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Teardowns of assorted LED gentle bulb flavors are persistently among the many hottest items I write. This, I assume, is a to-date full checklist (not counting LED illumination sources that aren’t bulb-shaped, like touch-activated and motion-sensing panels):
I’ve additionally handled the subject of LED illumination extra conceptually; take, for instance, this piece from greater than seven years in the past that analyzed LED and CFL gentle bulbs as potential successors to incandescents. Or take this one from a few years later (and a half-decade in the past this month) that mentioned how, as LED gentle bulb expertise matures, producers are variously differentiating their merchandise in quest of aggressive isolation and earnings. Such improvements are basically enabled by LEDs’ inherent low energy consumption and warmth dissipation, together with their inherent reliance on a DC voltage supply. A number of of those differentiated choices (shade temperature, multi-color, community connectivity) have additionally discovered their option to my teardown desk, whereas others (built-in audio system, candelabra and different shapes) are nonetheless awaiting their turns within the evaluation highlight.
However one variant I didn’t foresee in any respect again in 2018, albeit apparent on reflection (then once more, what isn’t?) is a light-weight bulb with an built-in rechargeable battery that permits ongoing illumination (at the very least for some time) when premises energy is down. I got here throughout simply such a tool firstly of this yr, on sale on the time for $8.99 at my native Ace Ironmongery shop. It’s a Feit Electrical A21 E26 LED good bulb, with mushy white shade temperature and 60-watt incandescent equivalence. Listed below are a few inventory images to start out, together with a promo video:
Surprisingly, I truly can’t even discover this explicit product on Feit Electrical’s web site any longer, solely a smaller (and extra customary) A19-sized product variant:
Let’s as standard start with some packaging pictures:
One factor you may need observed instantly is that the packaging on my unit doesn’t look something just like the inventory picture from Ace {Hardware}’s website. The divergence grows much more stark whenever you get the sunshine bulb (and related sliver of literature, each as-usual additionally accompanied by a 0.75″ (19.1 mm) diameter U.S. penny for measurement comparability functions) out of the field:
The inventory picture exhibits what I assume are passive air vent holes halfway throughout the sunshine bulb, however no such holes exist in my unit. Neither does mine comprise a promotional “Feit Electrical” stamp between the holes and the bottom; the markings on mine are all-the-way-around to not point out, and fortunately extra informative:
Subsequent, let’s take away the rubberized cowl from the on/off change (which finds use when the bulb is operating from its built-in battery) proven within the prior picture:
A fast take a look at the bottom finish, standard in look this time versus the added-contact one seen with the three-way LED bulb again in March:
And now, aided by a hacksaw, let’s get inside that globe:
Every thing appears customary thus far…apart from that cylindrical object protruding of the middle!
Throughout the a number of LED teardowns I’ve finished thus far, I’ve encountered a number of interface implementation choices for speaking between (and powering) the LED array “plate” and the PCB embedded within the base. This time it’s a five-wire harness, which I disconnect subsequent:
Subsequent off are the three screws holding the LED array plate in place:
And now, aided by a diminutive flat head screwdriver, the plate itself achieves liftoff:
Subsequent to go is the cylindrical object within the middle which, sure, is the battery. Let’s first get that white plastic protecting cap off the highest:
Now for the battery itself, which lifts out simply as soon as I disconnect its two-wire harness connection to the PCB inside the bottom:
The specs are blatantly stamped on the surface; I’ll be holding onto it for future-project use (as, apparently, some people are additionally doing with “disposable” vape unit embedded battery cells):
Yet one more metallic plate to go earlier than the circuitry inside comes into full view:
Voila!
Two extra screws to go (detail-oriented readers have already observed that the top of one of many three earlier screw posts snapped off at some prior level within the teardown course of):
And at this level, the PCB itself achieves liftoff, or at the very least begins to:
What’s holding it again, as anybody who’s already seen any earlier teardowns on this collection is aware of, is the multi-wire connection to the now-twisted-off base (two wires normally, three for the three-way):
The black “impartial” wire press-connects to the bottom throughout bulb meeting, whereas the crimson “sizzling” wire is crimped to the middle “sizzling” contact and simply indifferent:
At this level, the PCB comes proper out of the chassis:
Disconnect the opposite finish of the five-wire harness that initially fed the LED array plate:
On the prime is the on/off change, to its left within the higher left quadrant is the connector for the five-wire harness, and under and to the left of it’s, at left, the two-wire connector that feeds the battery (for recharging) and is fed by the battery (when the bulb is operating off DC):
Beneath the big inexperienced capacitor within the decrease left quadrant are much more passives, and many others.:
Now for the PCB underside:
Lastly, flipping the PCB again over, I’ll conclude with pictures of all 4 sides:
As I look over the circuitry, I’m struck by how totally different it will look had been this a battery-backed incandescent-based bulb (placing apart how impractical such a product could be in real-life utilization, resulting from incandescent illumination’s pathetically low effectivity). As talked about firstly of this piece, one key motive why enhanced-featured LED gentle bulbs exist, apart from the LEDs’ inherent excessive effectivity which frees up energy finances sourced from the socket for different makes use of, is that every little thing previous the preliminary AC-to-DC conversion stage is DC-powered, together with the embedded battery-charging circuitry on this case. Have been this an incandescent with battery backup you’d want two inefficient conversion levels: AC-to-DC to cost the battery, and DC-to-AC to drive the filaments from the battery when premises energy was absent. Yuck!
Something strike you as notably attention-grabbing on this design? Hold forth within the feedback!
—Brian Dipert is the Editor-in-Chief of the Edge AI and Imaginative and prescient Alliance, and a Senior Analyst at BDTI and Editor-in-Chief of InsideDSP, the corporate’s on-line e-newsletter.
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