How to choose chinese smartbulbs? How to avoid deathtraps?

Some time ago, a friend of mine bought a chinese “Smartbulb”. We opened it, quickly found the serial pinout of the ESP8266 inside, flashed Espurna on it and it works a treat!

I liked it so much, that I bought one on wish for myself. It arrived today.

IMG_0764

I opened it and was very disappointed. There were no pins to program it.

IMG_0767

So I started to remove the glue and liftet the top plate with the LEDs. I was pretty happy, that I did’t plug it in the socket! The isolation between the metal housing and the mains side of the power supply was just a thin layer of tape. Even some pins had spiked through and were just one milimeter away from the housing!

BD5D5ABB-2411-4E6A-BA94-508F8EE5D584

I salvaged the LED’s and the ESP and threw the deathtrap in the dumpster.

Does anyone know a good brand or source of those cheap smartbulbs, that have easily accessable pins and a proper isolation?

You should check out the ailights thread

There’s a few recommendation for esp light bulbs there.