• Admiral Patrick@dubvee.org
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    4 days ago

    This isn’t what Christmas looks like. It’s what a vape shop looks like. Or, worse, a gaming PC.

    😆

    My only gripe with the LED ones is that they always seem to have a high-frequency flicker which gives me a headache. Other people have told me they don’t notice it, but I do. I wanted to replace the clear incandescent ones with LED but couldn’t deal with the flicker.

    • Brokkr@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      It is either a 30 60 or 60 120 Hz flicker, depending on how they built the electronics. It is 30 60 Hz if they didn’t include an inverter and 60 120 Hz if they did.

      Without an inverter, it will be off for 50% of the time. With an inverter, it will always be on, but sometimes dim.

      With better electronics, it will be steady on, but that’s not common in christmas lights.

      • 9point6@lemmy.world
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        4 days ago

        Not strictly always true, if the lights have any kind of dimming capability (like many of the ones with automated patterns) you’ll likely be dealing with PWM which means the time spent lit can vary significantly

      • Robomekk@lemmy.ca
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        4 days ago

        Wouldn’t that be 60 Hz without a rectifier, and 120 Hz with one? If the voltage crosses zero twice per cycle, but goes negative only once.

    • Max-P@lemmy.max-p.me
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      4 days ago

      But capacitors are so expensive, it’s like a whole 10¢ extra to filter it out so it doesn’t flicker!

    • Vaggumon@lemm.ee
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      4 days ago

      I have 1,000% light perception, I notice the flicker on almost every LED I’ve ever seen.

  • Gerudo@lemm.ee
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    4 days ago

    Hopefully this gets some other manufacturers on board. 25 a set adds up quick, but I’m willing to slowly buy some over the next few years cause these look amazing.

  • Canadian_Cabinet @lemmy.ca
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    4 days ago

    Hopefully this doesn’t mean the end of the yearly Christmas light adventures. They were my favorite videos!

  • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️@yiffit.net
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    4 days ago

    Here I am still using the old as fuck Christmas lights from the 80s or something my parents always used when I was a kid. Incandescent. White. The color is from the tinted glass surrounding the actual bulb. If one light dies, so does the entire string after it. You don’t wanna use them on the tree because they get hot as fuck and could light that shit on fire.

    • Psythik@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      I only buy incandescents because I can’t stand cold, flickery LEDs. Christmas for me is about that feeling of warmth and nostalgia for childhood. There is no reason why LEDs should be like this, so I can’t wait to watch the video to see how well they fixed them.

      Edit: God damnit; even the lights featured in the video still flicker. So I will still be sticking with incandescent. Why can they make flicker-free LED and OLED TVs, but nobody can do the same for Christmas lights? For the first time ever, Alec has let me down.

      • sevan@lemmy.ca
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        4 days ago

        Same. I’ve tried LEDs and they really don’t cut it for christmas lights, so I stick with incandescent, at least in the house. LEDs outside might be fine, but I rarely get around to putting up outside decorations.

      • Beacon@fedia.io
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        4 days ago

        Completely agree about how horrible flicker is. There are occasional leds that don’t flicker. I believe (but I’m not sure) that they have to have am ac/dc converter. AC causes the flicker, but Direct Current delivers steady constant power. I have a random string light set that has (what i believe is) an ac/dc converter wall wart, and it doesn’t flicker at all. It’s just a random set I bought from a store.

  • acosmichippo@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    i got giant ceramic multicolored C9 LED lights from amazon and absolutely love them. never liked the tiny lights.

  • Beacon@fedia.io
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    4 days ago

    But then in the middle of the video he completely ignores the problem of LED flicker!!!