Home
Creators
Search Recent Random
Posts
Search DMs Popular Hash Lookup Tags Random
Importer
Import FAQ
Register Favorites Keys Review DMs Logout
Community
Telegram ThePornDude
Home Creators Posts Import Register Favorites Logout

Exploring the AliExpress LED PSUs (Patreon)

Published:
2025-10-13 19:52:14
Imported:
2026-06
haven't archived this post yet. have a subscription? use the importer!

Content

So frustrating - the circuitry on these is nicely laid out and very standard, but they've skimped on the silliest things and made the product unsafe in doing so.

https://youtu.be/MOAIm2crPYk

Files

Previews only

AliExpress LED power supplies - almost OK

It's kinda frustrating when you come across a design of a power supply that is really quite good, but then the manufacturer skimps on a few components that then makes the unit dangerous to use. In this case it wasn't just the substitution of an important safety capacitor with an ordinary one, but also the corner cutting on the transformer that results in the mains voltage 120/240V primary being in physical contact with the low voltage secondary winding. If they'd used wire with thicker insulation or even just a bit of sleeving, then that risk could have been reduced massively. That might not result in an immediate risk, but all it takes is something like an electrostatic discharge or time and heat related degradation to result in the output of the power supply becoming referenced to the mains input side. The scary bit being that the output will still put out 12V and everything will seem to work, but it will be referenced to the mains and capable of giving a bad shock. If I found myself in a situation where I had no other power supplies, and it was a simple load like fixed LED lighting, then I would probably earth/ground the negative of the 12V output to ensure that any insulation breakdown could result in a proper fault current path to trigger protection and reduce the voltage that the output could rise up to. I didn't do a load test on these supplies. But the power ratings of products like these are best treated as being "ambitious". In summary Pros:- Nice case Rugged terminals Nice sensible circuit layout Proper snubber network Cons:- Earth terminal is floating Class Y capacitor substituted with ordinary one No input noise filtering Transformer lacking proper separation Windings are copper coated aluminium If you enjoy my videos enough to buy me a coffee or cookie, you can do so by supporting me on Patreon. I release videos without adverts for critique and feedback on Patreon as soon as they have been made. I also release Patreon-only backstage videos when I'm working on shows. https://www.patreon.com/bigclive Alternatively, for a single contribution you can use PayPal:- https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/bigclive #ElectronicsCreators

Comments

Charles

Another interesting one; the newer (?) chip is neat. With these questionable transformers, I'd be interested to see if your high-voltage insulation tester would give a pass or fail when one lead is connected to each of the primary and the secondary windings.

Suschman

Please do more macro finger shots with stickytape asmr, thats great with the calm explainations 😄

Keith W

I remember having considerable interface on my radio. I DFed the source to two streets away, about 300 yards as the crow firs. With a little persuasion the house owner let me show him the noise and that it was from his house and the interference had only started that week. He said he had just installed some led kitchen lighting that he got from the far east Looking at the power supply, it was 240v input and the output was rated at 12 amps. It was so hot that you could not keep hold of it for more than a few seconds and upon measuring, only 5 amps were being taken from the psu. I fitted him FOC a new psu rated at 12 amps and it ran stone cold. After pointing out the fire risk, he said he was going to add more led lights to the psu and the risk of fire was obvious!! Upon opening the hot power supply, it was 80% empty box with a tiny switch mode psu that had no mains filtering and no protection against higher voltages on the output, no class X or Y capacitors. I would not have used that psu at all for anything, but testing it at up to 2 amps and its tiny heat sink got overly hot!! You get what you pay for and buyer beware of getting PSUs from establishes outside the uk. What Clive says about only using PSUs at half the rated output is the maximum you should ever load PSUs up to unless you are getting the psu from a well known electronics company, and even then, be careful! Kw.