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Off the shelf retail store screw-in LED and CFL bulb comparisons

PCBuds

PCBuds

Well-known member
q3corn said:
I just came across this thread on reddit about safety and modified screw-in LEDs

https://www.reddit.com/r/HandsOnCom...strong_warning_about_removing_the_domes_from/
Click to expand...


Well, I will certainly admit that my light is unsafe and more so than just removing the globes from a bulb.
I've got all kinds of added potential shock hazards from the fully exposed LED boards to the metal cookie sheet to the use of speaker wire.
The light does make me nervous.
My light isn't grounded so if it ever got wet or even damp enough, it could become energized and give a shock.
Being used in a grow cab with high humidity and people spraying their plants opens the door to a lot of potential hazards. Even simply electrocuting your plant and killing it.

I would much prefer to work with the LED strips I have because they operate at 20 volts but even with them, I don't know what would happen if I were to short circuit the power supply. That could lead to a fire risk or electrocute my plant.
 
Andyo

Andyo

Active member
Veteran
well it hasnt killed me yet

well it hasnt killed me yet

Sunshineinabag said:
yep and people shoot themselves with firearms....
Click to expand...

I was watching the flood level under my my leds 640w frame one hand gripping the stainless steel flood tray i lent forward to grab i few stray clay balls that were floating ,1 hand in water other gripping steel tray
when my shaved head made full contact with bare 12,w led
yeah i went stiff n ducked head n thought well didnt kill me.
Thats 2nd time in a month.A
 
PCBuds

PCBuds

Well-known member
Andyo said:
I was watching the flood level under my my leds 640w frame one hand gripping the stainless steel flood tray i lent forward to grab i few stray clay balls that were floating ,1 hand in water other gripping steel tray
when my shaved head made full contact with bare 12,w led
yeah i went stiff n ducked head n thought well didnt kill me.
Thats 2nd time in a month.A
Click to expand...

If any plant were to make contact with the live wires in the bulb they could be electrocuted as well. And maybe every plant in the flood tray could be killed.

I remember spraying down the cooling fins of the electric heat pump outside at my mother's place.
I didn't get a shock but somehow I shorted the power to the ground which followed the metal-wrapped buried power wire that went to an outdoor outlet in the back yard 40 feet away.

After about 10 minutes of cleaning the heat pump, I went into the backyard to find most of the plants wilted and dying.
Mom was not impressed. Lol


It's more dangerous in Europe too with the 240 volts as well.


You might want to consider doing this like what ScrogMonster did.
Depending on the type and wattage of the bulb, there may be just the two areas to cover up.





It would be a lot of work for you with so many bulbs but it would help your peace of mind.
 
M

Mr. J

Well-known member
Somebody is going to get killed. PCBuds already saved some dude's life last week who basically made an electrocution device because he was very careless. I love me some DIY and I do a lot of things myself, but some of you guys really need to either learn about electricity, or leave it alone. It's more dangerous than you seem to think and it's not worth saving a few dollars if it's going to cost you your life.
 
PCBuds

PCBuds

Well-known member
I doubt that I saved Hookas' life. He probably would have just smoked his driver, blown a fuse or ended up getting a shock like most of us here have already done.

But, ... Ya never know.
Electricity sucks because you can't tell for looking if it's dangerous. You have to trust your instruments.

Almost everything else in life that's dangerous is obvious when you look at it. Open flame, red hot metal, moving parts, fast-moving objects, whatever, but not electricity.

I remember talking to an apprentice electrician who checked a circuit with a voltmeter, got no reading and ended up getting shocked.
His battery was dead in his voltmeter.

My uncle was working on my mom's trailer and shut off the power by flipping the breaker then cut a wire and melted the metal jaws of side snipper. He was lucky it had rubber-coated handles.
The electrician who installed the wiring in the trailer mixed up the line and neutral so the wires were still live when the power was shut off.


I just recently watched a documentary about the guys who work on live high tension wires running 100,000 volts while leaning out of a helicopter.

They take a course on electrical theory, not science because they still don't fully understand everything about electricity and "shit happens" that they just can't explain.

I remember about a jet that was hit by lightning and a blue ball of "electrical fuzz" went down the isle in the middle of the plane and I've actually seen "ball lightning" once while driving in a thunderstorm. It was the size of a basketball that floated across the road in front of me.

But, you can only poke the Dragon so many times before you get flamed.
 
M

Mr. J

Well-known member
Somebody said that people accidentally shoot themselves with firearms, which of course is true, but the difference I see is that most people recognize that guns can be dangerous, and they respect that. People don't think about electricity the same way even though arguably it's more dangerous than a gun.
 
Sunshineinabag

Sunshineinabag

Active member
yeah good point

yeah good point

Mr. J said:
Somebody said that people accidentally shoot themselves with firearms, which of course is true, but the difference I see is that most people recognize that guns can be dangerous, and they respect that. People don't think about electricity the same way even though arguably it's more dangerous than a gun.
Click to expand...

seeing a triple phase primary arch did it for me
 
PCBuds

PCBuds

Well-known member
I've never been shot but I think I'd rather get shocked again than shot. Lol

I'm just gonna keep my fingers out of the triple-phase stuff. Lol
 
q3corn

q3corn

Active member
PCBuds said:
If any plant were to make contact with the live wires in the bulb they could be electrocuted as well. And maybe every plant in the flood tray could be killed.

I remember spraying down the cooling fins of the electric heat pump outside at my mother's place.
I didn't get a shock but somehow I shorted the power to the ground which followed the metal-wrapped buried power wire that went to an outdoor outlet in the back yard 40 feet away.

After about 10 minutes of cleaning the heat pump, I went into the backyard to find most of the plants wilted and dying.
Mom was not impressed. Lol


It's more dangerous in Europe too with the 240 volts as well.


You might want to consider doing this like what ScrogMonster did.
Depending on the type and wattage of the bulb, there may be just the two areas to cover up.


https://postimg.cc/3drWYNcxView Image


It would be a lot of work for you with so many bulbs but it would help your peace of mind.
Click to expand...


I'm definitely interested in doing what ScrogMonster did. What kind of silicone is it that I'm looking for? Is it just those prongs that I would need to cover, or do I need to also cover any points of contact on the diodes?
 
piramidon

piramidon

recidivist icmag - OUT-ist convins - microgrower
Veteran
Everybody is right on this issue.
I've got seriously shocked a couple of times when I was a (curious) kid and that made me weary, but many things I build looks unsafe to a lot of people although they're not..
I say let the natural selection play a little bit with us, don't you love nature ?
And besides, just like in any natural environment, the accidentees have their important role in ours: They show smart people what not to do. :biggrin:
 
PCBuds

PCBuds

Well-known member
q3corn said:
I'm definitely interested in doing what ScrogMonster did. What kind of silicone is it that I'm looking for? Is it just those prongs that I would need to cover, or do I need to also cover any points of contact on the diodes?
Click to expand...

Any silicone should work.
Regular clear silicone doesn't conduct electricity and is good to about 300° F.

Copper RTV silicone is good to over 700°F but that's for sealing exhaust pipes and may contain metal particles to help conduct heat (and electricity)

I like the clear because you can see through it and it's not drawing in any photons like black would.

It's just the prongs that need to be covered, .. And clip them first.

The individual diodes run off a much lower voltage and it would be really hard to reach in between them and touch the metal to get a shock or to apply the silicone without getting it all over the surface of the LED chips.

Silicone is a great thermal insulator and they make oven gloves out if it so don't put a huge glob of silicone on that fuse resistor in the middle of the LED board.

It does need to dissipate heat but the effect of sealing it shouldn't make too much difference especially the globes removed.

Covering just the metal is best.


My little 10 Watt SILs have the driver built right on to the surface of the LED board so I would have to cover all the circuits with silicone to insulate it properly.

Almost everybody here has SILs with only the fuse resistor on the surface of the LED board so it's only those prongs that need to be covered.


If I covered all my surface-mounted circuits, they may very well overheat and croak.
 
q3corn

q3corn

Active member
PCBuds said:
It's just the prongs that need to be covered, .. And clip them first.
Click to expand...
Why clip them?


I guess I'm concerned about breaking something by cutting the wrong thing. which is ironic I guess because I've already removed the domes...
 
PCBuds

PCBuds

Well-known member
Douglas.Curtis said:
Good idea to use silicone or hot glue on those contacts. ;) I lucked out and only shorted the driver inside, while touching it accidentally with a metal tool.
Click to expand...

I don't like the hot glue.
This is what happened to the hot glue vs. Silicone on my SIL...





Which is also why I hate those particular SILs and wasted six of them for my fixture.

I might just throw the whole damn thing in the garbage.

I really don't want to feel responsible for anyone gettin all dead copying what I did.

Use care and caution.
 
PCBuds

PCBuds

Well-known member
q3corn said:
Why clip them?


I guess I'm concerned about breaking something by cutting the wrong thing. which is ironic I guess because I've already removed the domes...
Click to expand...

They don't need to be sticking out.

It's just part of how they're assembled with the driver pushed into one-way clips from the backside of the LED board.

They're just harder to cover up with silicone when they're sticking out.

Nail clippers work fine.
 
PCBuds

PCBuds

Well-known member
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