Pro Audio Design Forum

While not an LED I just had another CFL fail... A two lamp[ overhead fixture in the bedroom that does not get many hours of use, but does get turned on briefly a few times a day. Apparently the stress of on/off cycles did it in. Good riddance.

JR

Another link
https://www.youtube.com/user/electronupdate
look for the LED videos

Saves me from cutting my led lamps apart to see how they are built. Also check out the seek IR camera I work with someone that bought one a very cool device.
I like how the flicker and power factor are sometimes tested

Gus

Just found this tear-down on the GE 65386 LED:

http://electronics360.globalspec.com/ar ... b-teardown



I now have a second GE lamp that is beginning to fail. It flickers.
Considering that I received enough coupons for about 3 replacements for the first one that failed I may try my luck with warranty replacement again.

The prices for LEDs in the last year have gotten pretty reasonable.
I saw the Feit 13W "75W" LED in the grocery store the other day - at a store notorious for its high prices - for $8.95.
I'm very happy with the Feits and Sylvania LEDs and I consider the two to be very reliable.
Both the GEs were in very tight bathroom fixtures one completely sealed the other in a tunnel with only one end open.
Considering the lightning we have and the thermal issues of a bathroom fixture I can't say I really blame the GEs either.

The upgrade I did to electronic ballasts for the garage T12 lighting - the only florescent lamps in use - has proven o be very worthwhile.
Cold weather start-up is good, they're brighter, and the tubes seem to last lots longer.
I re-used the T12s I had and haven't had to change any yet.

I know that CFLs have a bad reputation.
My luck with LEDs have been very good and my power bills are significantly lower.

A couple of months ago I had a GE LED13DA/19/830 start flickering that I had bought back in 2013.

I set it on the bench wondering if I should just throw it away or send it back for warranty replacement.
It sat there for months. (Like a lot of stuff on my bench. )

A couple of weeks ago, in the interest of getting it off my workbench, I decided to send it back to GE.
I paid about $35 for it in 2013 (the new GE 800 lumen LED is now $9.95) and the return postage was going to be about $5.

Today I got back not one, but two identical LED13DA/19/830 replacements.
My previous GE warranty return resulted in getting back about $80 worth of coupons.
This is great customer service.

Way to go GE! I always seem to get more back in return.
And thanks to Greg Maclin in GE Product Service.

Other than the recent one that developed flicker there have been no additional LED failures.
They just work, the house stays cool and the power bill low.

The LEDs I've been buying are very high reliability compared to CFLs and I'm out of the business of changing incandescent light bulbs.

I missed the majority of the thread but I have changed over both home and the studio to LED. I've been using the Philips 75W equivalents. I don't have a spare and I forget the model number. They have been great. I don't have them on dimmers but they dim. They are 2700K which is the warmest I've found. The heat reduction is a great bonus. My studio AC has trouble keeping up so that helps a lot. I like the way they look too. I never jumped on CFL because they look terrible. I also have a few GE and Cree. They have all been rock solid.

I have a new problem with one of my LED lamps,,, I put four small LED lamps in one of those side by side fixtures to serve as a bench light for my shipping area. One of those four identical lamps is now flickering... modulating the light level at a couple Hz rate... Only slightly annoying so I'll wait until it breaks completely or gets worse.

JR

Well one of the CFLs in my bedroom overhead fixture released it's smoke... it started cracking and popping, while making the all too familiar burnt electronics smell.

I wouldn't expect life problems from a lamp that gets used for only minutes at a time a few times a day, but I expect it's more the power cycling on and off than thermal, while CFLs are notorious for heat issues too. The sconce over the lamps would trap some heat, but like I said these don't run very long when used.

The cheap (2 for $8.50) walmart's finest (cheapest) LED lamps almost light up my bedroom too bright. Brightest room in my house now.

While I was in lamp fixing mode I replaced the flickering LED in my 4x work area overhead with a another cheap walmart LED bulb... Whiter and brighter than the other three, but far less annoying than 4 the same but with one flickering.

At how cheap these lamps are now, it doesn't make much sense to ship them back for refunds.

I have a box full of dead CFLs (toxic waste), and only one or two faulty LED lamps.... I think I'll pick up a few more LEDs JIC at <$5 ea... for the inevitable future CFL failures I expect.

The CFLs only look bad compared to LED lamps. Incandescent lamps were a never ending cycle of burn out and replace. The only incandescents I have left in my house are the three 60W lamps, mounted under my computer desk as a winter time leg warmer. One of them is burned out, but no hurry to replace that, I stockpiled a few extra 60W bulbs.

JR

I picked up a four-pack of LED "60W" 830 lumen Utilitech at Lowes for around $8.98.
They're only rated for something like 4000 hours.

They are far brighter than 830 lumen and I read that this new breed of LEDs run the phosphors very "hot" (optically) and that they age more rapidly.
The 830 lumen figure may be the half-life rating.

I think we've moved back to the disposable era for light bulbs.
So far they run well and I use them on my workbench and don't seem to generate RFI.
They are very light (not much mass) and there's not much aluminum in them.
I've been thinking about using them in the closets and removing the better Feits to keep as spares.

I do have another GE 13W beginning to flicker - the GE 13W is the only model I've found prone to failure.

mediatechnology wrote:I picked up a four-pack of LED "60W" 830 lumen Utilitech at Lowes for around $8.98.
They're only rated for something like 4000 hours.

They are far brighter than 830 lumen and I read that this new breed of LEDs run the phosphors very "hot" (optically) and that they age more rapidly.
The 830 lumen figure may be the half-life rating.

That's only a year for a desk lamp you use 10+ hours a day every day... hmmm life matters for heavy usage bulbs.

I think we've moved back to the disposable era for light bulbs.

disposable, but not constantly failing like old incandescents.

So far they run well and I use them on my workbench and don't seem to generate RFI.

Perhaps a personal problem but I have a LED fixture bolted to a metal shelf and the lamp is cap coupling voltage into the shelf. I suspect the real problem is an ungrounded outlet with line and neutral reversed. I really should fix that, but I find it handy for testing my outlet tester.

They are very light (not much mass) and there's not much aluminum in them.
I've been thinking about using them in the closets and removing the better Feits to keep as spares.

I do have another GE 13W beginning to flicker - the GE 13W is the only model I've found prone to failure.

My flickering LED was made by utilitech... But who knows who makes the guts for either, GE private labels lots of stuff.

JR

I think the 4000 hour lifetime for the closet lights might be good enough.

When I changed out the incandescents in some of the bedroom and hall closets some of them may have been the originals installed in 1954 by my Dad.
They still worked, had beautiful brass bases with old GE markings, and had probably been used for less than 100 hours over 56 years.
I almost never turn them on longer than a minute.

The Utilitech's don't run quite as hot as I would expect considering they have no heatsink.