Odd lighting question

[GaryE]

You need velvet Elvis fish. They may be extinct.

 

[jaylach]

You need velvet Elvis fish. They may be extinct.

Sigh, sadly the Velvet Elvis fish is extinct but the Rainbow Elvis and Blue Elvis are still around.

 

[MuddyWaters]

You're turning your place into a hippy pad Next thing ya know you'll be putting up black light sensitive glowing wall art.

or a lava lamp and beads in the entryway to the room

 

[jaylach]

or a lava lamp and beads in the entryway to the room

Sigh, up to 5-6 years ago I had two lava lamps. They just wore out and I never replaced. Say what ya want but they are pretty cool.

 

[Colin_T]

Sigh, up to 5-6 years ago I had two lava lamps. They just wore out and I never replaced. Say what ya want but they are pretty cool.

we had lava lamps back in the 60s & 70s. They lasted for years and were really cool to watch when doing things that weren't really legal.

 

[jaylach]

we had lava lamps back in the 60s & 70s. They lasted for years and were really cool to watch when doing things that weren't really legal.

My lava lamps just wore out. I don't really know why but my guess is that the oil lost its viscosity.

Found my light bulb. Had to get it on-line as even a local hardware store didn't have what I wanted. The lowest wattage was 40 watt and I wanted around 25 watts. Found a 3 watt LED bulb that is equivalent to a 25 watt incandescent. Thing cost $7.49 USD but that isn't really high for a LED bulb. It should be here Wednesday.

 

[Colin_T]

I wanna know why LED globes have a life expectancy. LEDs (light emitting diodes) shouldn't wear out because they are not moving parts. They are simply a piece of thick wire in a plastic cover, at least that's what they used to be.

Damn companies ripping everyone off and creating more e-waste than is necessary.

 

[jaylach]

I wanna know why LED globes have a life expectancy. LEDs (light emitting diodes) shouldn't wear out because they are not moving parts. They are simply a piece of thick wire in a plastic cover, at least that's what they used to be.

Damn companies ripping everyone off and creating more e-waste than is necessary.

HUH? They wear out for the same reason as does a solid state computer drive or incandescent bulb. It is due to friction/heat. As the electrons pass through there is resistance (friction) that causes heat which breaks down the components.

 

[Colin_T]

HUH? They wear out for the same reason as does a solid state computer drive or incandescent bulb. It is due to friction/heat. As the electrons pass through there is resistance (friction) that causes heat which breaks down the components.

I had LED lights on my bike for over 20 years and they never wore out. It's the companies making electronic devices so they fail after a short period of time. They do it to all sorts of devices including computers, monitors, televisions, etc.

 

[jaylach]

I had LED lights on my bike for over 20 years and they never wore out. It's the companies making electronic devices so they fail after a short period of time. They do it to all sorts of devices including computers, monitors, televisions, etc.

And I've had an LED headlight for my bike that I replaced as I like it as a flashlight. It is around 10 years old. Take the bulb I got... It has a stated life span of 15,000 hours. Since such products are not in use all the time this estimates many years of use.

Now don't get me wrong as I am fully aware of 'planned obsolescence' and it sucks. Still, especially with electronics, component failure is as much caused by the consumer as the manufacturer. As to myself I take care of my electronics but most don't. For instance I have an Asus laptop that I recently retired after over 11 years of use. I retired it, didn't get rid of as it still runs fine as can be running Windows 10. I've got it packed away as a backup if ever needed. The thing is that I do maintenance on such stuff. How many people are going to break down a laptop to clean the cooling fan and components to maintain proper air flow? Not many as most would not even know how to go about doing so.

Again I totally understand and hate planned obsolescence but lack of maintenance and cleaning is just as big of a factor with electronics. Heat is the enemy of electronics. Electronics are like dust magnets and crud builds up. This build up of crud acts like insulation holding in the heat and a dirty fan does not move as much air. My Asus laptop is not a fluke as it was/is properly maintained. For most people it would have died years ago.

 

[Colin_T]

My acer laptop died under warranty and they won't touch it. Needs a new hard drive and battery. It's a design flaw with the acer aspire 7, if it doesn't have a good functional battery, you can't turn the laptop on or use it, even if it's plugged into a power socket. What a stupid idea from acer.

It's as bad as them programming the laptop to turn off after an hour of being idle. But it doesn't just turn off. It goes into a special acer inspired sleep mode and you have to call acer and get them to tell you how to turn it back on. I'm not a big fan of acer after this $2000 paper weight.

edited to fix the name of the laptop

 

[jaylach]

My asus laptop died under warranty and they won't touch it. Needs a new hard drive and battery. It's a design flaw with the asus aspire 7, if it doesn't have a good functional battery, you can't turn the laptop on or use it, even if it's plugged into a power socket. What a stupid idea from asus.

It's as bad as them programming the laptop to turn off after an hour of being idle. But it doesn't just turn off. It goes into a special asus inspired sleep mode and you have to call asus and get them to tell you how to turn it back on. I'm not a big fan of asus after this $2000 paper weight.

I have not had such an experience with Asus. In fact I got my old Asus laptop reconditioned and the battery was faulty. They sent me a new battery without my even having to return the bad one.

As to it turning off after an hour just go to power settings and disable sleep mode. I really don't know why but sleep mode has been problematic on many laptops for many years. I also disable hibernate.

 

[Colin_T]

Sorry my bad. acer not asus.
i need more sleep

 

[connorlindeman]

I also disable hibernate.

HIbernate killed out pc a couple years ago.

 

[Magnum Man]

since this thread has already majorly sidetracked... I've been using plant LED light strips on my tanks... they are water proof, & have built in timers... I usually use 3 sets ( one light uses 2 - 18" LED strips ) I usually stagger the timers to get light when I want, as 12b hours in the max option on the timer ( I use an LED black light to come on an hour before the white light, then go off, & come on again just before the white lights go out, & remain on, an hour after the white lights go out...

the only complaint with this system, is they all use USB plugs, rather that the standard 110 volt plug... so 4 USB's per tank... I've been buying these boxes with 4 USB plugs, that plug into 1 -110 volt plug... the trouble is, these adaptors start feeding stray voltage or ??? & my lights quit working on them ( had 3 of them fail in the last 6 months ) fortunately the lights are fine, after a group box fritzes out... the lights all come with a single USB adaptor, but that of course would take up 4 110 volt plugs per tank, if I use the ones that came with the lights... so I've been trying different brands of these multi USB plug boxes... but end up with that extra expense, and inconvenience on my timers all goofed up each time it happens, or I switch adaptors... they seem to work fine for 4-6 months, then start goofing up my lights... the lights aren't sucking the kind of power that a cell phone would, while charging, so I find the short life unacceptable