LED Light Failed within a week!

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lissie

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#169623 20-Mar-2015 15:18

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!

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#1264125 20-Mar-2015 15:21

You bought a cheap LED light and it failed... SHOCKED! Though I got five LEDs for my bathroom, good quality, with their own driver, two failed in the first six months but were replaced.

Get a proper LED unit with its own driver, rather than just buying bulbs.

Dynamic

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#1264127 20-Mar-2015 15:22

What's that term....? Midas touch of an ...... ?

I forget now. ;)

I've not heard of this before, but with LED retrofitting starting to become mainstream, every man and his dog is making LED bulbs. Quality and crappy. The LED will almost certainly be fine, but it likely has cheap and nasty electronics behind it.

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#1264132 20-Mar-2015 15:32

I've seen reports of poorly manufactured LED replacements for household bulbs where there is strong potential for the metal case of the LED bulb to become live.

A quick Google shows that even reputable names are not immune: http://www.ledsmagazine.com/articles/2013/08/philips-recalls-99-000-led-lamps-for-shock-hazard.html

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lxsw20

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#1264134 20-Mar-2015 15:33

Yeap buy brand name ones, Panasonic etc.

bcourtney

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#1264158 20-Mar-2015 15:56

Agree with sticking to brand name and paying a little more. We've got 9 in total in our kitchen/dining area (3 sets of 3-piece cheap light fittings) and they've been in there for just over a year without a single loss. As mentioned, they're cheap light fittings from the previous owners and they would blow standard light bulbs on average about every 4-6 weeks.

We've also got LED's now in most other rooms in the house (a mix of cool white or warm white depending on the room) and haven't had one go on us yet.

Inphinity

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#1264162 20-Mar-2015 15:59

We've replaced most of our lighting both at home and work with LED over the past 12 - 18 months, all with at least reasonable brands, no failures yet. Some of these lights are on 24/7.

tchart

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#1264166 20-Mar-2015 16:07

Inphinity: We've replaced most of our lighting both at home and work with LED over the past 12 - 18 months, all with at least reasonable brands, no failures yet. Some of these lights are on 24/7.

Same. Been running LED's for months without problems.

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CYaBro

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#1264170 20-Mar-2015 16:24

We built our house about 2 & 1/2 years ago and used true LED fittings (no separate bulb) with proper LED drivers (they are different to the 12V halogen drivers) and we haven't had a problem.
I was happy to pay more for decent drivers & fittings, the ones we got have a 10 year warranty if you use their LED driver.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

lissie

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#1264171 20-Mar-2015 16:25

What the hell is a driver? This was a bayonet fitting bulb - it did indeed fit into my existing bayonet? And what is a "reasonable brand? The downlights that blew were GE which I would consider a pretty big brand (if not the largest in the world?)

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lissie

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#1264172 20-Mar-2015 16:26

CYaBro: We built our house about 2 & 1/2 years ago and used true LED fittings (no separate bulb) with proper LED drivers (they are different to the 12V halogen drivers) and we haven't had a problem.
I was happy to pay more for decent drivers & fittings, the ones we got have a 10 year warranty if you use their LED driver.

So after 10 years you have to replace the entire fitting i.e. hire an electrician? That seems the ultimate throwaway society approach to what used to be quite simple with incandescent bulbs!

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lxsw20

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#1264174 20-Mar-2015 16:33

lissie: What the hell is a driver? This was a bayonet fitting bulb - it did indeed fit into my existing bayonet? And what is a "reasonable brand? The downlights that blew were GE which I would consider a pretty big brand (if not the largest in the world?)

Samsung, Panasonic, Philips.

A driver is what turns the 230V into a low voltage for the LED.

CYaBro

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#1264175 20-Mar-2015 16:34

lissie: What the hell is a driver? This was a bayonet fitting bulb - it did indeed fit into my existing bayonet? And what is a "reasonable brand? The downlights that blew were GE which I would consider a pretty big brand (if not the largest in the world?)

A driver converts the standard 230V power into 12V for the LED.
The LED bulbs you buy have the driver built into the bulb itself.

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CYaBro

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#1264177 20-Mar-2015 16:36

lissie:
CYaBro: We built our house about 2 & 1/2 years ago and used true LED fittings (no separate bulb) with proper LED drivers (they are different to the 12V halogen drivers) and we haven't had a problem.
I was happy to pay more for decent drivers & fittings, the ones we got have a 10 year warranty if you use their LED driver.

So after 10 years you have to replace the entire fitting i.e. hire an electrician? That seems the ultimate throwaway society approach to what used to be quite simple with incandescent bulbs!

Nope. :)
That's the warranty, the expected lifespan is 15 or more years.
You can replace the fitting or driver yourself, no need for an electrician, as you are the home owner.

How many incandescent bulbs would you have had to replace in that time?
How much extra power would you have used in that time?

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hsvhel

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#1264179 20-Mar-2015 16:38

lissie: What the hell is a driver? This was a bayonet fitting bulb - it did indeed fit into my existing bayonet? And what is a "reasonable brand? The downlights that blew were GE which I would consider a pretty big brand (if not the largest in the world?)

The driver is the electronics behind the LED itself, stepping down the voltage from the line to suit the LED. This is almost certainly what has failed. If you have a warranty, it should be an easy replacement.
There are a lot of cheap and nasty setups that should not be on the market, sad to day, but $12 is in that category.
If you want a decent setup, go to a reputable lighting store or an independent supplier, not a corporate chain supermarket

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lxsw20

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#1264180 20-Mar-2015 16:38

lissie:
CYaBro: We built our house about 2 & 1/2 years ago and used true LED fittings (no separate bulb) with proper LED drivers (they are different to the 12V halogen drivers) and we haven't had a problem.
I was happy to pay more for decent drivers & fittings, the ones we got have a 10 year warranty if you use their LED driver.

So after 10 years you have to replace the entire fitting i.e. hire an electrician? That seems the ultimate throwaway society approach to what used to be quite simple with incandescent bulbs!

You're throwing away energy in the form of heat with incandescent bulbs, how is that any better?

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