Led light bulbs...

skunkwerx

fucking hell its painful being me! 

So my bedside lamp blew its 'normal' bulb. Filament? Incandescant? I dunno, its glass that produces light as a byproduct of how hot its got. 

So b&q... only had new fangled led bulbs that save Earths. 

Bought a diall (iirc) one for £5 and what the fuck.. 
bedroom turns into a disco. 

It was akin to a very very fast strobe light.  Everything looked weird. My arm movements all (how do you describe it) strobe-esque? 

If I waved, id see loads of my hand following the path I waved in. 

I beared with it until an hour later I felt sick and my head hurt. 

Changed it now for a more expensive phillips job that seems so far ok.. 

but what the ell! 

Sambostar

Handsome_Chris

skunkwerx said:

So b&q... only had new fangled led bulbs that save Earths. 

Well that's bollocks for a start.  You're electrical equipment should surely be earthed?

skunkwerx

Handsome_Chris said:

skunkwerx said:

So b&q... only had new fangled led bulbs that save Earths. 

Well that's bollocks for a start.  You're electrical equipment should surely be earthed?

.. Well they've been bad, so theyre now grounded! Teeheehee

ICBM

skunkwerx said:

It was akin to a very very fast strobe light.  Everything looked weird. My arm movements all (how do you describe it) strobe-esque

Is it one of those bedside lamps with three brightness levels? If so you can't use a 'normal' LED bulb with them, you need one that's designed to work with a dimmer. It will say on the box.

Pretty sure that's what happened when my daughter tried doing the same, although she is a teenager so *everything* gives her a headache. (Especially dad explaining why .)

jonnyburgo

Clearly you were in the clubbing section and bought LSD bulbs, schoolboy error.

57Deluxe

I hate the hard light and sharp shadows from LEDs and the harsh murk from fluorescents - bring back the warm bright glow of incandescents and Fcuk saving the planet - Save Our Eyes first!

ICBM

57Deluxe said:

I hate the hard light and sharp shadows from LEDs and the harsh murk from fluorescents - bring back the warm bright glow of incandescents and Fcuk saving the planet - Save Our Eyes first!

If you get the right LEDs they don't do that. The early ones did, but the ones I have now are almost indistinguishable from filament bulbs.

Barney

I know exactly where you went wrong....you bought a bulb..you should have bought a lamp and saved the bulb for the plant pot

Longtallronnie

Try www.ledhut.co.uk. They often have voucher codes and have a good range of decent quality lamps. 

Bidley

I replaced all the rubbish, ugly energy-saving monstrosities in my flat with LED bulbs recently. I didn't think a light bulb could impress me so much.

Dominic

Not rheostat compatible - you need a dimmable L E D bulb

skunkwerx

The replacement bulb I had issues with was a filament led? Some kind of half assed, asinine, hybrid shit show.   

I did a bit of digging on it for my own amusement. 

Turns out its more common in el cheapo brands that skimp on their electronics.. but its something to do with alternating current and leds reacting to it. Basically they are indeed strobing but epically fast. As leds light up instantaneously and switch off instataneously with each 'pulse' of current from the mains. 

That could be a terrible way of me explaining it! But it was something along those lines. 

Good quality led bulbs have extra components that stop this undesired and outright bullshite disco effect! 

Tis a non dimmable lamp, but aye I saw the dimmable bulbs in there. 

Meanwhile If anyone needs me I'll be in the candle section! 

ICBM

skunkwerx said:

Turns out its more common in el cheapo brands that skimp on their electronics.. but its something to do with alternating current and leds reacting to it. Basically they are indeed strobing but epically fast. As leds light up instantaneously and switch off instataneously with each 'pulse' of current from the mains. 

That could be a terrible way of me explaining it! But it was something along those lines.

Ah - yes, that will be unsmoothed DC they're being fed with - or possibly just AC with back-to-back LEDs, so they will most likely flicker at 100Hz. Quite likely to lead to serious health issues I would have thought… migraine, epilepsy, that sort of thing. I'm surprised there aren't rules about it - maybe the legislators haven't realised there is a problem yet. Or maybe there are, and El Cheapo manufacturers in China or wherever just ignore them.

stickyfiddle

Can anyone recommend some good dimmable LED GU10s that a) gives a nice warm-ish light, b) actually dim properly and c) don't buzz when they do it?

I've never found one that succeeds on all those points.

spark240

stickyfiddle said:

Can anyone recommend some good dimmable LED GU10s that a) gives a nice warm-ish light, b) actually dim properly and c) don't buzz when they do it?

I've never found one that succeeds on all those points.

Not really, we fit thousand of led lamps, the only real way to dim with success is with a dimmable  dali driver...dimming circuits built into a lamp are destined to fail.

mart

spark240 said:
..., the only real way to dim with success is with a dimmable  dali driver...

Er, can you explain what that is? It sounds quite surreal.

boogieman

stickyfiddle said:

Can anyone recommend some good dimmable LED GU10s that a) gives a nice warm-ish light, b) actually dim properly and c) don't buzz when they do it?

I've never found one that succeeds on all those points.

Worth spending a bit extra on decent lamps, the cheaper ones are notorious for buzzing when they're dimmed. We bought Phillips bulbs and they've been fine, cost about £7 each. Amazon actually turned out to be the cheapest place to get them. Go for the warm white ones if you like more ummm, warm looking light, lol. The cool white ones have a harder, bluey tinge. 

olafgarten

The Lumilife ones from LEDHut are good aswell. 

skunkwerx

Hehe mine buzzes when on... period! 
not even dimmable. 

Bleedin thing. 

I did have an led lamp. Ie the leds are built in.. but the mains plug gets hot if its plugged in to a socket thats on or an extension socket thats always on, even if the lamp is switched off.. and as I'm a freak for worrying I didnt like leaving it in overnight or when I'm out incase it causes fires or explosions, locust swarms, nuclear war etc.. 

of course unplugging it everytime is just too much effort... lol

stickyfiddle

@boogieman Some of mine that buzz are Philips! It might be down to the wiring in our place. I'm well aware we're above 50hz because the clock on our cooker always goes fast.