# LEDs light up the Edison monument



## farlsincharge (Dec 31, 2010)

Good, he doesn't deserve to be honored anyway.


----------



## Pharon (Jan 20, 2014)

I hope they're feeding them with DC power. AC would just be ironic.


----------



## fdew (Mar 26, 2009)

He is still being honored. He invented the electrical system that made electric lighting a better alternative then gas lighting. In doing so, he invented house wiring and commercial wiring. He trained the first electricians. 

BTW LEDs work on DC. They can not be directly connected to AC.


----------



## Pharon (Jan 20, 2014)

I know. That's why I made the comment.

I highly doubt, though, that this 118-foot tower is fed by a DC electrical service. But if it were, at least it wouldn't be hypocritical.


----------



## fdew (Mar 26, 2009)

I viewed this thread on my DC powered flat screen connected to my DC powered Laptop.

Perhaps they will use a system like this.

Also catching on are DC lighting circuits. Emerge Alliance, a consortium based in San Ramon, California, that advocates for DC power distribution in commercial buildings, has established a standard for 24-volt DC ceiling circuits and says that running LED ceiling lights on DC lines uses up to 15 percent less energy than doing the AC-to-DC switch inside the fixtures. Emerge is now working on bringing DC power to employees’ desktops, letting them plug in computers or phones without the need for hot-running converter boxes. 

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/427504/edisons-revenge-the-rise-of-dc-power/

They could feed the system with HVDC to power That way it will use less energy and be safer.

http://new.abb.com/about/hvdc-grid
http://www.cleanlineenergy.com/technology/hvdc/how
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-voltage_direct_current


----------



## Pharon (Jan 20, 2014)

24 volts DC?

Sure, it will use less energy, but the added wire sizing you'll need to allow for the massive voltage drop may not make it practical.

Also, how is DC "safer" than AC, at the same voltage?


----------



## Big John (May 23, 2010)

Pharon said:


> ...Also, how is DC "safer" than AC, at the same voltage?


 I don't know how high the voltage has to be before they are equally dangerous, but the threshold of perception is higher for DC than AC, and low levels of AC are more likely to disrupt the rhythm of your heart than the same voltage of DC.


----------



## Pharon (Jan 20, 2014)

Perhaps, but I think DC is harder to let go of, because it's not pulsing.

I thought the general consensus was that over 50 volts, AC is safer.

But maybe that's assuming only if your heart doesn't stop. :cool2:


----------



## Ontario (Sep 9, 2013)

Pharon said:


> Perhaps, but I think DC is harder to let go of, because it's not pulsing.
> 
> I thought the general consensus was that over 50 volts, AC is safer.
> 
> But maybe that's assuming only if your heart doesn't stop. :cool2:


My heart never stops! I'm an electrician!

:whistling2:


----------



## LGLS (Nov 10, 2007)

fdew said:


> Also catching on are DC lighting circuits. Emerge Alliance, a consortium based in San Ramon, California, that advocates for DC power distribution in commercial buildings, has established a standard for 24-volt DC ceiling circuits and says that running LED ceiling lights on DC lines uses up to 15 percent less energy than doing the AC-to-DC switch inside the fixtures. Emerge is now working on bringing DC power to employees’ desktops, letting them plug in computers or phones without the need for hot-running converter boxes.


 Wonderful. Add 4 more conductors to office cubicle wiring harnesses... 
I wonder if there'll be orange isolated ground DC receptacles too???


----------



## dmxtothemax (Jun 15, 2010)

Big John said:


> I don't know how high the voltage has to be before they are equally dangerous, but the threshold of perception is higher for DC than AC, and low levels of AC are more likely to disrupt the rhythm of your heart than the same voltage of DC.


 
I think it is more likely that most non technical people associate DC
with low voltage, so low voltage would also be perceived as low risk.

Maybe not true but thats the way most non technical people would see it


----------



## Chris1971 (Dec 27, 2010)

farlsincharge said:


> Good, he doesn't deserve to be honored anyway.


Agreed.


----------



## dowmace (Jan 16, 2008)

F- Edison.

Tesla was the man.


----------



## dmxtothemax (Jun 15, 2010)

I wouldn't mind meeting either of them !
They both contributted to the electrical system
in some way or another.


----------



## dmxtothemax (Jun 15, 2010)

As for leds,
I think that if we could time travel ?
And bring Edison into the future ?
I think he would be fasinated by LEDs

As we all where at first.




Lets stop labelling these people and get on with life.

:thumbup:


----------



## nbb (Jul 12, 2014)

dowmace said:


> F- Edison.
> 
> Tesla was the man.


Chalk another one in the Tesla camp. Edison is a great example of hacks in history.


----------



## FlyingSparks (Dec 10, 2012)

......


----------



## fdew (Mar 26, 2009)

It was nice of him to invent the electrical system that made electric lighting a better alternative then gas lighting. and to invent house wiring and commercial wiring, and to train the first electricians. 

It would be hard to have a Electrician talk forum without a electrical industry.


----------



## FlyingSparks (Dec 10, 2012)

fdew said:


> It was nice of him to invent the electrical system that made electric lighting a better alternative then gas lighting. and to invent house wiring and commercial wiring, and to train the first electricians.
> 
> It would be hard to have a Electrician talk forum without a electrical industry.


It's silly to think he was the only one in the emerging electrical industry at the time.


----------



## fdew (Mar 26, 2009)

FlyingSparks said:


> It's silly to think he was the only one in the emerging electrical industry at the time.


It's not silly It is history.


----------



## FlyingSparks (Dec 10, 2012)

fdew said:


> It's not silly It is history.


Okay there totally wasn't a guy named Westinghouse that funded instrumental research on electrical distribution. That didn't exist. It's history.


----------



## fdew (Mar 26, 2009)

FlyingSparks said:


> Okay there totally wasn't a guy named Westinghouse that funded instrumental research on electrical distribution. That didn't exist. It's history.


Of coarse there was. And he did a great job and certainly he was right AC was and is the way to go Edison wasn't always right and he wasn't a saint but he did invent the home lighting industry. He didn't invent the light bulb but he perfected it and made it practicable and affordable, then he developed everything else needed for home lighting. The bulbs, the sockets, the fuse box the meter. The whole thing. He even came up with the standard voltage of 110 

At the time he did it the only public wiring was arc lamp street lighting and telegraph. Westinghouse and others greatly improved what Edison started.

(Edison didn't invent the GFCI either but that doesn't make him a bum.)


----------



## FlyingSparks (Dec 10, 2012)

fdew said:


> Of coarse there was. And he did a great job and certainly he was right AC was and is the way to go Edison wasn't always right and he wasn't a saint but he did invent the home lighting industry. He didn't invent the light bulb but he perfected it and made it practicable and affordable, then he developed everything else needed for home lighting. The bulbs, the sockets, the fuse box the meter. The whole thing. He even came up with the standard voltage of 110
> 
> At the time he did it the only public wiring was arc lamp street lighting and telegraph. Westinghouse and others greatly improved what Edison started.
> 
> (Edison didn't invent the GFCI either but that doesn't make him a bum.)


I'm not going to argue that he didn't orchestrate many inventions, but that's it: he was an orchestrator and I don't believe in celebrating Edison because he was an extremely faulty human being. If Edison hadn't been around there would have been plenty of individuals to take his place.

I'm more interested in the thousands of electrical inventors than one man who steps on the back of hundreds of men for profit.


----------



## fdew (Mar 26, 2009)

Amazing. Just amazing


----------



## FaultCurrent (May 13, 2014)

Choosing Tesla over Edison is just silly. In reality, without Edison, Tesla and....Steinmetz electricity as a power source rather than a scientific curiosity would have taken a lot longer to become Viable. 

Edison a creative man with good business sense and surrounded himself with the best. Not as well educated but still had the genius of invention. Whats wrong with that?

Tesla a genius, a crackpot, father of conspiracy theories, and his AC motor and multiphase AC power system was a masterpiece. Telsa coil was interesting but useless. Anyone for death rays confiscated by the US Govt?

Steinmetz, mostly forgotten, made power transmission possible with his understanding of hysteresis and transformers, and his lightning arrester. His development of mathematics and AC currents was instrumental in AC design then and now.


----------



## FaultCurrent (May 13, 2014)

Incidentally, for those who discount Edison, he actually invented the vacuum tube rectifier years before Fleming took his idea and used it to detect radio signals. Patented as the Edison Effect. The phonograph was an offshoot of his invention of the carbon microphone. That same carbon microphone that made the practical telephone possible.

For those with a curious mind, check out Edison's views on money and the US monetary policy.


----------



## dmxtothemax (Jun 15, 2010)

FlyingSparks said:


> he was an extremely faulty human being.



No such thing as a perfect human being 
Pure fantasy !
We all have flaws of some kind.


The fact is he contributed a lot, to what is now the electrical industry.

So he does deserve some respect for that alone.


----------

