LED Light Failed within a week!

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › LED Light Failed within a week!

1 | 2 | 3

richms

29104 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10219

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1264703 21-Mar-2015 20:06

Yeah but panasonic suffer from only selling orange and blue varients and neglecting the middle of the range at 4000k. 6500k I can tollerate but it does make things look a little too office like for my liking.

Whereas 4000k in the downlights is available everywhere prettymuch. Well, lighting plus and direct which is about as far out of my way as I will go to get downlights.

Richard rich.ms

robjg63

4161 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1427

Subscriber

#1265484 23-Mar-2015 09:27

Aredwood: Have had problems with LED bulbs as well. Originally bought almost a full houselot of Viribright brand from Bunnings. Much preferred their light compared to CFL bulbs. But approx 1/3 have failed after a couple of years. So average lifetime not much different to incandescent. Have been replacing with Phillips and Panasonic. Which have been OK so far but not enough units / time to get a long term picture. None of the fittings have any kind of lampshades or are enclosed. So heat buildup won't be an issue.

Due to the house design I can't install any downlight style LED fittings. So im restricted to mostly whatever can plug into a bayonet fitting. Also I have a policy now of only buying non dimabble LEDs. As no light dimmers anywhere in the house. And the non dimmable ones don't momentarily dim when other loads get switched on. Also for awhile the mains voltage was 242V + alot of harmonics. So all of the dimmable ones were probably getting overdriven.

I bought a couple of Viribright LED bulbs from Bunnings a couple of years back.
Tried a warm white and a cool white - just as a test.
Brightness was good for both - the cool white is very 'white' - but ok.
Bulbs seemed well made etc.
The Warm white bulb lasted for being turned on about 3 times and was then dead.
Took it back and swapped for another one.
Same thing.
This time swapped it for a cool white - so ended up with 2 cool white bulbs.

Both going fine a couple of years on.
Dont know if it was a bad batch of warm whites - but it does look like the expected life of an LED bulb is a bit of an urban myth.

They 'can' last for a very long time - but then it was always possible to have extremely long life incandescent bulbs as well...

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

linw

2893 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1205

#1265596 23-Mar-2015 11:27

Yep, the so called long lifetime 'bulbs' are a joke. I have a pile of cfls that didn't last long. I was hoping for better from LEDs but sounds like the same weaknesses in the electronics are there as well.

lissie

495 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 27

#1265631 23-Mar-2015 11:54

linw: Yep, the so called long lifetime 'bulbs' are a joke. I have a pile of cfls that didn't last long. I was hoping for better from LEDs but sounds like the same weaknesses in the electronics are there as well.

It's not just a joke, I think it's a major rip-off and I'm kinda astounded that it's not been covered on Fair Go or Consumer (who think they are wonderful)

I help authors publish their books - DIYPublishing.co.nz

BTR

1527 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 449

#1265795 23-Mar-2015 13:58

The LED bayonet bulbs I purchased were $25 each and are still working 3 years later without a single failure. The downlights I purchased were $69 each and 1.5 years use and no problems.

I would consider anything less than $20 for a LEG bulb cheap, long story short if you want quality electrics then don't get them from a supermarket.

Just because its GE doesn't mean its high quality, most big brands make cheaper versions of their quality products. My advice is do your research first if you are serious about LED, if not stick with power hungry argon fill bulbs or cheaper but non eco friendly mercury filled energy saver bulbs.

Niel

3267 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 80

Trusted

#1265960 23-Mar-2015 16:06

I had about 35 ViriBright bulbs in my house (the newer higher power ones, not the older lower power but higher priced ones). Was happy (and fortunate) at first, but after 12-24 months a number of them developed a random flicker (just a brief, single flicker). I took one apart and it was not a solder joint, it was actually inside one of the LED arrays. Otherwise, their construction is good and for me it lasted long enough that I did not loose money from it.

I've been using 30 fittings from Quality LED Lighting for 2 years now and no issues at all. There must be a difference between a disposable bulb and a permanent lamp. (Rhetorical - it has a much larger heat sink to dissipate heat.) Only the garage still has ViriBright, but it is seldom used and no one cares if one of the 4 flickers a bit.

You can never have enough Volvos!

Apple TV

Stream your favourite shows now on Apple TV (affiliate link).

mattwnz

20519 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 4797

#1265984 23-Mar-2015 16:19

lissie: I swore off LED lights in a previous house - after finding replacing halogen downlights with them lasted somewhere between a few days and a month - and things are supposed to last for years.

Moved house, which has "normal" bayonet, butt-ugly light fittings, one per a room (why would you want more? LOL ) The previous owner has those awful lights - that take several minutes to actually throw any light! Annoys the hell out of me. So I tried an experient and bought a CFL (twirly one) for a spot in an interior study nook which has no natural light - that's working great - the light is really nice (bright white).

So encouraged I tried a LED light (about $12) from packnsave (didn't notice the brand) in the bedroom. This turns on immedialted , again the light is good, and it's not as ugly as the CFL. Then I noticed it was cool to the touch. We have a bayonet fitting in the wardrobe - but we hadn't put a bulb in it since we installed a wardrobe system and I was worried about the heat against items on the top shelf.

Last night I called my partner thru to see how cool this bulb was - I touched it (again), he touched - light bulb blew.

So am I just incredibly unluckly with LED lights ? Or is this just normal? I'm annoyed because the LED looks cool - and I've seen some cool options for over bench lighting in kitchens - but I'm installing stuff like this if it won't last 5 min never mind 5 years!

The brand probably makes a big difference. I hav enever had a single LED fail yet, and have had them for over 2 years now. (oPhilips and panasonic brands) I guess the quality of your power makes a difference though. Rural areas can have big power fluctuations, and I had big problem with halogen lighting and transformers failing when I was living in a rural area.

Niel

3267 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 80

Trusted

#1266128 23-Mar-2015 19:35

Regarding seeing a difference in your power bill, unlikely. It might make $5 difference compared to CCFL, but compared to incandescent you might see $20 or so difference. However, in Winter your power bill will probably go up slightly (compared to incandescent bulbs) as you don;t have bulbs heating up your house.

You can never have enough Volvos!

pctek

807 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 157
Inactive user

#1272772 29-Mar-2015 11:36

butt-ugly light fittings,

We have the type of covered over fittings that you can't see the bulbs now.
So happy now, couldn't care less what the bulb looks like now.

heylinb4nz

656 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 141
Inactive user

#1273502 30-Mar-2015 15:56

We did the whole house back in November last year (MR16) using 12W COB Leds off Aliexpress ...$4 each !!... Light output is equivalent to 50w Halogens. Out of the 40 we had 2 faulty within 3 months months, but the supplier replaced them free of charge ( 7 days for replacements ). These run off our digital halogen transformers which are rated at 10-60W.

The remaining bedroom lights (R20) are using Click LED Bulbs from Bunnings. $18 each, no issues.

1 | 2 | 3