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From: wollman@hergotha.csail.mit.edu (Garrett Wollman)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: The insane progress nobody is talking about
Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2024 20:04:01 -0000 (UTC)
Organization: MIT Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Lab
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In article <hWMcO.78517$qgY9.26150@fx17.iad>, Random  <random@who.cares> wrote:

>The short answer, is the cheap power conversion electronics in the base of
>most LED bulbs. An LED is a direct current devise, so there is a set of
>electronics in the base of the bulb to convert the AC to DC.
>
>A conventional bulb's filament is not sensitive to AC voltage fluctionations,
>where the conversion electronics is. My guess is that your wiring to that
>light is causing voltage dips and is stressing the electronics in the LED bulb
>base.

The other direction is also possible: in North America, the nominal AC
power is 120 volts RMS -- it used to be 117, 115, and 110 in various
places, and the specification still allows for it to dip that low.
(In Japan, it's even lower, 100 volts.)  But the specification *also*
allows the actual voltage to be significantly above 120, technically
as high as 132 V, and in some places it is common for utility power to
be "running hot" by design.  Power at my home is typically 128 volts
during the low-load parts of the year.  The power converter in an LED
bulb may not be designed to operate at the high end of its range all
of the time, and may dissipate more heat than it was designed to.

-GAWollman

-- 
Garrett A. Wollman    | "Act to avoid constraining the future; if you can,
wollman@bimajority.org| act to remove constraint from the future.  This is
Opinions not shared by| a thing you can do, are able to do, to do together."
my employers.         | - Graydon Saunders, _A Succession of Bad Days_ (2015)