I don’t know if it’s just me, but whenever I see lone, undiffused LEDs (such as on string lights or light strips), it is immediately obvious that they’re LEDs because of the “aliasing” or “shimmering” effect I see when my eyes saccade back and forth. This is a stroboscopic effect and so even the best CRI doesn’t prevent this. For this reason (and on the recommendation of this article) I’ve made sure to only get incandescent string lights for my own use.
(Sometimes when I see a Christmas tree strung up with LED lights, I can even tell that half of the bulbs are on a circuit whose cycle is 180 degrees out of phase with the other, because the lights shimmer in opposite directions.)
LEDs strobe when they’re run at less than 100% duty cycle or on a half-wave rectifier. They should shine steadily when run at 100% on DC power.
Though I find the LED shimmer to be rather less unpleasant than fluorescent lamps (classic tubes or CF bulbs), which flicker in time with the AC power and have rather incomplete spectra that make pale-skinned people look greenish and often make an audible hum.
This is caused by low quality power supplies, which are extremely common in string lights. It’s not affected by CRI.
Fun fact: string lights are considered “decorative”, and so it’s nearly impossible to buy high quality ones unless you purchase components and assemble them yourself.
I don’t know if it’s just me, but whenever I see lone, undiffused LEDs (such as on string lights or light strips), it is immediately obvious that they’re LEDs because of the “aliasing” or “shimmering” effect I see when my eyes saccade back and forth. This is a stroboscopic effect and so even the best CRI doesn’t prevent this. For this reason (and on the recommendation of this article) I’ve made sure to only get incandescent string lights for my own use.
(Sometimes when I see a Christmas tree strung up with LED lights, I can even tell that half of the bulbs are on a circuit whose cycle is 180 degrees out of phase with the other, because the lights shimmer in opposite directions.)
LEDs strobe when they’re run at less than 100% duty cycle or on a half-wave rectifier. They should shine steadily when run at 100% on DC power.
Though I find the LED shimmer to be rather less unpleasant than fluorescent lamps (classic tubes or CF bulbs), which flicker in time with the AC power and have rather incomplete spectra that make pale-skinned people look greenish and often make an audible hum.
https://science.nasa.gov/asset/webb/spectrum-of-a-fluorescent-light-bulb-vs-spectrum-of-the-sun/
This is caused by low quality power supplies, which are extremely common in string lights. It’s not affected by CRI.
Fun fact: string lights are considered “decorative”, and so it’s nearly impossible to buy high quality ones unless you purchase components and assemble them yourself.