LED light bulb failure
 

Has anyone had early failure of LED bulbs? Lights of America sold crappy LED bulbs a few years ago. They failed in the first couple of years. The FTC took action.


I bought quality LED bulbs and just had a 2nd failure within one year. These are supposed to last years and years.


Anyone else having issues? Just curious. Maybe I bought a bad batch from a good company.

No experience on my end, but should warranty cover said situation?

I've had enough fail within a year that I put dates on them now.

21 years means 21 months. Or less.

Dumbass

led fixtures are getting pretty cheap. If youre handy enough to deal with a couple wires, changing the fixture is better....too many problems with the LED conversion bulbs.....

How long are they supposed to last? Planned obsolescence is just that.

should have lasted longer than that. Some do just give out. See if there is a warranty

all shit from what I have seen

I agree...BUT...the fixtures fail about as often as the bulbs as well. I've had 2 of 5 start strobe-lighting me over the last year. The idea they last for as long as they say is a farce. However...they DO save on energy. Putting a date on the fixtures is a fantastic idea. I think I'll start doing that.

I've had a couple fail but overall I've had pretty good luck with them. They're definitely better than those garbage CFTs that were being foisted on to us a decade ago.

Hmm. Not from my experience at all. We started changing fixtures at my work for this reason. Ive seen dozens of them changed in the last 5 years of all types. Interior,, exterior, work/shop lights.

Only had about 2 of them go out. One was right away, defective out of the box. The other im not sure what happened. But the early failure rate on the fixtures isn't even close to the failure rate of conversion bulbs. Im thinking like 1% versus 75+%

:spock:

I’ve had a number of T8 size led bulbs fail. I buy from Amazon and just let them know. They send me new ones.

Due to the nature of manufacturing, this is bound to happen. Keeping track of where you buy it is a pain for sure.

I buy 4 or 8 at a time because I want the bulbs to match. This somewhat makes it easier cause I always know where I bought em.

The new ones are pretty slick. They can handle a ballast or no ballast and it’s easy to rewire tombstones if you need to.

Sure beats fluorescents or the dreaded compact fluorescents.


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The problem continues and it doesn't seem to matter the brand.

The bulbs in question are used daily and for several hours. I'm getting about 10% of the "expected" life in 1 of 5-ish bulbs.

Is anyone else seeing this problem?

I've had a few. Seems to be more of a QC issue than a lifespan issue, as I've had others in the same box that are still working years later.

It's a quality problem, for sure. That was kind of my point.

It was a bigger issue when LED bulbs were more expensive.

So I have changed out all of my bulbs inside and out with LED bulbs. All have lasted through the years EXCEPT, my kitchen bulbs. They do the disco thing which enrages me! :cuss: So I keep 2 new ones in my pantry for when the "dance" starts. Basically, I am on the fence on them since 98% of the LED's in my home and out actually have lasted. Crazy!

Did you know that those expectations are figured in a lab where they have complete control of all elements?
If the conditions are not perfect they do not last nearly as long as they are supposed to last.
If you think it is bad with a bulb don't ever put in an LED fixture. When the fixture quits working you have to replace it and of course, they do not make that same fixture any longer. So you are left with cover-up work to do in order to hide the footprint of the other one.

Yeah, as an engineer,, we used to call prototypes in the lab "Shop Queens". Worked great under controlled environments, but we figured out how to make them work in real world settings.

My led lightbulbs never last more than two years. But hey I'm saving the earth right? ****ing crap.

Rather than start a new thread, I figured I'd dig up an old one.

When I built my house in 2017, I took advantage of ACE Hardware's annual BOGO bulb sale and bought 28 LED bulbs, which should last my lifetime if they last as long as claimed. I think I have probably replaced 3 of those bulbs in the past 7 years. (There are 14 bulbs on site, including exterior.) Not too bad at all, and certainly better than incandescent bulbs.

I came here however, to ask if anyone else has experienced odd behavior from the bulbs when they finally go? My bathroom has a 2-bulb fixture that lost one of the bulbs about 5 weeks ago, and I haven't replaced it because it's kind of a pain in the ass. I walked in the bathroom this afternoon and the damned thing resurrected itself, and I just now verified it is still working. WTF?

Just to confirm, are you traveling at or near the speed of light?

I have an LED light that's starting to fail, I think. It's over my breakfast bar, and sometimes when you turn it on you get a disco experience because it strobes rapidly. But then other times it's just fine.

I'm not even sure I can change the bulbs on this fixture. It looks like the LED is sealed inside it.

The house is stationary. That would suck if you couldn't replace it, though in today's world such a silly design wouldn't shock me.

Yeah I have dealt with that flashing far more than I care for on LEDs. I know when they start flashing that they are nearing their end, but I continue using them until they don’t work at all.

What you described above is why I steer away from fixtures like you have. They look nice, but when they go out you have to change the whole fixture vs just a bulb.

I run an electrical crew at a data center with 25 buildings on site. Were in the process of changing lamps out to led when the originals go bad. But we have a lot of issues with anything thats retrofitted failing early. Normally the led fixtures don't have a lot of problems, or at least the indoor ones. It's not uncommon for t5 and t8 retrofit LEDs to have a shorter life that the lamps they replaced and it doesn't seem to matter if they're ballast bypassed or not. LED's use less electricity but so far I haven't seen many that are getting near the life that's advertised.

I would be very interested in isolating the lighting circuits and doing and actual cost per life span test not these things. But were just contracted electrical maintenance so therye not going to turn me loose with ct doughnuts and the equipment to record it.