When light output pulses, a moving object is seen only at the bright instants, so a wave of the hand shows a trail of images and a spinning machine part can look stationary. It is quantified by the stroboscopic visibility measure, SVM, where 1 is the threshold of visibility for an average observer. In workshops it is a real safety hazard around rotating machinery, because a spinning chuck or blade can look stopped.
Lathe chuck looks stopped under the new high-bays, that's a stroboscopic effect, get a high-frequency driver in before someone reaches in.
Also heard as
- strobing
Related terms
Flicker
Rapid, repeated variation in light output over time, whether directly visible or not.
Driver
The electronic power supply that converts line voltage into the regulated current or voltage an LED needs.
HID
High-Intensity Discharge: lamps such as metal halide and high-pressure sodium that make light from an electric arc in a pressurized tube.