These bulbs are not economical at all because I have to constantly replace them. Saving on electricity does not justify these expensive bulbs burning out in less than a year. The only two that have lasted are in my range hood for light above my stove. Those experience extreme heat and yet they are fine. I have had to replace 2 light fixtures that have permanent LEDs and no replaceable parts too.
Important: never buy IKEA bulbs (lamps and all the aesthetic part OK, but not the light bulb itself)
I had dozens of those dying one by one in my apartment, I always substituted them with Philips bulbs and they never had issues
They are commodity now. No way for a brand to differentiate themselves other than price, and consumer s usually buy the cheapest thing available. There’s no market for nicer designs because they’re too expensive. They may offer more expensive bulbs, but it’s probably still the same shitty cheap design.
My experience is that dimmable bulbs last longer because the power supply cannot be shittified as bad as the on/off.
Get an electrician. It sounds like bad wiring or voltage control or something.
Are they on a dimmer? Some older dimmers don’t place nice with LED.
LED bulbs do last, that’s why they’re manufactured to overdrive the elements so they burn out sooner.
Try getting dimmable ones and run them a little lower.
Tangential, according to one of my college lecturers even the cheapest LED bulbs are capable of lasting multiple human lifetimes, its the little power supply circuit that comes with each bulb that breaks and ruins the bulb.
The actual Light Emitting Diodes loose brighness over time due to, amongst other things, dopant migration which is something that gets accelerated by higher temperatures (though even when disconnected and in storage, it still happens).
(I have some red LEDs which are almost 4 decades old from back when I played with Electronics as a kid and they’re way less bright - barelly lighting up - than the ones I got a few years ago)
That said, the cheap conversion/regulation circuits in those lamps can exposed the LEDs to frequent spikes of voltage or current beyond their spec, and even though most electronic components can handled occasional slightly out of spec power (they tend to be designed with chunky margins), do it too often and they’ll will probably die.
And then, of course, as your college lecturer pointed out, those conversion/regulation when done with cheap designs and components tend to die way more easilly than the LEDs themselves.
Others have said it, but it’s never too much. LEDs last forever, it’s the transformer that breaks. What makes a transformer break is mostly power surges. Either your electric installation has a problem or they’re connected wrongly, for example on a dimmer.
I’ve had LED lights for decades that are still going. In fact I don’t think I have ever needed to replace a led bulb in my life.
That’s a wiring issue. Bulbs burning out shockingly fast means something else is wrong. Had the same issue in a ceiling light until we replaced the wiring.
The only LED bulbs I’ve ever seen die have all been from one light fixture. Eaten at least 1 every 8-12 months. I’m not buying new ones to replace them. Just going through the stock I have then going with something that cares less about voltage. I’m pretty sure it’s a power delivery problem and I’m uninterested in trying to solve it because this is the only effect I’ve experienced.
Might be worth looking into phosphor-converted LEDs. A little slower to light up, but supposedly last longer and are more heat-tolerant.
Dimmer switches + dimmable bulbs and never, ever buy whole units with non-replaceable LEDs, those things are a scam and little more than e-waste.
I’ve never had to replace an LED bulb, ever. They last forever if there isn’t a problem with your installation, like poor electrical wiring or poor ventilation
That’s unusual. I have ones that lasted 10 years but they eventually go. It’s usually the driver circuit, not the led itself.
Exactly. LEDs are rated for 10k hours. 10-15 watt power supplies made both to cram into a tiny space defined by GE 100 years ago for a completely different lighting technology, and to hit a $2.00 price point for the whole assembly? Not so much.
I’ve actually got a super cheap and super bright LED in my garage that has been working for a long time, but it’s one of those big ugly sunflower looking ones that would never fit in an enclosed fixture anyway, so it actually lets the power supply breathe. Even then, I’m sure it’s putting out more lumens than is good for whatever half-assed components and heat sink are in it.
The first LED I bought is about 7 years old at this point, so that tracks. I was being hyperbolic when i said “forever”, they aren’t designed to last literally forever, i just meant many many many years
I’ve gotten LED bulbs at Goodwill for $1 for a 4-pack. I have those in my front and back porch lights which I keep on 24/7. I haven’t had to replace them for years.
You may have an electrical issue that’s causing them to burn out. Have you had an electrician test the wires?
I once bought a test bulb cheap off Primecables. The colour was shit and the bulb turned on 5 minutes later after being turned off in the app. Threw it out a day after installing, and bought Phillips Wizz. 2 years later my whole apartment is full of them, no issues whatsoever. 15$/bulb but worth it imo. Much more reasonable buy than Hue.
Some nice YouTube vids on repairing ‘burnt’ LEDs. A lot of times, it’s a single LED (of 12), bypass that, light works again.
But then the voltage per LED increases, leading to soon death of another LED, so this is a ‘just for the moment’ fix.
Not necessarily. Proper LED drivers adjust voltage to feed them a certain specified current. The driver will decrease voltage and heat more if it’s a basic transistor circuit but smarter circuits will just chop the power more. Even if it does supply the higher voltage due to use of a basic resistor circuit, there should be some safety factor that keeps the emitters below max power, so having 8% higher voltage shouldn’t affect longevity much. There’s many variables. Obviously everything I listed is regarding ideal conditions
Ah, yes the LED driver is usually constant current type. I’ve been thinking too simply and assumed it’s constant voltage.
