LED lamps that will last too long to be sold (just undervolted but interesting)

The story of forbidden, better lamps, lamps that will last too long and use even less Watt. Undervolted LED lamps…

Had no topic to put this in, if links are not allowed please tell me, or just remove it.

Really interesting video.

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Fyi, Discourse can embed youtube links if you place the link in a single line

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Thank you, updated original post. :slight_smile:
And yes, to both also he dissects everything to simple electric circuit, and even improves upon it which is similar to ElectroBOOM *(just without shocking himself 20 times) :slight_smile:

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Yeah BigClive is the man when it comes to these things.

I am not even low key pissed that lightbulb companies ruined LED bulbs to keep the money coming. They were always billed as long lasting and supper efficient, but no lets run them hard and burn them out in just the same time as incandescents.

I hope these get resold in huge numbers. I am very tempted to buy a bunch for the house. Philips are massive scumbags doing it like this.

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I have built some lighting myself (runs the LEDs at 15mA of the 20mA spec allowes) and will likely expand on that system in the future.
Exactly for the reason of “lets overrun the LEDs”-mentality. We as humans need to save energy and reduce waste!

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The really annoying thing is LED bulbs are harder to recycle than incandescents, they were just glass and metal, LEDs are plastics, PCBs, non common metals and a few other bits.

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Yup.
Part of the problem is throwing out the PSU when just one LED broke, or throwing out the LEDs when the PSU broke.

That could to an extent be worked arround by having 12V (or 24V) lighting PSUs per room.

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Yeah even if it was something simple as direct connection LED bulbs with no power circuitry and instead have the 12-24v converter behind the light switch or somewhere easy to replace and makes sense.

Would be perfect.

Now I want to build a house.

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Can’t a regular dimmer simulate this effect ? Buy a ESP8266 based one and set the upper limit to something way below maximum.

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I guess undervolting LEDs is one way to make them last longer? The true issue is maintaining a reasonable junction temperature. Running an LED at its full rated current does not “burn it out”, but running one well above a reasonable junction temperature does.

I have Philips LEDs in my kitchen as undercabinet lighting. I built each fixture myself using a Lumileds REBEL warm white LED, running at 3 watts (maximum output). Each one is cemented to a large aluminum dish that serves as a reflector, baffle and most importantly, heatsink. I built the lights about eight years ago, and they’re still working great, running 24x7x365.

The aluminum dish never gets above 40c, and by my math, that means the junction temperature is closer to 60-65c. It’s nominal recommended is 85c and maximum is 100c.

Maybe? This working depends a lot on the power supply in the lamp.
Like @gordonthree says, to make LEDs last, you need to keep their temperature reasonable and stay within current limits.

Video on the subject:

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Reading this topic makes me want to crack open my 10W+ LED lamps and change the capacitor in the capacitor-dropper circuit to a higher value, so they don’t get as hot…

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