Agreed. I decided years ago to cut the cable as the Cool Kids say, and have never regretted it. Our dear Clive has far better content, delivery, and production values than all of Hollywood and Bollywood combined. Besides, I love learning things and Clive is an excellent teacher. Why, just today I learned that I’m not the only one who forgets to remove that damned other screw I stashed before reassembling something that I’ve taken apart. Presenters are supposed to be engaging. I prefer relatable, because engaging means manipulative. I can relate to Clive if for no other reason than the bandages on his fingers that appear randomly.
Happy one million subscribers! You have been a big help in starting my electrical hobbies and I even learned to solder through your videos. Thank you so much.
Hey, when did that happen? I have never gotten into the habit of checking those numbers. I sub to channels that I like, not because they’re popular, so I didn’t notice an announcement. Anyway, yes, congrats on hitting seven figures big guy, we all know it helps with the algorithm and you have certainty earned it.
Always fun to see something getting repaired rather than binned. Thank you for reminding me I need to do something similar with my computer speakers (input wire has broken)!
Some of the larger lights have space inside for a decent mains filter, and sometimes even enough space for a higher value electrolytic to help manage flicker. It might be worth it creating a small EDLC bank since supercaps have such an amazing energy storage, and the very minor discharge cycles would hardly affect their lifespan.
MeanWell does make high quality LED drivers, tho they're hard to find for the non-business clients. The easiest to find in my experience, is the AP series, but the 25W variant may be too big for your flood light enclosure.
Constant current power supplies are harder to find but there are some available locally. The manufacturers of electronic ballasts for fluorescent tubes are now making LED drivers as well.
It is not the case that you disregard safety. It is the case that you are technically competent and understand the risks involved in what you are doing - irrespective of the fires and explosions that necessarily part of the fun of exploration!!
Agreed, but still I admit to being a little bit disappointed when Clive doesn’t let the fire out of something (never mind the mere Magic Smoke others release) and we haven’t seen the hazard containment pie pan lately. I am maintaining hope though, since the revelation of the pyrotechnic potential of copper coated iron and aluminum wire. A man must have hope!
Sorry, but I found Jack Hargreaves to be one of the most boring and monotonous presenters on TV, neither of which applies to Big Clive, who is both skilled and a pleasure to listen to.
Big Clive. Could you possibly include a view and description of your work bench area and lighting positioning in one of your videos. My 12V LED bench lights have recently failed so I'm looking for a suitable replacement. Cheers.
I like the use of side cutters for wire stripping. I did work with a guy once who used to go absolutely mental if he caught anyone doing such a heinous thing instead of using a proper (very expensive) wire stripper. Admittedly on some PTFE insulated wire types, a proper stripper makes all the difference.
yeah I only use my flush cutters for stripping wire. anyone I've worked with who's actually stripped a lot of wire hasn't had any issue with my tool choice, though. management and the one guy who made one off prototype wiring harnesses did, though.
I liked the temporary light way more than the one you fixed because the color looks warmer while the one you fixed is too much bright and cold. Great video BTW.
One of the best reasons to turn a newly fixed light upside down is not to get blinded by the high-power LED. Also: To keep the shrapnel safely inside if the "new" power supply decides to loose a few components on power-up. Hence my motto: "Red on red, Black on black and STAND BACK!" 💥💥💥 Your videos helps a lot of people from difference backgrounds to get started, keep up the good work Clive!
Not sure if it's just my eyes being weird, but the repaired light seems to be less intense than the left-hand light, could just be positioning of the light or something, but, it does seem a bit "off" somehow, still, better than being a blinky nuisance anyway, one of the joys of "affordable" LED lighting these days, going from useful light to disco strobe... :P
Same, I am a pack rat when it comes to electrical stuff. I just recently bit the bullet and donated a lot of it to Habitat For Humanity. Now I actually have a few empty shelves in my shed, a condition that won't last long.
Good to see that you got your lighting fixed, and also that you can buy fittings with removable PSUs! I have had so many different outdoor floodlights (for lighting the front and rear gardens) fail, where I believe the LED has been fine but the PSU has failed, and in true LED fashion the PSU is not easily accessible by the end user and therefore cannot be replaced! Looking forward to part 2.
@@bigclivedotcom I am now visualising a wizened old hag sitting by the packaging line somewhere in China, putting a curse on each unit as it goes into its box...
I'm glad you mentioned the low quality electric wire. One thing that I run into is people using copper coated steel wire for their off-grid solar systems and wonder why they perform so poorly......
My kitchen has been lit by around 500 Cool White LEDs since 2012 ... I converted the 5-foot fluorescent fixture to LED ... Works as good as the day it was new, 11 years ago!
Congratulations on one million subscribers. You deserve to have more. I still think you should do audio book narration, lovely to listen to your soothing tones. Take care of yourself.
Clive, it would be really useful to see a video of your bench filming set-up. How you have the camera and lighting arranged, etc. We get snippets of elements such as the lighting on videos like this.
Studio tours are interesting to me in the abstract because I don’t plan on setting one up any time soon but yeah, I admit to being curious. Some TH-camrs seem to work with their camera implanted n their head or chest while others constantly apologize for the awkwardness of them having to work around a camera they can’t see around. I’m pretty sure Clive isn’t a cyborg but he never seems to have the camera-in-his-way issue. He has mentioned that his available space is cramped and is therefore surrounded by constant threat of electronics avalanche, so it probably isn’t as neat and pristine as that of some TH-camrs. I mean, AvE is a big fan.
I will admit that it's more than abstract to me, I have some close-up filming I need to do and I'm struggling to get the results that Clive and others (e.g. Davie McPhail) do due to there always seeming to be something in the way of me or something casting an awkward shadow or I keep misjudging what's in-shot. It's also the way Clive can say , "I'll just make an adjustment to the focus/exposure" and he just does it with no hint of a wobble or awkward reaching.
I'm surprised you weren't able to find an appropriate LED driver from the usual trusted vendors. Although lately I've found they have less options available in stock, and it's usually the more expensive options that are stocked. And sometimes you can't even trust that they've actually got the stock they say they've got. The last two times I ordered from the silicon-based electronics supplier, everything was supposedly in stock when I checked out, but then I got an email saying it's going to be weeks to months wait on stock.
I wonder if ferrules would help with the mains wires? They're not strictly necessary with wago style connectors, but they're really useful with thin wires.
Nice job and thanks Big Clive. It's very satisifying to improve one's lighting. A fairly simple fix and good results. High CRI units are the way to go. I just ordered a couple of LED power supplies from Ali. Hopefully they're decent.
Hey BC....was at a lunch yesterday with some former colleagues - bunch of sad ex-BBC engineers. You name came up. You know you've 'arrived' when a table of BBC engineers know your name :)
They made sure the power supply was not fixable and was therefore a throw away unit. I like the deformable garage lights that has 3 or 4 adjustable vanes that can shine light anywhere as they move in all plains.
@@gorak9000 I don't see them complaining about the big nuclear light bulb in the sky. They can get used to a wee LED light in the night. Honestly buffalos these days have become a bunch of sissies 😒
I had the same concept but a 70W fixture and it would blink. I also changed the PS and it still blinked. I've had several chips do that. It turns out that the internal bonding that supplies all the strips in the chip (s) acts like an old fashioned tungsten bi-metal blinking strip. On this particular chip that had a round 70W chip I used a square 100W chip and drive it with a 70W supply like that. The case is the heatsink and it's poorly designed with pop metal that doesn't transfer/dissipate heat very well. It's been 8 months now and it's still working fine.
I use vintage clamp on drafting table lamps retrofitted with LED bulbs. Gives tons of moveable light. Future plans are Snap-Loc hose and LED fixtures but gonna wait till current setup dies. Might be waiting 100,000 hours.
I have something very similar Clive. A 100w LED driven at about 80w. I'm using a 24v 10a supply with a current limited boost converter. I've got it slapped on an old CPU cooler with a simple temperature controlled fan controller. It's retinadestroytastic!
Handy tip , the ( last few working ! ) tiny 4 Volt Tungsten filament bulbs from a defunct light string can be reused as individual bulbs with 6 inch added tails .. as single cell battery testers ! ! ( 1v5 or 3v7 ) ... these have the advantage of drawing a good current , like the meter types , but NOT suitable to test button or coin cells , as they draw too much current , ideal for storing in any kitchen drawer for easy instant use ! ... ( tried - n - tested ) ..... DAVE™ 🛑
@BigClive, I’ve enjoyed your channel for years. I have a question that I haven’t been able to find an answer to, and it seems right down your alley. Why do touch lamps of many types always become over-sensitive? For a while a short term fix seems to be opening the circuit (switching the lamp off, unplugging, or removing the screw-in circuit). Is it for lack of a ground connection to the control circuit? This is pretty important to me because I have a degenerative nerve disease, and often cannot use a physical switch. Thank you for anything your genius can shed light upon!
one thing i'd recommend to check out for these flood lights is the replacement led modules with 10 Cree XML's on them (for a 100W one) these old style COB leds are all pretty inefficient, in my opinion atleast, i believe they're at like 60lm/W the Cree's (even the cheap T6's) produce almost 100lm/W, so yea those are pretty good they also exist with XP-E leds etc. in 30W and whatnot
CCA cable has it's issues so it's stealthily being replaced with copper covered iron which solders better but has different current capacity, and flies to magnets.
A lot of the small, local places have started buying cable and other stuff from eBay without due diligence, sometimes this is ok. Other times I wonder if someone will get killed because of a bad decision.
Couple of observations, the potting, is probably the cheapest way to hide shoddy work, at least with the heat shrunk unit you could fix it if it starts to mess around, I worked in high spec power supply company years ago, and the only supplies we would pot were HT supplies for use at altitude, some of the testing was interesting the first couple of times you do it, after the first 20 or so, it wasn't so exciting. My first exposure to flourinert, putting a seriously high voltage into what looks like water, then putting test probes on while live was disconcerting at first, the test manager put his finger in with a running 25KV supply, i was convinced after that. Secondly, how can it be cheaper to produce copper plated cable then pure copper cable? Maybe it's the sad fact that their labour rates are so low?
I Always try and repair led flood lights or repurpose them if I can. I hate waste and landfill some are sealed and unable to be repaired unfortunately.
It's crazy, my bench lighting just started doing this on/off every few seconds too. It's a 10W COB and a 10W driver like these. I bought new ones from Ali a while ago but it got refunded. The seller didn't respond in time or something.
Would you possibly have a video (or be able to do a video) teaching us about what makes different power circuits better? I need more exp w/ identifying "better" circuits I'm sure there's lots of people like myself who have a good general knowledge, but do not have anywhere near your exp w/ these things so we don't know how to identify what's better
If you're willing to spend a little bit more, Meanwell makes a whole ton of different kinds of LED drivers for every combination of current, voltage, ratings, dimming, and any other possible parameter you could want. I've used all kinds of their supplies (including constant-current and constant-voltage LED drivers) and have not had a single issue, after getting fed up with all kinds of cheap clone supplies dying just like you show here. Something like the 20W you're looking to drive will probably set you back $20-50 depending on how fancy you want your features, which is honestly a small price to pay for something that will never fail again.
The answer to the dearth of quality power supplies is to devote a future video to constructing your own! Perhaps an old fashioned type with a proper chunky transformer..😛
I wonder whether the reflective "cones" (pyramids?) on this sort of light actually do anything. They're so far to the side that I can't imagine they're actually catching much light from the LEDs, if any
Anything that tends to get warm and degrade w/ heat, I usually try to cool in some way. Either with it's own power (+ a pot sometimes) or even a microcontroller in some cases
Could it be that you're running the power supplies at 100% duty cycle that's knackering 'em? I recall you saying that under running LEDs and having a 50% duty cycle on the power supply and they'll last shall we say "quite a while".
If the supplies were 50W and the sense resistors were changed to run at 20W it would make them run a lot cooler. But it's not so easy when they're potted.
I have the same lamp outside in the shed and replaced the led four or five times already. Three times this year. They are very cheap, 1-2 dollars, but die fast.
Along the lines of having a flock of solder or a stray blob of solder. I've seen this wreak havoc in devices. This is the most recent thing I've seen that had a problem with something wrong with this lines. In this case there was actually two little splashes of solder on the inside. I had one of those side socket sort of USB equipped surge protectors. Had both to USB a force and a USB C port. First thing that went out was the USBC then finally the rest of it which was kind of strange but then again I haven't unplugging it and using it elsewhere moving around turns out that what killed it was both the USBC Port first and the other was flex and drops of solder that had been there for manufacturer that broke loose from the plastic chassis and floating around in there and of course hitting something critical shorting something out and of course doing the deed. Also something of Interest this might appeal to viewers of this channel as well. On that particular surge protector what was used as the protection indicator was essentially a LED and a resistor wire across the output of the power supply for the USB thus win The Surge protection is no longer functioning which also this one didn't have the thermal fuses which completely cut out the output in series with the supply to both the receptacles and also USB power supply module which looks like an off-the-shelf module by the way! Very interesting design very well-built if it weren't for the Solar Supply is it would still have been working to this day. So definitely something to avoid when you're building something for yourself and also in manufacturer but you know something's always have a tendency to slip past quality control or like oh it'll be okay sort of thing well not in this case! Use it for quite a few years! Served very well until that time really high quality it seems like the wiring on the AC side of things is heavier than needed to be even. And yeah designed for the US market it was pretty clever how things were done in there with the ability to swivel the three AC sockets and the three USB as well. I was expecting it to be contacts either side however something better they had just run the power wiring through one end each of the two separate sections definitely better than some of those funky contacts that sometimes don't work well I've seen these fail on something similar. But then again somebody was putting a pretty heavy load on these and they were discolored so clearly High Resistance connections but not surprising probably due to tensioner that was contacts I think it was an earlier design the name is something that had been Don similar to the above surge protector later on since I saw the same product essentially but don't know if it's the same brand and haven't done with just wire going from the main body to the swiveling sections so likely the design change because of reliability and other issues
Great video and repair. What about the Osram LED Driver, 21 → 40V Output, 20W Output, 150 → 1050mA Output, Constant Current, RS Stock No.: 256-5086 Mfr. Part No.: ELEMENT-20/220-240/500-G3 It's cheap as chips on RS so you could stock up on spares.
I know what you mean about paying more for the same or worse quality Clive .. I needed to replace a floodlight at our back door, so rather than hit the Chinese sellers, I paid royally for one from a Retail Lighting Shop .... took it home, wired it up .. DOA ..... closer look at it found the same old floating Earth, poor quality build etc. I am sure it was the same rubbish in a shiny box !
Hi clive. Do you hace any videos regarding keeping your soldering iron tips in good condition? I always seem to burn my tips to the point that they will no longer take solder... using a TS101 + power supply. Thanks clive 🤟
Make sure you don't run them too hot. I use my iron at about 350C. Contrary to internet lore I also tin my bit before parking it. Also, avoid using the tips to do things like melting holes in plastic.
A missed opportunity. The outtro should have been… will the power supply hold out, will the tear down be a success find out here on the same bigclive channel at the same bigclive hour.
This is proper telly.
Indeed !
Agreed. I decided years ago to cut the cable as the Cool Kids say, and have never regretted it. Our dear Clive has far better content, delivery, and production values than all of Hollywood and Bollywood combined. Besides, I love learning things and Clive is an excellent teacher. Why, just today I learned that I’m not the only one who forgets to remove that damned other screw I stashed before reassembling something that I’ve taken apart.
Presenters are supposed to be engaging. I prefer relatable, because engaging means manipulative. I can relate to Clive if for no other reason than the bandages on his fingers that appear randomly.
Television* aka TV*
The new season rocks so far.
Don't you mean, "This is proper TH-cam?" (Which admittedly, you could watch on a Smart TV, but it would STILL be TH-cam, and NOT TV).
Happy one million subscribers! You have been a big help in starting my electrical hobbies and I even learned to solder through your videos. Thank you so much.
Hey, when did that happen? I have never gotten into the habit of checking those numbers. I sub to channels that I like, not because they’re popular, so I didn’t notice an announcement.
Anyway, yes, congrats on hitting seven figures big guy, we all know it helps with the algorithm and you have certainty earned it.
Same here lol, been watching ever since!
Always fun to see something getting repaired rather than binned.
Thank you for reminding me I need to do something similar with my computer speakers (input wire has broken)!
Some of the larger lights have space inside for a decent mains filter, and sometimes even enough space for a higher value electrolytic to help manage flicker. It might be worth it creating a small EDLC bank since supercaps have such an amazing energy storage, and the very minor discharge cycles would hardly affect their lifespan.
MeanWell does make high quality LED drivers, tho they're hard to find for the non-business clients. The easiest to find in my experience, is the AP series, but the 25W variant may be too big for your flood light enclosure.
Constant current power supplies are harder to find but there are some available locally. The manufacturers of electronic ballasts for fluorescent tubes are now making LED drivers as well.
No more flashing, neighbours must be relieved 😂😂 Good fix, thank you 👍
There's an image that won't go away.
@@MervynPinfield-rn4hs 😂😂🤣😂
@BigClive, it looks like you hit 1,000,000! Congratulations!
I don’t often comment, but I have learned so much from your content over the years.
Thanks for taking the time to show us your exploits.
It is not the case that you disregard safety.
It is the case that you are technically competent and understand the risks involved in what you are doing - irrespective of the fires and explosions that necessarily part of the fun of exploration!!
Well said Steve
Agreed, but still I admit to being a little bit disappointed when Clive doesn’t let the fire out of something (never mind the mere Magic Smoke others release) and we haven’t seen the hazard containment pie pan lately. I am maintaining hope though, since the revelation of the pyrotechnic potential of copper coated iron and aluminum wire. A man must have hope!
He doesn't _disregard_ safety, he entirely _regards_ it, and then carefully chooses which unsafe things to do anyway :)
Very illuminating video!
Thanks Clive very illuminating. At least the power supply lasted longer than the guarantee.
BigClive is the Jack Hargreaves of modern tech. This is the good stuff we need more of.
OMG! You're right! Just without the wierd theme tune... A modern day sage.
Sorry, but I found Jack Hargreaves to be one of the most boring and monotonous presenters on TV, neither of which applies to Big Clive, who is both skilled and a pleasure to listen to.
@@MervynPartin entitled to your opinion.
I loved Jack Hargreaves. He was part of my childhood with "How" and. "Out of Town".
@@MervynPinfield-rn4hs A lot of his old programmes are here on TH-cam.
Edit: Search for "Dave Knowles"
Big Clive. Could you possibly include a view and description of your work bench area and lighting positioning in one of your videos. My 12V LED bench lights have recently failed so I'm looking for a suitable replacement. Cheers.
Just out of curiosity a "behind the scenes" type video showing the setup would definitely be interesting.
I like the use of side cutters for wire stripping. I did work with a guy once who used to go absolutely mental if he caught anyone doing such a heinous thing instead of using a proper (very expensive) wire stripper.
Admittedly on some PTFE insulated wire types, a proper stripper makes all the difference.
yeah I only use my flush cutters for stripping wire. anyone I've worked with who's actually stripped a lot of wire hasn't had any issue with my tool choice, though. management and the one guy who made one off prototype wiring harnesses did, though.
I liked the temporary light way more than the one you fixed because the color looks warmer
while the one you fixed is too much bright and cold.
Great video BTW.
Quite possibly his lights are overkill especially if you are still on B&w lol
One of the best reasons to turn a newly fixed light upside down is not to get blinded by the high-power LED.
Also:
To keep the shrapnel safely inside if the "new" power supply decides to loose a few components on power-up.
Hence my motto: "Red on red, Black on black and STAND BACK!" 💥💥💥
Your videos helps a lot of people from difference backgrounds to get started, keep up the good work Clive!
Ooo, a cliffhanger episode. Definitely some good telly.
Not sure if it's just my eyes being weird, but the repaired light seems to be less intense than the left-hand light, could just be positioning of the light or something, but, it does seem a bit "off" somehow, still, better than being a blinky nuisance anyway, one of the joys of "affordable" LED lighting these days, going from useful light to disco strobe... :P
Genuinely enjoyable video, the quick practical repair helps me justify my hoarding of electrical components Cheers!
Yeah, the only problem is now I need to stop watching internet videos so I can actually go work on all of my own broken things... :)
Same, I am a pack rat when it comes to electrical stuff. I just recently bit the bullet and donated a lot of it to Habitat For Humanity. Now I actually have a few empty shelves in my shed, a condition that won't last long.
Mr Clive, I like it when you repair certain things, I haven't done it for a while, that part of the program I haven't left for a long time.
Good to see that you got your lighting fixed, and also that you can buy fittings with removable PSUs! I have had so many different outdoor floodlights (for lighting the front and rear gardens) fail, where I believe the LED has been fine but the PSU has failed, and in true LED fashion the PSU is not easily accessible by the end user and therefore cannot be replaced!
Looking forward to part 2.
You jinxed me! One of my home lights started flickering (dead LED flicker).
It's the curse of modern lights.
@@bigclivedotcom I am now visualising a wizened old hag sitting by the packaging line somewhere in China, putting a curse on each unit as it goes into its box...
I'm glad you mentioned the low quality electric wire. One thing that I run into is people using copper coated steel wire for their off-grid solar systems and wonder why they perform so poorly......
A pile of potting compound now hints at wonders to come!❤
That's the next video.
🎉
Nice to see you spread some light over the issue you had Clive ;)
I hope you have children, I wouldn't want that level of hunour to go wasted. :)
@@twotone3070 sorry to break it to you but I am all alone
My kitchen has been lit by around 500 Cool White LEDs since 2012 ... I converted the 5-foot fluorescent fixture to LED ... Works as good as the day it was new, 11 years ago!
Congratulations on one million subscribers. You deserve to have more. I still think you should do audio book narration, lovely to listen to your soothing tones. Take care of yourself.
Clive, it would be really useful to see a video of your bench filming set-up. How you have the camera and lighting arranged, etc. We get snippets of elements such as the lighting on videos like this.
Studio tours are interesting to me in the abstract because I don’t plan on setting one up any time soon but yeah, I admit to being curious. Some TH-camrs seem to work with their camera implanted n their head or chest while others constantly apologize for the awkwardness of them having to work around a camera they can’t see around.
I’m pretty sure Clive isn’t a cyborg but he never seems to have the camera-in-his-way issue.
He has mentioned that his available space is cramped and is therefore surrounded by constant threat of electronics avalanche, so it probably isn’t as neat and pristine as that of some TH-camrs. I mean, AvE is a big fan.
I will admit that it's more than abstract to me, I have some close-up filming I need to do and I'm struggling to get the results that Clive and others (e.g. Davie McPhail) do due to there always seeming to be something in the way of me or something casting an awkward shadow or I keep misjudging what's in-shot. It's also the way Clive can say , "I'll just make an adjustment to the focus/exposure" and he just does it with no hint of a wobble or awkward reaching.
Hey Clive, if you want more intense light, you should work with live wires like Mehdi ElectroBOOM does. That should be quite the intense experience.
ONE MILLION subscribers ❗❗❗
Congrats Big Clive 😁👍
Awesome Video Big Clive and i am glad that you were able to fix your light.
I'm surprised you weren't able to find an appropriate LED driver from the usual trusted vendors. Although lately I've found they have less options available in stock, and it's usually the more expensive options that are stocked. And sometimes you can't even trust that they've actually got the stock they say they've got. The last two times I ordered from the silicon-based electronics supplier, everything was supposedly in stock when I checked out, but then I got an email saying it's going to be weeks to months wait on stock.
I was caught short. I thought I had spare drivers but couldn't find them.
"Clone cables and clone terminals, that's a perfect combination" - I can't disagree, this seems just wholesome.
Nice hack. Good luck with the new driver! :)
I wonder if ferrules would help with the mains wires? They're not strictly necessary with wago style connectors, but they're really useful with thin wires.
Nice job and thanks Big Clive. It's very satisifying to improve one's lighting. A fairly simple fix and good results. High CRI units are the way to go. I just ordered a couple of LED power supplies from Ali. Hopefully they're decent.
I remember it failing during the custom bulb video and you mentioned "might need to replace the driver "
Hey BC....was at a lunch yesterday with some former colleagues - bunch of sad ex-BBC engineers. You name came up. You know you've 'arrived' when a table of BBC engineers know your name :)
Didn't Clive work on a few BBC projects over the years?
Brilliant Clive thanks can’t wait to see the insides 😊
They made sure the power supply was not fixable and was therefore a throw away unit. I like the deformable garage lights that has 3 or 4 adjustable vanes that can shine light anywhere as they move in all plains.
In all "plains"? The ones where the buffalo roam?? I bet the buffalo really hate LED shop lights on their plains - makes it hard to sleep
LOL@@gorak9000
@@gorak9000 I don't see them complaining about the big nuclear light bulb in the sky. They can get used to a wee LED light in the night. Honestly buffalos these days have become a bunch of sissies 😒
The potting isn't anti-repair, it's anti-moisture
You repair it.@@_BangDroid_
I had the same concept but a 70W fixture and it would blink. I also changed the PS and it still blinked. I've had several chips do that. It turns out that the internal bonding that supplies all the strips in the chip (s) acts like an old fashioned tungsten bi-metal blinking strip. On this particular chip that had a round 70W chip I used a square 100W chip and drive it with a 70W supply like that. The case is the heatsink and it's poorly designed with pop metal that doesn't transfer/dissipate heat very well. It's been 8 months now and it's still working fine.
The most common failure in these LEDs seems to be where the bonds go onto the busbar at one end.
The temporary lighting was certainly a lot warmer looking. Now your hands have become British Ultra White again!
Now THAT was a FUN video! Love your repair videos. 😀
I use vintage clamp on drafting table lamps retrofitted with LED bulbs. Gives tons of moveable light. Future plans are Snap-Loc hose and LED fixtures but gonna wait till current setup dies. Might be waiting 100,000 hours.
I have something very similar Clive. A 100w LED driven at about 80w. I'm using a 24v 10a supply with a current limited boost converter. I've got it slapped on an old CPU cooler with a simple temperature controlled fan controller. It's retinadestroytastic!
Handy tip , the ( last few working ! ) tiny 4 Volt Tungsten filament bulbs from a defunct light string can be reused as individual bulbs with 6 inch added tails .. as single cell battery testers ! ! ( 1v5 or 3v7 ) ... these have the advantage of drawing a good current , like the meter types , but NOT suitable to test button or coin cells , as they draw too much current , ideal for storing in any kitchen drawer for easy instant use ! ... ( tried - n - tested ) ..... DAVE™ 🛑
This is the Big Clive version of Trigger’s broom.
Create your own power supply to drive your LED? It would be an interesting video.
@BigClive, I’ve enjoyed your channel for years. I have a question that I haven’t been able to find an answer to, and it seems right down your alley. Why do touch lamps of many types always become over-sensitive? For a while a short term fix seems to be opening the circuit (switching the lamp off, unplugging, or removing the screw-in circuit). Is it for lack of a ground connection to the control circuit?
This is pretty important to me because I have a degenerative nerve disease, and often cannot use a physical switch. Thank you for anything your genius can shed light upon!
It could be due to a bad ground, or perhaps adjacent electrically noisy equipment (possibly an LED bulb).
Hi Clive. Great video as ever. I'd recommend Ct1 Multi solve to remove silicone safely. 👍
one thing i'd recommend to check out for these flood lights is the replacement led modules with 10 Cree XML's on them (for a 100W one)
these old style COB leds are all pretty inefficient, in my opinion atleast, i believe they're at like 60lm/W
the Cree's (even the cheap T6's) produce almost 100lm/W, so yea those are pretty good
they also exist with XP-E leds etc. in 30W and whatnot
CCA cable has it's issues so it's stealthily being replaced with copper covered iron which solders better but has different current capacity, and flies to magnets.
A lot of the small, local places have started buying cable and other stuff from eBay without due diligence, sometimes this is ok. Other times I wonder if someone will get killed because of a bad decision.
Fumblesome is my new favourite word.
Think I'll call my boyfriend that.
"Oh sweetie, you are so fumblsome".
Yay! A repair video!
Couple of observations, the potting, is probably the cheapest way to hide shoddy work, at least with the heat shrunk unit you could fix it if it starts to mess around, I worked in high spec power supply company years ago, and the only supplies we would pot were HT supplies for use at altitude, some of the testing was interesting the first couple of times you do it, after the first 20 or so, it wasn't so exciting. My first exposure to flourinert, putting a seriously high voltage into what looks like water, then putting test probes on while live was disconcerting at first, the test manager put his finger in with a running 25KV supply, i was convinced after that.
Secondly, how can it be cheaper to produce copper plated cable then pure copper cable? Maybe it's the sad fact that their labour rates are so low?
For some reason last night I was watching all of your flood light videos 😂😂😂 how coincidental
I've repaired so many of the Chinese specials Clive and hate throwing things away too. You're very lucky if you find an earth to the chasis too..
My suggestion would be a MEAN WELL power supply, they are great (but expensive), I love your WERA screwdriver (my favorite).
I Always try and repair led flood lights or repurpose them if I can. I hate waste and landfill some are sealed and unable to be repaired unfortunately.
It's crazy, my bench lighting just started doing this on/off every few seconds too. It's a 10W COB and a 10W driver like these. I bought new ones from Ali a while ago but it got refunded. The seller didn't respond in time or something.
Would you possibly have a video (or be able to do a video) teaching us about what makes different power circuits better?
I need more exp w/ identifying "better" circuits
I'm sure there's lots of people like myself who have a good general knowledge, but do not have anywhere near your exp w/ these things so we don't know how to identify what's better
If you're willing to spend a little bit more, Meanwell makes a whole ton of different kinds of LED drivers for every combination of current, voltage, ratings, dimming, and any other possible parameter you could want. I've used all kinds of their supplies (including constant-current and constant-voltage LED drivers) and have not had a single issue, after getting fed up with all kinds of cheap clone supplies dying just like you show here.
Something like the 20W you're looking to drive will probably set you back $20-50 depending on how fancy you want your features, which is honestly a small price to pay for something that will never fail again.
I would be interested in watching a video about the power supply you decide to get.
Mean Well makes really good quality LED power supplies for a reasonable price.
Congratulations on 1M! :D
Happy One illion Clive. A very interesting channel you have there.
The answer to the dearth of quality power supplies is to devote a future video to constructing your own! Perhaps an old fashioned type with a proper chunky transformer..😛
Great video Clive thanks
I like to use Meanwell constant current drivers for my COBs over my workbenches. They are actually not that expensive.
I wonder whether the reflective "cones" (pyramids?) on this sort of light actually do anything. They're so far to the side that I can't imagine they're actually catching much light from the LEDs, if any
They may help bounce reflected light from the glass back out.
Apart from more easily getting loose, what other disadvantages (or dangers) come from Copper Coated Aluminium wires over proper copper??
Higher resistance and brittleness. They're a recipe for a fire.
Anything that tends to get warm and degrade w/ heat, I usually try to cool in some way.
Either with it's own power (+ a pot sometimes) or even a microcontroller in some cases
Congrats on the 1m subs Clive!
Could it be that you're running the power supplies at 100% duty cycle that's knackering 'em? I recall you saying that under running LEDs and having a 50% duty cycle on the power supply and they'll last shall we say "quite a while".
If the supplies were 50W and the sense resistors were changed to run at 20W it would make them run a lot cooler. But it's not so easy when they're potted.
Like a proper gaming chair for some we now know the secret of Clive's success: the bench light.
You should run Meanwell or similar power supplies. But then again, they wouldn't provide any exciting failure and dissecting video opportunities.
Good morning from the cheep seats.
I have the same lamp outside in the shed and replaced the led four or five times already. Three times this year. They are very cheap, 1-2 dollars, but die fast.
The case is often not really rated to dissipate enough heat. The LEDs sold on eBay are often substandard ones being "dumped".
What about using old laptop powers supplies? I thought somebody told they were good led drivers.
They still do Clive one of the best is put them right next to a heatsink on a power supply 😮
Along the lines of having a flock of solder or a stray blob of solder.
I've seen this wreak havoc in devices.
This is the most recent thing I've seen that had a problem with something wrong with this lines.
In this case there was actually two little splashes of solder on the inside.
I had one of those side socket sort of USB equipped surge protectors.
Had both to USB a force and a USB C port.
First thing that went out was the USBC then finally the rest of it which was kind of strange but then again I haven't unplugging it and using it elsewhere moving around turns out that what killed it was both the USBC Port first and the other was flex and drops of solder that had been there for manufacturer that broke loose from the plastic chassis and floating around in there and of course hitting something critical shorting something out and of course doing the deed.
Also something of Interest this might appeal to viewers of this channel as well.
On that particular surge protector what was used as the protection indicator was essentially a LED and a resistor wire across the output of the power supply for the USB thus win The Surge protection is no longer functioning which also this one didn't have the thermal fuses which completely cut out the output in series with the supply to both the receptacles and also USB power supply module which looks like an off-the-shelf module by the way!
Very interesting design very well-built if it weren't for the Solar Supply is it would still have been working to this day.
So definitely something to avoid when you're building something for yourself and also in manufacturer but you know something's always have a tendency to slip past quality control or like oh it'll be okay sort of thing well not in this case!
Use it for quite a few years!
Served very well until that time really high quality it seems like the wiring on the AC side of things is heavier than needed to be even.
And yeah designed for the US market it was pretty clever how things were done in there with the ability to swivel the three AC sockets and the three USB as well.
I was expecting it to be contacts either side however something better they had just run the power wiring through one end each of the two separate sections definitely better than some of those funky contacts that sometimes don't work well I've seen these fail on something similar.
But then again somebody was putting a pretty heavy load on these and they were discolored so clearly High Resistance connections but not surprising probably due to tensioner that was contacts I think it was an earlier design the name is something that had been Don similar to the above surge protector later on since I saw the same product essentially but don't know if it's the same brand and haven't done with just wire going from the main body to the swiveling sections so likely the design change because of reliability and other issues
Great video and repair.
What about the Osram LED Driver, 21 → 40V Output, 20W Output, 150 → 1050mA Output, Constant Current, RS Stock No.: 256-5086 Mfr. Part No.: ELEMENT-20/220-240/500-G3
It's cheap as chips on RS so you could stock up on spares.
You can get MeanWell LED drivers too - they're a few bucks, but generally the quality you'd expect from meanwell
A very good result :)
I would like more videos about matching powersupply with LEDS.
I know what you mean about paying more for the same or worse quality Clive .. I needed to replace a floodlight at our back door, so rather than hit the Chinese sellers, I paid royally for one from a Retail Lighting Shop .... took it home, wired it up .. DOA ..... closer look at it found the same old floating Earth, poor quality build etc. I am sure it was the same rubbish in a shiny box !
Hi clive. Do you hace any videos regarding keeping your soldering iron tips in good condition? I always seem to burn my tips to the point that they will no longer take solder... using a TS101 + power supply. Thanks clive 🤟
Make sure you don't run them too hot. I use my iron at about 350C. Contrary to internet lore I also tin my bit before parking it.
Also, avoid using the tips to do things like melting holes in plastic.
Ending on a cliffhanger, what a tease you are ......... ;-)
That video will be out soon.
Where do you get that type of enclosure big enough to take a real driver? The other parts seem comparatively easy to find.
It was a random light bought a while ago. Generally speaking the higher power lights have bigger enclosures for heatsinking.
Herzlichen Glückwunsch zu eine Millionen Abos💐!
Gute Videos 👍🏻
A missed opportunity. The outtro should have been… will the power supply hold out, will the tear down be a success find out here on the same bigclive channel at the same bigclive hour.
Nice, well done ☺
Do you know there are LEDs like this with built in AC/DC conversion, while they too need heat dissipation, they work just fine!
The driverless LEDs have horrific flicker.
haha your light must of been so upset when denied a custom bulb, funny stuff haha!
Interesting to see ❤
How did the reflector not short out the solder connection. They look very close to the leds when assembled.
It sits just above them.
Oh great, Febreeze ads. I place the blame fully upon you, Clive.
dude, wtf, do you live under a rock? u block origin
Have you considered making an LED arch lamp?
They're not as good as they sound. They reflect badly in shiny objects.
Yes but I love their lack of shadows when doing detail work. I still would like to have a diffuser on mine. The raw LEDs can be a bit bright.