You are aware there are different colour tones, i find the warm white ones nowadays are very similar to the older halogen lampsI changed the 8 spotlights in our kitchen for LED's. Mrs Mottie hates them and calls them 'kebab shop' lights.
Good by quartz halogen bulbs, are we ready?
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Yeah, I got the bright white ones which I preferred. Should have got the warm white ones. I’m just hoping she'll 'warm' to them. It’s been over a year so far with no luck though!
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I see no reason to keep quartz halogen bulbs for lighting only, there are cases where the heat is wanted from the bulb, but for lighting only tungsten is poor, as to fluorescent can't see why that would be withdrawn, what would have been better would be to say all lights used only for lighting should have say 75 lumen per watt, be it LED or fluorescent it really does not matter.
However the problem is finding which LED lamps don't flash or flicker, there are LED's with smoothing capacitors which don't flicker, and there are LED's with leak resistors which don't flash, but no requirement to put on the packaging which are which.
The biggest problem was G9,
the large one did not flash or flicker, the package does not show watts, or Lumen neither does the bulb, but work well, however the cover will not fit over the bulb, the halogen bulb is far smaller and must have cover fitted, the small LED flashed when switched off, and flickered when switched on.
The problem is they last for ages, so when a bulb will not work with an electronic switch but is OK for some lamps, one keeps the bulb, it is brand new, so why dump, but you end up with a stock
of bulbs which will likely last my life time. Included in that stock are the bulbs given to my parents to get them to move over from tungsten, compact fluorescent lamps, which are to be withdrawn from sale, the move from B22d to E14 and E27 has resulted in few places when I can still use the old bulbs, still use tungsten bulbs to keep my fermenter warm when brewing beer, LED do not work they don't produce enough heat.
However the problem is finding which LED lamps don't flash or flicker, there are LED's with smoothing capacitors which don't flicker, and there are LED's with leak resistors which don't flash, but no requirement to put on the packaging which are which.
The biggest problem was G9,
the large one did not flash or flicker, the package does not show watts, or Lumen neither does the bulb, but work well, however the cover will not fit over the bulb, the halogen bulb is far smaller and must have cover fitted, the small LED flashed when switched off, and flickered when switched on.The problem is they last for ages, so when a bulb will not work with an electronic switch but is OK for some lamps, one keeps the bulb, it is brand new, so why dump, but you end up with a stock
of bulbs which will likely last my life time. Included in that stock are the bulbs given to my parents to get them to move over from tungsten, compact fluorescent lamps, which are to be withdrawn from sale, the move from B22d to E14 and E27 has resulted in few places when I can still use the old bulbs, still use tungsten bulbs to keep my fermenter warm when brewing beer, LED do not work they don't produce enough heat.Sponsored Links
The problem is finding LED drivers which do not cause the LED to flicker, flash or fail prematurely.
An LED element fed from a battery with a current limiting resistor in series with the element will provide constant light. A regulated and well smoothed DC power supply can be used instead of a battery.
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Yes however the war of the currents was won by George Westinghouse not [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Edison']Thomas Edison[/URL] so we have AC supply into the home, and the way bulbs are made they will often simply not work with DC as they use a capacitor as a current limiting device, so any smoothing of the DC has to be after the capacitor so inside the bulb.
Even the bulbs for extra low voltage
It's a complete mess.
Changing the type of electrolytic smoothing capacitor on the DC output from a LED driver module ( Switched Mode Current control ) can reduce the life of the LED elements
Axial leaded electrolytic capacitors View attachment 237948 have a much better high frequency response than a radial leaded capacitor of the same value
Changing the output smoothing capacitor from an AXIAL to a RADIAL type can result in much higher spikes and / or high frequency energy coming from the supply.
Axial leaded electrolytic capacitors View attachment 237948 have a much better high frequency response than a radial leaded capacitor of the same value
Changing the output smoothing capacitor from an AXIAL to a RADIAL type can result in much higher spikes and / or high frequency energy coming from the supply.
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I deliberately stocked up on 60W tungsten G9's as the LED replacements (there are NO equivalents AFAICT) are too big to fit in the fitting, too dim and mostly non-dimmable. If anyone knows of a 10W dimmable G9 LED lamp with the same physical dimensions as a normal halogen one, please let me know.
Have you actually tried this (with an LED 'driver'/PSU) and seen it to make a noticeable difference?
Because of the way I was brought up, what you are calling "high frequency" is what I would think of as "very low frequency" - and I wouldn't have expected the physical arrangement of a capacitor to have any impact at such frequencies.
I thing that statement may need some editing?
Kind Regards, John
Another error by me and spotted by John
I think I will take up gardening.
I think I will take up gardening.
You're welcome - I only wish that I could notice my own typos/errors as well as I can notice those of others
However, I would suggest that, as well as posting the correct version in this subsequent message, you should also correct the original, since that remains incorrect and might confuse/misled readers in the future.
Kind Regards, John
I was involved in the investigation of the reason why LED elements in large 7 segment displays were noticeably dimmer after a few months in service.
The LED manufacturer examined the failing elements and found the semiconductor junctions were damaged. This damage was the type of damage caused by high reversed voltages applied to the die.
Examining the DC output from the Switch Mode current sources for noise / spikes with a digital ( sampling ) oscilloscope did not show any spikes, but when an analogue ( non sampling ) scope was used there was some indication of fast rise time. very short negative spikes at the switching frequency.
Fitting a ceramic plate capacitor across the DC output appeared to quench the spikes. Displays supplied from the modified supplies did not fade over time.
At some time in the past the PCB of the supplies had been altered and this included changing the output smoothing capacitor from an axial type to a radial type. The radial had a significantly higher inductive impedance due to it's construction.
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If the lamp is marked 230V no.
If the lamp is marked 12v, there may still be stock for a while, but eventually its worth replacing it. You would need to find the transformer first though
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The quartz bulb should not be dimmed, the whole idea is the quartz is so hot the tungsten will not stick to the quartz, running them cold the tungsten coats inside of quartz which can be seen as it goes black. The glass cover over the quartz is to stop white hot quartz landing on the carpet should a bulb fracture when it blows, it is not required when using LED bulbs, however it does charge the look of the lamp without the glass cover.
The small bulb
will fit in the standard glass cover, rated around 2 watt, but using an electronic switch there is a shimmer when switched on, and even with 5 bulbs it needed a load capacitor to stop it flashing, the temporary cure was fit one quartz bulb, however once there are no quartz bulbs clearly that option closes. The large bulb breaks the rules, no wattage marked, and no lumen marked, however no shimmer or flash, my wife got 5, and one failed within a day, so ordered more, out of interest I opened the lamp, and there is a electrolytic capacitor nearly as big as the whole smaller lamp, clearly why no shimmer, and found a clear dry joint which I cured so back in use.
However I have 6 small LED bulbs, and 10 quartz bulbs, and 4 large LED bulbs now sitting in my bulb draw, all will work in other lamps, but I only have one other G9 lamp, so more than I will every use in my life time.
And this is the problem, it is a case of suck it and see, there is no info on the lights to say suitable for electronic switches or not, the electronic switch manufacturers does publish a list of compatible bulbs the only G9 bulb says
well I tried them and they do flicker and flash when turned off.
The problem is the flashing and flicker is due to a combination of electronic switch with no neutral and the LED bulb, the switch works fine with some bulbs, and the bulbs work fine with some switches.
I don't really have an option, lights not wired two way, so having a remote
at the side of the bed is a requirement, together with a switch that works with it. Saying don't use a dimmer then does not really work, I don't use a dimmer, and can get some smart bulbs, but not G9, a hunt for 22019274 G9-69SMD written on the bulbs that work does find results, here for example but one big problem, it says currently unavailable. Also adverts say anything from 4 to 15 watt, bulb looks the same, think a bit of guess work on wattage? And since not marked unlikely any electrical whole sale outlet will sell them, internet is only way. Often sold in packs At £66 for pack of 10 not that expensive, only £6.60 each, but what do you do with other 9?
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