parametrek
Enlightened
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2013
- Messages
- 578
People have been raving about these bulbs. Any tint you want, high CRI, fully stocked by Amazon. I picked up a few "100W" 3000K 95 CRI bulbs and was impressed. I was curious who's LEDs they were using, so I took one bulb apart.
(I would have taken a bulb apart anyway, removing the diffuser usually improves cooling and increases output. Obviously this only works with fixtures that don't require a frosted, diffuse bulb.)
Let's start with some reconnaissance. There is a neato trick to see through the translucent bulb housing using a laser pointer. For comparison here are some more familiar bulbs.
The filament is very visible on the incandescent. The "LED tower" casts an imposing shadow for the Cree example. You can just barely make out the spring clip contacts and the square-dome LEDs too. They are much more visible in real life. Jiggling the laser creates an illusion of depth and the camera has trouble with the laser light source.
So what is in the Hyperikon?
Nothing!
A trick the cheaper bulbs do is put all the LEDs on a flat PCB. All aimed in the same direction, they are trusting the diffuser to produce a 360 degree pattern. It appears to work here, but it requires a heavier diffuser with potentially more losses.
Now that I know there isn't anything in the way, I can go to town with the bandsaw. The plastic bulb is exactly 1mm thick and surprisingly flexible. It was glued in place with a silicone caulk.
Confirmed, just a flat PCB that is 41.9mm in diameter. There are 36 LEDs. They are 3030 SMD sized, 3mm on a side. They are arranged in 3P12S with a total forward voltage of 67.3 volts. White wire is positive, yellow wire is negative. (What are they teaching kids these days?) The PCB sits on an aluminum plate, which is connected to the bulb housing.
It appears they used a very high temperature solder. Normally I can soften that type with some low temperature solder, but not today. The low-temp solder just puddled on top of the high-temp. I could go further if I started cutting wires or hack sawing into the housing.... But I didn't want to ruin a $10 bulb so this is where the teardown stops.
Who's LEDs are they using anyway? No idea. I looked at a bunch of high-CRI 3030 LEDs and didn't see any that were close.
(I would have taken a bulb apart anyway, removing the diffuser usually improves cooling and increases output. Obviously this only works with fixtures that don't require a frosted, diffuse bulb.)
Let's start with some reconnaissance. There is a neato trick to see through the translucent bulb housing using a laser pointer. For comparison here are some more familiar bulbs.
The filament is very visible on the incandescent. The "LED tower" casts an imposing shadow for the Cree example. You can just barely make out the spring clip contacts and the square-dome LEDs too. They are much more visible in real life. Jiggling the laser creates an illusion of depth and the camera has trouble with the laser light source.
So what is in the Hyperikon?
Nothing!
A trick the cheaper bulbs do is put all the LEDs on a flat PCB. All aimed in the same direction, they are trusting the diffuser to produce a 360 degree pattern. It appears to work here, but it requires a heavier diffuser with potentially more losses.
Now that I know there isn't anything in the way, I can go to town with the bandsaw. The plastic bulb is exactly 1mm thick and surprisingly flexible. It was glued in place with a silicone caulk.
Confirmed, just a flat PCB that is 41.9mm in diameter. There are 36 LEDs. They are 3030 SMD sized, 3mm on a side. They are arranged in 3P12S with a total forward voltage of 67.3 volts. White wire is positive, yellow wire is negative. (What are they teaching kids these days?) The PCB sits on an aluminum plate, which is connected to the bulb housing.
It appears they used a very high temperature solder. Normally I can soften that type with some low temperature solder, but not today. The low-temp solder just puddled on top of the high-temp. I could go further if I started cutting wires or hack sawing into the housing.... But I didn't want to ruin a $10 bulb so this is where the teardown stops.
Who's LEDs are they using anyway? No idea. I looked at a bunch of high-CRI 3030 LEDs and didn't see any that were close.