I feel like the problem is that most people who have the same problem we do don't have as severe to the point where they have to turn the brightness level to below 0. I've talked to a few and some say "sure LED is too bright that's why I wear protective glasses and I'm fine now" they would stop right there and wouldn't give a damn or two about it beyond that.

How rare/common is it to have the threshold so low to the point of suffering like we are? I came across a site and it claimed 1/4000 people but I don't have the link of it anymore.

    ctsai89 How rare/common is it to have the threshold so low to the point of suffering like we are?

    From my research, roughly 10% of people suffer from this level of photophobia.

    9 days later

    Yesterday I learned that while you can still, from a few sources, buy regular old incandescent bulbs in EU countries, their import is banned since February 2016. So they really sell the rest now and it's declining each day. And you can't import them anymore. Not even from China. I advise anyone who lives in an EU country to stockpile now before it's too late.

    • JTL likes this.

    JTL

    I would've looked forward to nothing from Hillary. Even if this is the only policy Trump is good on, it is better than nothing.

    • JTL likes this.

    Please do write your congressmen, and the president stating your desire to see the EISA restrictions removed. Ask them to reconsider The BULB Act (H.R. 2417) which removes these restrictions. This is a rare chance to get this done given the current administration we have.

    4 months later

    KM After further investigation I found out that FfT bulbs are indeed flicker free. BUT these bulbs are very sensitive to the input electricity. If the input is not perfect these will flicker and will give you a headache like you mentioned.

    You should test that "Flicker free technically" bulb you bought with a UPS(disconnected from the mains to generate perfect input for the bulb, otherwise you will get the same input as the mains) or with a Voltage Regulator.

    Let me know this works.

    • JTL replied to this.
    • JTL and KM like this.

      PuffyCloud I'd imagine using a pure sine wave double conversion UPS would help as well,, vs one that just filters the input electricity and switches to battery during an outage.

        JTL I was investigating a UPS a while back because we had very bad voltage fluctuations at our house and I wanted to protect sensitive electronics. All of the Cyperpower units and all of the cheaper APC units either a) no pure sine wave output or b) not fast enough response time (4-8 ms in Cyperpower units to switch to battery power, but pro APC units had very good 2ms response, which is enough)

        So if you want to regulate voltage through an APC you have to go for some of the more expensive and not entry level APC units.

        • JTL replied to this.

          Apparently the UPS has 0 ms transfer time 😮

          • JTL replied to this.

            degen Because it always runs on battery, just constantly charging when power is plugged in.

            Also works as an great surge protector because of that.

            7 months later

            Has anyone tested these bulbs?

            https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MNU0BSQ

            Customer care claims: "Our Finally light bulbs do not flicker. We have found customers who are sensitive to flicker and blue light really enjoy our light bulbs.".

            • JTL replied to this.
              3 months later

              PuffyCloud It sounds like you measured the "FfT" bulbs you tried. Did you measure any frequencies, and what exactly do you mean by "they go dark"? Like, really no light anymore? This might be very important, please reply.

              I just measured my headache bulb which I still own with my oscilloscope setup. It is the "GreenAndCo TM-A19-6W-E27-W". I did not find frequencies other than 50 Hz and 100 Hz apart from very small fluctuations around 60 kHz. The latter are so small they only truly appear in the spectrum analysis (and only in AC mode). And the visible 100 Hz ripple appears to be very minor, too. At most 5 mV out of 600 mV total amplitude. That is well below 1 % difference. Can such small differences really cause headaches?

              23 days later

              These Chinese Corn LED bulbs do flicker (pencil test), but they do not cause any eye strain for me.

              Their parameters:
              Voltage: 220V
              LED type: SMD 5050 (square).
              Color: warm white.
              Image:

              The bulbs which DO CAUSE eye strain to me immediately:

              Brand: Philips
              Voltage: 220V
              MPN: 9290011717A (9W, warm white)
              MPN: 9290011718A (6W, warm white)

                a month later

                So I took my Fauser LiFli flicker detection device and went to a local IKEA store to measure the currently available bulbs in their lighting section. The vast majority of their lamps and bulbs flicker. However, some of them showed no sign of flicker on the device, which means the flicker must be below 1.5%*. So I bought those bulbs and took them home, measuring them with my oscilloscope setup. I tried to carefully measure even slightest fluctuations. Here are the results:

                • IKEA LUNNOM LED 600lm 5.5W 2200K E27 [703.545.64]: ~30% 100 Hz flicker that goes down to steady 0.41% 100 Hz flicker within ~7 seconds, no measurable high frequencies
                • IKEA LUNNOM LED 100lm 1W 2200K E27 [003.821.84]: borderline measurable 0.03% 50/100 Hz flicker (the 50 Hz part may be photodiode circuit noise), no measurable high frequencies
                • IKEA LEDARE LED 600lm 7W 2700K E27 [903.887.75]: 1.24% 100 Hz flicker, decreasing over time down to 0.29% 100 Hz flicker after some minutes, 0.33% 80-100 (varying) kHz DC ripple
                • IKEA LEDARE LED LED1719R6 400lm 5.3W 2700K E14 [503.658.27]: instant 0.18% 100 Hz flicker, no measurable high frequencies (total brightness decreases a little over time)
                • IKEA LUNNOM LED LED1641C2 200lm 2W 2200K E14 [403.545.32]: instant 0.06% 100 Hz flicker, no measurable high frequencies

                Those bulbs have E14 and E27 sockets. They are compatible with 50/60 Hz 220/240V~. They seem to be available in other EU countries' IKEA stores, too. Maybe for those countries who have a different power network, they share the same flicker characteristics world-wide.

                I must see over time how those bulbs work for me. What's great so far is they don't make me feel sick after some minutes like other LED bulbs did. Plus currently I'm under the impression that truly flicker-free LEDs don't exist as long as they are powered by AC.

                * (I adjusted the device to show flicker percentage as (A-B)/A, where "A-B" is the difference between highest and lowest amplitude, and A is highest amplitude. My oscilloscope results are also calculated with this method.)

                Edit: Almost forgot, I took a photo of a GU10 LED that I didn't buy but was "flicker-free", too:

                Those bulbs that I bought, they still hurt. I can't use them a whole evening without pretty severe eye strain. As it is hard to believe that 0.03% of flicker would cause anyone any trouble, maybe the flicker theory has reached a dead end. My incandescents, which flicker at 20-35% are much more comfortable.

                dev