- Jan 4, 2001
- 41,596
- 19
- 81
Has anyone here seen any of these candles in action? I've seen Youtube video of a cheap Chinese knock-off, and it looks more like a blinking LED sign than a flickering candle. What about these Philips things? Do they in fact look like real candles?
Link
Or these perhaps? They were linked to in a negative review of the Philips candles at Amazon.com.
I'd just really want something with a random flickering effect. If it has any kind of pattern, it'll distract me. I had a tough time with white noise generators, because I could hear slight variances in their frequencies, and easily hear when the recording would start a new cycle. If I need white noise now, I use Goldwave on my computer. It's got a good noise generator that is quite random enough.
Update: I couldn't wait.
I went ahead and ordered two of these, one white, and one yellow. Shipping is by UPS Ground from Tennessee to Pennsylvania, so I stand a 30% chance of having them by the end of the month.
Update #2: I got the Boogey lights. They looked like candles put under a hard breeze. They flickered quite a lot, meaning that there was considerable variation between the highest and lowest light output. And it does appear to be pseudo-random, and does provide an adequate flicker effect. Note, I did some resoldering. They have two T1 LEDs, one always-on, and one flickering. I moved the flickering one from the tip of the plastic "flame" to the base, making for a more gentle flickering effect.
I wasn't quite satisfied with their effect though, so I tried the Philips Aurelles too. They look like a great design, which is unfortunate, because the flickering effect sucks. Each candle has two integrated NiMH batteries, 2/3AA's, at 300mAH each. They also attach magnetically to the charger, and can be daisy-chained up to 4 long for simultaneous charging. They are magnetically keyed too so that they will always connect with the proper polarity. They're also weather-resistant.
But the flickering looks just, bad. They use a similar setup to the Boogey Lights things, but with T1 3/4 LEDs instead. But the flickering is more of a random blinking without smooth graduations in light levels. For example, if a normal candle has 1000 discrete levels of brightness, the Aurelle represents them all with maybe only 4 brightness graduations. They also are less random than the Boogey Lights. Side-by-side, the Aurelle's appear to follow a similar pattern, but just at different speeds. The Boogey Lights exhibit no such pattern, and they appear to have smoother transitions in brightness levels.
Maybe I'm more sensitive to this than most, but the Boogey Lights would at least have a chance of making me ponder, "Is that a candle or not?" The Aurelles wouldn't even take a second guess.
Also possibly of interest: The circuit board for the Boogey Lights was a LOT smaller than the Aurelles'. The BL's have a circuit board with one of those on-PCB IC's with the small lump of plastic over it. In addition to that, there was one resistor that fed power to the constant-on LED, and then the LEDs. That was it.
The Aurelles have a larger board with multiple SMD components. The largest IC I see is labeled:
ATMEL 0532
TINY13V
10SU
Pros and Cons:
Boogey Lights
+ Uses standard AAA batteries, NiMH or alkaline
+ Good random or pseudorandom flashing. Random enough for my taste
+ Smooth graduations in brightness transitions, just like a real candle
+ Long run time. At least 8 hours, I haven't tested the batteries to death yet though. (Using 750mAH Powerizer AAA's from ThomasDistributing.com)
+ Sturdy glass cover
- Uses standard AAA batteries - this necessitates unscrewing the unit's base and forcibly prying the batteries out.
- I had to do a little soldering to get the flickering to the gentler level I wanted.
Philips Aurelle
+ Good charging arrangement - plug in, and the candle is snapped magnetically to the charging plug
+ Integrated rechargable batteries
+ Package says that they'll run 10hrs on a charge. I haven't had them on long enough to test this. I don't want them on that long.
+ Brighter due to use of T1 3/4 LEDs
- Integrated rechargable batteries, only 300mAH too. If they happen to die*, it could be tough to track down a replacement.
- The flickering looks like the light cast by a bad flame animation from Duke Nukem 3D. No smooth transitions in brightness levels
- Glass holder feels cheap. It's very thin, and very light, probably half the weight of the that that came with the Boogey Lights. I could probably crush it in one hand, and it might break from just falling over.
* If they happen to die - one of the Aurelle candles wouldn't charge out of the box. I had to "jump start" one of the cells. It was reading something like 0.15v, while the other one was over 1V. I gave it a boost from my Triton charger. I gave it a charge at .3amps. It started out at a charge voltage below 0.5v, but suddenly the Triton jumped it up to 1.4v and charged it normally. After that, the cell accepted a charge from the Aurelle charger. I've had 2 other cells do that to me, Powerizer brand AA's. Something would get screwed up in them during storage or usage, and they'd drop to less than a 10th of a volt. I had to cycle them a few times with my Triton charger. The first few cycles were rough, at charge rates of up to 2.3 amps (these cells are rated 2300mAH), and after they did that enough, they'd stop dropping to the really low voltages. Then I charged and cycled them gently, at .3 amps or less. They have recovered to somewhere around 85% of their rated capacity.
So, that all said, I'm going to be posting these Philips Aurelles for sale in the FS/T forum. I'm figuring on asking for $25 shipped for the pair, to the US or Canada. Feel free to jump in before that, as the post might not be made until Saturday. The pair includes:
- Two of the LED candle units
- Two cylindrical glass covers
- Two chargers
- original packaging
UPC is 0 4667 14589 7
Link
Or these perhaps? They were linked to in a negative review of the Philips candles at Amazon.com.
I'd just really want something with a random flickering effect. If it has any kind of pattern, it'll distract me. I had a tough time with white noise generators, because I could hear slight variances in their frequencies, and easily hear when the recording would start a new cycle. If I need white noise now, I use Goldwave on my computer. It's got a good noise generator that is quite random enough.
Update: I couldn't wait.
I went ahead and ordered two of these, one white, and one yellow. Shipping is by UPS Ground from Tennessee to Pennsylvania, so I stand a 30% chance of having them by the end of the month. Update #2: I got the Boogey lights. They looked like candles put under a hard breeze. They flickered quite a lot, meaning that there was considerable variation between the highest and lowest light output. And it does appear to be pseudo-random, and does provide an adequate flicker effect. Note, I did some resoldering. They have two T1 LEDs, one always-on, and one flickering. I moved the flickering one from the tip of the plastic "flame" to the base, making for a more gentle flickering effect.
I wasn't quite satisfied with their effect though, so I tried the Philips Aurelles too. They look like a great design, which is unfortunate, because the flickering effect sucks. Each candle has two integrated NiMH batteries, 2/3AA's, at 300mAH each. They also attach magnetically to the charger, and can be daisy-chained up to 4 long for simultaneous charging. They are magnetically keyed too so that they will always connect with the proper polarity. They're also weather-resistant.
But the flickering looks just, bad. They use a similar setup to the Boogey Lights things, but with T1 3/4 LEDs instead. But the flickering is more of a random blinking without smooth graduations in light levels. For example, if a normal candle has 1000 discrete levels of brightness, the Aurelle represents them all with maybe only 4 brightness graduations. They also are less random than the Boogey Lights. Side-by-side, the Aurelle's appear to follow a similar pattern, but just at different speeds. The Boogey Lights exhibit no such pattern, and they appear to have smoother transitions in brightness levels.
Maybe I'm more sensitive to this than most, but the Boogey Lights would at least have a chance of making me ponder, "Is that a candle or not?" The Aurelles wouldn't even take a second guess.
Also possibly of interest: The circuit board for the Boogey Lights was a LOT smaller than the Aurelles'. The BL's have a circuit board with one of those on-PCB IC's with the small lump of plastic over it. In addition to that, there was one resistor that fed power to the constant-on LED, and then the LEDs. That was it.
The Aurelles have a larger board with multiple SMD components. The largest IC I see is labeled:
ATMEL 0532
TINY13V
10SU
Pros and Cons:
Boogey Lights
+ Uses standard AAA batteries, NiMH or alkaline
+ Good random or pseudorandom flashing. Random enough for my taste
+ Smooth graduations in brightness transitions, just like a real candle
+ Long run time. At least 8 hours, I haven't tested the batteries to death yet though. (Using 750mAH Powerizer AAA's from ThomasDistributing.com)
+ Sturdy glass cover
- Uses standard AAA batteries - this necessitates unscrewing the unit's base and forcibly prying the batteries out.
- I had to do a little soldering to get the flickering to the gentler level I wanted.
Philips Aurelle
+ Good charging arrangement - plug in, and the candle is snapped magnetically to the charging plug
+ Integrated rechargable batteries
+ Package says that they'll run 10hrs on a charge. I haven't had them on long enough to test this. I don't want them on that long.
+ Brighter due to use of T1 3/4 LEDs
- Integrated rechargable batteries, only 300mAH too. If they happen to die*, it could be tough to track down a replacement.
- The flickering looks like the light cast by a bad flame animation from Duke Nukem 3D. No smooth transitions in brightness levels
- Glass holder feels cheap. It's very thin, and very light, probably half the weight of the that that came with the Boogey Lights. I could probably crush it in one hand, and it might break from just falling over.
* If they happen to die - one of the Aurelle candles wouldn't charge out of the box. I had to "jump start" one of the cells. It was reading something like 0.15v, while the other one was over 1V. I gave it a boost from my Triton charger. I gave it a charge at .3amps. It started out at a charge voltage below 0.5v, but suddenly the Triton jumped it up to 1.4v and charged it normally. After that, the cell accepted a charge from the Aurelle charger. I've had 2 other cells do that to me, Powerizer brand AA's. Something would get screwed up in them during storage or usage, and they'd drop to less than a 10th of a volt. I had to cycle them a few times with my Triton charger. The first few cycles were rough, at charge rates of up to 2.3 amps (these cells are rated 2300mAH), and after they did that enough, they'd stop dropping to the really low voltages. Then I charged and cycled them gently, at .3 amps or less. They have recovered to somewhere around 85% of their rated capacity.
So, that all said, I'm going to be posting these Philips Aurelles for sale in the FS/T forum. I'm figuring on asking for $25 shipped for the pair, to the US or Canada. Feel free to jump in before that, as the post might not be made until Saturday. The pair includes:
- Two of the LED candle units
- Two cylindrical glass covers
- Two chargers
- original packaging
UPC is 0 4667 14589 7
Facebook
Twitter