A mains powered (240V) strip of LEDs, contained inside a plastic flexible tube. The ends are attached with adhesive tape.
The LEDs do light up, although are inconsistent in brightness along the strip and several are much dimmer than the others.
The power module is just a bridge rectifier, there is no isolation at all, and the whole strip of LEDs and resistors appears to be wired in series with the rectified 240V AC connected across the ends.
The end caps pull off easily to expose conductive parts which will be at or near mains voltage.
The plug is fairly typical of a low cost UK plug, although the fuse inside is an incorrect 13A.
Patreon: / jwflame
Contact info, sending stuff in etc.: xo4.uk/?YTT
18:07 Didn't even flinch with a rotating blade centimetres away from your hand! You are a brave man, JW
+thec00kiem0nst3r I winced as it crept towards his fingers!
+thec00kiem0nst3r that was a bit "blooper reel imminent" :P
Lol
I found this: 07:54 much more terrifying! There's always a point in his videos when I think: "oh no, it's going to turn gory!". I wish he didn't kept doing that but I guess they are "tension building moments".
Thanks, JW. I want to say that I had purchased 2 of these. On I was toying around with it in my bedroom as mood lights under the bed. Some months ago, unknown to me, the top cap had come off and while handling it, I got an electric shock. Like the UK, we have 240Volts here in Malaysia. Your video on the product is an eye-opener. The reason why I was researching this was that I had intended to use this in a light-fixture project. I have decided to go with DC-based LEDs with separate easily available and more reliable PSUs. I hope no one else has been electrocuted using this product.
That Dremmel was very close to making a right mess on your bench
Thank you for reviewing this. I knew when i got it it was unsafe but wow I did not know it was as unsafe as that.
+John Ward could you do a quick video on the quick block / safe block you're using, I think a lot of people would be interested as they're not that common outside the UK
I love the email reply from the engineer. Thanks
JW... 'I bet I could break it'. HAHAH. You sir are a legend.
I really like your videos. Subscribed. Do you work for UL or RU or equivalent in the uk maybe? Seems like it would be a really cool job. Good work sir. Steven NC USA.
Thank you this helped me so much
I was electrocuted by one of these yesterday. It was an old installation, and several of the end-caps were missing. They thought it was 12v, but now I have seen this, I realise just how lucky I am to be typing this today. 230Vac RMS with a full-wave bridge rectifier and no isolation transformer is about as dangerous as it gets.
John, at 11:47: I suggest that a 100 Hz 'output' ripple results from full wave rectification i.e. 2x supply freq of 50 Hz. Half wave rectification would produce 50 Hz ripple output.
hi, very well explained. But I was wondering: if those strip led light works on 240V, can works without rectifier? Thanks
No, as the LEDs are all in the same direction, when the AC waveform changes direction the reverse voltage will damage the LEDs.
Ok, thanks a lot. I believe my rectifier isn't working anymore because tried to connect to a wall switch incorrectly and wasn't sure whether this can be recovered or not. Do you reckon there are any other alternatives to bring those LED back to live?
Some LEDs can withstand a certain amount of reverse voltage, but for these LEDs (i.e. the newer type), they can withstand very minimal reverse voltage, so if you hooked it up to 240VAC, it would work for a VERY short time (i.e. probably just a half cycle of the sine wafe of the input voltage -- 1/50 of a second in the UK or 1/60 of a second in the US). After that extremely brief flash, the LEDs are going to be burnt out.
it's scary the amount of dangerous electrical items being sold to the UK. just imagine this in inexperienced hands or in a bathroom ......
Haha! Thank you for this JW - I'll just tell my dad who just got one of these affairs!
If I made one of these I would probably want to fill the end with some heat resistant flexible epoxy instead of taping it to the end... not to mention matching all the LEDs for intensity before and after installation on the strip and using a well isolated switchmode power supply instead of the (likely) capacitive dropper these ones use.
be interested to know more about the low voltage directive you spoke of at the end?
+pietkaify LVD: ec.europa.eu/growth/single-market/european-standards/harmonised-standards/low-voltage/index_en.htm and in the UK, it is implemented as: www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1994/3260/contents/made
+John Ward that's what I was after! electrician and serial buyer or all things dangerous! Thank you for the link!
I have just purchased a strip which looks very much like this from Amazon and as I have no way of knowing how safe it is, so I shall bin it. I had assumed that all LEDs were low voltage and therefore safe. Thanks very much for this interesting video.
How worried are you about the multimeter clips connected to 240 volts DC touching each other?
@3:35 "but I can break it" I died laughing lol. this is my fav channel
Great video...helped me alot👍👍👍👍
Who makes the mains attachment box you're using? Seems handy/convenient.
We used to have those in all the uk electronics labs, i don't recall the real name but we used to call them a Len (for Live-Earth-Neutral)
the MS logo on the plug reminds me way too much of the MG logo
How does the frequency get generated. My guest it some thing to do with the generator at the start (but how does it get matched with the rest0? often wondered
+C00m7ee The mains frequency is determined by the rotational speed of the generator - faster rotation results in a higher frequency.
Hallo, kann man diese Stripe schneiden, um sie über Eck anzubringen. Hi, you can cut this stripe to put it over corner. Greetings Peter Imhoff
Will an RCD prevent getting a schock from this rectified high voltage? I installed these in a landscape with a 30ma RCD.
The RCD will disconnect if there is a fault to ground. It will not prevent a shock, but will reduce the duration of a shock.
@@jwflameold comment, but didn't you do a video on this at some point? The newer style of RCD would trip, but the much more common AC type, probably won't ( you pushed 200ma halfwave through and nothing) kzhead.info/sun/e85-lLZqh6aBa4k/bejne.html So even if 'only' 110v, probably more dangerous in the grand scheme
Very informative video. Many thanks for posting! I'm here in Canada and purchased asa set of 120v ones and started poking around with my Fluke meter and found that the damn things are running on 120VDC.... This is just dandy now..... I need to find a dimmer for these and don't know which way to turn now.... might you have and ideas as to a solution to my problem?
Hello Sir, thanks for making this video. I have a 3 meters long led cable exactly looks like that, but at one meter before the end the leds are all dead. So I cut when the led stop working. I was wondering if I can make that one meter works by plug it into a new driver/bridge rectifier, is it safe thing to do? Also I was puzzled with 220volts, I thought one led would only need 3 volts.. how does it works so it is not blew up with 220v ? Thx before.
If each LED is 3 volts, about 72 of them in series will be 220V. That could be 72 individual LEDs, or 24 LED packages each with 3 individual chips inside. It may be possible to repair that section, but it all depends on what has failed. Could be one or more failed LEDs, or connections between them.
John Ward I trace the ribbon wire on the back of the led and see that some leds are in parallel and in series, with a couple of resistors. the leds are numbered from 1 to 48 and repeats after a soldered point (every half a meter). Which in total are 96 leds for 1 meter long. The positive and negative wire only connect every 1 meter - there are points where the wires that carry mains has split into the middle to power the led. Anyway thanx for the input, so basicly any LED's wire lights are able to lit only using a bridge rectifier because they are in series... got it.
Hey thanks for the video, can these be used with 12V DC power supply?
These cannot, the LEDs are wired in series. There are plenty of others which are designed for 12V DC.
Depends upon what you mean be "can these be used"... Can you physically hook it up? Yeah... Will 12VDC damage it? No... Will it produce any light? No... These sorts of strips are made with fixed length sections where you can cut the strip between the sections. Each section is designed to use a particular voltage in that section. In the strip that he is reviewing, it is expected approximately 240VDC for each section, so if you gave it only 12V, it is extremely unlikely that it would light up enough for you to see it even in a perfectly dark room. There are also current limiting resistors in each section since providing too much current to the LEDs can cause them to fail. More than likely, each section of the strip is configured as basically a large number of SMD LEDs in series so that their forward voltages add up to the voltage coming from the rectifier. So, you're probably looking at around 120 LEDs wired in series. There will also be a current limiting resistor for each section. One problem with this way of doing sections is that if a single one of those LEDs fails to an open condition, then the entire section will no longer be lit. If an LED was to fail to a short condition, then other LEDs in that section might get a bit brighter, but if enough of them failed to a short condition, it would probably cause the rest of the LEDs in that section to burn out. So, *if* you had a 12VDC power supply AND you hooked it up to a 240VAC inverter AND then used the rectifier that he was using, then it could work. Kind of a kludge of a way to make it work though. You could also hook up 20 car batteries in series and wire that directly into the LED strip without the rectifier and it would work. Kind of a bulky solution though... :) There are some 12V boost converters that might work for you though. You just need to look an how much wattage they can support and how much the LED strip that you have is using.
Would you consider it any safer if it was smoothed? I know I've taken 451VDC off a radar magnetron before (was pushed into it while troubleshooting) and it was not fun.
+xKatjaxPurrsx No, smoothed or not it's still just as dangerous.
+John Ward To be fair, the change in frequency & amplitude will adjust how much an AC shock hurts. Not that I know from experience in electronics class or anything.
I don't know whether or not it would help, but it certainly won't help significantly. So it's still just about as dangerous.
I've been hit with 12.5KV from the high voltage lead off the power supply of a RADAR indicator. I've even been hit with tube filament voltages that were around 400 or so, but the 12.5KV hit was the only one that actually *charred* the meat when it arced to my finger.
@@IttyBittyVox even if it's smoothed perfectly and one terminal is constant DC with respect to the other with zero differential AC ripple. The voltage each terminal is at * with respect to ground* will be varying up and down from about 0v to peak voltage- AC but with an offset I.e. the *common mode* AC is completely unaffected by the smoothing (voltage of both terminals together) I.e. if you took two live wires, a capacitor between them isn't going to do anything to smooth the AC or prevent danger, the difference between the two Is a perfectly smooth 0vDC already, touching either can kill you though
I thought these LED strips would only run at 12v DC and less than 1 amp . I assume these LEDs are being grossly over driven and wouldn't last long. Does the UK mains run at 240v and 10amps like here in Australia?
+dandel351 Most of the strips are 12V, they are usually constructed in multiple sections of 3 LEDs and a resistor. This one has all of the 60 LEDs and resistors in series, with about 180 volts across the LEDs and the rest across the resistors, not particularly efficient and if one resistor or LED fails open, the entire thing stops working. UK mains is 240 volts, socket outlets are generally on 32 amp circuits with a smaller fuse in the plug.
Thanks for the reply. I look forward to your next video . I like learning new stuff.
LED strips are offered in 5vdc, 12vdc, 24vdc, 110vac, and 240vdc. There may be other offerings as well. The number of LEDs per meter are also offered in many different densities. This particular strip has poor quality control in the LEDs judging by the brightness fluctuation, probable variation in CCT (hard to judge in a video), and in the power section. It is very difficult to find a quality strip on either eBay or Amazon and similar sites. Sales are driven by price point in those sites. My company buys strips from reputable manufacturers and they offer a variety in ingress grades, high quality LEDs, heavier copper boards to dissipate heat and to decrease resistance, and offer warranties of 2 - 5 years. They are significantly more expensive than the typical LED strip offered. They last longer, give consistent light, and if you so choose... are brighter. Remember also that it is a system so you need quality power supplies and controls
This would be a wonderful device to use in a bathroom (in zone 0 of course). A super effect for Christmas and a real, shocking surprise in the bath tub. Maybe the ebay seller should try it first though.
Close together CE is the logo for 'China Export' :P Often misunderstand for the true CE mark.
+Gadget Addict I've heard that claimed many times, but I've sen someone substantiate that such a thing as a China Export mark exists, other than a tongue in cheek way of referring to fake fake CE marks. The truth, I think, is simpler and more sinister. Less scrupulous Chinese manufacturers are simply lying about certifications and sometimes get the design wrong. In addition, I've seen the compressed CE marked on at least one product that I know very much for sure isn't fake: A Nintendo Gameboy, as you might guess from my username.
Gameboygenius I think it pretty much goes hand in hand. Whether or not it really means 'China Export', the aim of it is to trick people into thinking it's been properly certified. So yeah, tongue in cheek I think :)
A non-fake CE mark doesn't mean very much either if I remember correctly. EEVblog has a video about it, there's no 3rd party that verifies/certifies the product so it's all up to the manufacturer to decide whether or not the appliance fulfills the requirements.
John, what is the purpose of your isolated power supply? Is this a safer option than RCD protection?
Yes, much safer. You can only get a shock if touching both conductors at the same time, touching one will not do anything. With an RCD you still get a shock but it (should) disconnect the power very quickly.
It would have been useful to look at bit closer at the resistors, and the actual voltage under load. If they were really dropping that much voltage, it more than likely exceeded their 1/8 or 1/4 watt capacity, meaning they are likely to fail catastrophically at some point, or even cause a fire. Knowing the resistance of them would have told us a lot about what was really happening. BTW they are not arranged in a 2/2/4 pattern. They are groups of 3 leds with one resistor for each triplet. The rope can be cut or indeed joined between any group of three LEDs and there are normally cut marks printed on the tape. That's a pretty standard arrangement for these things. (They just alternated the placing of the resistor position, probably for reasons of laying out the strip.) I was actually expecting to see a capacitive dropper in the module - that would be the usual arrangement in such a device. For measurements that would give about the same results as the readings you got except maybe it would have been half wave, with a very poor power factor. It's important to note that there's nothing particularly wrong with a capacitive dropper as long as you can guarantee the isolation of the device - it's a common design for a lot of lighting systems and devices, quite often resulting in 12V half wave rectified to 3 parallel LEDs in series with the resistor. These LED ropes are designed to be linked together, hence the plug/socket arrangement on either end. They are plugged in to each other, or in this case by using a joiner. The reason it has two bare contacts inside the tube is actually a safety feature in this case - if the joiner came out of the downlink side but stayed in the supply side, it would leave bare contacts fully exposed. The main sin in this design is failing to provide a solid child proof cap on either end of the rope as would be required. Sticky tape just doesn't cut it for consumer safety. I suspect this original design was supposed to be used for commercial lighting arrangements with proper waterproof and lockable connectors and end caps. It was probably never meant to be sold in the consumer market and certainly not with caps held on with tape or with that power source. LEDs dimming and starting to fail could be an indication that they are being over driven inside that tube. Overheating will kill them sooner rather than later. Another reason could be that the tape was meant to be driven half wave - by including a full wave rectifiers they are essentially over driving the LEDs and the resistors by 100% when the components are already on their limit. Overall, I think their "technologist" is probably the neighbor's cat.
Since they are expecting 240VDC on each section of the strip, they probably have around 120 LEDs wired in series and then a current limiting resistor for each section.
What is the dype of Rectifier
I never use mains led products for landscape or decor lightning. Only mains led products I use are bulbs for common use.
Shocking!
Can they kill if touched the leds directly without the plastic... or if touched one bare end while operating (sry for dumb question)
Yes, the whole lot is at or near mains voltage. No isolation at all.
Thanks for video! I got cheat LED Rope Light 1 meter (60 LEDs) in eBay Germany (230 volts/50 Hz). 4-5 hours later than power off. I found 100 or 200 Hz chip is broken and than it runs 50 Hz light. Bad! This video is old since 2015 to now 2018 same happened.
would you rather just have them put the cap on with no tape?
The three pin plug is Prakash from India , I have led light no rectifier , but works in 220 ac without any problem , I attached with plastic Cable tie to the aluminum pipe but noticed when I move my finger along with pipe noticing some vibration like mobile phone no electrical connection to the pipe .
@11:00 Touch your fingers where exactly? When testing the output voltage you said "if you touch both of them it doesn't make any difference. " did you mean both red and blue output wires? And did you mean it is is safe to touch both....similar to birds on electrical wire because it's the same voltage? If I just touch the hot wire how does the circuit get completed in order to hurt me ...through ground? Was that the purpose of the block test...to show that if I touch either one of those wires individually it will shock me because they are somehow connected in the blobby thing??
In this test the device was powered using an isolating transformer, so touching one of the wires would not give you a shock. If you touched both of the wires you would get a shock as your finger would complete the circuit between the two wires. When connected to a normal power outlet, touching the live/hot wire will give you a shock as the device is not isolated, current flows via the wire through your body into the ground.
***** Okay, and if I was crazy enough to touch BOTH wires from a normal power outlet...would that give me a shock as well for the same reason of completing the circuit? Suppose I touch only the 'hot' and don't touch the ground?
Touch both wires and you will complete the circuit and get a nasty shock, yes. Touch only the hot - the hot is referenced to ground, as are you, so you'll get a shock whose severity will depend on how well connected to gorund you are - rubber boots etc will help.
pardon my french but, that logo style and MS, is that not a piss take on MK electrical ?
Real "MS" are related to winbo.com. The one in video is a FAKE obviously
The manufacturers have been watching Blue Peter. The sort of Sticky backed plastic that was notorious on those old Blue Peter "here's one I made earlier" sessions.
Most led strips are 12 or 24v dc. How is this 240ac?!
I bought some RGB LED tape off of Ebay, one of them 5 metre rolls with a remote that does all colours. Put it at the back of my desk. The bloody thing caught fire at 2am in the morning! =(
So can they be deadly if left on overnight O_o
Which part, the power adaptor, the switch, or the LED tape itself?
@@juliantse6730 The power adaptor. These cheap Chinese stuff isn't safe at all.
I bought 50 m of those LED strips and all ends have caps glued solid with transperent silicon. These strips are for outdoor use so...NO worries here !
Doesn't anyone who reviews these sorts of things have an oscilloscope? If you want to see what is coming out of the power supply, just plug it into a wall outlet and set up an o'scope to show what is on the output of the power supply. It's going to be pretty obvious whether there is any filtering / leveling going on by the waveform displayed on the screen instead of having to make guesses based on multiple measurements with a multimeter.
Yes, that would certainly be interesting to see! 👍
Most led strips are 12v or 24v dc powered I think. How is this ac240?!
12V strips are usually 3 LEDs in series with a resistor, repeated many times along the strip. For 240V, it's just more of them in series such as 60 LEDs in series with one resistor.
soldering strands stops stray strands.good practice
It's good practice when it's done only at the very tip/end of the wire, otherwise the mechanical properties will be different.
copy that
Ferrule would be the better option, less likely to loosen
JW ... what is the'Blob's technical name ???
Bridge rectifier
2014 I was doing the holiday inn hotel with 215 rooms every room 7 meters of these and fed from 2 drivers equal 10 drums of these arrived and we installed looked good but after 1 months many many of them started to burn badly and lots of them failed so decided to replace them because I bought nearly 100 k materials from my well known wholesaler got money back but they are dangerous and waste of money
Rope lighting sold in the UK by major electrical outlets is not isolated from the mains either. There is sometimes an effects controller using triacs driven by an ic to create various lighting patterns but no actual isolation as such. The safety is the plastic sleeving around the leds. The most dangerous aspect of the led strip shown in this video is the poor qaulity, the grossly overrated fusing and the fact that the connector and end cover are not glued into position on the sleeving as they would be with rope lighting sold in the UK. look up Duralite rope lighting and you will see what I mean.
Oh boy! Another channel that criticisms (spelling is hard) stuff from china. (I don't know if that sounds like sarcasm but its not) I love watching these kind of videos.
Well, if you want hardcore rectified mains, this seems like a good way to get it... that's one beefy rectifier.
how he uses his tools are more dangerous than the LED set..
That seems like the equivalent to the dodgy Chinese Christmas LED strips. If the resistors get too hot (especially in that thick outer layer), they tend to short out, in this case having nothing but that dubious 13A fuse to stop it going up in flames. As for exposed metal contacts in lighting products, I'm sure if the B22 or E27 fittings were invented today, they would never get past CE or many other standards with the exposed metal pins with the bulb removed. For example, desk lamps with E27 fittings could be a serious electric hazard if a child screws the bulb, yet there are constantly "Safe Electric" ads on TV and the radio warning that is illegal for anyone other than registered electrical contractors to do any electrical work within the home and not a single mention about the hazards of changing a light bulb!
+Seán Byrne I have never seen a resistor go short circuit, not in over 15 years of electronic engineering, 9 in professional audio, 4 in automotive and 3 in defence sector. I've heard that certain types can short in very rare cases, a wire wound aluminium housed resistor or possibly external influences on a very small SMD (tin whiskering or something). Diodes on the other hand, (particularly zener and schottky, and even LED) are pretty much 50/50 short/open on failure and that scares the hell out of me sometimes. There are also many electrical products which deeply concern me and i've witnessed someone squeeze a light bulb slightly too hard and have it shatter in their finger tips..... I guess there is only so much that can be done to protect the stupid from themselves.
Rewireable plug that is properly the most handy parts of this junk
why doesn't the light flicker?
It does, but the camera is 50 frames/second and the mains frequency is 50Hz, so it doesn't show. In real life some minor flicker is visible.
why every time you say the word "there" you increase your speech volume like... 2 fold!
Take end caps off, fill ends with transparent silicone then put caps back on and glue them together. Problem solved.
Why wouldn't they just hot glue the caps on rather than taping them. Or better yet, melting them on.
I think you've just answered your own question. ;)
I'm an electrician but can one explain why he could measure both AC and DC on the light end of the cord?
The rectified DC had such bad ripple that his meter read it as AC. It is sometimes called pulsed DC. It has no negative component because the sone wave doesn't cross zero, just bounce off of it.
+FoodOnCrack In addition to Jacobs answer about pulsating DC, this is a feature of the Fluke 177 meter used here. From the user manual there is a note about AC coupling being used for AC voltage measurements, in addition to the meter being True-RMS: Note: All ac functions and Auto-V LoZ are true-rms. AC voltage is ac-coupled. Auto-V LoZ, AC mV and AC amps are dc-coupled.
Because he didn't have an o'scope to show the actual waveform off the power supply?
Frankly, I'm surprised the manufacturer bothered with the bridge rectifier. Why not just wire half the LEDs in reverse parallel?
I do not regard this video as China-bashing. I thank you for saving human lives, one video at a time ! The china manufacturer clearly does not respect humans from other parts of the world by making products poor in quality meant to fail after short term usage.
Sure its dangerous. But its really about the same as my string non-led strips. They also have recessed connectors for the next string of lights. If you were to immerse the end in half an inch of water, they also would short out. If you think about it, a glass light bulb or CFL glass lightbulb is incredibly dangerous if you flick it with your finger and it shatters in your face. And they made those for centuries.
this isn't that angerous. pretty much every lamp is made like this but without the blob thing
LTR 1242. KBP208G .
I thought solder on the wires was a good thing, making a better contact and spreading the screw load over the wire strands and making a better contact.
You shouldn't put solder under a screw terminal because the plasticity of solder allows it to flow after a clamp load is applied, so it comes loose after some time. You also shouldn't apply solder to a crimped connector, as it adds nothing to a proper gas-tight crimp, but it does stiffen the wire, making broken strands more likely.
+FlyingShotsman Thanks, I didn't know that. Why then do many appliances that I have bought in recent years (before moulded plugs) have cables with solders wires. Is it allowed?
+Colin Herbert Not see any with soldered wires here, I've usually seen crimped ferrules on the end
+Colin Herbert In Australia, you aren't allowed to have soldered joints under a screw terminal, but you can have "tinned" joints under a screw terminal. A lot of our products come with tinned cables under screw terminals.
+TheReapero so 2 flexes soldered together wouldn't be allowed, but one flex would be? {this smacks of legislation rather than common sense}
You have to remember, people used to be taught to respect electricity. I have several tube radios that have a "hot" chassis. People just don't have much common sense these days. I think too much safety in products makes one lazy and makes you expect everything is safe and there's no need for respect. Nope, not true.
Office tape. HA. They could've done it so much better with something as simple as hot glue
It bogles my mind. People buy items off ebay and expect high quality items. :-(
David Okanagan i
The 'CE' on the white block and many Chinese products can actually mean 'Chinese Export'. Very sly on their behalf. I bought a led glass tube for aquariums, as Chinese items go it's actually very good. Been in constant use for 2+ years and all the leds are still going and very bright.
Try buying one that was built in uk!...... no chance. People only buy on price these days.
MS was a well known Chinese/HK plug brand that were used on many UK brand (often Argos brands) from the late 80s-late 90s. Never seen since. First saw the official on small appliances in the 90s. As far as I can tell, these "MS" plugs look the same (but are made of polycarbonate type material) but are Chinese knockoffs of the once reputable version! The earth pin on these is usually too short. Have yet to see this fake version used on any reputable item.
JW, I am somewhat astounded but also ashamed, but in equal measure, to admit, that I, as a qualified spark, given that I used to always, but *always*, tin the wires prior to connecting up my own plug, or at least some old plug that I found kicking around... You know, back in those days, in the pre mid-eighties, when all household appliances were sold without a plug? I used to pride myself in going the extra mile in solder-tinning all the newly stripped wires prior to screw-clamping them down in their respective little places, you know, that final 13 (or 5 or 3) amp fused plug. Please, Sir ! Have I been doing this wrong all this time? I always thought I was going the extra distance, and being much safer than your average, shall we say: "Joe?. (Sorry all you Joes out there). I am shattered. Please give me some redemption at least. Yours, most sincerely, Chris Bodragon.
Bodragon - Yes, you have indeed been doing something that is not recommended. Any screw, clamp or crimped connection should not be made on wires / conductors that have been soldered together. Note that this is different to copper wires having been tinned as part of the wire / cable making process, where the tin coating is a thin surface coating. Although most people are not aware of it, “soft” materials like solder, will flow slightly and slowly when under pressure. So if you go back and check a soldered wire in a screw terminal a year after it was made, you will find that the wire is no longer held as tightly as it was. You can also see this on old long serving B22 bayonet cap lamps where the manufacturers have used large solder blobs and the strong spring contacts have made large indentations in the solder. For light duty loads, this use of soldered wires in screw, clamp or crimped connections may not show up and may not cause problems for a long time. But where there is a larger load, or an inductive load, the poor connection will get hotter, speeding up the flow rate of the solder. Then there may be arcing inside the terminal. Which will further increase the temperature, possibly resulting in fire. Before the law changed and made the fitment of 13A plugs mandatory, a lot of manufacturers did indeed supply appliances with mains leads with the ends already stripped, and soldered the exposed copper stranded wires. This was done purely so that it was easy for said appliances to be tested in the factory. It was not done to make it easier to fit a 13A plug.
mabie the chinese wanted to be good for the enviroment and used old leds
Fake plug, fake fuse!
Before I watch this video I already knew to avoid ebay stuff when it comes to anything related to safety. So to be honest, nothing in this video surprised me at all. For those saying Chinese manufacturers have no respect to people's lives, the true question is, do you respect your family's and your own lives. If you do, buy quality stuff from reputable manufacturers. It doesn't matter they are Chinese or not. Stop being a cheap bastard. Help yourselves and many others as well.
This video is fun at 1.25 playback speed.
Like
Ah, cheap stuff from aliexpress
This is dangerous as any other desk lamp with E27 or B22 socket in use today, only author of this video is trying to get more views by declaring it dangerous.
no its stupidly dangerous
+Rax Raccoon I Agree. This is just a light strip, It doesnt need that much voltage at all. It could kill with a single touch to the exposed end. Its also a fire risk. Compared to my 12V 3W desk lamp, this is a nightmare.
Oscar Goldman If you disassemble your lamp and touch live wire that go to transformer it can kill you to, if you didn't know. That is basically what author of this video did and then decide to say it is dangerous. No this is not dangerous for anyone who have more brain cells then amoeba.
Just go away if you dont see the point he's making
Also stop saying "the author" as if you dont know his namecis jhon ward
Your lack of explanation......
A product of China, OK fine. Got it from ebay, oh no, run for your lives.
ahh fantastic , a bigclivedotcom wannabe. lol