Let's rip apart an Awox StriimLight!

brhfl posted some pics said
47

So, meh sold these hybrid LED bulb/bluetooth speaker thingies, and when they did so, they also gave a bunch of them away. I got one, because of my desire to convert an antique bottle capper into a lamp. But here's the thing — the Awox StriimLights are HUGE. They won't fit into any fixtures in my apartment, and the scenario I posed to win this freebie involves a small milk glass globe… it's not happening. So, I figured I'd Goodwill it, but the Goodwill is like half a block away, and my screwdrivers are right here so…


Let's rip this bastard apart! The diffuser/speaker grille assembly snaps on with four snappy bits. They're relatively strong, so if you try to use carbon steel knife blades to pop it out, you're going to end up with a bunch of blade shards to deal with later. Just sayin'.


35 LEDs that I can't immediately establish the identity of, and one 2″, 10W, 8Ω speaker. In case it wasn't obvious before ripping this thing apart, the LEDs just fire out at the thin diffuser ring, which… isn't necessarily the best way to light something up.


3 P1s and 2 P0s later, the PCB full of SMD LEDs is freed. It's also held on by about a gallon of thermal grease. The silvery metal bit is the entirety of thermal management for these LEDs. Without knowing more about the LEDs, I can't say how capable this mediocre heatsink really is. You'll see I've destroyed the speaker pulling off the ring — or so it appears! Actually, it's just an additional seal to, I don't know, sort of kind of moisture-proof this thing? There's one on the Edison screw as well.


The speaker connects to one of two PCBs inside the unit, and the cables are routed through a clip. Physically, it's not held on by anything other than the grille. Look at all that thermal grease. Also note that this just became a two-beer job. Ohhhh shit.


With the speaker out of the way, a bit of prying pulls the heatsink away from the white plastic case. Everything is attached to the heatsink. Son of a bitch, now it looks like we have P2s to deal with. Maybe I should have just walked to Goodwill.


Alright, I found a third screwdriver. Everything is disassembled.


Here are the two PCBs. I'm going to leave a comment in here talking about the chips involved. The left PCB seems to handle the audio, while the right seems to handle mains power and light. I didn't show them connected, but the mains voltage via the Edison screw connects to that chunky connector on the far right (above the bricklike yellow interference suppressor).


An awesome warning about replacing the fuse — for whom, exactly? This thing is not meant to be taken apart, nothing about it is user-serviceable, it would be cheaper for the company to just replace the whole unit vs. the (fancy looking) fuse, and the fuse itself is soldered to the board. Maybe it's just an easter egg.


The biggest takeaway is what a great lens hood the white outer case makes. Alright, thanks for suffering through this — more photos in this rather pointless gallery!