Celebrating/talking about repairing stuff, the right to repair stuff, and the intersection of tech and solarpunk ideals.
What does it mean to use what we have, including technology, to try to build a better, more environmentally just world?
I have a LED lightbulb that starts to flicker. Is there anyway to fix it, or any parts of it that could be useful for other uses(i.e. diodes for use in electrical circuits)?
Correction: After checking the product serial number carefully it is a fluorescent lightbulb as many pointed out. Thanks for the correction and advice.
(PS I am renting a house now so the type of lightbulb is of my landlord's choice. Obviously were I to choose I would rather have a LED lightbulb)
What you have there is a goofy-ass fluorescent bulb. The tube itself is probably junk, looks like the cathode has sputtered away quite a bit, but please dispose of it properly because it contains mercury. That being said, there probably a step up transformer in there, some current regulating circuitry, and maybe a couple other goodies in there.
Is that LED? It kind of looks like a fluorescent bulb from the photo. I'm not sure if there's much you can do with fluorescent lamps other than use them up, or how safe trying to disassemble them is. I think the stuff inside them isn't great.
If it is LED, or you can disassemble it safely, the base might be useful for components, or perhaps so you can run another device off a light fixture if you need to. (Looks like a European connector of some kind? I don't know if the lights and appliances get the same power where you are, so your mileage may vary there too). I have a few old adaptors I bought at street fairs and junk stores with a light bulb screw on one end and a outlet socket on the other. Sometimes useful when you're working on old houses with few outlets.
Sorry if that's not helpful, hopefully someone else will have some ideas.
Not an LED. Note the burned ring around the top left.
If it were just a straight glass tube, there would be potential uses (heat collector), but due to the curvature (cannot be stacked) and presence of mercury, nope. It's toxic waste.