Light Bulbs?

[ohioshooter]

We have replaced 4 of the decorative LED bulbs in our 2 month old house. The replacement bulbs (same brand and wattage) say 15,000 hours life. Am I the only one? Never had this problem before. Our last house was all LED.

[Keefelane66]

Although it was an expense we replaced every light bulb in out home when we moved in in 2010. We have not had to replace any led builds yet. Knock on wood.

[tophcfa]

We have replaced 4 of the decorative LED bulbs in our 2 month old house. The replacement bulbs (same brand and wattage) say 15,000 hours life. Am I the only one? Never had this problem before. Our last house was all LED.

Must be a bad batch of bulbs, we switched to LED’s a long time ago and never had one burnout. Hopefully they are not introducing planned obsolescence into the newer bulbs to force consumers to have to buy new ones, like Apple does with iPhones?

[retiredguy123]

LED bulbs can fail do to excessive heat. If these bulbs are in an enclosed fixture, they are more likely to fail.

[Stu from NYC]

In our 2 1/2 years of living here we have already replaced a handful of our led bulbs and that were not enclosed in a fixture

[villagetinker]

I saw an article recently regarding life od LED lamps. As noted above the type of lamp housing will effect the life, especially if the LED lamps are enclosed and get hot. The next item was buying the least expensive LED amps as these typically skimp on internal components and heat sink materials resulting in short life. Without more info i would suggest getting name brand LEDs, most of these have a warranty/ We replaced all of the lamps in our house in 2013, and have only had 3 or 4 failures of the original CREE lamps. We changed several of the original fixtures and then installed new LED lamps and these have had a higher failure rate then the original CREE lamps, which are no longer available.
The other possibility is if this fixture is on a dimmer, and the LEDs are NOT rated for dimming, this may cause premature failure.

[vintageogauge]

In 5+ years we have had two or three fail but they do appear to be dimmer now than when new or maybe my eyes are getting bad. Do they in fact start getting dim after several years?

[ohioshooter]

LED bulbs can fail do to excessive heat. If these bulbs are in an enclosed fixture, they are more likely to fail.

Not excessive heat. LEDs don’t get that HOT. We bought a 4 pack to replace the bad ones, we now have our fifth one flickering. Just ordered 4 more.

[Dotneko]

We have replaced 4 of the decorative LED bulbs in our 2 month old house. The replacement bulbs (same brand and wattage) say 15,000 hours life. Am I the only one? Never had this problem before. Our last house was all LED.
If your house is still under warranty, they will come and replace them.

[derkster]

I have replaced a number of bulbs in the first 6 months after moving in.

[banjobob]

I have noticed the same problem with some LED bulbs , short life. However I have a LED spotlight shining on our flagpole that has been burning 24/7 for almost 3 years unbelievable.

[Tonydivo]

We have replaced 4 of the decorative LED bulbs in our 2 month old house. The replacement bulbs (same brand and wattage) say 15,000 hours life. Am I the only one? Never had this problem before. Our last house was all LED.
New house starting to replace because they are blowing out

[Tonydivo]

LED supposed to last ours are all blowing out, new house

[annhennessy]

Call warranty the will replace them for a year. There was a bad batch of bulbs, and they did nit catch them all

[annhennessy]

Call warranty they will replace them up to a year

[CoachKandSportsguy]

Not excessive heat. LEDs don’t get that HOT. We bought a 4 pack to replace the bad ones, we now have our fifth one flickering. Just ordered 4 more.

I have purchased LEDs in the past which have gotten very hot as the step down transformer produced a lot of heat. 120 V in and low V out requires some sort of in line transformer. .

me thinks you are not very experienced with electrical engineering

[conmadev]

LED bulbs can fail do to excessive heat. If these bulbs are in an enclosed fixture, they are more likely to fail.

That might explain having to replace the tiny light on the underside of our NEW microwave TWICE in one year. If you haven't had to do that, it's a real trick getting it in without ruining the prongs!

[JohnnyT]

I as well had issues with LED bulbs flickering and not lasting. But fortunately I found out that the bulbs I had were warrantied for 5 years. Westinghouse replaced my bulbs for free. I needed to show proof of purchase which I did because I ordered them originally from Amazon so producing the receipt was not a problem. Additional if the bulbs are on a dimmer a special dimmer for LEDS is required.

Hope this helps,

[ohioshooter]

Thanks for all the replies. I have my answer, I'm not the only one with this experience. I didn't start this thread to get educated in electronics. I'm just a 78 yr old guy that has owned five new homes. By the way, number 6 bulb just went out. Lets close this thread, no need for further replies.

[ton80]

I have purchased LEDs in the past which have gotten very hot as the step down transformer produced a lot of heat. 120 V in and low V out requires some sort of in line transformer. .

me thinks you are not very experienced with electrical engineering

Coach,
I have done various engineering for 50+ years and believe in real life experience.

LED bulbs that I have purchased do not get very hot. The Led bulb uses very low electric power probably less than 10% compared to an equivalent light output incandescent bulb. My guess is that the integral transformer in the bulb creates a loss of less than 10% of the LED bulb power consumed.

The desk lamp I purchased can use a 40w incandescent bulb. When turned on you can not touch it without getting burned. I replaced the incandescent bulb with a 40w equivalent light LED bulb. I can touch the bulb when lit and it is very close to body temperature. The metal shade feels close to room temp.

Incandescent bulbs makes light by transforming power into light by heating the filament hence the large heat out....call 40 w...you can not touch a powered on 40w incandescent bulb.

The equivalent light LED bulb consumes less than 5w. Call 4w
The heat generated in the transformer creates probably 10% of the LED power consumed or 0.4 w

In round numbers, the incandescent bulb produces about 100 times more heat in the bulb.
(40/.4 )=100

I agree with the previous poster that LED bulbs should not burn out from excessive heat.

[OhioBuckeye]

Well we don’t live in TV anymore but I had 2 bathroom LED fixtures changed, the first they did because our house was less than a yr. old. They said if it wasn’t under warranty it would of cost us $180. The 2nd LED I did myself in about 10 mins. & cost me $27. total. No way am I going to pay anybody $180. & probably more now. Your right when we lived in Ohio we had things done for FREE when we lived there for 8 to 10 yrs. Seriously LED lights only have a neutral wire (white wire) & a hot wire (red or black) then snap light in & turn it on. Hope this helps!

[retiredguy123]

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[retiredguy123]

Coach,
I have done various engineering for 50+ years and believe in real life experience.

LED bulbs that I have purchased do not get very hot. The Led bulb uses very low electric power probably less than 10% compared to an equivalent light output incandescent bulb. My guess is that the integral transformer in the bulb creates a loss of less than 10% of the LED bulb power consumed.

The desk lamp I purchased can use a 40w incandescent bulb. When turned on you can not touch it without getting burned. I replaced the incandescent bulb with a 40w equivalent light LED bulb. I can touch the bulb when lit and it is very close to body temperature. The metal shade feels close to room temp.

Incandescent bulbs makes light by transforming power into light by heating the filament hence the large heat out....call 40 w...you can not touch a powered on 40w incandescent bulb.

The equivalent light LED bulb consumes less than 5w. Call 4w
The heat generated in the transformer creates probably 10% of the LED power consumed or 0.4 w

In round numbers, the incandescent bulb produces about 100 times more heat in the bulb.
(40/.4 )=100

I agree with the previous poster that LED bulbs should not burn out from excessive heat.
Incandescent bulbs are designed to produce light with heat, LEDs are not. My LED lamp bulbs are fairly hot, especially at the base. If the LED bulb is enclosed inside a fixture, excessive heat can build up, and cause some of the LED bulb components to fail. So, an LED bulb in an open air fixture is likely to last longer than those in an enclosed fixture.

[ohioshooter]

Incandescent bulbs are designed to produce light with heat, LEDs are not. My LED lamp bulbs are fairly hot, especially at the base. If the LED bulb is enclosed inside a fixture, excessive heat can build up, and cause some of the LED bulb components to fail. So, an LED bulb in an open air fixture is likely to last longer than those in an enclosed fixture.

After my sixth bulb went out I checked the temp of the others on that circuit. Three lamps above my island. After 30 minutes of being on the bulb was 104 deg. I could easily hold my hand on it indefinitely. The problem is not heat.

[retiredguy123]

After my sixth bulb went out I checked the temp of the others on that circuit. Three lamps above my island. After 30 minutes of being on the bulb was 104 deg. I could easily hold my hand on it indefinitely. The problem is not heat.
On my living room lamp LED bulbs, I can touch the glass part of the bulb, but the base is way too hot to touch. I don't know what caused your bulbs to fail, but, if you Google LED failures, there are many studies that say overheating due to inadequate ventilation is a major cause for failure.

[ohioshooter]

On my living room lamp LED bulbs, I can touch the glass part of the bulb, but the base is way too hot to touch. I don't know what caused your bulbs to fail, but, if you Google LED failures, there are many studies that say overheating due to inadequate ventilation is a major cause for failure.

I’m inclined to agree with whoever said bad batch of bulbs.

[daddymac1127]

If your house is still under warranty, they will come and replace them.

They did not to that for me.

[daddymac1127]

Call warranty they will replace them up to a year

They did not do that for me

[mikeycereal]

I’m inclined to agree with whoever said bad batch of bulbs.

During the villages early warranty inspection, that's what the light bulb guy said to me. There was a bad batch and they had to go around checking. Told me to test my lights, leave them on for a few hours. If they start flickering then they are part of the bad batch. So far I've had none do that.

Pretty sure they would replace them if yours failed. But gotta check with that one guy. Can't remember his company off hand, drove a big truck with his logo on the side. Not only deals with bulbs, he also checks the fuse boxes.

[birdawg]

Not excessive heat. LEDs don’t get that HOT. We bought a 4 pack to replace the bad ones, we now have our fifth one flickering. Just ordered 4 more. was told by the gentleman at Ace Hardware that the led bulbs don’t work in the overhead can lights that work off a dimmer switch. They blame it on the type the Villages uses

[jparsoneau@aol.com]

Our house is only eight months old and only occupied probably four months out of those eight months. I have replace close to a half a dozen lightbulbs from burnt out to blinking lightbulbs

[DAVES]

We have replaced 4 of the decorative LED bulbs in our 2 month old house. The replacement bulbs (same brand and wattage) say 15,000 hours life. Am I the only one? Never had this problem before. Our last house was all LED.

You've been lucky. I have a bag full of blown LED bulbs. The bad news is where there are several bulbs in a fixture and one blows, it is hard to find one where the color of the light matches exactly. If, they do not meet the stated life, you may be able to return them. Do you have the receipt? I don't. The cost to return them if purchased mail order, is often close to or more than you paid for the bulb. Like all electronic items, they are far less expensive than they used to be.

I've had better luck with with branded bulbs. American brands such as GE are still made in China but hopefully the quality control, the specs are higher.

I have a set of CREE lamps in our outside light controlled fixture. They've been working just fine for roughly ten hours a day for 9 years. 7x10=70 a week x52week=3640 a year x 9yrs=32760 hours.

[DAVES]

In 5+ years we have had two or three fail but they do appear to be dimmer now than when new or maybe my eyes are getting bad. Do they in fact start getting dim after several years?

No. An advantage of LED bulbs is the do not get dimmer. Fluorescent bulbs do get dimmer. The amount of light can drop to half before they fail. Tungsten bulbs the filament over time is deposited on the envelope-the glass enclosure. You will see that a clear bulb, easiest to see, blackens before the bulb fails so a loss of light quantity and a change of color of the light.

[Luggage]

Chinese bulbs go bad , buy the better brand like feit

[birdawg]

After my sixth bulb went out I checked the temp of the others on that circuit. Three lamps above my island. After 30 minutes of being on the bulb was 104 deg. I could easily hold my hand on it indefinitely. The problem is not heat.
The problem is the dimmer switch

[ohioshooter]

The problem is the dimmer switch

You may right but I never dim them, and some of the ones that have burned out are not on dimmers.

[CoachKandSportsguy]

Coach,
I have done various engineering for 50+ years and believe in real life experience.

LED bulbs that I have purchased do not get very hot.

I agree with the previous poster that LED bulbs should not burn out from excessive heat.

The problem with an individuals real life experiences is that their sample size is usually very small to tiny encased within a personal bias of belief, and you are discounting my real life experience of heat

Should is not the same as does for many more reasons that only the designer and manufacturer know. Many and most models do not, but there are some which do, and those i had, had a warning on the label about not to be used in an enclosure, so even the mfg knows about the heat issue.

but keep posting the electrical equations may be correct, but the particular components and design gave off the heat. don't disagree that the design was not the best modern solution, but that doesn't mean the heat wasn't real.

[birdawg]

You may right but I never dim them, and some of the ones that have burned out are not on dimmers.
Me neither, that’s what I thought they say it’s the type the Villages uses. Try the bulbs in a lamp some work if they are not on a dimmer switch

[Viperguy]

Thank the EPA

[karenzeee]

Yep - I have replaced several! SMH
:ohdear:

[davephan]

Some of the LED bulbs fail. LED bulbs claim to last for many years, and sometimes that’s true, sometimes not true. The early LED bulbs years ago were less reliable than today’s LED bulbs, in general. But some LED bulbs still fail long before their rated service life. I prefer the warm white 2700K LED bulbs, which are harder to find.

You might also spend a little more money on the Lutron Caseta dimmers or interrupters for your outdoor light switches. Those Lutron light switches can be programmed with your cellphone to turn on at sunset and off at sunrise. It’s programmed to your sunset and sunrise at your zip code. You set it one time, then it follows the changing sunset and sunrise times perfectly, even during the standard / daylight saving time changes. I see so many homes in the community that have the outdoor lights on during the daylight or forget to turn the outdoor lights on at night. The Lutron Caseta light switches solve that problem permanently.

[Regorp]

If your house is still under warranty, they will come and replace them.
Been here 3 weeks and 2 bathroom LED bulbs are out. Have to check the warranty for a chance to replace. Hard to find the exact bulb and don't know if dimmable. Thanks.

[Matzy]

We replaced all bulbs in the 2014 house, just one bulb went out after 2 hours. Lowes replaced it right away. We use GE BULBS.

[BrianL]

Every LED light bulb has a power supply to convert the 110 VAC to the DC voltage required by the LEDs. The thing that goes bad in most LED light blubs is the AC to DC power supply. The actual LEDs are fine; however, they no longer have power once the power supply goes out.

[bark4me]

It's called builder grade materials. I've had to replace quite a few in our new house. I'm sure before the house is a year old I will have replaced all the bulbs

[Dotneko]

They did not do that for me

They did for me. Twice.