When faced with two screws that were screaming "Unscrew Us" why does Clive still go with a blunt instrument and destruction? Because that is what Clive is. And it's why so many love his approach to electronics...
(Looking at the scar on my hand as Clive describes how I got it...) That's a lesson you only need to learn once. If you're lucky, that "once" is someone else - stay safe everyone!
I've slices the back of my right hand fingers open with sharp chain saw chain probably over 100 times. Filing the saw in the dawn hours of the morning, feeling less than alert. Chisel bit saw chain makes a nice deep gash...
Try putting the screws in the plastic with a small counter rotation you will here a pop when the threads line up then tighten the screen clockwise. It works well for old brittle Retro handheld computer's.
That wasn't bad really. Though as a rule I do tend to seek out and remove lots of screws. It's quite frustrating though when you are looking for a screw or a clip or something and I'm sat here shouting "ITS BEHIND THE THINGY". In my news, whilst watching this, I managed to embed the top of the SMPSU chip in the amp I am working on into my ceiling. This is because one of the aforementioned stray screws ended up stuck between the pins of another component, most likely the resistor and capacitor that I haven't found yet.
As a youngster I followed that rule when making various balsa wood model airplanes. One day the knife caught the grain and I whittled my finger. I still have a faint V shaped scar. Lucky the bone stopped the blade in time :-)
Many years ago i was making an airfix model kit of the HMS Victory, I was using a scalpel and was trimming some of the plastic from where it had slightly overmoulded and was pulling the blade towards me. In moment of stupidity i slipped and the scalpel blade went blade first directly into the end of my thumb right up to the hilt. It didn't hurt until i pulled the bastard out and that's when i found out that you have a pulse at the end of your thumb as blood spurted in rather large quantities all over the place. I look back often and laugh at this lol
"What's the take-away from this?" Seriously Clive? I've been watching your channel for almost a decade now and I can't count how many times I've shouted at the screen "Take the screws out!" of "You missed that other screw!". Thanks for the informative videos.
A nuse once said to me that a cut with a sharp knife is best for suturing, a blunt knife leaves a jagged edger However, a sharp knife is likely to go deeper.
I have a scar on my thumb from opening a starwars light saber with a serated steak knife as a child, I waved my hand about rapidly and after mum fixed me (nhs nurse) I realised I got blood on the bedding that had just been washed and splattered the white hallway wall paper and all 🤣🤣
reminds me of when the "hard bastard" of my year 5 primary school class managed to cut his hand open while attempting to open a yogurt pot with a plastic spoon instead of peeling the lid off, which he deemed himself too badass to consider.
Got a decent life long scar from a knick in a tape measure running over my thumb. Bleed like a stuck pig and I still feel uncomfortable when a tape measure retracts quickly.
I often put a bit of Vaseline on those self-tapping screws to avoid them seize or cross thread. I use the same mod you just made for this lamp. It will work for years.
This form factor is nice and easy when replacing about similar size traditional incandescent bulbs (mainly on porches etc.). Mine has worked about 10 years already. I think it's 18W or 15W rated and from Biltema. Not cheap though, was about 12-15€ back then.
I would like to recommend my favorite tool for opening and peeling anything: a small (3cm wide) putty knife that has been sharpened at the tip. I have two, one sharpened just at the very tip, with a pretty rounded curve to the edge, and one that has been thinned out much further. The rounded one is far more useful.
I did a mod to a ledlamp, and reducing the power by modifying the current limit resistor, is limited in range. I wanted to go back to 40% of the rated power and the lamp started flashing. 60% was the limit. I bought a bunch of 10 ohm pots which I put in series with the existing current limit resistors. Makes life much easier. Cheers 👍🤝🇳🇱
"I am Rodger. I am a Spudger." Also "I may have used unreasonable force." is my new favorite expression. I can just see you in some adventure movie, charged to bring the big bad in alive. We see you in your leader's office, you open a suit case and dump out still smoldering shins, ankles and feet of the big bad. "I may have used unreasonable force."
hey Clive, I bought a few flower shaped large LED lamp (they open kinda like a ceiling fan) and 2 of them had their capacitors explode inside and I wonder if you would tear one down and find out why and how they're made.
The vast majority of the "more expensive 3 to 10W" bulbs I have opened here in Canada look exactly like that one. It's the cheap ones that are so easy to hack.
I had similar problem with some buck regulated LED lamps, they did not like replacig resistors to anything higher value than standard, sometimes they flashed, other times they did not work at all.
I had a similar experience yesterday. I wanted to dim down a 15W ceiling lamp. It has a SIC9554A which is the same chip as the BP one but from Shenzhen SI Semiconductors. As the sense resistor it had 5.6R in parallel to 1R. I just removed the 1R which should have given me roughly 2.7W output. But the lamp did not light up, when plugged in. Instead it gave a brief bright flash every time I unplugged it. With the 1R back in place it worked as before again. My assumption is that the LED short protection kicked in. I will try it tomorrow with a lower value sense resistor. So there seems to be a lower limit to the power you can set. EDIT: I just had another look at the datasheet and noticed that Radj for the OVP is also dependent on the Rsense. so, when I sixfold the Rsense I should have divided the Radj by 6 as well
Personally when it all goes awry that's when things get uniquely cool as long as nobody gets hurt. I would throw some into slow color changer LEDs under that dome it looks like it would diffuse VERY nicely. Good stuff regardless!
10:30: Thing worthy of note: ROVP is for resistor (for) over-volatage protection. Related question: x^y signifies x to the power of y, i.e. x followed by superscript y, but is there another similar way to designate the opposite, i.e. x followed by subscript y? Also, isn't NC for not connected? So why is it connected here?
@@bigclivedotcom Thanks for replying, and I have a follow-up: Is it ever a mistake to connect an NC lead to anything? Would NC be floating, be ground or any other state, even? Is it just undefined? (Full disclosure: I typed "unfefeined" at first, which suddenly felt very covfefe.) EDIT: And to answer my own question: I seem to have found that subscript is denoted by x_y. (Anyone want to confirm or refute that?)
It's nice to see there is something to be done about the horrible overwork demanded of the LEDs and with very little intervention with the circuit. All you have to do is avoid messing with this lamp entirely and grab a cheap one you can mess with without cutting yourself and breaking it to bits in the process.
Picked up one of these cheap a while ago. Bright enough to replace a fairly typical 3 bulb fitting on it's own and (for fear of tempting fate) is still going strong after a couple of years.
The good thing about a sharp spudger is that the scars are thinner and heal fast. The bad thing about a sharp spudger is that the scars are deeper and more plentiful. Darn tradeoffs!
I've had great success opening lamps like this with a stout ceramic paring knife. Other things to try might be nylon spudgers or nylon bicycle tire levers. The thickness of the blade is often essential in liberating the globe from the adhesive holding it to the base. That's a delicious pi filter in the power supply. Pity the rest of the lamp wasn't so well ingineered.
Hey Clive, I figured I'd just let you know the reason behind their usage of the "Confidential" watermark is tied to the licensing of that document. If you look at the bottom, it has been labeled as "For Customer Use Only". Their point of doing this is to allow them to more easily go after people re-hosting the document or ripping parts from it without referring to their own site.
I took off a cover for a 16led phillip bulb. It was tough, as the glue was so thick it almost covered the led's. I have more respect for your efforts to create this content. Thanks!
Thanks Clive. I've got a half dozen complex dimmable, variable Kelvin, lamps in my garden room which all sing in tune. I'll try some 'shmoo' on their coils (builders silicone sealant?) and see if that helps!
As a child, I used to get up to all the things BC gets up to now. Nothing electrical or vaguely electronic was safe from being reverse engineered. I was once levering a very hard plastic case apart with a screwdriver (IIRC) and the case shattered. I still have the 1.25 inch scar on my thumb where the plastic acted as a makeshift scalpel. It compliments nicely the star shaped scar from a flying molten solder ball from tapping the soldering iron on the table to clean the tip.
I like the buck regulator type LED lamps, because you can run them on a DC off-grid battery bank with no inverter. They work on a wide range of voltages as well.
yes, Clive, It's like matches, Clive. you know - Strike AWAY from you - like you were cutting string or making a wooden twig whislte. Right Clive, back to watching.( Just had to put in this comment) ... Love your stuff - Education with alarm and satisfaction! Slàinte Mhath.
Re: Spudger: "Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, sometimes it cuts my hand down to the bone. Oh dear, let me get my biohazard-proof pie tin" :-)
Have one of these, picked it up for about £5 on offer. Always wondered what was inside but with it working and me actually using it did not want to risk busting it. Mines been going strong a few years now, its not as bright as i thought it would be when buying. I got it because i have a large room and only 1 small light fitting in the middle. Figured it would spread the light further (kinda does).
I have a 22 watt 4000K version that I bought in Interspar, and it seems like a good design, because I thought that it would overheat quickly, but it didn't. It looks great dangling out of a pendant. I have taken it apart, and that worked after the dissasembly. That one had less circuitry.
But Clive, Is it actually 15W of heat to dissipate? Isn't most of the power in the form of light? I never really understood this. How to measure the power dissipated as heat? Or light, for that matter.
@@bigclivedotcom And, as you say, if they deliberately design them to run hot, then the efficiency and life-span is low, and the consumer money-sucking power is high. For once, I have to agree with the Prince of Dubai :-)
A theoretically perfect visible white light source emits 251 lumens per Watt. An LED bulb emits about 800 lm for 12W, so if it was a "perfect" radiator 3.19W would be emitted as light, and 8.81W would be heat for an efficiency of 26.5%. Real LED bulbs are not "perfect" white light radiators, so it's even worse than this. As a comparison, a "perfect" 60W tungsten bulb would emit 56.81W as heat for 3.19W as light for an efficiency of about 5%. But tungsten bulbs are even farther from perfect white light emitters, so they are far worse.
It's interesting to me why the globe part of the lamps are glued on so tightly. I opened my own LED lamp and a significant amount of that siliconey-type glue was used. Didn't make sense though, since it just snapped right back on after scraping it off like there is a ridge to securely hold it in. My guess is as good as yours, only being that it's to stop the globe from turning when inserting/removing it from a fixture.
They're glued on tightly because live mains is exposed on the circuit board, and they don't want to be sued and be forced to put a warning sticker on the thing.
@@stargazer7644 Possibly, maybe for cheaper ones, mine didn't though. also has a regulated and filtered power source since it connects to WiFi and would likely malfunction otherwise.
I've got a lamp just like that sitting next to me waiting for me to go to B&Q to buy a replacement. It ran very nicely in my living room for something like 5 years. I'm going to wait for my second vaccination before joining the queues to get into the shop. I had a quick check and I think my one has a glass globe, or at any rate one that doesn't deform when I press it.
It was already B&Q before the acquisition of Dodge City. Founded in 1969 as Block & Quayle by Richard Block and David Quayle, shortly afterwards they shortened the name to B&Q. B&Q bought Dodge City at the beginning of the 1980s
Bayonettes are used here in Canada but mostly for old display indicators and automotive applications. Never seen it in a house unless someone had an imported light fixture.
I have one of these in E27 flavour, just opened it up and it's somewhat different. The boards are modular and can be removed without desoldering, circuitry appears more complex, LED panel is different and has more themal compound on it.
A heat gun works really well on those kind of objects if they are glued together. The glue melts the 2 pieces togetherl the heat softens the bond making it much easier to take it apart
Clive : "Inserting Up And Levering Down" 02:48 - Yes, she loves it when I do that. Bored? A Big Clive video boring? No such thing, impossible, I won't hear of it. 04:25 What is the take away? ... Assume the screws are in fact screwing and remove them before making a fruitless effort to lever it apart. It was a good save in the end Clive. 👍
Thanks, Clive, that was fun perhaps not so much for you but a good result in the end, you could always put your ridiculously large filament that you made in the globe.
I had a small led lamp, it started to flicker and decided to open it up. The contacts seemed to be a little loose so i got that taken care of, the lamp worked fine for about an hour and when i turned it off it never turned on again. Maybe they happened to be in series and one or more LED's failed open?
Anyone else get the feeling when watching a Big Clive opening up that it's almost the prelude section to a Casualty / Holby City accident? I sincerely hope not however; Big Clive is the best viewing going (take notice BBC!).
A suggestion Clive. Although you may already do it. When replacing screws into existing holes, particularly of the self tapping variety into plastic, it's worth turning anticlockwise first and you often feel the thread click as it lines up the start of the screw thread with that of the thread in the plastic. It means that you're not cutting a new thread but following the existing thread.
Clive, I wonder if the current sense voltage across your 10 ohm resistor was out of range causing the chip to go into shutdown? It might be worth a look if, like me, you’re curious!
@@eDoc2020 - Ah, that’s me half watching, half working on something else, haha! Thanks for setting me straight. It’s possible an over voltage occurred on the current sense pin and killed the chip. I think I’ve seen that on those UC384x current mode switching ICs when the current sense resistor goes high or open.
do some LED lamps still use the heat fins between the mains connector and the lamp defuser this lamp looks like it might of benefited from it ( pre mod ) ?
I did a bit of Googling - Dodge City was a Scottish DIY chain that B&Q purchased. So from the perspective of people in Scotland, it would have looked like Dodge City changed its name to B&Q.
Dear Big Clive, how much power do you estimate is consumed by all the resistors that stop the LEDs glowing through mains wiring / capacitive coupling in the UK.....and then World wide? Answers in a stamped addressed envel......opps sorry. thanks from EX pat in Seattle area
Currently looking at my scar on the area of skin between my index finger and thumb from when I tried to open a milk carton with a barbeque skewer. (LED LAMP OPENING TIP: Get a pair of any gloves that have a very grippy surface (e.g. work gloves with a textured rubber coating). Grab the body of the LED lamp with one hand, and the LED diffuser globe with the other and TWIST. Not much force is required before they are both separated and completely undamaged.)
That aluminum plate is the same type of construction that I've always encountered here in the US, from the very same big chain that you mentioned. I ultimately ended up taking some heavy shears to the plate because I couldn't break the adhesive holding it to the lamp shell.
We also have the Bayonet lights here in Africa. Fun fact, as per standard. Lights inside the house are bayonet (except for ceiling fans) Lights outside are screw-in
When faced with two screws that were screaming "Unscrew Us" why does Clive still go with a blunt instrument and destruction? Because that is what Clive is. And it's why so many love his approach to electronics...
Right? I learned early on, "take out all visible screws first" but Clive has taught me otherwise as I grew older.
Jack hammer needed.
Thanks, Clive! I think I've found my new life motto. "Not to worry. It's what I've done." It's just so simple, easy, and powerful. I love it.
I, too noted what you have said. I love this rationalization.
Having spent a short period working on the returns desk at B & Q I’m amazed it actually worked at all.
(Looking at the scar on my hand as Clive describes how I got it...)
That's a lesson you only need to learn once. If you're lucky, that "once" is someone else - stay safe everyone!
"Cut towards your chum, not toward your thumb." I've got a few of those myself.
Fast cut/super thin cutting disks on angle grinders are great for making nice scars on your hand too :)
I remember the triage nurse saying "Yes, it probably is" in reply to my question "Is that the bone at the bottom?"
It was quite a sharp knife!
The scar on my hand is from trying to catch a falling soldering iron. Don't do that.
I've slices the back of my right hand fingers open with sharp chain saw chain probably over 100 times. Filing the saw in the dawn hours of the morning, feeling less than alert. Chisel bit saw chain makes a nice deep gash...
You popped it
"I'll just show you on the.. shhhhhhhhhhhhhhcematic" LOL that was too much
Love the way he says that
schmoooo
Hints of JB!
BC is the Sean Connery of lights.
@@johnpossum556 omg ur right
If you get bored listening to BigClive narrating his frustration, you're life is too easy.
... is too easy.
(Don't come here to learn English.)
How did you arrive at that conclusion? :-)
I really thought we were going to see Clive slice his hand open early on. Ergh.
He's done that before.
So did Clive.
I know what you mean. Every time it would slip I was wincing.
.... with concern indeed.
That was one of those nononono moments
Try putting the screws in the plastic with a small counter rotation you will here a pop when the threads line up then tighten the screen clockwise. It works well for old brittle Retro handheld computer's.
That wasn't bad really. Though as a rule I do tend to seek out and remove lots of screws. It's quite frustrating though when you are looking for a screw or a clip or something and I'm sat here shouting "ITS BEHIND THE THINGY". In my news, whilst watching this, I managed to embed the top of the SMPSU chip in the amp I am working on into my ceiling. This is because one of the aforementioned stray screws ended up stuck between the pins of another component, most likely the resistor and capacitor that I haven't found yet.
I feel like we should gift Clive one of these gloves that professional fishermen use... that look like chainmail.
As a bonus it increases contact surface which is exciting when it touches some angry pixies.
What's the glove for? Would love one if it prevents your fingers getting hooked but seems like a fantasy 😂
@@TheMcspreader so do they help prevent piercing? Might aswell get a cheap chefs mitt if not
@@StalwartShinobi
Oyster shuckers use them.
@@ro63rto As do butchers. They are chainmail, very, very fine chainmail, and very expensive.
Interesting experiment. New favorite quote - "Not to worry, its what I have done."
I have one on those exact butter knives in my toolbox, it makes for a most excellent spudger
same, it also heats up very quickly on a ZVS
Im intrigued by the effeciency to be had from using the inductor.
Even more effecient if it doesn't turn on at though, I guess. Thanks Clive!
Always cut away from yourself. To prevent cut wounds. Always Clive!
As a youngster I followed that rule when making various balsa wood model airplanes. One day the knife caught the grain and I whittled my finger. I still have a faint V shaped scar. Lucky the bone stopped the blade in time :-)
On a globe, all paths lead back to the beginning.
Many years ago i was making an airfix model kit of the HMS Victory, I was using a scalpel and was trimming some of the plastic from where it had slightly overmoulded and was pulling the blade towards me. In moment of stupidity i slipped and the scalpel blade went blade first directly into the end of my thumb right up to the hilt. It didn't hurt until i pulled the bastard out and that's when i found out that you have a pulse at the end of your thumb as blood spurted in rather large quantities all over the place. I look back often and laugh at this lol
The advice that I has was "always cut towards your mate"!
Ave says "Cut towards your chum, not your thumb""
i had some anxiety effects watching you carve into that orb. "for those of us playing along at home".
"This is looking fairly promising."
I glance back at the title to make sure I read it correctly.
"What's the take-away from this?" Seriously Clive? I've been watching your channel for almost a decade now and I can't count how many times I've shouted at the screen "Take the screws out!" of "You missed that other screw!".
Thanks for the informative videos.
I have only just seen your videos for the first time. I'm onto my fourth one now. It makes a change from politics. Thank you.
Stabbing yourself with a blunt knife is not fun either. I laugh so much when everything go wrong. Thanks Clive!
A stab AND a bruise.
A nuse once said to me that a cut with a sharp knife is best for suturing, a blunt knife leaves a jagged edger
However, a sharp knife is likely to go deeper.
I have a scar on my thumb from opening a starwars light saber with a serated steak knife as a child, I waved my hand about rapidly and after mum fixed me (nhs nurse) I realised I got blood on the bedding that had just been washed and splattered the white hallway wall paper and all 🤣🤣
"Not to worry, it's what I've done.". What an attitude to have, very impressive.
Hammer time , advice coming from a HCV mechanic . push on through all the way to the danger Zone !
I got one of those scars when I was about seven or eight years old, except that I was only trying to forcibly open an orange 🍊
reminds me of when the "hard bastard" of my year 5 primary school class managed to cut his hand open while attempting to open a yogurt pot with a plastic spoon instead of peeling the lid off, which he deemed himself too badass to consider.
I got one with a potato peeler when I was about 5 trying to spudger open an apple.
Got mine stripping a cable with a knife.
Got a decent life long scar from a knick in a tape measure running over my thumb. Bleed like a stuck pig and I still feel uncomfortable when a tape measure retracts quickly.
I now imagine you always opening oranges with a spudger.
You need a few guitar picks or extra spudgers to hold the gap when you make a gap.
I often put a bit of Vaseline on those self-tapping screws to avoid them seize or cross thread. I use the same mod you just made for this lamp. It will work for years.
This form factor is nice and easy when replacing about similar size traditional incandescent bulbs (mainly on porches etc.). Mine has worked about 10 years already. I think it's 18W or 15W rated and from Biltema. Not cheap though, was about 12-15€ back then.
I would like to recommend my favorite tool for opening and peeling anything: a small (3cm wide) putty knife that has been sharpened at the tip.
I have two, one sharpened just at the very tip, with a pretty rounded curve to the edge, and one that has been thinned out much further. The rounded one is far more useful.
I did a mod to a ledlamp, and reducing the power by modifying the current limit resistor, is limited in range. I wanted to go back to 40% of the rated power and the lamp started flashing. 60% was the limit.
I bought a bunch of 10 ohm pots which I put in series with the existing current limit resistors. Makes life much easier.
Cheers 👍🤝🇳🇱
"I am Rodger. I am a Spudger."
Also "I may have used unreasonable force." is my new favorite expression.
I can just see you in some adventure movie, charged to bring the big bad in alive.
We see you in your leader's office, you open a suit case and dump out still smoldering shins, ankles and feet of the big bad.
"I may have used unreasonable force."
It'd be easier to say "He George Floyded that light!"
B&Q = Block & Quale. I'm full of useless information LOL :D
At first I saw BBQ ... reminded me of the ultrafire lithium battery brand like in barbecuing LEDs
And here was me thinking it was Buy & Queue ...
That's almost as bad as our dollar-store soap brand: Klar & Danver. lol
Skip forward? Heck no! I sat down with a cup of coffee and a bowl of ice cream for this episode!
Have you ever put ice cream in your coffee?
that sounds like a painful, tooth achy, combination, my friend.
@@absolutely1337 Nothing like applying a bit of thermal shock to your chompers whilst relaxing to a Big Clive video.
@@absolutely1337 oh no. The ice cream is delicious and the coffee is to prevent brain freeze!
hey Clive, I bought a few flower shaped large LED lamp (they open kinda like a ceiling fan) and 2 of them had their capacitors explode inside and I wonder if you would tear one down and find out why and how they're made.
I would like to see this!
I like it when things don't go exactly to plan, that's usually when a video gets a bit more interesting.
"If its glass, wear gloves" how about leave the lamp alone man 🤣 you save me from wrecking my house to see how things work, cheers mate
Clive, you really scare me at times, lol. Fantastic viewing and really educational. I cannot thank you enough for this Channel.
The vast majority of the "more expensive 3 to 10W" bulbs I have opened here in Canada look exactly like that one. It's the cheap ones that are so easy to hack.
I love your color coding to tell what is all connected.
I had similar problem with some buck regulated LED lamps, they did not like replacig resistors to anything higher value than standard, sometimes they flashed, other times they did not work at all.
I had a similar experience yesterday. I wanted to dim down a 15W ceiling lamp. It has a SIC9554A which is the same chip as the BP one but from Shenzhen SI Semiconductors. As the sense resistor it had 5.6R in parallel to 1R. I just removed the 1R which should have given me roughly 2.7W output. But the lamp did not light up, when plugged in. Instead it gave a brief bright flash every time I unplugged it. With the 1R back in place it worked as before again. My assumption is that the LED short protection kicked in. I will try it tomorrow with a lower value sense resistor. So there seems to be a lower limit to the power you can set.
EDIT: I just had another look at the datasheet and noticed that Radj for the OVP is also dependent on the Rsense. so, when I sixfold the Rsense I should have divided the Radj by 6 as well
Thank you Clive
I'd understand why the chip didn't like you. I wouldn't be happy if you came at me with a knife. 😂
Personally when it all goes awry that's when things get uniquely cool as long as nobody gets hurt.
I would throw some into slow color changer LEDs under that dome it looks like it would diffuse VERY nicely.
Good stuff regardless!
So just what are you lighting up with all the dim lamps you modified anyways?
Everything.
10:30: Thing worthy of note: ROVP is for resistor (for) over-volatage protection.
Related question: x^y signifies x to the power of y, i.e. x followed by superscript y, but is there another similar way to designate the opposite, i.e. x followed by subscript y?
Also, isn't NC for not connected? So why is it connected here?
I noticed the NC was connected. I reckon it was to aid getting better track clearance by using that unconnected pad as part of a track route.
@@bigclivedotcom Thanks for replying, and I have a follow-up: Is it ever a mistake to connect an NC lead to anything? Would NC be floating, be ground or any other state, even? Is it just undefined? (Full disclosure: I typed "unfefeined" at first, which suddenly felt very covfefe.)
EDIT: And to answer my own question: I seem to have found that subscript is denoted by x_y. (Anyone want to confirm or refute that?)
It's nice to see there is something to be done about the horrible overwork demanded of the LEDs and with very little intervention with the circuit. All you have to do is avoid messing with this lamp entirely and grab a cheap one you can mess with without cutting yourself and breaking it to bits in the process.
Picked up one of these cheap a while ago. Bright enough to replace a fairly typical 3 bulb fitting on it's own and (for fear of tempting fate) is still going strong after a couple of years.
The good thing about a sharp spudger is that the scars are thinner and heal fast. The bad thing about a sharp spudger is that the scars are deeper and more plentiful. Darn tradeoffs!
Someone needs to market a sharp spudger with a depth limiter.
I had 2 of these last year in a previous house and they were brilliant!
I've had great success opening lamps like this with a stout ceramic paring knife. Other things to try might be nylon spudgers or nylon bicycle tire levers. The thickness of the blade is often essential in liberating the globe from the adhesive holding it to the base.
That's a delicious pi filter in the power supply. Pity the rest of the lamp wasn't so well ingineered.
Hey Clive, I figured I'd just let you know the reason behind their usage of the "Confidential" watermark is tied to the licensing of that document. If you look at the bottom, it has been labeled as "For Customer Use Only". Their point of doing this is to allow them to more easily go after people re-hosting the document or ripping parts from it without referring to their own site.
I took off a cover for a 16led phillip bulb. It was tough, as the glue was so thick it almost covered the led's. I have more respect for your efforts to create this content. Thanks!
After I had a Philips LED bulb die after many years, I also attempted to take it apart. That thing was utterly shredded by the time I got into it.
"Clive, what's in your hand?"
"A knife!"
"NO!"
Thanks Clive. I've got a half dozen complex dimmable, variable Kelvin, lamps in my garden room which all sing in tune. I'll try some 'shmoo' on their coils (builders silicone sealant?) and see if that helps!
Dimmable lamps are prone to noise.
As a child, I used to get up to all the things BC gets up to now. Nothing electrical or vaguely electronic was safe from being reverse engineered. I was once levering a very hard plastic case apart with a screwdriver (IIRC) and the case shattered. I still have the 1.25 inch scar on my thumb where the plastic acted as a makeshift scalpel. It compliments nicely the star shaped scar from a flying molten solder ball from tapping the soldering iron on the table to clean the tip.
I have a small V shaped scar where a BB entered my hand. It stayed there for 2 days until I got to a hospital and had it removed.
I like the buck regulator type LED lamps, because you can run them on a DC off-grid battery bank with no inverter. They work on a wide range of voltages as well.
yes, Clive, It's like matches, Clive. you know - Strike AWAY from you - like you were cutting string or making a wooden twig whislte. Right Clive, back to watching.( Just had to put in this comment) ... Love your stuff - Education with alarm and satisfaction! Slàinte Mhath.
Re: Spudger:
"Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, sometimes it cuts my hand down to the bone. Oh dear, let me get my biohazard-proof pie tin" :-)
Pie Tins - not the Princes ones that you tin open open - dont use the tops as a frisbee - throwing or catching it will end in tears
“If you ever get bored, you can skip forward”
There’s just one problem with that...
I *never* get bored on a Big Clive video.
Have one of these, picked it up for about £5 on offer. Always wondered what was inside but with it working and me actually using it did not want to risk busting it. Mines been going strong a few years now, its not as bright as i thought it would be when buying. I got it because i have a large room and only 1 small light fitting in the middle. Figured it would spread the light further (kinda does).
Bloody hell Clive, Dodge City, That's going back over 40 years ago, I'm surprised anyone remembers the name.
You made me look at the big ass knife scar on my hand. I wish I would have seen this sooner lol
Love your videos Clive! Your voice is equivalent to the David Attenborough of the electronics world
In the future, giant bulbs may be the latest fashion craze for robot headlamps. O:-]
I have a 22 watt 4000K version that I bought in Interspar, and it seems like a good design, because I thought that it would overheat quickly, but it didn't. It looks great dangling out of a pendant. I have taken it apart, and that worked after the dissasembly. That one had less circuitry.
But Clive, Is it actually 15W of heat to dissipate? Isn't most of the power in the form of light? I never really understood this. How to measure the power dissipated as heat? Or light, for that matter.
It's mostly heat. The efficiency of power to light conversion is still relatively low, even with LEDs.
@@bigclivedotcom And, as you say, if they deliberately design them to run hot, then the efficiency and life-span is low, and the consumer money-sucking power is high. For once, I have to agree with the Prince of Dubai :-)
A theoretically perfect visible white light source emits 251 lumens per Watt. An LED bulb emits about 800 lm for 12W, so if it was a "perfect" radiator 3.19W would be emitted as light, and 8.81W would be heat for an efficiency of 26.5%. Real LED bulbs are not "perfect" white light radiators, so it's even worse than this. As a comparison, a "perfect" 60W tungsten bulb would emit 56.81W as heat for 3.19W as light for an efficiency of about 5%. But tungsten bulbs are even farther from perfect white light emitters, so they are far worse.
@@stargazer7644 Thanks for this explanation.
"I have a knife." is quite possibly the scariest thing I've ever heard BigClive say. 😂
Adding the thermal compound "Release the schmoo!!"
"thermally connected by luck" Oh man this hits home.
Clive, I wonder if a hair dryer or heatgun might aid in disassembly of those bulbs. Might it soften the cement?
It's high temperature silicone.
"not to worry, it's been done" is going to be my new life motto
It's interesting to me why the globe part of the lamps are glued on so tightly. I opened my own LED lamp and a significant amount of that siliconey-type glue was used. Didn't make sense though, since it just snapped right back on after scraping it off like there is a ridge to securely hold it in. My guess is as good as yours, only being that it's to stop the globe from turning when inserting/removing it from a fixture.
They're glued on tightly because live mains is exposed on the circuit board, and they don't want to be sued and be forced to put a warning sticker on the thing.
@@stargazer7644 Possibly, maybe for cheaper ones, mine didn't though. also has a regulated and filtered power source since it connects to WiFi and would likely malfunction otherwise.
I've got a lamp just like that sitting next to me waiting for me to go to B&Q to buy a replacement. It ran very nicely in my living room for something like 5 years. I'm going to wait for my second vaccination before joining the queues to get into the shop. I had a quick check and I think my one has a glass globe, or at any rate one that doesn't deform when I press it.
Now that was a FUN video to watch! Cheers 🍻
It was already B&Q before the acquisition of Dodge City. Founded in 1969 as Block & Quayle by Richard Block and David Quayle, shortly afterwards they shortened the name to B&Q. B&Q bought Dodge City at the beginning of the 1980s
Bayonettes are used here in Canada but mostly for old display indicators and automotive applications. Never seen it in a house unless someone had an imported light fixture.
I have one of these in E27 flavour, just opened it up and it's somewhat different. The boards are modular and can be removed without desoldering, circuitry appears more complex, LED panel is different and has more themal compound on it.
14:00 - Would you say that's roughly 1 μVerge of heatsink compound?
A heat gun works really well on those kind of objects if they are glued together. The glue melts the 2 pieces togetherl the heat softens the bond making it much easier to take it apart
Clive : "Inserting Up And Levering Down" 02:48 - Yes, she loves it when I do that.
Bored? A Big Clive video boring? No such thing, impossible, I won't hear of it. 04:25
What is the take away? ... Assume the screws are in fact screwing and remove them before making a fruitless effort to lever it apart. It was a good save in the end Clive. 👍
Hi bud got my flashy board today and just waiting for my leds and smd resistors thanks for the file
Thanks, Clive, that was fun perhaps not so much for you but a good result in the end, you could always put your ridiculously large filament that you made in the globe.
I had a small led lamp, it started to flicker and decided to open it up. The contacts seemed to be a little loose so i got that taken care of, the lamp worked fine for about an hour and when i turned it off it never turned on again. Maybe they happened to be in series and one or more LED's failed open?
It's often a bond in an LED that fails. Usually visible as a black dot in the phosphor.
Anyone else get the feeling when watching a Big Clive opening up that it's almost the prelude section to a Casualty / Holby City accident? I sincerely hope not however; Big Clive is the best viewing going (take notice BBC!).
Hi Clive, have you tried using solvent to soften the glue. I don't know what sort of solvent would work best. Maybe Isopropyl alcohol?
It makes me feel better that even Clive bodges repairs...it seems its all I do
Butchers security gloves might be reasonable LOL
@@TheMcspreader The choice between spending some cash vs a broken hand seems an easy one to me.
A suggestion Clive. Although you may already do it. When replacing screws into existing holes, particularly of the self tapping variety into plastic, it's worth turning anticlockwise first and you often feel the thread click as it lines up the start of the screw thread with that of the thread in the plastic. It means that you're not cutting a new thread but following the existing thread.
I normally do. These screws were a strange type that didn't lead in easily.
One amazing big led 💡
Clive, I wonder if the current sense voltage across your 10 ohm resistor was out of range causing the chip to go into shutdown? It might be worth a look if, like me, you’re curious!
He tried putting the original resistors back and it still didn't work.
@@eDoc2020 - Ah, that’s me half watching, half working on something else, haha! Thanks for setting me straight. It’s possible an over voltage occurred on the current sense pin and killed the chip. I think I’ve seen that on those UC384x current mode switching ICs when the current sense resistor goes high or open.
do some LED lamps still use the heat fins between the mains connector and the lamp defuser this lamp looks like it might of benefited from it ( pre mod ) ?
I did a bit of Googling - Dodge City was a Scottish DIY chain that B&Q purchased. So from the perspective of people in Scotland, it would have looked like Dodge City changed its name to B&Q.
Dear Big Clive, how much power do you estimate is consumed by all the resistors that stop the LEDs glowing through mains wiring / capacitive coupling in the UK.....and then World wide? Answers in a stamped addressed envel......opps sorry. thanks from EX pat in Seattle area
Very little. They are in parallel with a much lower impedance.
According to the subtitles this has an 8.2 megafart smoothing capacitor. Sounds about right.
Can u add a voltage doubler with diodes? Might glow a bit more? At least once, don’t blink.
Currently looking at my scar on the area of skin between my index finger and thumb from when I tried to open a milk carton with a barbeque skewer.
(LED LAMP OPENING TIP: Get a pair of any gloves that have a very grippy surface (e.g. work gloves with a textured rubber coating). Grab the body of the LED lamp with one hand, and the LED diffuser globe with the other and TWIST. Not much force is required before they are both separated and completely undamaged.)
Well that was a let down, I put my extra dark safety squints on every time you plugged it in. 😂😂😂 Cheers Stuart 🇦🇺
That aluminum plate is the same type of construction that I've always encountered here in the US, from the very same big chain that you mentioned.
I ultimately ended up taking some heavy shears to the plate because I couldn't break the adhesive holding it to the lamp shell.
We also have the Bayonet lights here in Africa. Fun fact, as per standard. Lights inside the house are bayonet (except for ceiling fans) Lights outside are screw-in