+Benjamin “Ozias” Esposti Its easy to say that when you can do it. I often hold a wire and feed solder onto its stripped tip whilst holding an iron in my other hand and some think its a miracle of dexterity! :)
Darn wish i would have found you earlier. I have trashed many led lights without really understanding how they worked. I did the visual stuff checking solder and such. Thank you for the work and time to make these vids.
I have two corn cob lights waiting to be repaired and you have prompted me to finally do it. I also noticed the tiny black speck on a couple of the LED's and found them to be faulty so kept the globes for eventual repair. They were fairly cheap but only worked for a few weeks then died. Hopefully the link across the dead ones will work. Thanks for the effort producing all the videos. After reading the comments it seems like a very common problem.
One of my corn led bulb died the same way, and I have just revived it following your guide. So simple but so useful way you instructed us here. Thanks a bunch. I use a 220R resistor though.
Great tip thanks Clive! If you scrape/melt off the faulty led and just blob the board connection with solder it's even more easy and clean. It's just a shame to throw away so many led's and components just because one small led is faulty.
Thanks to this video I was able to troubleshoot a dead PIR sensor bulb, identify that it had some dead LEDs and then I bought some to replace them and soldered it on. Saved it from going to landfill. Thanks!
just wanted to say thank you, I have had an electrical itch and you have helped me scratch it, Thank you Big Man. your like my electronics teacher, I have learned a lot from watching your videos.
I just "repaired" two of those. I was about to throw them away:) Thanks Clive! Also, the wire strippers you use are produced near to where i live. UNIOR is the best Slovenian brand of tools.
I have an whole batch of those exact leds that are falling like flies, I was wondering what the problem was. My soldering skills are no way as good as yours but that should be easy to fix. You made what to me was a very fiddly job very easy looking but sorted now (until another led blows)
I have been using 7 corn bulbs in a pendant ceiling fitting and despite intermittent use after about a year they have been failing every few weeks, in one case a replacement failed within days. The failure rate is much worse than for an incandescent bulb. I have just followed this video and successfully repaired 4 of these corn bulbs. It will be interesting to see how long they last as clearly the voltage across each individual LED is now fractionally greater.
Clive, we all know that LED Lights often fail - well before their expected life! Being a bit of a Thinker, I would love your thoughts on this: Why not have an Induction Coil, which is inbuilt into the Bayonet Light Fitting - just a small (circular) torroidal transformer which could give a very low VA, and (yet) cater for all Wattages of LED Lamps. THEN, another much smaller circular coil, which is built into every production-made LED Light Unit. The whole purpose of this arrangement, is simply because there is an extremely-wide voltage range between the Domestic Mains supply (here in Australia is the same as the UK - at 240VAC and 50 Hz. Already, we have two (2) large issues: LED lights work absolutely the best on a stable DC Power Source, and also bringing down the wattage slightly using PWM.I have done this since 2005 in my home, with LED Lighting (17 individual Units) which illuminate my home from Dusk to dawn on 365 days / year, and it's so good that I could not live without it! My point is: Not ONE of those 17 LED Lights failed, but I just changed them all out last week, because I noticed that the illumination of each Unit had deteriorated over the 17 years of daily use. LED's work perfectly, at a stable current and voltage source, but more particularly if they have a well-known brand, and not a Chinese copy of the famous brands. If you are still reading this, the main objective here, is to solve the issue of the large voltage (mains supply), to the voltage that would be more suited. Lets say 12V AC. A small circular (mating) Coil which is built-into every LED Lamp, would ensure sufficient voltage could be supplied to illuminate any type of LED Array. In this way, the internal PCB and components that are currently used - could be slashed by the LED Manufacturer. I was horrified to open-up a 240V AC / 15W Light Bulb from ALDI. This was made in Germany. The PCB was loaded with 2X the number of components on the Board. Now, the worst part of all was the Cast Aluminium Heat Sink. I swear that this Casting weighed the equivalent of 20 aluminium Coke Cans!! Many or all of these failed lights end-up in Landfill. The ALDI LED LIght was also hard plastic coated. Germany has no thoughts on greening the Planet producing these. If you are still reading, my proposal would be this: Every person who uses LED Globes, could also buy a Bayonet Fitting with a circular coil. It's not Rocket Science to fit an external component (that would normally be inside an LED Light on some types), which can be used indefinitely. I would just love to see Clive make one of these - with fewer (bare minimum) internal lamp circuitry and components. Then, using a quality LED Module (such as Cree), then leave it permanently lit to log its' life. Sorry that this is an Essay, and greetings from Australia.
Very interesting how smart TH-cam is getting with its recommendations. Came from a video where you mentioned this exact failure mode and described this very fix. The banggood lamp video.
Thanks for sharing Clive. I've watched almost all of your videos (I love learning about electronics), and wish you would show a microscope view (or just a zoomed close up view) when there's tiny detail.
Ha! - I've had 3 of these go - I noticed the hole too, attempted to make 2 lamps out of 3 - but the LEDS keep failing - gave up. Caused by Voltage Peaks when the Arc Welder is running in the workshop?? Previous Pineapple lasted a few years before dying. You're doing a great job.
These type of LEDs seam to have a short life. I have found a number like this that start to flicker then completely fail. Normally followed by a black mark on the dead diode. I wonder if these enclosed types over heat? I also have a number of the open (deadly types) that work without this problem. When they do work the light output is very good.
+Michael Beeny It is, I guess it's the sloppy manufacture behind it also, as I had found a similar fault in a dumpster dive LED bulb and it had bonding wires inside the 5630 emitters with random sharp bends as if the bonding machine haven't seen maintenance for a while when the LED was bonded to it's case causing the bond wire to fracture and break during use. I had found at least 5-6 LED bulbs with some sort of failure (and 2 that was in mint condition thrown away by someone). One of enclosed type had overheated to the point where epoxy lenses fell out of PLCC-2 emitters with the chips, causing it to fail.
+peepzorz i got a stripax from garant. The best wire stripper EVER! they are a bit pricey though www.hoffmann-group.com/DE/de/hom/Greif-,-Schneid--und-Schlagwerkzeuge/Kabelbearbeitung/Abisolierzange-6-mm%3CSUP%3E2%3C-SUP%3E-GARANT/p/728613 ( i got it for free from a good friend^^)
I recall an article comparing a LED bulb with an incandescent: the latter has one short-lived filament, the former (say) 15 LEDs in series. Point was that the LEDs and other components really need a low failure rate to be competitive because if one fails the bulb fails. I think the $1 Dollar Tree 9W LED bulbs might outlast the $0.50 Dollar Tree 130-volt 60W incandescents they're replacing, but that's 12 LED chips, their solder joints, a capacitive dropper's components and their solder joints... versus a bit of tungsten and a very few wires and connections. Sure, I'm saving a good bit of power, but there's a lot than can fail...
Hi, thanks for the tip. You need not cut wires nor use a special tester. A multimeter set on diode test function will output 2.5-3V (at 3V wear sunglasses) That's all you need to put the probes on a LED and see if it glows. If you want a multimeter, this is a good Aliexpress shopping list: DT830B 3€ or DT9205A 6.2?-8€, rechargeable 9V bat. 3.3€, AA/9V charger 3.5€ A LED shunting resistor must be 3-2.5V/100-150mA= 30-15 Ω. But I goofed and used 220Ω instead of 22Ω and there was no visible dimming. So, one can use 50-220Ω safely and I settled on 100Ω
I found these cheap leds work great as refrigerator lights because the cheap leds used are kept cool and don't burn out :) have had one of these in my refrigerator for about a year now!
Hi Clive, I got some LED potlights from Costco - One of the LED's failed within 30 seconds of startup - I'm not going to return it as it would mean I hav to return the whole housing (and I'm not going into the attic again. Did you want me to send it over? Its a a GU10 bulb. (7 watt, Crazy bright)
I got old LED's off by lifting one end with a soldering iron to small angle and then desolder other end. If it's broken, then there's no need to keep it intact anyway. By the looks of it it's 5630 emitters in that bulb. Keep up the good work.
A typical semiconductor LED can run from 1,7v - 2v. For newer color LED (White, Blue) need more higher voltage to run, about 2,8v until 3,2v (typical double series AA Alkaline battery can be used). All forward current is about 20mA.
The new SMD LED 5730 are rated between 2.8 - 3.6v (check which manufacturer it is). If you wanna see how it looks like when a black dot appears :) just feed them 12v and you'll see a small spark fly and the LED will go POOF and die. Left with that small black dot signifying a dead LED.
I had one very much like this (screw base) fail after only 3 years....I say "only" because it is my flipping FREEZER light which is on MAYBE 20 minutes a month during the very brief times we open the freezer! Makes me wonder now if the door switch is stuck.... why would anyone lead light fail Indo short of on hours?? Maybe 12 hours total on time in 3 years? Probably much less I am using worse case..is there something about freezing temps that would cause early failure? Should I use an incandescent instead ?
That particular LED would have been very easy to remove, heat one side and push it up with the soldering iron tip, heat up the other side and let it drop off. Maybe not proper, but can be easily done with damaging anything.
I've got an LED bulb that I think has had a similar failure. I've taken it apart and there is one led that is completely missing another that the diffusing layer has fallen off. No idea what happened to the missing led and I haven't attempted to fix it yet. I'm pretty sure if i bridge the missing led it will work but I haven't had the time.
I had 4 pretty expensive osram led bulbs, all but one have failed in 1-2 months and the fourth one has been in my room for half a year and flickers quite often. I do wonder how that even works.
+BloodySword In the long term it would increase the life of the bulb, but this way is simpler, you don't have to figure out the value required, and not that it would really matter, but there would be less of a brightness change overall
+Jonathon Gay Uhm, when one LED gives up, it means that they are already pushed very hard or the quality of these LEDs is very low. So I don't think that this bulb will last any month.
+Dušan Lazarević I think it might work in a certain degree. But the resistor has positive temperature coefficient. Meaning when it gets warm, resistance rises. Diodes have the opposite effect, as well as LEDs.
I had that same problem with a Pharox one. (8 € ) At a given point it stopped flickering and works flawlessly ever since. Guess the back up circuit kicked in?
Tweezer-style soldering iron? Here on eBay-Australia, the only supply of these soldering irons that you wanted - are in the UK. Looking at the photos, they are part of a soldering work-station, with work-station connection. How do they work? What is the advantage of them? Can they be purchased outside of the UK?
+Greg Zeng They are usually part of smd soldering station and they work by heating in same time both (or four) sides of component. Personally I find them not of much use (I have PACE and Ersa), I found that more easy is to use hot air for same job (but I am not expert in any soldering and do it very rarely, but same opinion is shared by my colleges that do it much more often them me).
Any idea what brand those LEDs are? I've been spending a ton of money on CREE based LED bulbs, and they do seem to last, but if I can use cheaper ones on rarely used lights, I'm all for it.
The makers and distributors of these corncob bulbs certainly vary in quality. I bought eight from one merchant on aliexpress that are all still going strong over a year later in a recreation room. A few months ago, I bought two slightly smaller bulbs and six slightly larger bulbs of the same design from another merchant on aliexpress. The two smaller ones died a month after I installed them. They were used intermittently in a water closet. It's not like they were on long enough to even get warm, because we don't linger in a water closet, eh? Now the six slightly larger bulbs are also flickering and showing signs of failure. I will never buy anything from the second merchant again, that's for sure. I'm curious if after making a fix like this whether the fixture is likely to continue to degrade and fail again.
Thanks for the follow up. Looks like those are hard to find in the United States but I found a pretty comparable one on Amazon after some digging. www.amazon.com/11-02-160-Insulation-Strippers/dp/B0001P0BYO
I THANK YOU SIR for showing me how these come apart...I have a 115vAC bulb like the one you described...(longer) My Dad was in the US Navy and he said they called those peter bulbs 🥴...What ever Dad...however...those were single element tungsten bulbs...I think a lot were used to run the old reel to reel projectors back then...todays LED's are fantastic...great job...
Another superb video Clive. Just a little further feedback on the set up for making your videos. It looks like you now have the lights more to the left and right of your workbench, which works well. A little more diffusion might be nice to further soften the light - some trace perhaps. I know you now have the exposure/ iris locked off but there has been some variation recently. This particular video is a little over-exposed. The background looks like it might be a sheet of MDF, which is so much better than the black one. Because the MDF is relatively pale and neutral the auto-colour has not picked up on it and given your hands a bluish shade. Which is good. To be on the safe side, one could probably also lock off the white balance. As for the shadows at the bottom of the shot, I wonder if an LED strip fixed just out of shot would help?
I've just had this exact same problem when we had the power restored early this afternoon (the power was cut to this sector for a few hours and our main circuit breaker never turned back on). It seems to have stopped flickering now but I was very curious to see if you had mentioned this issue!
+BenjaminGoose If you live in a rural area then you may have an RCD/GFI on the main incoming supply. These are available in two versions Active and Passive. A Passive breaker will stay set even when the power fails, and only trip in fault conditions. An Active breaker deliberately trips when the power fails and has to be reset afterwards. In rural areas it makes sense to the power companies to use the Active type, since it means that when they have a power outage they are not switching back in to a full load of every home with every thermostatically controlled heater wanting power in one go. By using the ones that trip when the power goes off, they are effectively switching back into no load and then as people check their breaker and reset it the load increases bit by bit in a controlled manner.
bigclivedotcom Ah that makes a lot of sense. What I forgot to mention however, is that the breaker actually failed completely, so it couldn't be turned back on. EDF had to send someone to replace the unit! One thing I found odd about the metre box in general is that it contained two fuses, one for live and one for neutral. Isn't that a little bit redundant, and in some cases dangerous where the neutral becomes disconnected via the fuse blowing, and live staying live?
+BenjaminGoose In old installations it wasn't uncommon to have a fuse on both, but latterly they can change the neutral fuse for a link. That has the advantage of allowing isolation of the neutral for some test purposes.
had a couple to "go" - put LED ACROSS defunct - it worked - another LED died . So added in series as a tesat series of 1k - but 1/8th watt - it worked but fumed - as a test - it worked required 1 watt at least . These are the 220 v - running on 240 volt - so in line voltage dropper of 1 k - but gets warm . These ARE expensive - but they rated at around 50 000 hours when run to spec The capacitors have bleed resistors across them - hence they run safe
I've had some 12v ones we used in a trailer, and they didn't like the unregulated voltage at all; they'd run extremely hot if you didn't have a positive voltage regulator in series with them.
Thanks. I fixed 2 LEDs with a blue 5050 LED (nothing else at hand). But i don`t get the circuit/schema. I`ts the rectifier smoothing cap type, but the 24 LEDs are rated for 3.2V (maybe 3.4V) at 150mA. In series they need about 77V. But whats with the 230V-77V = 153V drop. Are this drop done by a resistor (153V/0.15A=~1K at 153V*0,15A=~23Watts)?
+Looxy Look These usually use a capacitive dropper that basically has a capacitor in series with the mains so that it lets a small portion of current through on each half wave. It's much more efficient than a resistor since there is virtually no energy dissipated as heat from the power supply.
Hello big Clive, I actually use these type of corn style bulbs at home (the 72 LED type) and just last night one of the bulbs showed some of those black spotted LED chips. Now this bulb will still light very dim but also after cutting out the power it slowly fades until it's off, I was wondering if you could examine the bulb if I could ship it to you. I very much enjoy your detailed way of exposing the different electronics!
The LED string has gone almost open circuit but is still allowing a little current to pass making them glow. The slow dim out is because the low current means it takes a while to discharge the capacitor.
I have one that made a snap noise then went dim.. I flicked the light switch 4 times ( each time it would take a few seconds to come on.. but very dim) 5th time it came on to it's full brightness.. I wonder what THAT was? I think I am gonna replace it.
I had one of those type lamps DOA (actually one side didn't work) and found one LED O/C. Since I didn't have a spare LED of the correct type I simply bridged it out. I expected the now shortened string to starve the other side, but surprisingly it seemed evenly bright on both sides after the bodge repair.
i know it doesnt matter .. but i prefer this table background (mdf im guessing) than the black one because there is no light reflecting off the table :)
can u help me? I have a broken led bulb. I think I want to reuse the led inside of it. but I dont know how to power it up...like how many volts it use and if it need resistor
Hi I took one of this apart I have 6 leds. Was wondering if I can connect this to a 12v motorcycle battery. Would I need anything or I can just connect it straight?
I've had the same fault on a couple of mine and fixed them in the same way. As they seemed to be over-running I also lowered the size of the dropper capacitor.
Thanks for the video. You've saved 3 LED corn cobs from landfill and have almost single handedly saved the earth from certain destruction. Go get a biscuit!!
I use a hot air gun. I find usually two LEDS have burned. I fix them in two seconds now ;-) also I remove the plastic case and use 3 second glue to fix every thing back together I find the bulb lasts longer - but mind your fingers 220v its not fun :-) I like the vids keep them comming
Can you please, make a tutorial about how to solder correctly, flux paste, solder wick, how to keep the tip of the soldering iron clean, temperatures, tricks, etc. I would be very grateful !
I bought 3 of these, 2 of them died within 1 month. Same fault as in the video. Slightly different housing but same style. I do believe they are under rated for New Zealand's 240V mains supply
+legalizeshemp420 I think it's just that the first fixtures in the USA were Edison screw and it would have been too much bother to switch to a new standard. Same reason they're still here despite the fact that a child or even an adult can stick their finger right into a live connection. Any modern lamp holder standard has to shield the contacts from touch (think GU10 or G9).
bigclivedotcom GU anything is mostly overseas as we are stuck with 3 bases which is just different sizes to the E26. No safety at all if the bugger is plugged in and I know I have been almost zapped by one as I went to touch it my hair on my arm went up slightly (sort of felt weird) and thank goodness only the tip of my finger touched it as I felt the current. Had I been in water or not using sneakers, or even worse grabbed it, bye bye world. Those GU sockets they have to be pushed down to make the final contact which is nice. It seems that so much of the USA is because it was already here and the better ways of anything would cost too much so go figure.
+legalizeshemp420 The only problem I have seen with bayonets was with the old fashioned high power incandescents, where the solder on the ends will melt with the heat and make an indentation that makes them difficult to remove.
Clive I noticed you was using the cheap soldering iron you got from eBay I did see you clip on it. Just want to know how's it going I'm thinking of trying one out. Keep up the the good work love your channel. Regards andy
+andrew mcdonald It's the Yihua 8786D with the combined hot air pen. I started using it more because the pen is handy for heatshrink, and then just kept using it as the iron as well. Apart from the slight buzz from the base unit, It seems to be absolutely fine.
I"ve had 3 of 'm die on me in the last few months... is it just because they're rubbish or could I have a problem with the electrics in my house? outside of bulbs nothing failed on me yet...
+bigclivedotcom Also the lower wattage ones are more likely to last longer, since they have less power to dissipate. Doesn't mean that they aren't overdriving the LEDs though :(
There's a tendency for these to run the LEDs too hard, possibly because they're made in China and designed to run on 220v AC, but in the UK we can get anything up to 253v AC (230 + 10%). I've done this little trick on a number of LED spot light bulbs (E80) in my kitchen, but eventually another LED blows and then it cascades. I think the only long term solution is to short the blown LED and then drop a single resistor in to reduce the voltage going into all of the LEDs or preferably do this before an LED blows in the first place.
+Strider9655 Better than that. Reduce the value of the dropper capacitor. Like from 680nF to 470nF or less and turn it into a slightly lower power lamp that lasts longer.
+bigclivedotcom Why not use a prope led driver instead, i buy Eigostar bub and of 15 only one failed rest still working and got like 3 years yet of use all use led drivers.
superhacker35 I heard back in the day of unofficial plugs in the UK, all the little boys and girls learned to solder so when they bought appliances later in life they could install the correct plug for their house.
I literally have the exact same light, and the exact same thing happened to mine, black dots on the led's that burnt themselves out. Clearly this LED itself is a horrible design, if both mine and yours did it. If memory serves me correctly I bought it on ebay. I live in Australia where our voltage is also slightly higher than China's, when voltage at the source is higher, you would need a different value resistor to keep the current at the proper level that the led diodes can take. These fail commonly, because the extra 10-20v in our countries, drives the LED's a bit over, and because the LED's themselves are not super amazing in quality. 220v is China, Australia is 230v, Scotland is 230v. This isn't the worst LED I have however, I bought an LED that failed in a matter of minutes, to open it up and find out that the Chinese had used a 100v capacitor, predictably it was bulged out and destroyed. The only LED I have that lasts, are ones bought in Australian stores that are specifically made for our power. The longest lasting LED I have is my own LED made from 3 of the 1w diodes that are on a heatsink, and are run from a 3w LED constant current power supply bought off ebay, which is like a little white plastic box and about the size of a match box roughly. This setup has run every night for around 8 years, it's truly reliable.
Handy to know, I've got two huge and one large led bulbs and they are miserable things, flashing or barely doing anything. I'll check for dead leds one day if I have time but might go back to poisonous mercury as they seem more reliable
These wire cutters are from a company called Unior and proudly made in Slovenia. They have some of the best tools in the world (pliers, wrenches, snips etc,...)
Back in my youth the guys at work used to have a tub of failing or failed capacitors they used to charge a few up and tell the new lads to put their hands in and take one out lol
I used a "V" wire strippers some sixty years ago and I liked them much but they can nick the wires. We were told that type of p;lane had several crashes with many deaths and they traced the problem to a nick in the wires. Vibration caused the nick to grow -> be careful.
im so amazed about how you are able to bend youre fingers and hold everything.. Keep up the great work. Love youre videos
+frode eriksen
I can do the same thing, I'm not sure how special it is really XD
+Benjamin “Ozias” Esposti Its easy to say that when you can do it. I often hold a wire and feed solder onto its stripped tip whilst holding an iron in my other hand and some think its a miracle of dexterity! :)
Darn wish i would have found you earlier. I have trashed many led lights without really understanding how they worked. I did the visual stuff checking solder and such. Thank you for the work and time to make these vids.
I just fixed 3 LED lamps like that, thank you good man, that is quite some money saved.
Nice to see a bit of the old percussive maintenance as a first step.
I have two corn cob lights waiting to be repaired and you have prompted me to finally do it. I also noticed the tiny black speck on a couple of the LED's and found them to be faulty so kept the globes for eventual repair. They were fairly cheap but only worked for a few weeks then died.
Hopefully the link across the dead ones will work.
Thanks for the effort producing all the videos.
After reading the comments it seems like a very common problem.
One of my corn led bulb died the same way, and I have just revived it following your guide. So simple but so useful way you instructed us here. Thanks a bunch. I use a 220R resistor though.
"And i left it for awhile to see if it would explode... But it Sadly didn't explode." -bigclivedotcom, 2015
TheRealBotcrusher why do I believe him?
Great tip thanks Clive!
If you scrape/melt off the faulty led and just blob the board connection with solder it's even more easy and clean.
It's just a shame to throw away so many led's and components just because one small led is faulty.
You can bridge it with 100-150 ohm resistor and it'll not change overall balance
For those interested, I measured the power to one led in a **visually** similar bulb and using a lab power supply.
Results: 2.7v @ 6ma.
Thanks to this video I was able to troubleshoot a dead PIR sensor bulb, identify that it had some dead LEDs and then I bought some to replace them and soldered it on. Saved it from going to landfill. Thanks!
This guy knows how to make the most out of ever finger! Great work!
one of your bathrooms? the mansion of clive?
The bungalow of Clive with two bathrooms for some odd reason.
ben kerr jjv
just wanted to say thank you, I have had an electrical itch and you have helped me scratch it, Thank you Big Man. your like my electronics teacher, I have learned a lot from watching your videos.
I just "repaired" two of those. I was about to throw them away:) Thanks Clive!
Also, the wire strippers you use are produced near to where i live. UNIOR is the best Slovenian brand of tools.
I have an whole batch of those exact leds that are falling like flies, I was wondering what the problem was.
My soldering skills are no way as good as yours but that should be easy to fix. You made what to me was a very fiddly job very easy looking but sorted now (until another led blows)
Clive, I would have never thought you would actually use this junk in your house. That's new info for me.
I have been using 7 corn bulbs in a pendant ceiling fitting and despite intermittent use after about a year they have been failing every few weeks, in one case a replacement failed within days. The failure rate is much worse than for an incandescent bulb. I have just followed this video and successfully repaired 4 of these corn bulbs. It will be interesting to see how long they last as clearly the voltage across each individual LED is now fractionally greater.
Clive, we all know that LED Lights often fail - well before their expected life! Being a bit of a Thinker, I would love your thoughts on this: Why not have an Induction Coil, which is inbuilt into the Bayonet Light Fitting - just a small (circular) torroidal transformer which could give a very low VA, and (yet) cater for all Wattages of LED Lamps. THEN, another much smaller circular coil, which is built into every production-made LED Light Unit. The whole purpose of this arrangement, is simply because there is an extremely-wide voltage range between the Domestic Mains supply (here in Australia is the same as the UK - at 240VAC and 50 Hz. Already, we have two (2) large issues: LED lights work absolutely the best on a stable DC Power Source, and also bringing down the wattage slightly using PWM.I have done this since 2005 in my home, with LED Lighting (17 individual Units) which illuminate my home from Dusk to dawn on 365 days / year, and it's so good that I could not live without it! My point is: Not ONE of those 17 LED Lights failed, but I just changed them all out last week, because I noticed that the illumination of each Unit had deteriorated over the 17 years of daily use. LED's work perfectly, at a stable current and voltage source, but more particularly if they have a well-known brand, and not a Chinese copy of the famous brands. If you are still reading this, the main objective here, is to solve the issue of the large voltage (mains supply), to the voltage that would be more suited. Lets say 12V AC.
A small circular (mating) Coil which is built-into every LED Lamp, would ensure sufficient voltage could be supplied to illuminate any type of LED Array. In this way, the internal PCB and components that are currently used - could be slashed by the LED Manufacturer. I was horrified to open-up a 240V AC / 15W Light Bulb from ALDI. This was made in Germany. The PCB was loaded with 2X the number of components on the Board. Now, the worst part of all was the Cast Aluminium Heat Sink. I swear that this Casting weighed the equivalent of 20 aluminium Coke Cans!! Many or all of these failed lights end-up in Landfill. The ALDI LED LIght was also hard plastic coated. Germany has no thoughts on greening the Planet producing these. If you are still reading, my proposal would be this: Every person who uses LED Globes, could also buy a Bayonet Fitting with a circular coil. It's not Rocket Science to fit an external component (that would normally be inside an LED Light on some types), which can be used indefinitely. I would just love to see Clive make one of these - with fewer (bare minimum) internal lamp circuitry and components. Then, using a quality LED Module (such as Cree), then leave it permanently lit to log its' life. Sorry that this is an Essay, and greetings from Australia.
Very interesting how smart TH-cam is getting with its recommendations.
Came from a video where you mentioned this exact failure mode and described this very fix.
The banggood lamp video.
Thanks for sharing Clive. I've watched almost all of your videos (I love learning about electronics), and wish you would show a microscope view (or just a zoomed close up view) when there's tiny detail.
Ha! - I've had 3 of these go - I noticed the hole too, attempted to make 2 lamps out of 3 - but the LEDS keep failing - gave up. Caused by Voltage Peaks when the Arc Welder is running in the workshop?? Previous Pineapple lasted a few years before dying. You're doing a great job.
These type of LEDs seam to have a short life. I have found a number like this that start to flicker then completely fail. Normally followed by a black mark on the dead diode. I wonder if these enclosed types over heat? I also have a number of the open (deadly types) that work without this problem. When they do work the light output is very good.
+Michael Beeny It is, I guess it's the sloppy manufacture behind it also, as I had found a similar fault in a dumpster dive LED bulb and it had bonding wires inside the 5630 emitters with random sharp bends as if the bonding machine haven't seen maintenance for a while when the LED was bonded to it's case causing the bond wire to fracture and break during use. I had found at least 5-6 LED bulbs with some sort of failure (and 2 that was in mint condition thrown away by someone). One of enclosed type had overheated to the point where epoxy lenses fell out of PLCC-2 emitters with the chips, causing it to fail.
+Nelson Pacheco It's bought not buyed.
Nelson Pacheco
You're welcome ^^
Many thanks for sharing the fix.
I have the same problem with a dead corn LED lamp. Am definitely going to try the workaround.
What do you call that kind of wire cutters? I'm trying to track them down but I'm not having much luck.
+Troy Adams The big electrical-work ones are called snips in the UK and side cutters or wire cutters elsewhere.
+Troy Adams www.unior-bike.com/cgi-bin/cms.cgi?doc=10780&prod=8796 is the specific model, but there are lots of similar ones by all the other brands.
+Troy Adams They are also sometimes called diagonal pliers.
+peepzorz i got a stripax from garant. The best wire stripper EVER! they are a bit pricey though www.hoffmann-group.com/DE/de/hom/Greif-,-Schneid--und-Schlagwerkzeuge/Kabelbearbeitung/Abisolierzange-6-mm%3CSUP%3E2%3C-SUP%3E-GARANT/p/728613 ( i got it for free from a good friend^^)
Thank you all for the info :)
Nice one Clive, one dead LED & the lamp fails, I wonder how many people have thrown lamps away that you could have saved.
Save all LED electronic parts...you never know...I throw all these parts into old instant coffee jars...great dry storage...
I recall an article comparing a LED bulb with an incandescent: the latter has one short-lived filament, the former (say) 15 LEDs in series. Point was that the LEDs and other components really need a low failure rate to be competitive because if one fails the bulb fails.
I think the $1 Dollar Tree 9W LED bulbs might outlast the $0.50 Dollar Tree 130-volt 60W incandescents they're replacing, but that's 12 LED chips, their solder joints, a capacitive dropper's components and their solder joints... versus a bit of tungsten and a very few wires and connections. Sure, I'm saving a good bit of power, but there's a lot than can fail...
Hi, thanks for the tip.
You need not cut wires nor use a special tester.
A multimeter set on diode test function will output 2.5-3V
(at 3V wear sunglasses)
That's all you need to put the probes on a LED and see if it glows.
If you want a multimeter, this is a good Aliexpress shopping list:
DT830B 3€ or DT9205A 6.2?-8€, rechargeable 9V bat. 3.3€, AA/9V
charger 3.5€
A LED shunting resistor must be 3-2.5V/100-150mA= 30-15
Ω.
But I goofed and used 220Ω instead of 22Ω and there was no visible
dimming.
So, one can use 50-220Ω safely and I settled on 100Ω
I found these cheap leds work great as refrigerator lights because the cheap leds used are kept cool and don't burn out :) have had one of these in my refrigerator for about a year now!
Hi Clive,
I got some LED potlights from Costco - One of the LED's failed within 30 seconds of startup - I'm not going to return it as it would mean I hav to return the whole housing (and I'm not going into the attic again.
Did you want me to send it over? Its a a GU10 bulb. (7 watt, Crazy bright)
I got old LED's off by lifting one end with a soldering iron to small angle and then desolder other end. If it's broken, then there's no need to keep it intact anyway. By the looks of it it's 5630 emitters in that bulb. Keep up the good work.
Interesting vid.
At 1:50 you use some kind of small hand micro scope or magnifyng glass with led, where did you got that from ?
Thanks
+Rodrigo Bugni It's a common little LED microscope on ebay.
What's the voltage you used to test led?
A typical semiconductor LED can run from 1,7v - 2v. For newer color LED (White, Blue) need more higher voltage to run, about 2,8v until 3,2v (typical double series AA Alkaline battery can be used). All forward current is about 20mA.
The new SMD LED 5730 are rated between 2.8 - 3.6v (check which manufacturer it is).
If you wanna see how it looks like when a black dot appears :) just feed them 12v and you'll see a small spark fly and the LED will go POOF and die. Left with that small black dot signifying a dead LED.
Can i use a old phone charger (5V)?
@ nuno rolo maybe but you need to use at least diodes in series attached in positive wire of the charger to drop at least 1.5 v
I had one very much like this (screw base) fail after only 3 years....I say "only" because it is my flipping FREEZER light which is on MAYBE 20 minutes a month during the very brief times we open the freezer! Makes me wonder now if the door switch is stuck.... why would anyone lead light fail Indo short of on hours?? Maybe 12 hours total on time in 3 years? Probably much less I am using worse case..is there something about freezing temps that would cause early failure? Should I use an incandescent instead ?
Say, got a link for those adjustable strippers? They look quite useful!
That particular LED would have been very easy to remove, heat one side and push it up with the soldering iron tip, heat up the other side and let it drop off. Maybe not proper, but can be easily done with damaging anything.
What is that thing you call a microscope called im interested in getting one.Amazing.
+KoolBreeze420 www.ebay.co.uk/itm/281893206410
I've got an LED bulb that I think has had a similar failure. I've taken it apart and there is one led that is completely missing another that the diffusing layer has fallen off. No idea what happened to the missing led and I haven't attempted to fix it yet. I'm pretty sure if i bridge the missing led it will work but I haven't had the time.
I had 4 pretty expensive osram led bulbs, all but one have failed in 1-2 months and the fourth one has been in my room for half a year and flickers quite often. I do wonder how that even works.
I have been very impressed with Cree for brightness, visual temperature, and reliability. Comparable price to the other big brands.
If you are interested in led bulb, please contact with me. i'm led bulbs seller,
How are your LED filament lamps doing? I have a couple of them (660lm @6W) and I'm quite fond of them!
Why not using a resistor in place of the LED?
+BloodySword In the long term it would increase the life of the bulb, but this way is simpler, you don't have to figure out the value required, and not that it would really matter, but there would be less of a brightness change overall
+Jonathon Gay Uhm, when one LED gives up, it means that they are already pushed very hard or the quality of these LEDs is very low. So I don't think that this bulb will last any month.
+BloodySword I should have clarified that it was the resistor which would improve the lifespan. That's what I meant, not the plain wire
+Jonathon Gay If I measure resistance of working one, then solder resistor at place of faulty one, will it work? Also will value of resistor be good?
+Dušan Lazarević I think it might work in a certain degree. But the resistor has positive temperature coefficient. Meaning when it gets warm, resistance rises. Diodes have the opposite effect, as well as LEDs.
I had that same problem with a Pharox one. (8 € )
At a given point it stopped flickering and works flawlessly ever since.
Guess the back up circuit kicked in?
Tweezer-style soldering iron?
Here on eBay-Australia, the only supply of these soldering irons that you wanted - are in the UK.
Looking at the photos, they are part of a soldering work-station, with work-station connection. How do they work? What is the advantage of them? Can they be purchased outside of the UK?
+Greg Zeng They are usually part of smd soldering station and they work by heating in same time both (or four) sides of component. Personally I find them not of much use (I have PACE and Ersa), I found that more easy is to use hot air for same job (but I am not expert in any soldering and do it very rarely, but same opinion is shared by my colleges that do it much more often them me).
I have managed to repair one of my dead LED bulb , Great tutorial
Can you tell me what I would search for on Amazon or eBay to get a pair of those wire strippers??
Any idea what brand those LEDs are? I've been spending a ton of money on CREE based LED bulbs, and they do seem to last, but if I can use cheaper ones on rarely used lights, I'm all for it.
Hello, what is the tester that is used in this video ? Does it support thicker wires ? Thanks
The makers and distributors of these corncob bulbs certainly vary in quality. I bought eight from one merchant on aliexpress that are all still going strong over a year later in a recreation room. A few months ago, I bought two slightly smaller bulbs and six slightly larger bulbs of the same design from another merchant on aliexpress. The two smaller ones died a month after I installed them. They were used intermittently in a water closet. It's not like they were on long enough to even get warm, because we don't linger in a water closet, eh? Now the six slightly larger bulbs are also flickering and showing signs of failure. I will never buy anything from the second merchant again, that's for sure.
I'm curious if after making a fix like this whether the fixture is likely to continue to degrade and fail again.
@bigclivedotcom What brand or make/model of wire strippers on those? Tired of dealing w/ ones that are junk.
+David Willequer I tend to use a manually set Unior stripper.
Thanks for the follow up. Looks like those are hard to find in the United States but I found a pretty comparable one on Amazon after some digging. www.amazon.com/11-02-160-Insulation-Strippers/dp/B0001P0BYO
That's a bit like the old gardener's trick - "If you leave the old bulbs in, they'll come again next season"!
Nice video Mate.
Thanks for sharing I really enjoyed it.
I THANK YOU SIR for showing me how these come apart...I have a 115vAC bulb like the one you described...(longer) My Dad was in the US Navy and he said they called those peter bulbs 🥴...What ever Dad...however...those were single element tungsten bulbs...I think a lot were used to run the old reel to reel projectors back then...todays LED's are fantastic...great job...
Another superb video Clive.
Just a little further feedback on the set up for making your videos. It looks like you now have the lights more to the left and right of your workbench, which works well. A little more diffusion might be nice to further soften the light - some trace perhaps. I know you now have the exposure/ iris locked off but there has been some variation recently. This particular video is a little over-exposed.
The background looks like it might be a sheet of MDF, which is so much better than the black one. Because the MDF is relatively pale and neutral the auto-colour has not picked up on it and given your hands a bluish shade. Which is good. To be on the safe side, one could probably also lock off the white balance. As for the shadows at the bottom of the shot, I wonder if an LED strip fixed just out of shot would help?
Would it be possible to desolder the led with the hot air attatchment on the yihua station?
I've just had this exact same problem when we had the power restored early this afternoon (the power was cut to this sector for a few hours and our main circuit breaker never turned back on). It seems to have stopped flickering now but I was very curious to see if you had mentioned this issue!
+BenjaminGoose If you live in a rural area then you may have an RCD/GFI on the main incoming supply. These are available in two versions Active and Passive. A Passive breaker will stay set even when the power fails, and only trip in fault conditions. An Active breaker deliberately trips when the power fails and has to be reset afterwards. In rural areas it makes sense to the power companies to use the Active type, since it means that when they have a power outage they are not switching back in to a full load of every home with every thermostatically controlled heater wanting power in one go. By using the ones that trip when the power goes off, they are effectively switching back into no load and then as people check their breaker and reset it the load increases bit by bit in a controlled manner.
bigclivedotcom Ah that makes a lot of sense. What I forgot to mention however, is that the breaker actually failed completely, so it couldn't be turned back on. EDF had to send someone to replace the unit! One thing I found odd about the metre box in general is that it contained two fuses, one for live and one for neutral. Isn't that a little bit redundant, and in some cases dangerous where the neutral becomes disconnected via the fuse blowing, and live staying live?
+BenjaminGoose In old installations it wasn't uncommon to have a fuse on both, but latterly they can change the neutral fuse for a link. That has the advantage of allowing isolation of the neutral for some test purposes.
had a couple to "go" - put LED ACROSS defunct - it worked - another LED died . So added in series as a tesat series of 1k - but 1/8th watt - it worked but fumed - as a test - it worked required 1 watt at least . These are the 220 v - running on 240 volt - so in line voltage dropper of 1 k - but gets warm . These ARE expensive - but they rated at around 50 000 hours when run to spec
The capacitors have bleed resistors across them - hence they run safe
Hello I had couple of this kind of "bulb". All of them burnt out by the capacitor. What do think what caused that? I have no idea. Thanks!
I've had some 12v ones we used in a trailer, and they didn't like the unregulated voltage at all; they'd run extremely hot if you didn't have a positive voltage regulator in series with them.
Clive, can you tell me what type of LED tester that is? I'd like to try making one myself.
Excellent videos. What led brands do you recommend that are quality?
+Danny Garcia None from eBay or random LED sites. And the known quality ones from the major electronic suppliers cost a lot. It's very hit or miss.
Would you be able to detail the source for the female connector which comes up at the 5 min mark ? Many thanks.
If you mean the black box with the white connectors, then search my channel for LED comparator.
Would tell us where we might find those wire strippers on eBay or Amazon?
do you have a video of the tools you use?
Thanks. I fixed 2 LEDs with a blue 5050 LED (nothing else at hand). But i don`t get the circuit/schema. I`ts the rectifier smoothing cap type, but the 24 LEDs are rated for 3.2V (maybe 3.4V) at 150mA. In series they need about 77V. But whats with the 230V-77V = 153V drop. Are this drop done by a resistor (153V/0.15A=~1K at 153V*0,15A=~23Watts)?
+Looxy Look These usually use a capacitive dropper that basically has a capacitor in series with the mains so that it lets a small portion of current through on each half wave. It's much more efficient than a resistor since there is virtually no energy dissipated as heat from the power supply.
+bigclivedotcom thanks a lot. now i read more about the capacitive reactance: 1 divided by (2 Pi F C) and found more infos in your led hack.
Hello big Clive, I actually use these type of corn style bulbs at home (the 72 LED type) and just last night one of the bulbs showed some of those black spotted LED chips. Now this bulb will still light very dim but also after cutting out the power it slowly fades until it's off, I was wondering if you could examine the bulb if I could ship it to you. I very much enjoy your detailed way of exposing the different electronics!
The LED string has gone almost open circuit but is still allowing a little current to pass making them glow. The slow dim out is because the low current means it takes a while to discharge the capacitor.
bigclivedotcom thank you for answering it makes sense! Keep up making your videos it's great watching!
I have one that made a snap noise then went dim.. I flicked the light switch 4 times ( each time it would take a few seconds to come on.. but very dim) 5th time it came on to it's full brightness.. I wonder what THAT was? I think I am gonna replace it.
I have one of the same kinds but with an E27 fitting. do you happen to remember what the wattage rating was?
Excellent video. Good information provided in a concise manner. Thanks!
I am looking for a decent 50w to a 100w pir controlled LED 2700k floodlight, care to recommend a supplier .
I had one of those type lamps DOA (actually one side didn't work) and found one LED O/C. Since I didn't have a spare LED of the correct type I simply bridged it out. I expected the now shortened string to starve the other side, but surprisingly it seemed evenly bright on both sides after the bodge repair.
Hey clive what was that microscope thing you used it seems interesting.
I commonly use an illuminated magnifying glass and a mini LED illuminated microscope. Both are commonly sold on eBay from China.
ah thank you.
i know it doesnt matter .. but i prefer this table background (mdf im guessing) than the black one because there is no light reflecting off the table :)
can u help me? I have a broken led bulb. I think I want to reuse the led inside of it. but I dont know how to power it up...like how many volts it use and if it need resistor
How many volts the output of your led tester?
Hi I took one of this apart I have 6 leds. Was wondering if I can connect this to a 12v motorcycle battery. Would I need anything or I can just connect it straight?
You can get 12V versions.
@@bigclivedotcom thanks for the reply. What I mean is if I don't want to buy any new led. Can I use this directly or I need resistor ?
I've had the same fault on a couple of mine and fixed them in the same way. As they seemed to be over-running I also lowered the size of the dropper capacitor.
Why do I keep coming back to these videos, don't know what is going on in most of them...
Thanks for the video. You've saved 3 LED corn cobs from landfill and have almost single handedly saved the earth from certain destruction. Go get a biscuit!!
Very helpful, thank you! ... Mine's got 51 LEDs so shortcutting one will not change the current much. I'm sure it'll work as before.
I use a hot air gun. I find usually two LEDS have burned. I fix them in two seconds now ;-)
also I remove the plastic case and use 3 second glue to fix every thing back together I find the bulb lasts longer - but mind your fingers 220v its not fun :-)
I like the vids keep them comming
Can you please, make a tutorial about how to solder correctly, flux paste, solder wick, how to keep the tip of the soldering iron clean, temperatures, tricks, etc. I would be very grateful !
I bought 3 of these, 2 of them died within 1 month. Same fault as in the video. Slightly different housing but same style. I do believe they are under rated for New Zealand's 240V mains supply
I wonder why bayonet connectors never caught on over here in the states I mean they seem so much nicer than the Edison screw on.
+legalizeshemp420 I think it's just that the first fixtures in the USA were Edison screw and it would have been too much bother to switch to a new standard. Same reason they're still here despite the fact that a child or even an adult can stick their finger right into a live connection. Any modern lamp holder standard has to shield the contacts from touch (think GU10 or G9).
bigclivedotcom GU anything is mostly overseas as we are stuck with 3 bases which is just different sizes to the E26. No safety at all if the bugger is plugged in and I know I have been almost zapped by one as I went to touch it my hair on my arm went up slightly (sort of felt weird) and thank goodness only the tip of my finger touched it as I felt the current. Had I been in water or not using sneakers, or even worse grabbed it, bye bye world. Those GU sockets they have to be pushed down to make the final contact which is nice. It seems that so much of the USA is because it was already here and the better ways of anything would cost too much so go figure.
+legalizeshemp420 The only problem I have seen with bayonets was with the old fashioned high power incandescents, where the solder on the ends will melt with the heat and make an indentation that makes them difficult to remove.
Clive I noticed you was using the cheap soldering iron you got from eBay I did see you clip on it.
Just want to know how's it going I'm thinking of trying one out.
Keep up the the good work love your channel.
Regards andy
+andrew mcdonald It's the Yihua 8786D with the combined hot air pen. I started using it more because the pen is handy for heatshrink, and then just kept using it as the iron as well. Apart from the slight buzz from the base unit, It seems to be absolutely fine.
" *I don't know if it's gonna work or not !"" **_Boy ! I love the spirit ! :-))))))))_*
That's a cute looking little lamp!
One of these days I should learn to how to solder like you. I need all sorts of clamps and shit when I do it!
Lord Sandwich you are not alone xD i melted my turtle beach headset as i was soldering a battery pack to it
I"ve had 3 of 'm die on me in the last few months... is it just because they're rubbish or could I have a problem with the electrics in my house? outside of bulbs nothing failed on me yet...
Many of them are pushing the LEDs too hard and if put in a warm area or enclosed fitting they overheat.
thanks Clive, that could be it
i have these lamps, horrible yellow light and the higher wattage ones get really hot
+1marcelfilms There's a tendency to push some of the LEDs really hard. I prefer to stay with the lower wattage ones that run cooler.
+bigclivedotcom
Also the lower wattage ones are more likely to last longer, since they have less power to dissipate. Doesn't mean that they aren't overdriving the LEDs though :(
Benjamin Esposti i take off the protective plastic on most of them when they are out of reach
There's a tendency for these to run the LEDs too hard, possibly because they're made in China and designed to run on 220v AC, but in the UK we can get anything up to 253v AC (230 + 10%).
I've done this little trick on a number of LED spot light bulbs (E80) in my kitchen, but eventually another LED blows and then it cascades.
I think the only long term solution is to short the blown LED and then drop a single resistor in to reduce the voltage going into all of the LEDs or preferably do this before an LED blows in the first place.
+Strider9655 Better than that. Reduce the value of the dropper capacitor. Like from 680nF to 470nF or less and turn it into a slightly lower power lamp that lasts longer.
+bigclivedotcom Why not use a prope led driver instead, i buy Eigostar bub and of 15 only one failed rest still working and got like 3 years yet of use all use led drivers.
+bigclivedotcom BTW i fix a samsung tv 2 moth ago and got one ld dead and was sharp led prety insane for almost years old tv.
+pufero1 3years old.
How did you learn to solder like that? Work in the field or just hobby?
superhacker35 I heard back in the day of unofficial plugs in the UK, all the little boys and girls learned to solder so when they bought appliances later in life they could install the correct plug for their house.
I literally have the exact same light, and the exact same thing happened to mine, black dots on the led's that burnt themselves out. Clearly this LED itself is a horrible design, if both mine and yours did it. If memory serves me correctly I bought it on ebay. I live in Australia where our voltage is also slightly higher than China's, when voltage at the source is higher, you would need a different value resistor to keep the current at the proper level that the led diodes can take. These fail commonly, because the extra 10-20v in our countries, drives the LED's a bit over, and because the LED's themselves are not super amazing in quality. 220v is China, Australia is 230v, Scotland is 230v.
This isn't the worst LED I have however, I bought an LED that failed in a matter of minutes, to open it up and find out that the Chinese had used a 100v capacitor, predictably it was bulged out and destroyed.
The only LED I have that lasts, are ones bought in Australian stores that are specifically made for our power. The longest lasting LED I have is my own LED made from 3 of the 1w diodes that are on a heatsink, and are run from a 3w LED constant current power supply bought off ebay, which is like a little white plastic box and about the size of a match box roughly. This setup has run every night for around 8 years, it's truly reliable.
iv had a few of these fail, i think the 5730 leds are too powerful for these size of lamps. too much heat to dissipate.
whatever happened to this bulb in the end?
You are actually soldering the positive with the negative side of the led ? Thanks in advance ! :)
Yup exactly.
Very sorry but I could not locate "LED comparator" on your website.. Another suggestion ?
+Nic Maennling Sorry. Here's the link.
+bigclivedotcom No link and I am really interested ! Happy New Year to you.
I'm not seeing any link :( Did you forget to add it?
th-cam.com/video/l24weXIYOAw/w-d-xo.html
Handy to know, I've got two huge and one large led bulbs and they are miserable things, flashing or barely doing anything. I'll check for dead leds one day if I have time but might go back to poisonous mercury as they seem more reliable
These wire cutters are from a company called Unior and proudly made in Slovenia. They have some of the best tools in the world (pliers, wrenches, snips etc,...)
Back in my youth the guys at work used to have a tub of failing or failed capacitors
they used to charge a few up and tell the new lads to put their hands in and take one out lol
I used a "V" wire strippers some sixty years ago and I liked them much but they can nick the wires. We were told that type of p;lane had several crashes with many deaths and they traced the problem to a nick in the wires. Vibration caused the nick to grow -> be careful.