Chuck(G)
25k Member
Because of a peculiar visual defect, I can detect LED Christmas lights flickering immediately and from a considerable distance. Lately, I've even noticed that the LED tail lamps on some vehicles have a flicker to them.
In both cases, the flicker rate is about 60Hz and to my eye is extremely irritating.
Last January, I picked up a few cheap strings of LED Christmas lights and just got them out today. Sure enough, the manufacturers use the individual LEDs in series as a half-wave configuration, so that the flicker rate is indeed 60Hz.
I've made an adapter where the AC line is run through a bridge rectifier and thus provides a full-wave 120Hz-ripple supply. The LEDs are considerably brighter (of course), and the discernible flicker is gone. I'm using a 10A bridge, so even if a conventional string of incandescent lights is plugged in, it won't overtax the circuit.
But this got me thinking about the wider ramifications of the current scheme. You'd think that the power companies would have an issue with a half-wave setup, loading the line only on alternate half-cycles. Yet I've heard not a peep from any industry spokesperson.
Anyone know why?
In both cases, the flicker rate is about 60Hz and to my eye is extremely irritating.
Last January, I picked up a few cheap strings of LED Christmas lights and just got them out today. Sure enough, the manufacturers use the individual LEDs in series as a half-wave configuration, so that the flicker rate is indeed 60Hz.
I've made an adapter where the AC line is run through a bridge rectifier and thus provides a full-wave 120Hz-ripple supply. The LEDs are considerably brighter (of course), and the discernible flicker is gone. I'm using a 10A bridge, so even if a conventional string of incandescent lights is plugged in, it won't overtax the circuit.
But this got me thinking about the wider ramifications of the current scheme. You'd think that the power companies would have an issue with a half-wave setup, loading the line only on alternate half-cycles. Yet I've heard not a peep from any industry spokesperson.
Anyone know why?