Review: 10W Cool White LED Floodlight from Wallbuys

I was going to recommend EZ-White 12V XM-L from goodluckbuys but seems it has no stock now.

So… three normal T6s in series? BAM! :bigsmile: 1200 flood lumens from tiny package.

I like the way you are thinking… the emitters would cost more than the entire light though :wink:

True for the triple T6s. A single 12V EZ-W only cost <$5 shipped though, I wonder who else have them for that price.

You think that driver is constant power buck driver? A single T6/U2/U3 will sustain 10W easily, if the driver bucks the output to 4V x 2.5A that’s still gonna be 700+ lumens.

Need to be sure about the driver though, so that it won’t cook the new LED.

The drive is constant current, so it would stop at 600mA stock, or 900-1000mA with a mod. You would need three LEDs in series… or a 9V MT-G2 :wink:

Nice job Relic. The fun begins!

A close-up of the resistors to replace:

3R00 and 1R20 appear to be in parallel. I dont have a small enough soldering iron or reheat station for SMD work. I know I can get those two resistors off with my soldering iron but will probably destroy them in the process. Can I remove both resistors and use a single larger one like this? (taken from a CheapThrills post)


What resistor would I need to giver close to 1.0A emitter current?

OR

Even better, could a 10 ohm pot work with both resistors removed? Then I could dial in the precise current. If the driver overheats, I could reduce the current without having to replace resistors. Are these a good alternative for continuous long term duty?

http://www.fasttech.com/products/1009/10000077/1224400

For thermal management, I was considering ditching the plastic driver case all together and affixing the back side of the board directly to the metal housing with a thick round dab of fujic or silicon (pressing very lightly and kept level to maintain electrical isolation). As for the hot diode, I was thinking about using a copper penny. 1982 or earlier pennys were 95% copper before they went to the zinc pennies. The lights will be mounted high up and out of reach, so Im not to worried about potential failures. I do intend to ground them properly.

What would be your advice? Thanks for helping a resistor newb.

I'm a little confused on the resistor mod. Are you paralleling two new resistors on top of the existing ones (which is what it looks like in the photos), or are you removing and replacing one of them (which is what it sounds like from the text)? Can you post a close-up of the resistors after the mod?

Thanks,
Garry

I removed the 3R0 and replaced it with a 1R0.

I modded a couple of 12V lights with Nichia 219’s and new drivers:

I also did a 20W one with a new driver (after the original one blew).

Will bought a couple of 12V ones that turned out to be direct drive… no driver at all.

Chinese floodlights are like a box of chocolates… you never know what you’re going to get. And some pieces are turds in disguise.

Can anyone please help me with post #12? Thanks.

Oops, missed your post somehow! Sry.
If you cannot remove the resistor, add a 1.2 Ohm for 0.5 Ohm total (1.0A emitter current) , or 1.5 Ohm for 0.545 Ohm total (0.9A emitter current). Any value between these should be fine too.

I would not use a pot, they are not rated for these kinds of currents.

Good luck with the mod.

Thanks for the quick reply Relic. You da man!

Thanks very much for the review! Frontpage’d and Sticky’d.

Wallbuys price has been $13.54 for a while. So unless there’s a sale later, one may look at Sunsky - this similar floodlight is for $10.90 shipped (to MY). Though the shipping cost may change based on your location.

404 - Page Not FoundAC+85-265VLuminous+Flux+800-900lm.htm

This thing only pulls a few mA. If it were cheaper than conventional wire and mechanically strong enough they’d have used Litz wire.

So where does the earth ground conductor go?

As shipped, the Earth ground wire is unconnected. I tried to use it, but it’s too thin and very springy, like it os not pure copper. On the one that I swapped out the cord, I used one of the screws the hold the enclosure together as a ground screw. It works, but probably not UL approved.
I am a bit backlogged on updates; too many new toys came in after this ;). I plan to open this up one more time and I’ll try to get a shot of the wire.
Even with the small line current, I still recommend users replace the cord; it just doesn’t feel safe to me.

Was there a place for the ground wire to connect?
Maybe this device meets some generally accepted standard for double-insulated?
Without the ground wire you may measure less than 1 mA to ground due to capacitive coupling.
If you connect the ground wire there may be current through that wire that upsets circuit operation but I think that is unlikely.

Hi DimBulb, You asked about the ground connection once already. I suggest a ground wire connection in the post just above. :wink:
There’s no way this light passes for double insulated. It’s barely single insulated; electronics (emitter) are mounted directly on the chassis. Double insulated is usually used on Class II devices and means that all live components have two layers of insulation between them and the chassis.
I didn’t notice any difference between grounded and ungrounded current.
I just know that I prefer to have this $8 flood light grounded for my use, especially outside in the rain. :wink:

The emitter should be isolated from it’s star base. See if there is any continuity between the LED+ and LED- terminals and the star.

Also the driver output is isolated from the line via a transformer (think every wall wart power supply on the planet). That alone means it does not need to be double insulated.

You are correct, the emitter plate is isolated from the chassis and the driver low voltage is isolated from the high voltage via transformer. Based on the Class II ‘single-fault’ theory (either emitter or transformer fail, not both), the product should remain isolated.
For my use, because it’s being used outdoors in wet locations, I’m still requiring the chassis grounded.
Also, providing a grounded plug and not connecting the ground to anything is misleading and provides a false sense of protection to the end user.

it’ll be on a GFCI. . .right?

BTW, for some reason DI “products must NOT have a safety connection to Earth”.