Free LED Xmas lights in Toronto.

[BigClive]

I see Toronto Hydro is having a Christmas light amnesty where you can hand in some old power hungry lights in exchange for super efficient LED ones.

http://www.torontohydro.com/electricsystem/powerwise/conservation_programs/light_exchange/index.cfm

I wonder if they've been feeling the load of excessive Christmas displays and are trying to curb the festive load on their transformers and lines.

Having some sparky friends in the USA who managed to blow the fuse in their transformer with their lights I guess that's probably realistic. :)

I switched to LED tubelight on some of Glasgow's Christmas lights this year and the power reduction is incredible while the lights look brighter and sharper than the old tungsten ones did.

You can see some of them in this webcam image if you get the time right.
http://www.glasgowcitycouncil.co.uk/webcam/fullsize.jpg

[BigClive]

Some of the earlier versions weren't that reliable, but the newer ones are.

I guess you've got the sharp blue-white type. Here in the UK we have that type plus warm-white which is really nice. It almost looks like tiny tungsten filaments.

The full colour variety red, green, yellow and blue are dazzlingly intense.

One thing that bugs me about the LED lights is that they often just use a rectifier without smoothing, which means the lights flicker visibly.

[BigClive]

I'm just a 32 oz Ballpeen hammer Lineman man. :D All I know is my Lady didn't like the "color"....I did. Guess who won....

I guess you'll find out when she serves you lunch on Christmas day. ;)

You can tell the lady she has taste by the way. :D

[loodvig]

My son works for this company. Look at what they can do! It's all done with LED's only each one can change into 100's of colors.
http://www.colorkinetics.com/showcase/

[BigClive]

My son works for this company. Look at what they can do! It's all done with LED's only each one can change into 100's of colors.
http://www.colorkinetics.com/showcase/

Boo-hiss! Color Kinetics (now owned by Philips) were notorious for patenting the obvious concept of controlling the colour of a red, green & blue LED array using a technique called Pulse Width Modulation. Despite the fact that their technology was not considered patentable despite the retarded American patent system believing it was, they ploughed into all the other companies using this common technology and systematically sued them all.

That put the American market years behind the rest of the world in this extremely important lighting market and cost your lighting industry an incalculable amount of income, and probably it's place in the global industry. (Now dominated by China instead.)

I designed my own PWM RGB controller before Color Kinetics even existed, but didn't dream of "patenting" something so utterly obvious.

Yup. Mention Color Kinetics in front of any serious lighting expert and they will immediately frown.

[loodvig]

Boo-hiss! Color Kinetics (now owned by Philips) were notorious for patenting the obvious concept of controlling the colour of a red, green & blue LED array using a technique called Pulse Width Modulation. Despite the fact that their technology was not considered patentable despite the retarded American patent system believing it was, they ploughed into all the other companies using this common technology and systematically sued them all.

That put the American market years behind the rest of the world in this extremely important lighting market and cost your lighting industry an incalculable amount of income, and probably it's place in the global industry. (Now dominated by China instead.)

I designed my own PWM RGB controller before Color Kinetics even existed, but didn't dream of "patenting" something so utterly obvious.

Yup. Mention Color Kinetics in front of any serious lighting expert and they will immediately frown.
WOW, I bet Phillips is kicking their ass for not checking with you before spending all that money for Kinetics! You know Clive, I read all your posts because you always have something good to add. Defibs, etc. BUT I do sometimes wonder how one man can be an expert in all these fields!
My son works for them and makes a good living. Why you felt you had to bad mouth them is beyond me. Did one of these companys piss in your oatmeal?
I only posted the link to show what's being done with LED's!

[BigClive]

WOW, I bet Phillips is kicking their ass for not checking with you before spending all that money for Kinetics! You know Clive, I read all your posts because you always have something good to add. Defibs, etc. BUT I do sometimes wonder how one man can be an expert in all these fields!
My son works for them and makes a good living. Why you felt you had to bad mouth them is beyond me. Did one of these companys piss in your oatmeal?
I only posted the link to show what's being done with LED's!

No offence to you Loodvig, but my original design artwork did form part of Supervisions case against Color Kinetics in a legal action which was ended when CK bought up Supervision. Trust me. If I'd known what was going to happen I'd have at the very least publicised my design at the time to make sure I could prove prior art conclusively. My design was so early that the moder Gallium Nitride blue LEDs hadn't even been invented yet. My own design used the earlier Silicon Carbide based emitters that had very low output. It was the low output of the blue that made me shelve the project.

You might want to do a bit of research on the Internet to find the extreme controversy surrounding CK's blanket patenting of what was simply common technology. their patents didn't stand up outwith the USA. Ask your son about the patent controversy. It would be interesting to see if he toes the company line.


As for my being an "expert" in all these fields. I'm not. I work in the electrical industry and have strong protective feelings for those others who work in it too. Defibrillators are just common sense. Since we started beating the drum on this topic there have been utterly preventable deaths recorded on this forum where a defibrillator unit would probably have saved the life of young fathers.

[Alan Mac]

Clive sent me one of his RGB LED controller kits yesterday, and it's great. Nice smooth colour changes and some startling effects. I'm gonna have to build some large LED heads to run off it now, and light the place up a bit. Should be good for the summertime too, when we get the grill going.
Anyway, anyone inclined in that direction, get in touch with BC.

Thanks Clive.

Mac

[BigClive]

No probs. It appears there are a few of us on this forum who aren't afraid to wield a soldering iron. I'm trying to remember if it's Zapman or Boyakasha in Oz that is also heavily into electronics.