this post was submitted on 01 Apr 2024
28 points (74.1% liked)

Showerthoughts

29622 readers
1141 users here now

A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The best ones are thoughts that many people can relate to and they find something funny or interesting in regular stuff.

Rules

  1. All posts must be showerthoughts
  2. The entire showerthought must be in the title
  3. Avoid politics (NEW RULE as of 5 Nov 2024, trying it out)
  4. Posts must be original/unique
  5. Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
quinten
vatlark
forkball
Thekingoflorda
28
Night lights that detect light levels are probably flickering so fast that it just appears to be on (self.showerthoughts)
submitted 7 months ago by rockSlayer to c/showerthoughts
17 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Ok so I got this idea not while showering, but because I'm very high. The story does come from my bathroom though! I have a night light in my bathroom, and I was looking at the night light as I turned off the bathroom light. I'm a big nerd so I remembered that the things that detect light levels are actually diodes wired in reverse. I thought it would be funny to make it flicker by reflecting the light back on the diode, but it didn't work. That's when I had this realization

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] SzethFriendOfNimi 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Thanks for clarifying. You’re right. It’s the duty cycle of the driver of the LED right?

And as for the motor analogy it is optimal efficiency which I thought did apply to led lifetime vs brightness output but I’m always open to be corrected.

Thanks for taking the time to break it all down for me.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Heat does affect diode lifetime. So brightness/duty cycle certainly does affect how long it'll last, because more energy going through means higher temperatures.

But with any light/fixture that has sane heat dissipation, it's not worth worrying about. LEDs will last decades in most scenarios.