night light

[chilli]

i have bought a 2.00 led night light from wally world and it is quite dim. i want to replace the orangey yellow led with a nichia type that i have laying around. so i check the voltage at the led leads and i found 3.54 volts should work, right? wrong the voltage is ac??? is there such a thing as an ac led???? i would like to make this thing a little brighter but am standing around scratching my head. thanx
greg

 

[Doug Owen]

Hard to say, Greg, without knowing more.

Most of these rascals use a capacitor to limit the current since the losses are very small compaired to what you'd have with a resistor.

Yes, there are 'AC LEDs', typically two back to back, but I doubt that's what you've got. More likely has a bridge or conventional diode in there.

So if I'm wrong (and you're careful when you try) you're out two bucks. Check for it getting hotter (especially individual parts) with your new LED, be very careful not to get shocked (110 Volts AC *kills* more people in the US every year than *all* other voltages combined), and you should be fine.

FWIW, maximum light out was probably not a primary design parameter on the state of the art nightlight at hand.....

Doug Owen

 

[chilli]

i replaced the "orange" led with a white nichia and it worked fine i ran it for 9 hours now and no problem. i wasn't looking for "bright" with a night light just better i guess is the better term the plain old incandescent i had is brighter than the original configuration but i think the white will be what i am looking for when it gets dark in the room and me and wife get into bed just a little more light for me to see and get dressed by. thanx