On 16/01/15 14:56, Larry Jaques wrote:
On Fri, 16 Jan 2015 08:18:41 +0000, David Billington
wrote:

On 16/01/15 03:12, Larry Jaques wrote:
On Thu, 15 Jan 2015 17:57:43 +0000, David Billington
wrote:

On 15/01/15 16:53, Larry Jaques wrote:
LEDs beat the hell out of CFLs, too. The early/cheap Chiwanese bulbs
aren't all good, but instant refunds come from the vendors, so it's
not much of a loss. (Shipping takes 2-5 weeks, though some importers
are here in the States and I can buy through these small U.S.
companies and get quick shipping, supporting both them and the good
old USPS!

One thing to look out for is equivalent watts being sold as actual
watts. I'm having that problem with the Eagle Eye bulbs now. Only 1
shipment out of 4 was properly labeled, and I still don't have the 9W
LEDs I wanted for backup lights on my truck. sigh I'll use the
lesser bulbs in flashlights, I guess.

These draw only 110mA @ 12v and are very bright, but not as bright as
they should be. http://tinyurl.com/p85ffbn A pair of those added to
the pair of 3W (70mA) LEDs should do the trick for me, though.
I have seen a report that mentioned quite a few of the cheap Chinese
bulbs being sold online, at least in the UK, don't meet CE and likely UL
regs even though they are labelled as meeting them. One of the main
issues was lack of a protective covers and that allowed access to
potentially lethal voltage if you touched them while on. Another issue
was the ease of dismantling to get at live potentially parts. One of the
cases highlighted was a LED replacement for a cooker hood bulb where the
house owner got a shock while cleaning due to the lack of a protective
cover on the front of the bulb. Just a heads up.
Thanks, David. I haven't seen a potentially unsafe LED yet, but I'll
keep my eyes peeled.

Some 120v E26 dimmable 12w spots came in today's mail and when I
disassembled one, the p/s was entirely wrapped in black electrical
tape. the 15w of the same type had the p/s adhered to the inside of
the back cover with RTV/caulk, also protecting fingers from mains
power.
Just to make it clear the lack of protective covers was over the LEDs
themselves. They showed probing around the LEDs on open contacts could
result in potentially lethal voltage and current which would have been a
fail on the CE testing so dangerous and bogus markings.
Bbbbut, neither the LEDs (nor the PCB they're installed on, if any)
take mains power, they take 3v. I don't understand how your danger
could show up, unless a 4-y/o was probing the inside of an uncapped
LED case with a screwdriver while it was plugged in and turned on.
The danger highlighted was that the problem was with SMD LEDs exposing
contacts on the LED panels and they could be wired in series so one end
of the string could be at mains potential, it has been tested and shown
to be so in the dangerous bulbs. This was a discussion I found and a
quick search for "dangerous LED bulbs"
https://www.avforums.com/threads/som...ethal.1862196/

Some concern mentioned there also about the like of GU bulbs where the
heatsink is close to live mains potential but no provision for a ground
on that bulb style so insulation failure could lead to the heatsink
going live.


--
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable
one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore,
all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
-- George Bernard Shaw