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European bulbs. The “invisible” flicker is very low at around 3% modulation (120 Hz in the US and 100 Hz in Europe).

The US bulbs don’t have the problem, except in rare instances.

Wait, is there a difference in construction of the European and US bulbs?
Or is the only difference the AC power frequency?

Assuming there’s something different about the hardware, if you put a “European” bulb on US electricity or vice versa, what happens?

The main difference is the driver voltage—it’s a similar design but with different components. They will both work at 50 and 60 Hz, but the US bulbs will only work at voltages found in North America (usually centered around 120V), while the European bulbs will only at European voltages (centered around 230 V).

The US bulbs immediately die at higher voltages. The European bulbs malfunction at lower voltages. Note that we do not recommend even trying this. It’s not safe.

Edit: I should add that they meet UL, CE, etc. so it shouldn’t kill you. But please don’t try it.

Sounds like you might want to check that the parts you’ve been buying are within specification.

Not to say that Chinese suppliers don’t do adequate QA and QC and ship poor products, but … chabuduo reins.

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Challenges of Electro-Static Discharge (ESD) in the … www.uic.com/challenges-of-electro-static-discharge-esd-in-the-electronic... July 6, 2015 – The ESD Association estimates that 25% of all electronics damaged for unknown reasons can be attributed to ESD and the cost of ESD damage to the Electronics Industry to be $5 billion (USD) per year.. What is ESD? ESD is a build-up of charges over a specific area without current flow. One of its causes is similar or dissimilar material contacting and separating….

And do they come to you in ESD-protected bags, or just polyethyene?

Also check whether your supplier uses adequate electrostatic discharge control when building components. Zapping a semiconductor doesn’t generally kill it dead, it instead changes the level at which it’s a “semi” conductor — the line between being a conductor and an insulator, the threshold at which it operates, gets altered by electrostatic discharge. It’s been wounded.

One component a little off spec is probably tolerable. Several or a handful of components all out of tolerances adds up to malfunctions like flickering.

Yep, part substitution is something we’re looking into. From what we can tell so far, the components don’t seem to be ESD-damaged, but they may be slightly out of spec. Not sure yet, though.

If they’re consistently out of spec (like say plus or minus ten percent rather than five percent, when +/-five is what you thought you bought), then you may be seeing “quality fade” in action.

If they’re all over the map, that would sound more like “wounded” (ESD-damaged) components.

Thanks, we’re investigating.

adam7027 wrote:

Highly awaited product introduction, now highly appreciated (at least by me – as it fits one distinct deficiency of indoor lighting).

Will definitely grab a few pieces if it will be available in Hungary (both E27 and E14), or nearby, if shipping prices will be reasonable.

I am still awaiting for anybody willing to produce 3400-3600K ‘Soft white’ 95< CRI bulb. That would be a pretty good paper reading light for learning.

Also, a 4500-4800K ‘Neutral white’ 95< CRI could be handy to augment daylight indoors.

Sunlike8 can be mixed to 3500k http://budgetlightforum.com/node/71624

Someone asked about REMEZ 3500k. REMEZ can be 3000k and 5700k ONLY.

I am going to produse SunLike5 with 2200k SOL leds

I believe that what is happening with the Bedtime bulb is that a large draw on the mains decreases the current to the circuit which is similar to what a dimmer does. The driver sees the decrease in current as a dimmer and decreases output. When the mains stabilizes after the in rush to the motor, the output returns to full. Lamps that don’t exhibit this behavior are likely not “dimmable”.

I don’t know if it’s possible for a dimmable lamp to not react in this way unless it could be programmed to not decrease output unless the current is decreased for >1 second. This would cause a delay when utilizing a dimmer which many users would not like.

We are finding your analysis to be mainly correct. We do believe it is possible to implement a dimmable driver that does not have this behavior, but it will likely require a different topology than what we currently use.

There is not enough space for good led driver inside filament led bulb

Not necessarily true, but it requires a different topology.

SunLike wrote:

Someone asked about REMEZ 3500k. REMEZ can be 3000k and 5700k ONLY.

Yep, that someone was me. I discovered this thread by djozz called “SunLike 3500K 95+ CRI midpower led from Seoul Semiconductors tested”, and I said to myself “Hey, Remez builds with the same make and model of LED in 3000k, I should email Adam and see if he can source Remez in 3500k. But nope.

Joshk wrote:

SunLike wrote:

Someone asked about REMEZ 3500k. REMEZ can be 3000k and 5700k ONLY.

Yep, that someone was me. I discovered this thread by djozz called “SunLike 3500K 95+ CRI midpower led from Seoul Semiconductors tested”, and I said to myself “Hey, Remez builds with the same make and model of LED in 3000k, I should email Adam and see if he can source Remez in 3500k. But nope.

REMEZ is too cheap to bee good. SunLike8 is my baby what much better than REMEZ 9

Well the (8) Remez I bought from you are quite impressive now that their tint has been fixed. My rooms take 5 bulbs each, so this is what pricing look like for me:

$35 per room for Remez 7 watt
$105 per room for Sunlike 7 watt
$232 per room for Sunlike 8 watt (with more efficiency)
+ Shipping

So no regrets on my Remez purchase.

Joshk wrote:

Well the (8) Remez I bought from you are quite impressive now that their tint has been fixed. My rooms take 5 bulbs each, so this is what pricing look like for me:

$35 per room for Remez 7 watt
$105 per room for Sunlike 7 watt
$232 per room for Sunlike 8 watt (with more efficiency)
+ Shipping

So no regrets on my Remez purchase.

I will waiting for you after about 12 month for new order of REMEZ (R.)

In your calculation something wrong..

So, 5pcs R.9 cost from me 5×8+6$=46$
5pcs S.8 cost from me 5×21+6$=111$ (real price for shipping for me much more, because of weight)

That’s why I ordered the 3 “spares” to put in my bathroom. I can steal from there if I have some die in the office. Even with bad luck, they are still a better value.
5pcs R.9 would be $46, but you had to cancel that order because of flicker issues on 120v. So R.7 was my only option. And yea, there is a less efficient S.8 option for $111.

Are there any more UK users in here? I would appreciate help from a few more people to establish statistical significance (for the UK only).

The deal is:

• We send you a Bedtime Bulb (either E27 or B22 base) for free
• You observe it for a few minutes to see whether the light is steady or has any fluctuations
• It’s yours to keep afterwards

If you are open to helping me with this and are in the UK, please send me a PM.

Thanks,
Greg

I have now used and observed the Bedtime Bulb in three locations in southern germany and wasn’t able to notice any kind of fluctuation.

@yeutterg, if you still need more testers in the UK, just post your free bulb offer over on the BLF Deal Alert thread. THAT will get you some PM’s.

Thanks!

@ikkentobi Awesome, thanks for that feedback!

I have now used and observed the Bedtime Bulb for good few minutes and wasn’t able to notice any kind of fluctuation:

Video clip: https://i.imgur.com/tTQC1ze.mp4

I really appreciate the warm feeling I got when using this bulb

@rost333 Thank you so much!

I received one this morning, and had it on for a few hours this evening. Absolutely no fluctuations noticible to me.

Should visit http://budgetlightforum.com/node/71913 , as there’s a dearth of flicker-free nightlights, too.

Woody, that’s great to hear!

Lightbringer, thanks I’ll check it out!

So from following this thread, it appears to me the ‘flicker issue’ is most likely fluctuations in voltage coming through the bulb’s AC/DC converter.
Power fluctuations actually happen often even in the USA, but it seems all devices except LED bulbs have enough capacitance to ride them out. There’s just not enough space or value to get fancy with the electronics in an LED bulb.

Though, if I spent $20 on a premium light bulb for bedtime use that scares my brain every time the power fluctuated, I would wish I just bought a 80 cent halogen.

Hey Josh, you’re right that we have some fluctuations in the US too. But our circuit handles it pretty well in the US.

Europe has a slower 50hz AC frequency that may require extra capacitance to ride out the longer starvation period.