Clive, last year Technology Connections did a video on Tru-Tone, a US manufacturer of LED Christmas bulbs and strings. I just ordered two sets because they seem to be very high quality (fused, 20 AWG, brass fittings), and, according to TechConnect, also have a vintage incandescent feel.

@superfly108

7 ай бұрын

i came here to mention technology connections looking at the same colored plastic / glass arrangment, and i would of been the first to if it wasnt for you meddling members

@robertpucovsky

7 ай бұрын

Would love to see Clive take a look inside one of those bulbs!

@snakezdewiggle6084

7 ай бұрын

Treasonous Two-Timers ! . ; )

@andymouse

7 ай бұрын

No Scooby Snacks where your going.@@superfly108

@superfly108

7 ай бұрын

rutrow @@andymouse

That work with the side-cutters on the base is hacking in the most literal sense!

@robinbrowne5419

7 ай бұрын

Yes. Clive is a true hacker 👍

I never fail to be entertained by the fact your soldering “helping hands” are just your hands!😆 Manual dexterity to the max 👏

@xRepoUKx

7 ай бұрын

And super-human level heat resistant too!

@wisher21uk

7 ай бұрын

When you have been doing electronics for years you get used to it,

A little hack I use for crimping the end caps onto LED bulbs is: A PVC Water Pipe (large enough for the cap to fit in) with 6-8 screws screwed around it towards the end of the pipe. Then I just drop the bulb in and tighten the screws, the cap is crimped. I've never had one come off again, but it's a slightly slower process.

@ChronicMechatronic

7 ай бұрын

great idea!

@MyProjectBoxChannel

7 ай бұрын

I'm going to try that next time I open a 💡. Nice tip.😉👍

Clive has a superpower when soldering. Saying "oh that's quite hot", but still getting the job done.

I think I'm lucky to be watching this video. Earlier today, I tried to modify my operating voltage from 0v to 240v from one hand across to the other, just in a rush grabbing an earthed housing in one hand while pulling out a multi contact connector that I forgot was connected to a generator without RCD, I was working alone and in an awkward position, honestly I think that's what saved me, as I tipped over the circuit was broken, I had to phone my girlfriend to make sure I was alive, and have burns on my finger and small cuts from the muscles clamping on sharpedges...scared the crap out of me..flash of Clives description of electrocution replaying in my head as I felt the 50hz .

@bigclivedotcom

7 ай бұрын

Glad you survived. Sometimes it takes an incident like this to make you more aware of what can happen. You may find this video very useful:- kzread.info/dash/bejne/a6uZxLabobeuZag.html

@ericmaurer3337

7 ай бұрын

That is why I like the US system of 120/240, because most shocks are to ground, you will only get 120v. Even if you are working on a 240v line, you would have to touch both hot wires, not impossible but more likely from one hot to ground only giving you 120v shock.

@rossthompson1635

7 ай бұрын

​@@ericmaurer3337On UK building sites, 240V tools are not permitted - they have to be 110V and the supply transformer is centre-tapped to ground, so if you come in to contact with either side it is only 55V with respect to earth. With the advent of cordless tools I guess this is less relevant now.

@chrisking7603

7 ай бұрын

Brit plugs are enormous enough to fit a type A RCD, as well as a MCB. Should be a legislated requirement.

@DarkAttack14

3 ай бұрын

​@@rossthompson1635ironic, because some of the best high power construction tools in the US are 240v

Always a pleasure to watch your graceful hands expeditiously dismantle cheap Chinese products! Thanks

I get to see the magic Edison base crimper in action, hacking cheap LED bulbs. What a happy day! Love these build videos.

One way to remove the lamp caps pretty much intact with minimal damage to the lamp is to drill out the indentations where it was crimped in with a 1.5-2mm drill bit and then unscrew the cap off the lamp.

@KarldorisLambley

7 ай бұрын

good grief! really? i prefer to spend days writing CNC code, then get a 2 million quid machine to do it for me. i am surprised you do it this old fashioned way. lol

@ChrisD4335

7 ай бұрын

CNC software is not very expensive these days@@KarldorisLambley

@gazzaka

7 ай бұрын

@@KarldorisLambley lmao !

@DavidKenny64

7 ай бұрын

I came here to say the same thing but yours was the second comment. You can be just as quick as Clive is tearing it apart, with a cordless drill. And you can reuse the base with some glue or dimple it again in new spots.

unless you want to replace only one incandescent bulb that failed, there is no point to hacking every bulb - just cut the entire string in the middle and connect halves in series.

I really appreciate this time of year when Clive starts tinkering more with Christmas lights. 🤓

Cool. I'd probably combine two bulbs into one and series the filaments to get more of the power into the LEDs and less in the resistors.

@flyingmoose

7 ай бұрын

Or just wire pairs of sockets in series…

@rexsceleratorum1632

7 ай бұрын

I was going to comment that

@frankowalker4662

7 ай бұрын

@@flyingmoose I was thinking the same.

@erikdenhouter

7 ай бұрын

This is what I commented in the main thread: Still can't see why you cannot get rid of all the 6 parts, the 2 resistors and 4 diodes. LED's placed in two strings counter parallel (or individually counter parallel and then a series string), and enough of them to divide the full peak voltage into their cosy zone should work. We never did because it was outside of such globe and as such quit dangerous, but with these techniques here used and placed inside a globe it would be safe. Why less reliable ? And the 2x 47K + 4 diodes dissipate 4/5 of the power, 1/5 is for the LED's 🤔 Where does my thinking go wrong ?

@hansoverbeeke5442

7 ай бұрын

I woud also guess, a rally driverless or AC LED is reliable but yeah the flicker rate so a more True ultra efficiënt LED lamp that stay lukewarm instead of griled LEDs ant heat goes to the drivers and capacitors

"Exponential dissipation" = 💥🔥

This reminds me of a quite fun anecdote from my childhood: My dad had brought from the US a pair of fluorescent blacklights that were of course designed to run on 120V and had wired them in series in order to be able to use them in France without having to buy a step-down transformer. But it came to my mind many many years later that he could have swapped the ballasts in the fixtures for 230V ones instead since fluorescent tubes themselves don't have to match the line voltage like for example incandescent lamps thank's to the ballast doing the job of supplying the tube with the right voltage if you take care to choose the right one to match your grid. Also he didn't seem to know that running a 60 Hz ballast on a 50 Hz supply might not have had been the brightest idea either even though the tubes seemed to have worked fine despite all that. (They didn't however get much use as far as I know, that might explain why they didn't fail I think). These fixtures might also have been of the manual preheat variety since the (rocker) switches on both of them had 3 positions including a momentary and two latched ones and my dad had told me that you had to hold both switches in the momentary position at the same for a few seconds before setting them to On. I found however that it was actually quite easy to get the tubes to light even without pressing the momentary side of the switches.

That last resistor would have been going Super Saiyan! love the content mate!

I love it when you read my mind and put the unmodified lamp in the socket !

Sitting at the end going just plug the 110v bulb in, do it, now. 😂

Deliciously educational, as always :) I really like the idea of the replacement bulb base that you can fit back and crimp on an existing bulb.

I love a build video. Thanks Clive!

Loved the pause at the end, I could hear the little vice in your head say 'ah, sod it, what's the worst?'

This crimping tool looks amazing

Colored S14 patio light bulbs! ❤💛💚💙 Just need purple 💜 to "complete the color wheel" ☺

7:15 Big old Clive sure loves stuffing things into holes

Two of my favorite things on KZread are: 1 Watching Jimmy Diresta use a band saw, and, 2 Watching Big Clive solder. Artsts both.

wow that engineering is really cool

All you need do now Clive is start running competitions for the stuff YOU make safe. 👍

Congrats on 1 million subscribers!

The way those lamps were packed, I am surprised you did not receive a box of broken colored plastic and lamp bases.

@samuelmellars7855

7 ай бұрын

Plastic is usually quite durable, just clonking about in a package shouldn't break them

Love it. I do enjoy your brute force and hack and slash

"i don't know if i can use it again, but i'll keep it anyway". lol. that is _exactly_ what I say. for instance one day i may need an adapter to connect a 20 year old mobile phone, i don't own anymore, to a peripheral i have never owned. you never know!

I'd be inclined to replace that limiting resistor with a cap, around .1µF/630v or 240VAC if you can get one small enough. Clever circuitry in that LED 'filament'. The only ones I've seen are just either a series string or all in parallel. The efficiency of this setup would be far better by putting a green LED array into the green bulb, blue in blue, etc. The coloured bulb is a filter that removes the unwanted colours produced by the 'white' LEDS thus reducing the overall efficiency.

That 0.3 watt heat dissipation could be helpful in self-clearing the snow off the lights. ❄

I can remember my uncle doing things like this, and I would always ask "Why not just order the right thing to begin with?" I would just get a blank stare, like I was missing the whole point. I am pretty sure he did things like this on purpose so he would have an excuse to hack things, since ordering the correct voltage would just be too easy.

@johndododoe1411

7 ай бұрын

Automatic/clueless sales people can't handle that .

@azrobbins01

7 ай бұрын

@@johndododoe1411 Right... But if YOU were ordering lights from overseas, would you check the voltage first, and/or email them to verify it would be correct, or would you secretly hope it would be wrong so you had an excuse to hack it?

@johndododoe1411

7 ай бұрын

@@azrobbins01 They didn't say and it's a robotic shop .

@azrobbins01

7 ай бұрын

@@johndododoe1411 Then I think you did not understand my original post.

I bought a 1W nightlight for my daughters bedroom, well I bought a pack of 5 with the intention of dismantling one to inspect safety and circuitry before putting it in her room as a night light. same filaments you have here but 2 in series with a resistor, super super simple. testing prior to final install showed it to not get too hot and light output was lovely and low.

@denisohbrien

7 ай бұрын

did flicker a bit.. but i guess thats what happens as the diodes most only light on the half cycle.

Lovely design and nicely shining color is like a voltage devider and the led is the second resistor for the devider circuit as much the leds are as much voltage will dropp down

Temu really has great stuff. 🎉

Worth trying the returns. Have complained about a couple things, and both times I've been refunded and told to keep the item

Wow, doing that 24 times plus having to buy extra bases, resistors and the China, Inc. crimper seems like more work than I would want.

@PainterVierax

7 ай бұрын

That's why I'm planning to make table/bedside lamps feet to repurpose some led bulbs with broken electronic circuits. No socket, simply glued to the base.

@simontay4851

7 ай бұрын

Yeah, same here. Its very fiddly and boring and its not much of a reward when you've finished. One lamp would be ok but modifying 24 would take all day. Would be easier to just wire 2 in series or use a small step down transformer.

@wtmayhew

7 ай бұрын

@@simontay4851 I was thinking the same thing. If you’re making a string of party lights, just supply a dropper or transformer for the whole string or wire the string with adjacent sockets wired two in series.

Living on the edge at the end of the video. 😆👍

"That's gone horribly wrong. Not a problem. We have ways of making it horribly worse."

You can also use a class X type capacitor to provide the required voltage drop for the LED circuit. I have used 22 nF for my night orientation lights in series with a 220 Ohm resistor as a fuse in case that the capacitor fails. As rectifier I have used two anti-parallel LEDs, so the voltage will never exceed the relatively low voltage in backward direction.

I never ever thought I’d hear myself saying “Hmm. Nice doodle Big Clive” 😂😂

Nice video, always interesting to see what is inside. Congratulations on the 1M subscribers! I'm using these lights in hallways and they consume 0.8W and light up to 90 lumen (the yellow one). I believe the version I have is with one resistor and it is on the short leg of the LED, close to the socket. 90 Lumen is enough to see where you are walking at night.

Neat design, and decent looks.

Thanks for the making this video and screwing in the unadulterated lamp.

That initial work with the side cutters got me cringing ready to see a slip and copious blood letting! I was relieved that it did not happen!

The dot and cross on the diodes remind me of the representations of 3d vectors on a flat piece of paper/a plane, with the dot inside a circle (.) representing the "tip", i.e. the vector is directed from the paper towards the viewer, and the cross inside a circle (X) representing the "back", i.e. the vector is directed from the paper away from the viewer. P.S. the vectors in question are always perpendicular to the paper!

Awesome Video Big Clive 😊

Neat. The problem with most these simple designs is the 50/60Hz power. That gel stuff is better than the old days (maybe even better now?) but if I see the lights in my peripheral vision they flicker which is annoying.

@tactileslut

7 ай бұрын

This design would run on DC if you want flicker-free light.

Hello This Frank From Temu, I work as a Temu rep and am reaching out in regards to your review of the audio interface you purchased from us. Firstly, thank you for posting about Temu and shedding light on the problem. We take these matters very seriously and would love to help resolve this. We have already escalated your feedback internally to the teams that handle these situations. At Temu, we sincerely appreciate our shoppers and always want to hear about your experiences, both positive and negative, so that we can improve and provide the best quality products and shopping experience for all of our customers. I hope you continue to shop with us and and that we can continue to support you in the best possible way in the future. Feel free to reach out directly for any other inquiries or concerns about this product or future experiences and purchases.

I wonder if the mystery resistor a fusible resistor? They are typically low resistance.

@PubliusHadrianus

7 ай бұрын

all resistors can be fusible, if you apply enough voltage and/or current (^_^)

I often buy 110 volt lamps because they are cheaper. Then just wire two [or three] in series. the three in series gives a warmer light and much longer life.

All LEDs like this, should hang a bit to the left as you have it. It's very natural.

Love these hacking videos, good sir! Very interesting and useful 👍🏻

It's actually quite refreshing to hear someone be positive about Chinese made stuff.

@bigclivedotcom

7 ай бұрын

They do actually make a lot of good fun stuff.

Those lightbulbs can also be used as indicators great video

I hear you roud and crear ! Velly good !

"let me show you Watt`s inside" True words

The plastic bung thing inside the bulb neck looks useful, I haven't seen seen one like that before. interesting video 2x👍

@christophergummer

7 ай бұрын

3d print that

Clive I was down in Buckfast last Sunday so I had to pop into the abbey for you ! x ( I also called into the steam railway, that was the real reason) but you can't go to south Devon without a visit to Glasgow's finest brewery !

You’re Acing It At my Desk : Clive: All Are : Chris

"Messy, but it will do" … It's the same thing I always say when soldering ...

At 1:07 I have found it possible with some crimped bulbs to stick them in a bulb socket and carefully wiggle it until I can remove the metal cap from the bulb and after I am done I can almost always push it back in. Hope this helps Clive!

I love that the AnTai has a ‘FUN’ button! EDIT: I know that it is an abbreviation of ‘function’, it just seemed hilarious to me. Very Chinese.

I promised myself an explosion at the end Clive! Feeling a bit short changed if I'm honest 😂

Having no energy storage cap, along with the non-trivial value of the series resistor, makes the power factor good. The efficiency (efficacy, really) would be improved by having a longer LED string. The yellow phosphor means the LEDs are making white light, and the tinting of the bulb makes the color. An even higher efficiency/efficacy would come from using a clear bulb envelope, and having colored LEDs with little or no phosphor (but that would make the LED string manufacturing a lot more complicated, and it would be a bit confusing for customers, since otherwise identical looking bulbs would be different colors.).

Very festive, I hope the wee piece of coal gets to you before Christmas. Good solution to a problem that probably has caught out quite a few 220 - 240 volt users. Thanks Clive 👍

8:39 Clive demonstrating, once again, the value of asbestos fingers... ;-)

10:30 I have a tool like that for crimping hydraulic lines and gas lines, funny thing is that these E27 fittings fit into it too...No pins though....Nice hexa or octagonal crimp....Not as good as this one (for lampfittings) but it works....Place it in a bench-vise and crimp.

Marks and Spencer sell a set of lights with bulbs that look like this . Large plastic with same filament - but low voltage transformer plug included

Hoooly cr@p! I honestly find this super insane! The electronics to run a freaking LED light bulb is only two resistors? Whoah! I got a super cheapie LED light bulb from your equivalent to Poundland, the .99¢ store here in So-Cal. back in 2015. That light bulb had many IC's an -aluminum- , aluminium disc to hold the LED's and other large electrical components. LED cost-cutting tech is moving at warp speed! If cost cutting is the game, the Chinese manufacturers have it hands down. Albeit not always in a safe way to do so. I would love to see you run that lower voltage lamp in your higher voltage. Just for the science! Yes, the science.

@PainterVierax

7 ай бұрын

well, this cheap design is simple but the downside is efficiency, as a lot of power is lost through resistors, and flickering, as it only lights up a bit less than half of the AC frequency. A few more component and a bit more filaments per bulb could easily improve the circuit, but as you said: cost-cutting is their motto ! You should check older videos on this channel, one is particularly insightful about different led lighting linear circuit designs.

You should make a 240v to 120v lamp holder by running two lamps in series 😅

@Mark1024MAK

7 ай бұрын

Yeah, that's what I would do, wire two lamps in series 😉

@tactileslut

7 ай бұрын

I do that over in 120v land by poking both plugs into an older extension cord, each plug with one leg having missed its target, then clipping the spicy bits together. It tames the heat lamps to a gentle warmth.

very interesting

Very interesting, thank you Clive. ----- Removing and then replacing the two existing resistors would be a bit too finicky and time-demanding for me, especially if a large quantity of bulbs needed modification. Instead of doing that, could one cut a section out of the long vertical lead, and solder-splice in either a new third resistor, or a high-reverse-voltage-tolerant diode, or a capacitor? Doing so would create either an ugly visual blight or a cool techy look, depending upon one's willingness to rationalize. Whatever one puts in the gap would have good air-circulation for cooling.

Maybe it has 2 resistors so they can change the "dummy" one for another value for the 240V version?

Great modification, initially the filament strip almost looks like a small HPS arc tube.

The green one would be my choice for modification as the peak response of the human eye shifts towards green in low light. I have already tried modifying a cheap LED lamp, but I need to make further changes because it is still too bright. I use it as an uplighter. The trick is set the brightness so it looks grey instead of green, which is how you know your eyes have adapted the dark. Set optimally, with a different light source, I found the results amazing in that I could read comfortably and without straining my eyes in what would otherwise seem an insanely dim light level. If this was realised as the norm for night illumination then the benefits to the environment would be significant is several ways. Nature would no longer be tormented by artificial light, people would get proper sleep as well as be able to see the amazing beauty of the night sky from anywhere in the land, and CO2 emissions from energy driving lighting would be very significantly reduced if the power generation was proportionally shut down. Alternatively, this energy would help charge electric vehicles overnight and drive the pumps for hydroelectric power.

Nice going

Try an X-Acto razor saw. They have a very thin, fine blade with a rigid back and are good at delicate metal cutting. They fit the #5 or #6 handle. A jeweler's saw is another option. They are surprisingly inexpensive.

I've actually had a good experience with returns through temu.

The second resistor, without any markings looks like a soviet MLT (metal film) resistor. They used similar reddish brown lacquer on these.

Technology Connections would be very interested in these bulbs :) Too big for a tree, but the right colors :)

@willthecat3861

7 ай бұрын

Somehow... and I might be wrong... I recall that Tekconnec did show/mention them in one of his vids

@solinus7131

7 ай бұрын

@@willthecat3861 They're tru tone bulbs that he reviewed. C7/C9 bulbs with colored glass and warm white LED filament

@soundguydon

7 ай бұрын

@@willthecat3861 Hmmmm - I will have to go back and look. He might've. I just saw the yellow and thought of him :)

@willthecat3861

7 ай бұрын

@@solinus7131 Ya... I know; but, I wasn't referring to the Tru-tone ones. Tru-tone, IMO... looks like Temu the same way a turtle looks like an elephant.

If you ordered them to a US address you probably would have got the 240V version

It does make me wonder how quickly those LED dies in the 120V bulb heat up running on 240V, and if the regular diodes heat up slower since they look like they have much larger dies. Also I'm guessing that unmarked resistor is custom. The lead looked quite a lot longer than usual, not to mention a thicker gauge. And judging from the different colour, possibly a genuinely fusible resistor as opposed to "fusible once the carbon has finally burnt enough to stop conducting".

Hackable, my favorite flavor.

I wonder if the low-value resistor is how they adapt it to the lower voltage. For 240v bulbs they use 2 15K resistors, and for the 120v design they just replace one of the resistors with a low-value link.

i would assume the middle resistor slot is for a dual filament lamp with a center support. might actually be nice with 2 opposing arrays/strips.

Looking forward to the 4 chamber vape cell tear down, as my colleague uses them at work of which I have been liberating the huge cells. A very generous capacity without giving any spoilers.

@bigclivedotcom

7 ай бұрын

I have one here. Quite tricky to open, but I now have a charging port on one that can also power external loads.

@daler2577

7 ай бұрын

@@bigclivedotcom any ideas when you're going to release that tear down as I'm quite looking forward to the schematics?

I'm not fooled, that's clearly a fire-resistant hand being used (8:38). I was going to suggest two lamps in series or put an extra resistor inside the end cap to avoid further destruction, but quickly ameliorated myself.

I have been waiting for the crimper to come into action 💪😁 Could the dummy looking resistor be a fuse?

Could those strange resistors be some sort of fusible device? Try leaving one of the 110V bulbs on for a while and see what melts first.

Well, it’s a good thing Clive checked the voltage on those, or some magic smoke may have been the next thing on the video. 😊

szx thought i was told the more one terminal had over the other was to be defauly postive as in the terminals on batteries? least for cars, was the larger post was postive?

120v bulbs on 240v?! Sounds like a quick bit of fun!😂

what you could do to improve these and make resoldering them easier is get an additional led filament, and have one going up, and one back down, more light, less power wasted on resistors, and you don't need to have a fiddly lead going up to the top of one filament

How about using an X capacitor instead of a resistor? It would use less power and run cooler. A small resistor would still be required to limit the current surges. A 68nF capacitor and 6k8 resistor would give decent brightness and longevity.

I saw the threads 😂 me yelling at the video. Its threaded 😂 but we're seeing it more closely through the camera.

A helpful idea to avoid this destruction would be to put the extra resistance in the bulb holder , then you can fit a nice 2 Watt size ( 81 KΩ ? ? ) ... a better idea would be to fit a nice X2 mains rated capacitor in place of the extra external resistor , as this will dissipate zero power ( start with 0.1 μF, 100 nF then go bigger to get the required current .... this saves tedious calculations ! ! ) .... or put two bulbs in series ( shanieboi , comment below ! ) ... or use a 230 Volt to 120 Volt shaver transformer , Ha - Ha ( always found in the junk box ? ) .... Oh , and BOLT your crimp tool on to a scrap block of wood , then clamp the wood block into any workshop vice , for HUGE leverage ( time for an IRN - BRU ! ) ...... DAVE™🛑

An interesting integrated FULL BRIDGE RECTIFIER - keeps the whole thing very simple, but lack of a filter cap is a big drawback. I'm so tired of all those cheap-ass flickering LED lamps.

@rexsceleratorum1632

7 ай бұрын

Clive made it less flickery though, by buying 120V lights which will have a lower off-time when running on 240V.

@simaesthesia

7 ай бұрын

@@rexsceleratorum1632 🤣

@dashcamandy2242

7 ай бұрын

@@rexsceleratorum1632 Wouldn't they have a HIGHER off-time, since we're pushing twice the rated voltage through them? 😆

I think that the brown, unmarked resistor it's a simple fuse. Low resistance, with a spiral filament, to break in case of over current