Short lived LED bulb

[Texas Proud]

So, I had complaints about the CFLs as they seemed to burn out faster than an incandescent bulb... and some of the ones that I have are really slow to warm up... so I was looking forward to having LEDs...


Well, a complaint I have with LEDs are most do not dim... and the ones that do dim really do not dim a lot... an incandescent could dim to almost out but an LED is still putting out 25% light at the lowest setting...


Another complaint that I found out about by accident is every one that I have seen say it is not to be used in an enclosed area... so the glass domes are not to be used for these... now, I use them anyhow as I did not know this... but, found out when my DD would complain about her light going out in her ceiling fan... took it out and it worked just fine.... I think it turned off when it got hot... took out that one and put in a different brand (still said not to be enclosed) but it seems to be working....




So now my newest complaint... I put one in the stairway light... it is an open light so should be fine... we hardly ever use it but it will get used a few times a week... only by accident will it be on longer than a minute... well, in less than one year the bulb has burned out!!!! Yes, less than a year and it could not have been used more than a couple of hours a week... that included when DD left it on in the morning when she left for school.....


I hope that the rest of this brand is made better... but who knows for sure...

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I have yet to have a LED bulb burn out, and many of them have been burning non-stop for several years. Perhaps I am just lucky? Or perhaps the OP has "dirty power" causing the failures?

 

[Sunset]

I have had a few "burn out" , and having watched some videos on the internet of a fellow who dissects the bulbs, I understand why they die.
A big issue is some manufacturers are wiring the actual leds inside in series, so one dies and the "string" goes out like the old Christmas bulbs.

Different brands might be better than others, but I just buy the cheapest and get them for $1 or less each.

I don't pay attention to the enclosure or outside, I just use them where I had regular bulbs. No babying the LED's for me.

So even though some of my LED's have died, it is nothing like the dozen regular light bulbs I'd replace yearly.
I don't keep track but probably replace 1 -> 3 bulbs a year now.

 

[RobbieB]

Haven't had 1 burn out yet, been using for 3-5 years.

 

[Beldar]

I have yet to have a LED bulb burn out, and many of them have been burning non-stop for several years. Perhaps I am just lucky? Or perhaps the OP has "dirty power" causing the failures?

Same situation here, zero failures over maybe 4-5 years. Nearly our entire home is LED, including dim-able chandelier lamps. I've found that the Walmart branded "soft white" is the closest (visually) to the incandescent replaced.

We even use LED lighting in our garage, which is not climate controlled. And it really bakes in the summer (desert SW). So something may be afoot in the OP's home.

_B

 

[easysurfer]

There are some LED that are labeled as okay inside glass dome covers. CREE brand comes to mind. I have some CREE bulbs in a couple of glass domes. The bulbs in one dome work fine. In another, I do notice a flicker now and then so I guess they don't last forever either. But my memories says those bulbs been there for about 4 years.

I have some GE LED bulbs at the vanity mirror area of by bathroom. Got them for about $30 a bulb (back when they LED bulbs were were considered brand new). I probably bought them about 7 years ago and they work fine. No flicker, no noticeable loss in brightness.

 

[Helena]

.

I'm still using my hoard of incandescent bulbs.

 

[Tom52]

My experience is really mixed with the LED bulbs. In my basement stairway I have three and they have all been replaced within one year. I doubt they are on for over one hour per day total but might be switched off and on 5 or 6 times each day. This is disappointing because they are the most difficult bulbs to change in the entire house. I think these are 60 watt equivalent.

On the other hand I have two very low wattage LED bulbs outside as entry lights into my driveway. These were installed at least three years ago an have not failed yet. They are controlled by a sensor to come on at risk and off at dawn so they cycle off and on once once per day and are probably lit for an average of 12 hours per day.

 

[6miths]

Haven't had 1 burn out yet, been using for 3-5 years.

So far so good here over the same span. Certainly less burn outs than CFLs and way, less than incandescents.

 

[Alan]

We have 5 dimmer switches in our house, and all have LEDs. They work just fine, all are rated at between 25 and 27,000 hours. If the lights are on 8 hours/day that would mean we should expect years of use. We moved into our house about 2 years ago and almost immediately the existing incandescent bulbs started failing, plus we bought 3 table lamps and 2 standing lamps and put LEDs in all of them.

No failures so far.

 

[ERD50]

I've had mixed results with CFLs, but some have lasted a long time.

Only a few LEDs so far, but no dead ones yet.

You do need an LED compatible dimmer, and most of them can be adjusted to set the minimum dim level (so you don't mistake 'dim' for "off").

Some of the LEDs sort of randomly changed light levels (flicker, but random) even with a name brand dimmer. The only solution I found was to add one incandescent to the mix (there were 3 lights total on that one dimmer). That provided the stable load that the dimmer needed to see I guess. They actually sell a load resistor for this problem. Unfortunately, this is reducing the efficiency somewhat.

...
A big issue is some manufacturers are wiring the actual leds inside in series, so one dies and the "string" goes out like the old Christmas bulbs. ....

Well, ALL manufacturers are wiring the actual leds inside in series. That's how it's done.

You need multiple LEDs in a 'bulb', and they operate at ~ 3 Volts. And they don't work optimally if they are wired in parallel. The voltage of each may vary slightly, and you get what is called "current hogging" from the lowest Voltage one. That causes it to heat up more than the others, which further increases the heat and current draw, and you can have a run-away situation, and they take turns burning out till they are all gone. So don't do that!

So they put them in series, and use one current source that operates w/o needing to change the voltage as much - better efficiency that way.

-ERD50

 

[W2R]

I got my first LED lightbulbs ever, this past October. They are "Amazon Basics" brand. I love the quality and brightness of the light they put out. None have burned out yet so at least they have survived two months! I hope they last for years like Robbie's LED bulbs.

Unlike the rest of you, I am actually getting older the longer I live (hard to imagine, I know ). For me along with age I have started to have mild arthritic pain in my shoulders which could worsen later on. Therefore I think that at some point it will be nice to not have to replace lightbulbs very often. So my plan is to stick with LED's.

I tried CFL's in the past and did not like the light they put out, but I think these particular LED's are just right for me. The reason I did not buy LED bulbs years ago is that I thought they cost too much, back then. Either they are cheaper now, or else I'm more in a "Blow that Dough" mode these days.

 

[jim584672]

I had a bunch of Cree LEDs. They all died much sooner than expected. The electric company had a deal 10 LEDs for $10. These seem to be ok so far.

 

[Texas Proud]

Same situation here, zero failures over maybe 4-5 years. Nearly our entire home is LED, including dim-able chandelier lamps. I've found that the Walmart branded "soft white" is the closest (visually) to the incandescent replaced.

We even use LED lighting in our garage, which is not climate controlled. And it really bakes in the summer (desert SW). So something may be afoot in the OP's home.

_B

I would say not... no other LED has died... some are a few years old... some are on for 6+ hours a day...


BTW, I put in the old incandescent 34 watt bulb that had been there 8 years (from the previous owner so I do not know how long they had it) and it is working just fine... and as mentioned it is at least 8 years old...

 

[HFWR]

Switched to CFLs about ten years ago. The “flood” lamps in the bathroom lasted a few years, but only one other, in the lamp on a timer (on every evening), has gone kaput...

 

[travelover]

.

I'm still using my hoard of incandescent bulbs.

This might be false economy. Dollar Tree had two LEDs for a buck recently and the LED bulbs burn 6 hours for the cost of burning an old incandescent bulb for one hour.

 

[Jerry1]

Same as many, no babying and no burn outs. Only problem I had with LED’s is when I used them in my garage door opener, they produced an interference that made the remote on the garage door opener work very sporadically. Switched them out for some made for garage door openers and I’ve been good since.

 

[sengsational]

Got LED fixtures at Lowe's when we redid the bathroom. Didn't look real closely when buying (actually DW bought them). Three 'bulbs' per fixture. One of the three quit after about a month. Only then I discovered each 'bulb' was a PCB with surface mount LED's stuck to a hunk of cast metal with that heat conducting grease. Bottom line was there was no replacement of these 'bulbs' possible! So I had to take the entire fixture down and replace it. It was still under warranty, so didn't cost anything but time. I did take the opportunity to remove a good PCB and put with our light bulbs in case of another failure. It's not hard to replace the PCB, it's just that they don't offer the replacement part.

 

[GNXGuy]

Its usually not the LED that burns out, its the LED Driver

 

[Lakewood90712]

.

I'm still using my hoard of incandescent bulbs.

Oh no, now I have to report you.

 

[mountainsoft]

I bought some of the earliest CREE brand LED bulbs when they first became available. These were bulky with big heat sinks on them, but they mostly looked like a standard bulb. Unfortunately, most of these early bulbs failed within a couple years. A couple still worked but the plastic "bulb" came unglued and fell off the bulb. I still have a few left that I use mostly for outdoor light fixtures (shielded from weather but not fully enclosed).

I have since replaced most of the CREE LED bulbs with Phillips "warm glow" bulbs. These have a nice soft white light at full brightness, but take on more of the traditional orange glow when dimmed.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Philips...-White-with-Warm-Glow-4-Pack-479576/303967548

While these are dimmable with a standard dimmer, you'll get much better results with a proper CFL/LED dimmer switch. I use this remote control dimmer switch in our living room. I love the look when dimmed and can dim it very low when watching movies.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Lutron-...d-Ceiling-Lights-White-P-PKG1W-WH-R/206754146

Our dining room light fixture uses smaller A15 bulbs. I have been really happy with these EcoSmart bulbs from Home Depot.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/EcoSmar...ght-Bulb-Soft-White-3-Pack-FG-03135/303742232

I had trouble finding LED bulbs that could be used in enclosed fixtures, so I replaced all of our ceiling light fixtures with fixtures that have the LED lights integrated into the fixtures. We have been very happy with them and haven't had one fail yet.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Commerc...ith-White-Glass-Shade-HUI8011LL-ORB/205148599

 

[travelover]

Its usually not the LED that burns out, its the LED Driver

Well yea, but have you ever gotten an estimate to have one repaired?

 

[Sunset]

.

I'm still using my hoard of incandescent bulbs.

I have a bunch of those too, in a box.
It's a LOT cheaper to replace them all with CFL / LED in the entire house.
And the savings is every year.

 

[Texas Proud]

This might be false economy. Dollar Tree had two LEDs for a buck recently and the LED bulbs burn 6 hours for the cost of burning an old incandescent bulb for one hour.

Yea, that is the new reality... I still have a bunch of incandescent since I did not think the cost would come down as quickly as they did...


I have changed most out, but we have some nude bulbs in the dining room that DW does not what changed and then she has a halogen strip in her room that I cannot get her to get rid of... 3 50 watt bulbs!! The cat love the heat though...


One problem I have is almost all of my switches are dimmer... some work and some don't... but I have to have dimmer bulbs and they still cost more...

 

[ERD50]

Quote:
Originally Posted by GNXGuy
Its usually not the LED that burns out, its the LED Driver

Well yea, but have you ever gotten an estimate to have one repaired?

Now seriously, there is an area I would like to see the environmentalists get involved, and make a big public stink to bring attention to the issue.

All these new LED 'bulbs' should be designed so the driver and LED can easily be replaced (separately). It would not be hard at all, and would save some stuff from recycling and/or a landfill.


The usual issue is the capacitors in the driver go bad, due to the heat. And to keep prices low, they use caps that are not as tolerant to heat. The rated life on LEDs is a scam - that is based on extrapolating the short term dimming of the LED, to the point it would get to 80% brightness (something like that - going by memory). It has nothing to do with the bulb just dying.

Think of it as a tire rated for 40,000 miles wear, that routinely blows out in the first 10,000 miles, but advertised as a 40,000 mile tire.

-ERD50