Electronic – What kind of inductive load does a mains LED lamp present

inductiveled

This follows on from another question I'd been asking. Having been 'gifted' dozens of mains LED lamps, I've been blithely assuming that they don't offer much in the way of inductive load.

But, of course, they aren't just a mass of LEDs: there's a rectifier, and perhaps an inverter (though a glance at the wiring of the LEDs in my lamps suggests that there's two parallel chains of 65 LEDs, which would be about right to drop 230 V).

I've searched for information, but there's nothing that I've found. Does anyone know a) if there is appreciable inductance in such lamps, and b) how one could set up a test rig to measure it? thanks

Best Answer

LEDs are a nonlinear load and probably these lamps will not have a power factor correction converter. This means that the current will not be sinusoidal therefore you will have some reactive power flowing. There may be a PFC choke before the rectifier bridge.

If you want to measure the power factor and harmonic content just take a scope with voltage and current probes and measure line voltage and line current.

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