IKEA bulb/lamp teardown (Patreon)

IKEA Solhetta bulb teardown

This video was supposed to be about one version of the bulb/lamp, but it turned out that the box had two different bulbs in it, so it became a double teardown. One oddity is that the resistor I thought was 510K is actually 5.1 Megohm, which is an unusually high value. IKEA seem to have stuck with buck regulators for their bulbs which is strange in this era of cheap linear regulators. I'm not sure if there's a significant efficiency advantage of using a buck vs linear regulator. But it may keep some of the heat away from the LED panel. I think I prefer the simplicity of modern linear regulators with their single smoothing capacitor and no high frequency noise. As with most IKEA products I'd guess they are designed with a bias to lasting longer than products from other brands. The 6 pin buck regulator with built in rectifier is new to me. It makes sense, and also benefits from a wider pin spacing for better electrical separation. The higher power lamp is the only one that is easy to hack for a lower output and massively longer life. The hack would involve removing one of the very low value sense resistors. I removed the 8.2 ohm resistor and the power dropped from 6W to 2.3W. Removing the 12 ohm resistor instead would give closer to 3.5W. If attempting to open lamps in the way I did in this video, be aware that there are still glass ones in use, so take care to make sure the cover is soft plastic before attempting to squeeze it to release the adhesive. Also be aware that once the cover is removed it exposes live connections on the PCB when powered. If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:- https://www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm This also keeps the channel independent of YouTube's algorithm quirks, allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty. #ElectronicsCreators