Simplest way to get an LED to run from AC is a diode - half-wave rectified, so the flashing on and off is even more pronounced. Try strobing the lights, even just by waving your hand, fingers apart, in front of them. An oscilloscope and a photodiode would show a nice half wave rectified light output.
Cheap incandescent xmas lights sometimes use the same method, but the filaments can't turn on and off that fast so they don't flicker.
DC powered LEDs, as in flashlights or car applications - no flicker. Though in some applicatons, like older calculators and LED watches where power was more of an issue than absolute intensity, they designed the units to be on for a shorter time than they were off, but switching fast enough that human eyes wouldn't notice.
Some people are more sensitive to 60 Hz flicker than others - response time of their cone cells, I suppose.
Geek Speak » in reply to I'm assuming the little box converts to the DC current an LED needs.
I think you've got it
The whole thread (23 posts)
- Question on LEDs
- Is it AC or DC?
- Flicker