Inside MR16 12V LED bulbs (Patreon)

Poundland 12V bulb with mystery component

Another video filmed on the fly while travelling. Is the black background good or bad? These are classic LED MR16 bulbs bought from Poundland as a generic example of their style. They are designed to replace classic tungsten halogen downlight bulbs, but usually lack the intensity and rich full spectrum of the traditional bulbs. They make up for it by running with much lower power and heat. As always with the generic LED bulbs, they will probably be driving the LEDs to the edge of failure to guarantee future sales. My thoughts about the mystery "B" component are that maybe it was a backup option with two diodes in series in case one failed, or as an option for two different diode packages with a link in place of the unused one. The component that is there tests as a zero ohm link. I'll guess that the capacitor across the LEDs is partly for smoothing and reducing transient spikes of current. The other one to the zero volt rail is possibly for protecting against switching transients or reducing RF noise. Bulbs like this can be used with fixed voltage 12V DC LED drivers, traditional 50/60Hz halogen lighting transformers and battery power sources. But they are not recommended for use with electronic halogen transformers, as they put out an "equivalent" 12V supply as a series of higher voltage pulses that work well with traditional halogen bulbs, but will potentially damage LED bulbs. The electronic halogen transformers also require a minimum resistive load to operate in a stable way and may pulse or flicker the output if used with a low load. Some bulbs like this may also accommodate use at 24V. A hunt for the unmarked chip showed similar functionality to the AL8862, but it could also be a UM1350, MP2489 or one of many other similar devices. It's common for manufacturers to copy standard pinouts so they can offer their components as a cheaper substitute. These bulbs would be useful as off-grid work lights. 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