fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
Well, that's the garage light upgraded for £8. Won't need the LED flood lights now !
Another one in praise of LED lights.
- Thread starter Dave7
- Start date
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ebikeerwidnes
Guru
- Location
- Z’ha’dum
They replaced the whole thing - said there was no way to replace the "bulb" and it is all a single unit
If they had said "just keep the old one, not worth returning it" then I would have taken it apart to investigate
but they wanted the old one back so I thought I better not fiddle!
That heat dissipation was true in the early 2005 years when designs / power circuits were 5-10 times less efficient than 2 decades later, which is why those with the shape of an incandescent weighted like 3 times more due to the entire encasing (except the transparent / glass ofc) was made of metal, complete with protruding ribs like a heatsink to increase air's contact space.
Nowadays failures are caused by cost cutting in components, semiconductors that work near the edge of their design curves, and too thin or detoriating constructive materials for both ECB and leds, with as notable example of the latter the later introduced philament (wolfram alike look) model where the supportive structures of the led strings just collapsed, and 2) their brightness decreasing speedy gonzales to some dim nightlamp to bin and replace, Philips 5 year ago being an example brand/period/model.
And, as always, even with better components/materials, weak spots that ruin it, such as the glue that binds parts, or the housing, some environmental-friendly certified cheaper whoms bind is good for a day.
I'v came across one exception: a 3W workspot design from the early years, with a widely spaced array oldschool leds protruding through a reflective sheet metal, bought 2 at the time, abit later 1 more with a PIR sensor, and many years later 3 more secondhand (they aren't produced anymore like that), and they all are still as bright as at start.
Just like with all, there's alot crap for sale, sometimes electrical fail for no apparent reason, nothing visibly seen, at 1 occasion I came across 5 identical brand/model twistlock socket ones all new looking, all dead, totally transparent glass and no black spots, breaks, whatever to be seen.
Another example case were a batch similar identical, from the period with leds individually mounted on mini-pcb's, mounted with alot space inbetween in a variety of geometrical shapes including as TL replacement, where one after another went black (not dark as no light, but burned out, something that should never happen). Expensive things, yet failing like that.
Before a certain point in time, failure was mostly due to heat and thus design (to replace existing, sometimes things have to be cramped in small space) but since, mostly due to cost cutting. Plastic cheaper than metal, cheaper than glass (but glass conducst heat way better), one plastic cheaper than another, and so it went further downhill, resulting in the default becoming doctrine of replacing the entire product instead of the failing part.
These days they demolish sturdy built houses instead of renovating them, due to the environmental law doctrines' demands that makes renovation too expensive, new houses with thin walls, wooden parts, all kinda cosmetic design pro- and intrusions art made of biodegradable crap, read: a financial horror to maintain and repair, read: throw away houses, every 2-3 decades a demolition>rebuild>pay more cycle.
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Regular.Cyclist
Über Member
- Location
- South West Scotland 🏴
We have been Philips Hue for nearly a decade but there is a lot more choice now that is not only cheaper, but in some cases, better.
I moved everything over to LED lights when I moved into my current home in 2024. Some rooms had up to 5 60W lamps which I have replaced with 3 to 5 watt LED ones depending on what we need.
Typically we have a single light on in the living room set at 36% of maximum output and, on occasion, turn on another matching lamp at the same power setting.
Home assistant make everything ‘just work’ using it’s automations, scenes and scripts linking in other things such a mmWave presence sensors.
I moved everything over to LED lights when I moved into my current home in 2024. Some rooms had up to 5 60W lamps which I have replaced with 3 to 5 watt LED ones depending on what we need.
Typically we have a single light on in the living room set at 36% of maximum output and, on occasion, turn on another matching lamp at the same power setting.
Home assistant make everything ‘just work’ using it’s automations, scenes and scripts linking in other things such a mmWave presence sensors.
ebikeerwidnes
Guru
- Location
- Z’ha’dum
When I first moved in here I got some new lights from a lighting shop nearby
The bloke that ran the shop told me that I had 2 options
a) get the light - then when the included LED light wnet - get a good quality one and then replace that one in about 20 years or more
b) just pay a bit extra now and never have to replace the bulb for over 20 years
He estimated that the included LED "bulbs" (in those days) would last between a few week and a few years and there was no way to tell which
Things seem to have improved and the better quality ones are now the normal
The bloke that ran the shop told me that I had 2 options
a) get the light - then when the included LED light wnet - get a good quality one and then replace that one in about 20 years or more
b) just pay a bit extra now and never have to replace the bulb for over 20 years
He estimated that the included LED "bulbs" (in those days) would last between a few week and a few years and there was no way to tell which
Things seem to have improved and the better quality ones are now the normal
oxoman
Über Member
Sadly whilst you pay for what you get with LED lights I've yet to find any that have lasted more than 5yrs in an industrial or commercial setting. My experience within my house is they last about 3 or 4yrs. Like the old lamps the smaller they are the quicker they seem to go. Candle shape seem the worst the old shape pearl and globe style seem better.
figbat
Former slippery scientist
- Location
- South Oxfordshire, UK
We did a total renovation of our house around 13 years ago. This included a complete rewire and installation of LED downlighters in some rooms. So far not a single one has failed out of a total of 21 that are fitted.
However the pendant lights or wall-mounted uplighters that we fitted with LED bulbs (Edison screw and GU10 types) have been through several lamps each.
- Location
- Somewhere wet & hilly in NW England.
Never heard of them, thanks for the heads up.
- Location
- Somewhere wet & hilly in NW England.
The only place for LED's is the bathroom & kitchen. And then they need to be lower-powered and 'warm'.
Houses with ultra-bright lighting are hideous - too cold and uninviting.
Imo.
Houses with ultra-bright lighting are hideous - too cold and uninviting.
Imo.
Regular.Cyclist
Über Member
- Location
- South West Scotland 🏴
If that is the case then the wrong LED lamps are being used.
Mine are neither too bright or too cold, instead they sit in what I consider to be the Goldilocks zone.
Aye... I bought some a while ago to replace the pitiful existing LED bulbs in the (admittedly probably under-specced) pair of ceiling lights in the homestead's kitchen.
Went with 20W / 3400 lumens / 4000K (a "neutral" while since it's predominently a working area so didn't want it too warm). These were novel (to me) bulbs with multiple LED chips arranged in a corncob pattern around a cylindrical body.
The difference has been astounding - now you can actually see what you're doing, which is nice..
Went with 20W / 3400 lumens / 4000K (a "neutral" while since it's predominently a working area so didn't want it too warm). These were novel (to me) bulbs with multiple LED chips arranged in a corncob pattern around a cylindrical body.
The difference has been astounding - now you can actually see what you're doing, which is nice..
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