New LED lamps only in Dubai

[gafftaper]

Check out this article. Apparently the Dubai royal family worked with Phillips to develop a new home LED technology that is significantly more efficient than the standard Philips led bulb. This article and the video are quite interesting.

Some cool new stuff is heading our way eventually

 

[FMEng]

I like the idea of a linear, regulated supply. LED bulbs have the nasty habit of radiating RF, but a linear supply wouldn't do that. The current products supposedly meet regulations, but the FCC has all but given up enforcement of Part 15. We're slowly degrading the RF noise floor to the point that all wireless devices will suffer.

 

[techieman33]

Big Clive got his hands on some and made a video about them.

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[JD]

Techieman33 just beat me to it! (feel free to delete)

 

[almorton]

Ah, yes, brought back from Dubai for him by one of the Blue Room members. Useful global network we have going

 

[RickR]

A key part of the design is that LEDs are so cheap they can use 4x the minimum.

 

[Malabaristo]

These filament-style LEDs tend not to be great for general illumination because they usually have strong 120Hz flicker (or, I suppose 100Hz in Dubai). That doesn't sound too bad at first, and it's true that your eye can't see it directly if you, the lamp, and everything in the room are all motionless. However, if there's any movement at all, then you're very likely to see stroboscopic effects. That's annoying for most people and debilitating (headaches, nausea, etc) for people who are sensitive to it. It's the same issue that people complained about with older, fluorescent lamps that had magnetic ballasts .

These have somewhat larger capacitors than normal for this category of product, so they might not be quite so bad... but I wouldn't get too excited about them unless I had a chance to test a few in person.

Oh, and in case you missed it: they don't even pretend to be dimmable. You just can't get decent line-voltage dimming without a more complex power supply design.

 

[almorton]

In fact part of the power supply for these lamps deliberately compensates for changes in the line voltage (as Clive demonstrated in a simple way) so they are definitely not going to dim.

We have various sizes of LED filament lamps around our home, varying from small candle style to large globes and I've never noticed any flicker, and I have noticed fluorescents flickering and also GU10 style LEDs, so it's definitely not a systemic problem with all filament LEDs. Two of the large globes, 8W each, illuminate a room 6m by 12m very well, without flicker.

 

[RickR]

DIY Dubai lamps, "by devious means" in true big Clive style!

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[Malabaristo]

We have various sizes of LED filament lamps around our home, varying from small candle style to large globes and I've never noticed any flicker, and I have noticed fluorescents flickering and also GU10 style LEDs, so it's definitely not a systemic problem with all filament LEDs. Two of the large globes, 8W each, illuminate a room 6m by 12m very well, without flicker.

I will admit that I haven't tested many UK products, but every filament style LED that I have seen exhibits this problem. Rapid movement exaggerates the stroboscopic effect, so one quick test is to hold your hand out with your fingers spread and wave it back and forth rapidly. Do you see smooth, continuous movement, or lots of extra fingers? This article explains it further with pictures, but of course it's hard to show exactly. The key takeaway is that this isn't something you can perceive directly just by looking at the lights; there has to be the compounding factor of motion for it to be apparent. However, even without that direct perception, some people are sensitive to it and experience headaches, irritability, nausea, and other discomfort.

 

[almorton]

As I said, I see it with the cheap, GU10 type lamps, and some of the compact "translucent bulb" lamps, so I know the effect you're alluding too, but the big filament globes don't exhibit it at all. But then these weren't cheap knockouts, being around £12 each. I guess cheaper, smaller lamps would skimp on the power supply smoothing.

Edit: Just to satisfy myself, I did a quick check. Bar of 4 identical GU10's in my office - waggling hand is nice and smoothly blurred. Bar of 4 mixed GU10s in my kitchen - most nice and blurred, one (different temp, different manufacturer) gives some strobing.

Big globes - no strobing at all.

Small G4 in a desk lamp - maybe a very slight hint of strobing. Where the hell do they fit the smoothing in a G4!! I can see the PSU through the clear encapsulation, and it's tiny! To all intents and purposes it's as good as the halogen in the lamp opposite it (I use them to illuminate zoom sessions)..