LED lamp failure mode

Less than a month ago (Feb 20th) I put 3 bulbs from a 4 pack of GE 60 w equ ivalent dimmable LED bulbs in a ceiling fixture in the bathroom. Two are d ead now. I've tried them in other fixtures and they don't work; I've tried other bulbs in the bathroom and those do work.

The weird thing is the symptom. Screwing them in and out, occasionally the y will flash on, as if a connection was making briefly. This is true in mu ltiple sockets.

They have a 5 year warranty, but must provide the proof of purchase, which nobody saves, and mail to GE at my cost. Pretty safe warranty risk I'd say . The box says 13 year life. I got about 3 weeks out of these.

Reply to
Tim R
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Happens quite often with cheap LEDs.

Reply to
Tom Biasi

I think this was in Electronics Design: The solder joints for the LEDs wer e a vulnerable point, and they attributed it to insufficient heat sinking. The lifetime was maximized in the bulb up position and minimized when the bulb was down, presumably due to the difference in the convection. The app arent amount of heat sinking varied from brand to brand.

You can test this hypothesis by opening the dead bulb (voiding your warrant y) and applying power to each of the LEDs individually. I think you need 1

0-12V for each LED.
Reply to
jfeng

I have run into a similar failure mode on other 'dimmable' LEDs. A few we bought from Home Depot stopped dimming or even turning on IF they were installed in acircuit with and LED rated dimmer. Sometimes they would flash on. If they went into a similar fixture without the dimming (direct wall switch) then they work just fine.

Nothing wrong with the LED, it runs on the bench power supply. The circuit is cUL approved, so is not a really cheap knock-off. I'm assuming the power supply is at fault, but haven't traced the circuit to see where the failure points are. The primary filter cap charges up just fine though.

If you bought them at a big box store they should take them back and probably have your transaction record on file. If you bought on line then you are likely out of luck unless you can dig out the receipt from emails and credit card statement.

John :-#)#

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Reply to
John Robertson

There's a large indoor mall down the road from me that was quite the happenin' spot in the 1990s, but like so many malls in the US post-Amazon is still hanging on but has seen better days.

At some point they replaced all the accent lighting on the support pillars on the right and left of this image with LED bulbs but they cheeped out and now about 500 of 'em are busted or flickering making the whole place look like a seedy German discotheque. No funds to pay anyone to replace 'em. Oh well.

Reply to
bitrex

The Chinese made 5 watt LED lamp in my bedroom stopped working, then it started working again.

Need to place someone on light duties.

Reply to
Lucifer

quivalent dimmable LED bulbs in a ceiling fixture in the bathroom. Two are dead now. I've tried them in other fixtures and they don't work; I've tri ed other bulbs in the bathroom and those do work.

hey will flash on, as if a connection was making briefly. This is true in multiple sockets.

h nobody saves, and mail to GE at my cost. Pretty safe warranty risk I'd s ay. The box says 13 year life. I got about 3 weeks out of these.

Common problem. Opening them may reveal a faulty LED or melted/oxidised sol der joint. Or less likely something else.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

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