regulators. The switching regulator bulbs both failed with open LEDs. The series regulator bulb started working after disassembly so it might have been a bad connection to the base. The switching regulator bulbs have fewer LEDs so are probably driving them at higher current.
I have several of these bulbs and I love them. They have a good light color. I share your view about the opaque neck of these LED bulbs. I have noticed some lower wattage, higher priced bulbs don't have this opaque neck. Perhaps the future holds some improvement with this issue, on all LED bulbs. In general LED bulbs tend to weigh more than traditional bulbs. As much as I like LED bulbs I feel that regular bulbs will be around for some time for special uses such as oven lights and low wattage applications such as decorative lighting. Thanks for a well made informative video.
Opague neck doesn't matter.
1) Behind it is the metal that would block light anyway, where it not for...
2) The LEDs are pointed upward and the interior of the globe is not metalized to reflect any light the other direction, only diffuse it and protect the high voltage from contact with the outside world, and pointed upward on a (metal) mPCB that light won't shine through either.
The LEDs would need elevated and rotated 90' to achieve significantly better beam width.
Beautiful camera work. Good sound.
Adrian please post the description on the chip and the values of the cap. I guess it would be possible to make the chip compatible with a dimmer and maybe in the next iterations of the chip they include power factor correction too.
Great for outside during the winter in NY
I am in the UK and i bought LED bulbs for the ceiling lights in my bedroom and lounge to replace CFLs. Without taking them apart, they look identical on the outside (large Edison screw, same shape and colour). They cost £1.09 each so similar price. I wonder if they are the same inside with the LEDs and BP chip. I suspect not since UK mains is 240V (sometimes can be as high as 255V in my area depending on load and time of day). Probably made by the same Chinese factory as your one though.
I don't think we have those in our dollar tree but I will definitely look.
UL does not certify... they LIST! quite different and an important difference...
I have not pulled one of those apart to check it yet, but I did one of their Sunbeam 9.5 watt bulbs and that one has 8 LED's at 24 volts each, I didn't check the current draw yet.
Nice! I had no idea that there was $1 led bulbs out there. The cheapest in my area that I could find was $5 a bulb. Now people don't have excuses to not make the switch and start saving on electricity. Totally affordable.
I just saw these and wanted to look it up before buying and here you are with a review! lol
Thanks for this review. I was wondering about the quality of these bulbs. Everyone once in a while dollar tree has a 10% off coupon (I think it might be a 10 dollar minimum) makes it really worth it to pick up a few of these if no other brands are on promo.
Thank again!
I have bought them before and they are the only ones i use.
I also notice that the light output is brighter than cfs bulbs. I can use the 40 watt equivalent led bulb to replace a 60 watt equivalent cfs
The ironic thing about energy company saving programs is they work so well they land up raising your electric rates 3 times a year to make up for the drop in profits. So yeah, well worth it!.....(insert sarcasm here)
I have one of these bulbs. 3 years later still going strong in an enclosed fixture.
Oh wow! Something I actually have! Though up here in Canada I bought it from Dollarama. Its been going almost non-stop for 4 months now, and I like that it looks a little brighter and the color temp makes it a little whiter then the incandecents or CFL's I've bought before from Sunbeam. Though I believe they sell them for 2 Dollar in Dollarama here in Canada.
They're available in the dollar trees I've visited along the east coast in my recent road trip and most of them seem to have them. Cant imagine that every single one of those states were subsidizing the bulbs. Might be a loss leader/over stock from elsewhere+subsidies in certain states to help a bit more.
Excellent bulbs my whole house is outfitted with them. The one issue is they do not project light down towards base. Minor issue.
Great buy thanks for the information. It beats paying nine bucks a Home Depot.
I'll have to keep my eyes open here in S.C. next time I go to Dollar Tree, and see if they have any of these to replace the last remaining CFL's in my RV, and a few shop lights.
I just picked one up out of curiosity, and noticed that they stopped using the silicone. It's also way lighter than my GE bulbs. The GE bulbs are about 20% more expensive but have better thermal transfer.
Here in Pittsburgh area not available it's just a dollar great.
I wonder if cold winter weather out on porch will pop it like them merc" bulbs ? Sunbeam bulbs I been using. That fcc rating for RF noise is nice they at least tell operators about it's RF cool.
Another clive viewer dragged here by youtube's for once accurate algorithms, and subbed :)
Clive chimed in, too.
Same
I took one apart like you did...curious. googled the chip part number and this video came up! The "fuse" you mentioned is a 10 ohm resistor. Great video though, saved me some testing time!
Just had one of these fail, but it was apparently a slightly different design, similar circuit, but single PCB with a surface mount cap. One of the LED packages died internally, so I bridged it out and the bulb works again. I also think the version I have uses two chips per LED package.
I love the dollar tree! Thanks for sharing.
Man, I love Dollar Tree
Thanks for showing this. I am not going to waste a bulb by tearing it down. Did you rebuild the bulb afterwards & is that a capacitor or the board ? I admit to knowing little about electronics. I was a mechanical assembler once.
I have to wonder about your assumption that the cap will stay cool back there.
If the case is metal with no ventilation, it's pretty safe to assume that the air inside is at the same temperature as the metal case, which gets pretty warm.
It's also going to be experiencing a fair bit of ripple, seeing as it's just rectified straight from the mains.
I'd say the reliability of the whole thing will be set by how hot the case actually gets, and how good the cap is.
Since there's no inductor there, there's a bit of a tradeoff. Lower ESR caps would generally be better, but they'll also charge a lot faster, meaning more ripple current. could that "fuse" actually be an inductor?
Adrian,Thank you..I would suggest drilling holes(1/2''?) in the cones to allow air flow.Might last forever.TY73s
I've wondered for a long time why these LED bulbs do not have some sort of vents to disperse heat. I bought some cheap bulbs, and have been drilling vents into the bases. They're used 6 hours a day and are currently 6 years old
Looked for these at a "Portland Area" dollar tree this weekend - they didn't have anything resembling a lightbulb anywhere in the store! Lowes had some 2700k 9W ones for $9 for 8 bulbs, so pretty close.
these bulbs are awesome I replaced all my bulbs and my house with the energy efficient ones and also had been very surprised how bright they are. there is one conception they do not last they do fizzle out within a month or two. but my light bill has went from almost 200 something dollars to about 110 which is amazing. So I think these bulbs are the best
Just found this after watching your Greenlite video. As I said there about these Sunbeams, I've put two in some enclosed ceiling lights in a stairwell where they have burned 24/7 for a month or so with no apparent issue. I put an early generation Sylvania ($10) in one of these lamps four plus years ago and while it didn't fail, it dimmed greatly and went down in color quality. The technology has really matured in the past few years. Personally like the slightly crisper, halogen like 3000K as apposed to 2700K. Of these, I found some branded Hyperikon which I consider best. They claim a CRI (color rendition index) of 92 and have very low flicker, but they are several times the price of these on Amazon and are not for fully enclosed use.
Wonder if one could drill small holes in the base. Maybe help any heat disapate.
I purchased these same Sunbeam bulbs in Dollar Tree in New Jersey. When I used one in the living room, I noticed that it would briefly dim when the refrigerator compressor in the kitchen - or some other appliance it turned on. I switched back to a CFL bulb for the living room and the dimming is much less noticeable. Good for other locations though. Great for the price and in another dollar store I got a two pack for a dollar!
You should check your wiring for hot spots or bad connections. Maybe use a thermal camera. A light that dims when a small motor starts on another circuit tells me that there is a supply problem. If you have any aluminum wires check for a voltage drop across the connections while under load, they may need cleaning and re-doping.
My outlets were doing weird things and finally some quit, no air conditioner or outside outlets. I could live with that but when the computer outlet quit, well... When I checked the breaker box I found when it was installed they didn't strip the wires, just stuck them in and expected the screws to bite through the insulation. After I clipped the burnt ends off, stripped and installed them correctly everything works. I also replaced the outlets with proper screw terminal ones instead of those push in crap. I only have a 30A 120V main and with the washer running then the fridge kicks on the lights won't dim and the computer and TV don't cut out like they did before the fix.
Thanks for the tips. Like you, I always use the screw terminals when replacing an outlet. Wish I had a thermal camera for testing! As for the dimming light, I assumed that dimming (or flickering) is more noticeable on LEDs than other bulb types when the voltage drop occurs. I'll have to do more research. I do have copper wiring - so that's good.
These are very peak voltage sensitive. The electronic ballast ones probably won't dim at all. It's a little scary that a voltage spike can go right through the capacitor, so it might blow them up.
I’m going to check my local dollar tree for these bulbs. I put LED bulbs in my outside light fixtures last year and have been very happy with them. I use to use those crappy CFL bulbs but I’m done with them. They were costly and they contain mercury.
Got a few at Dollar Tree today. Accidentally got a "soft" and "warm" bulb...which is brighter?
Great video! Thanks. I will look for the bulb very soon.
Very good tear down and analysis. Have you done any analysis of LED bulb life? I've been keeping track of the life of all of the screw-in LED bulbs in use in my home since I started using them in January of 2017. I didn't replace all the bulbs in the house, just replaced the existing bulbs as they failed. So far, the average life is about 26.75 months. No where near the 15-20 years of advertised life!. I'm sure the LEDs in all the bulbs were still functioning perfectly. The point of failure is almost certainly the main filter capacitor, but I have not done any failure analysis. It's interesting to me that the average life of the CFL bulbs in my home was about 35.3 months. About half the manufacturer's predicted 7 years. It's also interesting to me that the average life of a incandescent bulb is about 3-5 years. So we are paying a lot more for bulbs that don't last as long as incandescents. Does the energy saving offset the price/life of these newer bulbs. I doubt it, but saving energy is still a good objective.
I bought a few of these at a Dollar Tree in N. Goergia a few weeks ago and have been good with them.
So it can be used with ambient teperatures of 40c AND in an enclosed fixture?
Seems like stores around here are phasing out these Sunbeam bulbs with a different, generic version that comes in a blue and green package. Wonder how those compare.
Just got a few of these from a dollar store down here in Arizona. Not sure where Adrian is but apparently these are getting around the country.
Surprisingly nice light quality, I'm a real nerd for color temperature and I've thrown away more LED bulbs than I've kept because of nasty colors, but these are good enough to stay. For a dollar!
I should add that I put mine in a dimmer and it did dim just fine. No noise, no visible flicker, decent dimming range. I know that non-dimmable LED bulbs usually die faster when put into dimmers, I think Big Clive explained that in one of his videos. But for $1 I can accept some additional failures.
WOW!!!! Excellent analysis!!! THANK YOU!
Hi... Thank you for that run down...👏👏👏👏👍
I shared this on 3 of my blogs and my facebook page.
I just bought bulbs at Dollar Tree same Sunbeam, same original specs but now is dimmable. I have not seen them on their site yet only in the store. A TWO pack for a dollar. LED bulbs now in the price range of incandescents.
I saw those! I'll try that instead of this one because these fail in my bathroom after about 2 months,.
How far can you drive that bulb? Up the amperage and all to be brighter.
I bought one.
It's much brighter than the spec suggests.(and less than half the price of others, claiming 80 watts Equiv.)
I'm hoping that they start selling ones in daylight color.
Have bought several of the generic lamps here in the EU and they have both failed, one after 6 months and one just after 3 weeks. Both suffered burnt led chips. It would appear that they were overdriven to cause this issue. One lamp will be converted to 12 volt use with a 1 watt Luxeon Star element and its associated driver board. The other goes to recycling. I have two others from a name brand electrical vendor and knock on wood so far so good after about nine months usage. Also from the same vendor trying out a direct wire 4 foot fluorescent tube replacement. Utilizes approximately 18 watts with excellent light output.
How about doing a test of 48" retrofit LEDs?
I never thought about how leds actually flicker to produce light.
So I have two questions.
1. Do incandecent bulbs flicker technically?
2. Does this flicker have any negative side effects to your health/perception? (Like, does it produce extra eye strain or headaches over time?)
incandescent bulbs have a tungsten filament glowing white hot. the current thru that filament is a 60hz (north america) sine wave but the time constant of white hot metal typically negates any flicker.
Your eyes also have a time constant and they simply cannot respond to very fast flicker.
LEDs do not need to flicker, and a non-dimmable LED with a rectifier and smoothing capacitor like this one has little flicker (it is 'modulated' bright and dim rather than on and off) due to the time constant introduced by the cap. I'd be surprised if anyone would suffer any ill effect from this but it is in theory possible.
Cheaper supplies with no smoothing (or completely inadequate smoothing) produce enough flicker that you see the blinking out of the corner of your eye or when scanning past the illuminated bulb such as when moving your head or eyes. Some LED decorative lighting even uses just 1/2 wave rectification and so only illuminate for 1/2 of the time, or in other words 1/30 of a second on then 1/30 off. Those do cause irritation for many people.
you can make a flicker detector by using a small photovoltaic (PV solar) cell which outputs the typical approximately 1/2 volt and connect it to the line or aux input of an audio amplifier. A 120hz buzz like old "magnetic" fluorescent lights produces a deep hum, and depending on the quality of the amplifier and your hearing you should be able to hear flicker up to 15khz or so (with around 20khz the typical theoretical audio upper limit).
D Clems
Try these bulbs out,personally I like them as they replaced my cfl's and are way better in every way.I had the same concerns that you do and so far its been 4 months since I switched all my bulbs to these and haven't had any side effects so far (knock on wood). I'm very particular about my lighting and I'm impressed.
led's don't flicker. poorly rectified led's flicker :-)
Yes it can create eyestrain and headaches if the flicker is pronounced enough and your exposure is long enough. I would only use a bulb like this for short duration utility purposes. That and the probbable low CRI. It makes me wonder why the fascination with super cheap bulbs if a decent one will last several years.
Because I don't want a bulb that only lasts several years. I already have bulbs that last several years they are called CFL's
I want a bulb I will never likely have to replace ever. an LED should be able to do that (over 80,000 hours of run time is my target and over 80 lumens per watt is my target)
the way I get this is with an Array on a Dimmer (voltage regulator) I figure out how much light i need. then I double it and them dim that doubled array down to as bright as the "what I need" amount. increases lumen per watt efficiency lowers heat and dramatically extends lifespan. also lets you get excellent CRI by mixing different colors (mixing day white and warm white so you get a nice mix of color)