rowdy141
Well-known member
Hi Everyone,
I thought I'd share my experience in trying to upgrade my Kirby Tradition, Heritage, and Legend vacuums to use brighter LED Bulbs.
The 12v ones I bought from the auto-store don't easily fit.
There's a collar of paxolin on the bulb which needs to be trimmed quite a bit. The Kirby Lens bracket also needs shaving a little before the bulb will seat fully.
They work, sort of, but flicker at a rapid rate.
As the motor's coils rotate, you're getting 12v, 0v, 12v, 0v... These LED bulbs need a Smoothing Capacitor to bridge that current gap and to provide smoother, more constant, DC.
Old-style incandescent bulbs take a while to cool down, so you don't notice that current gap. As with household AC Light Bulbs, they're going on & off fifty times a second but appear to be constantly on.
I think later Generation Kirbys have an LED Control Board doing that smoothing job?
Because these bulbs are intended for cars, the flickering isn't an issue there. Cars generate 12v to supply the Battery. Then the Battery provides true DC, constantly.
These are not cheap (£16 for two) but I thought I'd give it a go.
You can save yourself the expense of trying, or investigate fitting, or making, your own Board/Capacitor solution.
Alan
I thought I'd share my experience in trying to upgrade my Kirby Tradition, Heritage, and Legend vacuums to use brighter LED Bulbs.
The 12v ones I bought from the auto-store don't easily fit.
There's a collar of paxolin on the bulb which needs to be trimmed quite a bit. The Kirby Lens bracket also needs shaving a little before the bulb will seat fully.
They work, sort of, but flicker at a rapid rate.
As the motor's coils rotate, you're getting 12v, 0v, 12v, 0v... These LED bulbs need a Smoothing Capacitor to bridge that current gap and to provide smoother, more constant, DC.
Old-style incandescent bulbs take a while to cool down, so you don't notice that current gap. As with household AC Light Bulbs, they're going on & off fifty times a second but appear to be constantly on.
I think later Generation Kirbys have an LED Control Board doing that smoothing job?
Because these bulbs are intended for cars, the flickering isn't an issue there. Cars generate 12v to supply the Battery. Then the Battery provides true DC, constantly.
These are not cheap (£16 for two) but I thought I'd give it a go.
You can save yourself the expense of trying, or investigate fitting, or making, your own Board/Capacitor solution.
Alan
If you've already 'done a topic to death' and you're tired, skip it. Don't feel obliged to go over it all again.
