I saw this on ebay. I bid on it, won it and took it to bits. The case is surprisingly light. That's because it's very thin and flimsy and contains mainly air. The earthing is really quite special.
Big Clive: Love your work!!. I have lived manufacturing lighting in China over 10years and know my products. It is alarming the garbage found on e-bay etc...! Excllent product can be manufactured in China but you have to have high standards. As a UK LIA member also I really love your work...! this is all Zhongshan garbage that hits sites such as e-bay....! Causes decent manufacturers to constantly worry over price points.....!
I've got one of these for my workshop light, i brought it from a LED lighting specialist that buys these units but replaces them with proper drivers. the driver in mine is much larger and is labeled 100W. just goes to show what is required to make a decent LED light and what they try and get away with!
I got the 50W version of this kind, the casting was warped, so the silicon seal wouldn't work properly, letting the rainwater in. Luckily though because the cast was so thin, i was able to bend it straight (if that makes sense). 1st led chip failed within a few months due to the 'imbalanced disco scenario', got a cheapy replacement one thats all balanced and still working, guess i was lucky there. Just a little more attention to quality and they would be a good product.
I have seen 100W and higher flood lamps [largest I've seen was 500W], but they all had multiple LED modules and the higher wattage ones had active cooling... Even the 100W one had a much larger fin array and even copper heat pipes to help transfer heat
It is a shame that you didn't break the holding glue to see the current driver tech information. I agree with you, those drivers may be only 30W each, what in some way is good, they not force the LED to its power limit. The LEDs does not need to be taken to the limit, any lower current will do, with less heat dissipation, longer life. If you really need 100W (street LED light), just install two of those (60W) and you will be happy with your backyard shining at midnight as it does at noon time. ;)
I think there is no mounting points in the ballast pod because it is meant for a "drop in module" likely made from plastic that then houses the electronics.
looks kinda like the 100W LED that I got (just the LED by itself though) mine has the rounded/curved parts like this LED has these are pretty good LED's! I got mine for 10$ and all the LED chips light up very evenly as soon as any reasonable amount of light is coming out. they're all pretty much identical in brightness)
Late to the party but I had s batch of floodlights with this exact same casing. The PSU was different, and was a single unit. Earthing was a floating ring as previously discovered by yourself, and the wire was in US colours (black, white, green). Most of them failed in 6 months. I’m looking at fitting driverless 50w units instead.
I purchased one like this but it came in with 2 led bulbs side by side. it puts out good light but I fear the drivers are smaller than they are suppose to be as you have pointed out before.
Well, THEORETICALLY, you wouldn't need to dissipate 100W for a 100W LED. For example, if it were 90% efficient, then 90 watts goes into light and you'd only have to dissipate the other 10 watts. I'm not sure how efficient 100 watt LEDs are, but hopefully most of that produces actual radiated light. Of course, that's for the LED itself. I don't know how much heat the driver produces. I guess if the driver were so inefficient that it took 200 watts input to drive a 100 watt LED, then maybe so.
bigclivedotcom looks like they arent in parallel, but one driver is running half the leds, and the other driver is running the other half. these are my thoughts, as i dont see the "sharing" strip that you typically see with these style led chips. do you still have this lamp to investigate further?
***** If 100w of electricity is going into the device, and some amount of that energy is leaving the device as light, will 100w of energy be left to be converted into heat? Perhaps you should look into the meaning of that law yourself.
***** Oh, why didn't you just say that the first time? I did a bit of digging, and Wikipedia lists a few different LEDs and their efficiencies, with the best barely exceeding 10%, and a theoretical limit of around 40% for the current technology. Looks like efficiency improvements won't be decreasing cooling requirements all that much.
Phoenix "best barely exceeding 10%" The following web page says that a typical LED converts about 25% of the energy into visible light - which is still terrible when you think about it. www.physicscentral.com/explore/action/led.cfm The following says that LEDs convert 90% of the energy that is fed to them into visible light, but this probably ignores resistors and any other wires and electronics that are needed. www.midamericanenergy.com/ee/include/pdf/ee_led.pdf
Kevin Solway The efficiency written in the second link is huge lie. As far as I understand, efficiency achieved in labs is not part of this discussion, so the typical efficiency of a commercial LED bulb is 12% Source: Wikipedia and calculations from typical product specifications. So, a crappy chinese LED like this is probably going to waste more than 90% of energy supplied as heat.
Mandragoras If the efficiency of an LED bulb is only about 10%, and the efficiency of an incandescent bulb us also about 10%, then there's hardly any point in using LEDs!
I was going to say you could extend the earth wire and poke it through the same hole as the other wires in order to fix it to the case using one of the tapped holes. But then you took out the file and I had to turn my eyes away, I was certain it would snap and blood was to be shed (files are very hard, but also very brittle). Fortunately this was not the case!
bigclivedotcom Yes, indeed you are certainly right there. I was thinking, since the drivers are in parallel you could simply remove one pair of wires and parallel them up before going through the hole? That should leave enough room for the PE.
Hi Clive what would you consider the best quality driver for a 100w LED torch would like it to have a voltage adjuster like a dimmer don't know the technical term, running li-ion battery pack using 16650 the pack size can be what ever it needs to be.Second half of my ? what is a good charger discharger and balancer for looking after battery packs i don't know much about them. Thank you
You're WAy to skeptical. Let me ask you this. Why would the company design a heatsink that size if they thought it wasn't gonna cool the LED? Obviously they designed the heatsink for the type of LED that they used. So why wouldn't it be enough to dissipate heat? Did you design this floodlight yourself?
Graham Langley correct, this design using poor quality materials zinc alloy die casting as heat sink. We have testing some samples, usually failed to work in 3-8months. As matter of fact, some people purchased poor quality LED lights, and quickly loss faith on LED lights. The products cost cheap, but replacement cost and shipping cost high.
+Daniel Hornes Ofcourse, but if that was an option he should really contact the seller and have them send a 100w ballast, and not pay for it, considering in theory he allready payed for it.
Big Clive: Love your work!!. I have lived manufacturing lighting in China over 10years and know my products. It is alarming the garbage found on e-bay etc...! Excllent product can be manufactured in China but you have to have high standards. As a UK LIA member also I really love your work...! this is all Zhongshan garbage that hits sites such as e-bay....! Causes decent manufacturers to constantly worry over price points.....!
I've got one of these for my workshop light, i brought it from a LED lighting specialist that buys these units but replaces them with proper drivers. the driver in mine is much larger and is labeled 100W. just goes to show what is required to make a decent LED light and what they try and get away with!
I got the 50W version of this kind, the casting was warped, so the silicon seal wouldn't work properly, letting the rainwater in. Luckily though because the cast was so thin, i was able to bend it straight (if that makes sense). 1st led chip failed within a few months due to the 'imbalanced disco scenario', got a cheapy replacement one thats all balanced and still working, guess i was lucky there. Just a little more attention to quality and they would be a good product.
I have seen 100W and higher flood lamps [largest I've seen was 500W], but they all had multiple LED modules and the higher wattage ones had active cooling... Even the 100W one had a much larger fin array and even copper heat pipes to help transfer heat
It is a shame that you didn't break the holding glue to see the current driver tech information. I agree with you, those drivers may be only 30W each, what in some way is good, they not force the LED to its power limit. The LEDs does not need to be taken to the limit, any lower current will do, with less heat dissipation, longer life. If you really need 100W (street LED light), just install two of those (60W) and you will be happy with your backyard shining at midnight as it does at noon time. ;)
Always go for the 4 screw Super Luxury Model! :)
I think there is no mounting points in the ballast pod because it is meant for a "drop in module" likely made from plastic that then houses the electronics.
looks kinda like the 100W LED that I got (just the LED by itself though)
mine has the rounded/curved parts like this LED has
these are pretty good LED's! I got mine for 10$ and all the LED chips light up very evenly as soon as any reasonable amount of light is coming out. they're all pretty much identical in brightness)
3:00 **Earth just pops right out**
"Not what I'd class as a good connection"
I will admit, that made me lol.
Add a third 30w driver and see how long it will last running at 99w in total.
Late to the party but I had s batch of floodlights with this exact same casing. The PSU was different, and was a single unit. Earthing was a floating ring as previously discovered by yourself, and the wire was in US colours (black, white, green). Most of them failed in 6 months. I’m looking at fitting driverless 50w units instead.
I purchased one like this but it came in with 2 led bulbs side by side. it puts out good light but I fear the drivers are smaller than they are suppose to be as you have pointed out before.
Well, THEORETICALLY, you wouldn't need to dissipate 100W for a 100W LED. For example, if it were 90% efficient, then 90 watts goes into light and you'd only have to dissipate the other 10 watts. I'm not sure how efficient 100 watt LEDs are, but hopefully most of that produces actual radiated light.
Of course, that's for the LED itself. I don't know how much heat the driver produces. I guess if the driver were so inefficient that it took 200 watts input to drive a 100 watt LED, then maybe so.
bigclivedotcom looks like they arent in parallel, but one driver is running half the leds, and the other driver is running the other half. these are my thoughts, as i dont see the "sharing" strip that you typically see with these style led chips. do you still have this lamp to investigate further?
The drivers were hooked in parallel to a common 100W LED.
Agree with this comment
Surely a 100w led wouldn't have to dissipate 100w of power. Perhaps 50w? Some of it should be converted to visible light.
***** If 100w of electricity is going into the device, and some amount of that energy is leaving the device as light, will 100w of energy be left to be converted into heat? Perhaps you should look into the meaning of that law yourself.
***** Oh, why didn't you just say that the first time?
I did a bit of digging, and Wikipedia lists a few different LEDs and their efficiencies, with the best barely exceeding 10%, and a theoretical limit of around 40% for the current technology. Looks like efficiency improvements won't be decreasing cooling requirements all that much.
Phoenix "best barely exceeding 10%"
The following web page says that a typical LED converts about 25% of the energy into visible light - which is still terrible when you think about it.
www.physicscentral.com/explore/action/led.cfm
The following says that LEDs convert 90% of the energy that is fed to them into visible light, but this probably ignores resistors and any other wires and electronics that are needed.
www.midamericanenergy.com/ee/include/pdf/ee_led.pdf
Kevin Solway The efficiency written in the second link is huge lie. As far as I understand, efficiency achieved in labs is not part of this discussion, so the typical efficiency of a commercial LED bulb is 12%
Source: Wikipedia and calculations from typical product specifications.
So, a crappy chinese LED like this is probably going to waste more than 90% of energy supplied as heat.
Mandragoras If the efficiency of an LED bulb is only about 10%, and the efficiency of an incandescent bulb us also about 10%, then there's hardly any point in using LEDs!
Have you actually found a Chinese flood light that outputs what it's suppose to?
www.brightledplus.com
I have a similar looking unit. Mine draws 71W @ 120VAC, and one row of the LED element is out.
I laughed when you opened the ballast. The shell is fairly nice. I'd just rip out the guts and keep the case.
One could loop the ground wire round the gland, clamp it between the case and the nut.
Or loop it through a washer and put that under the nut.
m8e An SWA cable gland earthing washer (frying pan washer) could be an option. Or even penetrate the case with a small earthing bolt.
+bigclivedotcom just use a file to drill the hole lol, great video as always
They could put more heatsink fins on the back, and this light should be good!
Better an empty void than a crowded one.
+The Kaiser kinda stops being a void once its crowded
Good information.
I filled my house with china made e26 LED bulbs. Six months later the last one burned out. They seemed to have to much power going into them.
Use screwdriver!
SCREWDRIVER!
Not the file...
I was going to say you could extend the earth wire and poke it through the same hole as the other wires in order to fix it to the case using one of the tapped holes. But then you took out the file and I had to turn my eyes away, I was certain it would snap and blood was to be shed (files are very hard, but also very brittle). Fortunately this was not the case!
PuchMaxi1988 The four wires going through that hole between the two parts if the case are already tight in it, so no room to put a wire through there.
bigclivedotcom Yes, indeed you are certainly right there. I was thinking, since the drivers are in parallel you could simply remove one pair of wires and parallel them up before going through the hole? That should leave enough room for the PE.
PuchMaxi1988 That would work.
I have a 100w or a 70w and it has only a single ballist. Been trying to diagnose the problem with it. It will not run at all.
Carefully measure the DC voltage across the LED with the power on. If it is near zero the driver is faulty. If it is above 30V the LED is faulty.
very polite spoken...you fae Bearsden?
Hi Clive what would you consider the best quality driver for a 100w LED torch would like it to have a voltage adjuster like a dimmer don't know the technical term, running li-ion battery pack using 16650 the pack size can be what ever it needs to be.Second half of my ? what is a good charger discharger and balancer for looking after battery packs i don't know much about them. Thank you
It's never good having an earth wire shoved up your gland...
Id report sellers of this shite to trading standards. Its not just shoddy the faults are downright lethal in these things.
...At least they used the glue in a good way.
i sure thank you for this cause i was going to buy two of them to place out side of my shop thinking they was 100.watts come out to be not hmm
You're WAy to skeptical. Let me ask you this. Why would the company design a heatsink that size if they thought it wasn't gonna cool the LED? Obviously they designed the heatsink for the type of LED that they used. So why wouldn't it be enough to dissipate heat? Did you design this floodlight yourself?
Most of these high power LED floodlights absolutely grill the LEDs, last less than a year, and then go to landfill.
"Stuffed up the gland" is not an approved method of connection? Hmm. I'd better change my ways!
So take out 1 driver and run this unit at 30w and it will last for ever ish, cheers
It will last a LOT longer. And be more efficient too.
Wheredid you get it, and what wes the price?
That looks like a repurposed take away tub.
In American $$$$ will be 33$ roughly, due to much lower tax....
That looks like a zinc alloy die casting to me, not aluminium.
Graham Langley correct, this design using poor quality materials zinc alloy die casting as heat sink. We have testing some samples, usually failed to work in 3-8months. As matter of fact, some people purchased poor quality LED lights, and quickly loss faith on LED lights. The products cost cheap, but replacement cost and shipping cost high.
What do you do with all of these lights after?
DJ Swain They end up joining the pile of "stuff I might find a use for one day."
Sorry to bump such an old comment, but that begs the next question... how high/deep/large/overwhelming has that pile gotten to be?
It covers a large floor area.
i got one off ebay for 22 dollars and it's not bright at all
cant u buy a 100w led ballast then replace it ?
+Daniel Hornes Ofcourse, but if that was an option he should really contact the seller and have them send a 100w ballast, and not pay for it, considering in theory he allready payed for it.
Maybe, possibly, the chinese aren't telling us lies, and it's a 60% efficient 100 watt led?
If it were 60% efficient it would still draw 100w of power but just dissipate 40w of it as heat and only 60w of it would be converted to light.
You're funny dude!
did you test the waterproof ability?
+Van Ben No. It never made it into actual use.
haha...100 watts of disappointment! lmao
2:50 voice crack
i would not use these leds for indoor lighting, their cri is only 70 which is awful.
You get high CRI versions, but they are expensive.
Wow, that metal case was absolutely pathetic. You broke it with a screw driver with minimal effort.
Liked the video, disliked the improper use of a file.... Lol
chefdan87 yeah tempered metal is not meant for flexing.
100w = $60 US
vs
50/65W = $25 US
... yeah, that's a ripoff ...
China made.......real 100w led need cpu heat sink with fan to dissipate heat...try to do lumens test what they mentioned ...or light intensity...
OMG, atrocious chinese engineering and manufacturing.
... more speaking hands...
rodstartube, My guess is that you came from Ashens channel?
lol.