I buy Name-Brand light bulbs from Home Depot, I do not buy junk from AliExpress.

Good for you. The type of product I’m looking for is not sold at any name brand retailer or even Amazon.

 

I’m sure you’re right about the algorithmic perception of brightness. But still, the 24V “9W” LED should have been drawing a current of about 375 mA. At best I could only measure a current of 204 mA. That equates to 4.8W regardless of perceived brightness. (Although I’m perceiving it to be about half as bright as I was expecting). As for blinking, well, I’m attaching the LED to a 24VDC LED driver which, I’m assuming, is filtering out the frequency fluctuations of the 60Hz source voltage. In any case there’s no perceptible blinking.

Could you provide a link to the one you bought?

 

Could you provide a link to the one you bought?

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006165237089.html
I ordered the 24VDC 9W version

 

LED Pot lights sold locally at Home Depot say the brightness.
Here is a lower cost one that produces less light than a more expensive one at the same power:

 

What does not seem to have been suggested yet is trying the new light on a separate 24 volt power supply.
And if it is being fed thru an SSR then there might be an excssive voltage drop, OR you may just have a piece of junk! My wife has purchased what turns out to be junk on line a few times, so I have no trust in shopping from unknown sources at all.

 

LED Pot lights sold locally at Home Depot say the brightness.
Here is a lower cost one that produces less light than a more expensive one at the same power:

Could you post a link to that one? Thanks

 

You must pay for quality.
The light at AliExpress is free. Its price is for the free shipping.

 

Could you post a link to that one? Thanks

https://www.homedepot.ca/en/home/ca...s/ceiling-lights/recessed-lighting/f/iwe-11kx

 

https://www.homedepot.ca/en/home/ca...s/ceiling-lights/recessed-lighting/f/iwe-11kx

Voltage 120V

I didn’t look at all of them, is there a 24VDC one ?

 

My local Home Depot sells almost 700 LED pot lights. I looked at 2 of them.

 

https://www.homedepot.ca/en/home/ca...s/ceiling-lights/recessed-lighting/f/iwe-11kx

Yeah, all HD lights are for 110VAC. I need one for 24VDC.

 

What does not seem to have been suggested yet is trying the new light on a separate 24 volt power supply.
And if it is being fed thru an SSR then there might be an excssive voltage drop, OR you may just have a piece of junk! My wife has purchased what turns out to be junk on line a few times, so I have no trust in shopping from unknown sources at all.

I did try bypassing the SSR, connecting directly to the 24VDC source. The voltage at the LED and the current through it did increase somewhat, to the equivalent of 4.8W. Still not up to 9W as advertised. I’m certainly aware that stuff from unknown Chinese factories can be questionable. But I couldn’t find the specs I was looking for from known suppliers.

 

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006165237089.html
I ordered the 24VDC 9W version

If they had multiple versions, they might have sent you the wrong one. I had that problem when a seller had 2 SOIC8 to DIP adapters (wide and narrow). They sent me the wrong one. Another seller was selling test leads with two different banana plug terminations (angled vs 90 degree). They sent me the wrong one. When I complained, they said they'd send me the right one. They sent the wrong one again and I gave up.

Another thing is that their specs aren't always correct...

 

The photo of the potlight sold at Aliexpress has a label that shows no manufacture's name and no part number. It says
"LED 9W Warm White
DC 24V 50HZ" that does not make sense.
AliExpress says the manufacturer is NIN FULL who do not exist as a company in Google.
Maybe it is another manufacturer's reject from their trash bin?

 

The photo of the potlight sold at Aliexpress has a label that shows no manufacture's name and no part number. It says
"LED 9W Warm White
DC 24V 50HZ" that does not make sense.
AliExpress says the manufacturer is NIN FULL who do not exist as a company in Google.
Maybe it is another manufacturer's reject from their trash bin?

Of course “DC 24V 50 Hz” doesn’t make sense. You’re expecting to find manufacturer names and part numbers on AliExpress? It’s not unusual on for multiple sellers to carry identical items from the same unidentified manufacturer. On my order confirmation the seller is identified as NF Lighting Store. You won’t find them on Google either. If you’re trying to tell me that AliExpress is a dodgy place to buy stuff, I won’t argue with you. But if you can find a 24VDC 9W LED downlight somewhere else please let me know.

 

If they had multiple versions, they might have sent you the wrong one. I had that problem when a seller had 2 SOIC8 to DIP adapters (wide and narrow). They sent me the wrong one. Another seller was selling test leads with two different banana plug terminations (angled vs 90 degree). They sent me the wrong one. When I complained, they said they'd send me the right one. They sent the wrong one again and I gave up.

Another thing is that their specs aren't always correct...

Yep, I’ve had incorrect items shipped from them before and the seller reshaped the right one. In this case I suspect it was mislabelled. Or, yes, possibly the specs are wrong.

 

Have you measured supply voltage to see if it's actually 24V? What is the nature of the "driver"? Is it constant voltage or constant current?

When you observed a dim LED condition, was it in parallel with the original LEDs? Can you power the AliExpress LED with the driver by itself?

The power supply measures 23.5V. I suspect it’s a constant voltage driver as it’s designed to power varying numbers of 24V strip lights from the same manufacturer (up to a maximum of 28.8W). I did connect the new LED in parallel to the original LEDs.

 

Of course “DC 24V 50 Hz” doesn’t make sense. You’re expecting to find manufacturer names and part numbers on AliExpress? It’s not unusual on for multiple sellers to carry identical items from the same unidentified manufacturer. On my order confirmation the seller is identified as NF Lighting Store. You won’t find them on Google either. If you’re trying to tell me that AliExpress is a dodgy place to buy stuff, I won’t argue with you. But if you can find a 24VDC 9W LED downlight somewhere else please let me know.

@Audioguru again has a strong prejudice against AliExpress sellers. I have made (I just counted them) 209 orders since March of 2022 and of all of those I have had to use the dispute process twice—both times with favorable results, and I have been disappointed in product no more than a dozen times. On the other hand I have been pleasantly surprised by products dozens of times.

The items I have purchased have ranged from consumables like tape, glue, and terminals; to tools; to connectors (complete and shells/pins); to MCUs; to devboards, to passives, to mechanical components including servos and steppers. In general, they’ve been excellent values. Absolutely no worse than the products I can buy in local stores and often things I can’t get.

Many times I have purchased from “official stores” from companies like Espressif, LillyGo, ANENG, HiLink, LOLIN, and others. The products are no different than what I could get anywhere else, and at the cost of waiting the prices are better.

There is no doubt that AliExpress requires an elevated level of caveat emptor but in truth, no more than if you are buying from Amazon, or Home Depot, Lowe’s, or anywhere else. A lot of what you can buy on AliExpress is the same as what you find in the stores with brand names on them. You are more likely to find counterfeits and misleading postings—but AliExpress is pretty aggressive about dealing with those when they are reported and careful shopping can avoid them.

Anyway, I find AliExpress to be a very good resource offering low prices and the availability of items not otherwise available to me. Be careful, don’t risk large amounts, but AliExpress isn’t the swamp some claim it to be.

 

Anyway, I find AliExpress to be a very good resource offering low prices and the availability of items not otherwise available to me. Be careful, don’t risk large amounts, but AliExpress isn’t the swamp some claim it to be.

Very well articulated!

 

Very well articulated!

I have ordered 100+ items from AliExpress that have been good enough. You see some of the same items being sold on Amazon and eBay (using the same pictures and descriptions), except you pay more.

I haven't had as good of an experience with AliExpress dispute resolution. They even denied a claim for product that I didn't receive. They've been better lately.

The vast majority of my purchases have been good enough. A few have been junk and almost all of the Li-ion batteries I've purchased have been fake. I started this thread to document bad products/sellers.