So I was going to post this in Marantz but I know these LED replacement lamps are used else where so why not here.
I know on the Marantz gear, the lamps behind the dial is around 8 volts AC. Mine actually measures at 7 volts AC. I know LEDs are intended for DC. I think I know that the LED replacements are being run on AC because they will work on a half wave of AC since it doesnt exceed the LEDs rated voltage plus it has a current limiting resistor. Where it gets interesting to me is that the half of the AC wave would be flipping the LED on and off 60 x a second ( normal AC power freq) and be reversed biased half the time. So what does this theoretical wear and tear do to the diodes lifespan? Then lets add in the non-polarized idea..
This kind of came to mine attention when I noticed in a short vide, the Dial flickering. Then down the rabbit hole I went of finding people building small full wave rectifiers from 4 diodes.. some adding a cap for smoothing etc. The geek in me loves the idea of making the small circuit and feeding the LEDs DC like they want. But is it really needed? I've seen some new LED replacement lamps now come with a SMT rectifier built into the lamp now so apparently someone else has taken notice.
I found this from some years ago.. sounds like running LEDs off AC is not really that big of deal? https://www.ledsmagazine.com/articles/2006/05/running-leds-from-an-ac-supply.html
I know on the Marantz gear, the lamps behind the dial is around 8 volts AC. Mine actually measures at 7 volts AC. I know LEDs are intended for DC. I think I know that the LED replacements are being run on AC because they will work on a half wave of AC since it doesnt exceed the LEDs rated voltage plus it has a current limiting resistor. Where it gets interesting to me is that the half of the AC wave would be flipping the LED on and off 60 x a second ( normal AC power freq) and be reversed biased half the time. So what does this theoretical wear and tear do to the diodes lifespan? Then lets add in the non-polarized idea..
This kind of came to mine attention when I noticed in a short vide, the Dial flickering. Then down the rabbit hole I went of finding people building small full wave rectifiers from 4 diodes.. some adding a cap for smoothing etc. The geek in me loves the idea of making the small circuit and feeding the LEDs DC like they want. But is it really needed? I've seen some new LED replacement lamps now come with a SMT rectifier built into the lamp now so apparently someone else has taken notice.
I found this from some years ago.. sounds like running LEDs off AC is not really that big of deal? https://www.ledsmagazine.com/articles/2006/05/running-leds-from-an-ac-supply.html