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>> I harvest the LEDs out of dead bulbs to use in hobby projects. This is a great idea and I would love it if you would post a Youtube how-to video. It might e

>> I harvest the LEDs out of dead bulbs to use in hobby projects. This is a great idea and I would love it if you would post a Youtube how-to video. It might encourage a bunch of hobbyists to do something useful with those dead bulbs. I've had a number of LED's fail after only a year or two, in fact more quickly than the average incandescent bulb. Seems like it defeats the whole purpose of "upgrading" and in fact may be more of a downgrade.

JohnFen 4y ago
The LEDs are surface mount (although big surface mount components, so not particularly difficult to work with). I desolder them with hot air (although you can totally do it with a soldering iron), then use them later as any other surface mount LED. I don't have access to YouTube right now, so can't search for you, but there are tons of videos covering how to desolder and solder surface mount components. I'd be willing to bet there are multiple videos covering this for LEDs specifically, too.
- xxs 4y ago
  LEDs tend to be mounted on heat sinks, so de-soldering sort of sucks.
  - JohnFen 4y ago
    Yeah, it's not as easy as if they were mounted on a normal PCB, but it's not really all that bad (using hot air, anyway).
smolder 4y ago
They're remarkably heat sensitive, especially cheap ones. Some bulbs would gladly run for 10 years in a room slightly above freezing temperature, but put them in a semi-enclosed fixture in a normal living space, and they're dead in a few months. Fully enclosed fixtures destroy them in no time, unless you buy really exotic bulbs with truly massive aluminum heatsinks, rated for high temp operating environments. I can't even find domestic suppliers for those, and had to order from China.
xxs 4y ago
Actually it's a terrible idea - those LEDs have been overdriven to hell and back, their luminosity and overall lifetime decreased. LEDs are super cheap. I bought few hundred pre-covid for $3.
- JohnFen 4y ago
  Whether or not using them is a good idea depends on what you're using them for. I tend to use them for projects where none of that really matters. LEDs are indeed extremely cheap, but for me, the benefit is reducing the amount of electronic waste I produce, not cost-savings.

JohnFen 4y ago

The LEDs are surface mount (although big surface mount components, so not particularly difficult to work with). I desolder them with hot air (although you can totally do it with a soldering iron), then use them later as any other surface mount LED. I don't have access to YouTube right now, so can't search for you, but there are tons of videos covering how to desolder and solder surface mount components. I'd be willing to bet there are multiple videos covering this for LEDs specifically, too.

xxs 4y ago
LEDs tend to be mounted on heat sinks, so de-soldering sort of sucks.
- JohnFen 4y ago
  Yeah, it's not as easy as if they were mounted on a normal PCB, but it's not really all that bad (using hot air, anyway).

smolder 4y ago

They're remarkably heat sensitive, especially cheap ones. Some bulbs would gladly run for 10 years in a room slightly above freezing temperature, but put them in a semi-enclosed fixture in a normal living space, and they're dead in a few months. Fully enclosed fixtures destroy them in no time, unless you buy really exotic bulbs with truly massive aluminum heatsinks, rated for high temp operating environments. I can't even find domestic suppliers for those, and had to order from China.

xxs 4y ago

Actually it's a terrible idea - those LEDs have been overdriven to hell and back, their luminosity and overall lifetime decreased. LEDs are super cheap. I bought few hundred pre-covid for $3.

JohnFen 4y ago
Whether or not using them is a good idea depends on what you're using them for. I tend to use them for projects where none of that really matters. LEDs are indeed extremely cheap, but for me, the benefit is reducing the amount of electronic waste I produce, not cost-savings.