Anyone experiencing any LED light failures?

[tlmartin84]

I have slowly been switching over to LED's. I purchased some GE floodlights and have used them about 6 months.

They are dimming down and flickering on and off. It is making me hesitant to replace more.

 

[American Locomotive]

Pick two: bright, cheap or high quality. Consumers made their choice, so manufacturers of LED lights are now in a "race to the bottom" to get their lights as cheap as possible.

 

[mikesgabellone]

Tsc in canada has led light bulbs that are normally about $12 each but sometimes they go on sale plus in store coupons they end up at $2 each. I have switched almost my whole house about 30ish bulbs. The only one I had that was no good was one that I dropped. A year latter not a single issue.

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[BoostAddiction]

I had some of the "early adopter" LED bulbs that lasted only about 4 years before they started to fail. Surprisingly, they were replaced under warranty.

Later ones seem to be bulletproof and I haven't had to replace any of the new LED bulbs I've installed over the years.

 

[ddawg16]

No failures here.....or with CFL's.

I think I've had 2 CFL's fail in the past 15 years.

The ground level of my garage has 18 CFL's in it. Going on 8 years....no failures.

 

[CoogarXR]

I have several LED floods that I use daily that have been going for probably 8-ish years.

The only LED failures I experience is the IR LEDs in my CCTV cameras. Seems like those only last a couple years. Then I'll lose a segment, then another, then dead.

 

[Rebelman]

I have an led flood light that I use on my flag pole that when the temperature get down around 20° or lower it starts to flash. I take it out and use a regular flood light until it warms back up in the spring and then put the led back in. Guy at lowes says he's never heard of such a thing but that's what it does.

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[My Old Tools]

I have had zero failures with Feit LED bulbs or shop lights from Costco. I had one LED bulb that came from a lighting store fail early. Just bought a pile of cheap PAR 38 bulbs at Lowes for the new house. We'll see how they perform.

 

[66HertzClone]

When our home addition was being completed the electrical contractor hung a nine bulb fixture in the foyer we had selected, we specified LED for all fixtures. Within a year five of the nine in this fixture went out, due to the height and being over the stairs it was not something I could access to change. When we had them back to install heat cables in the gutters and down the rain chains we asked them to replace the bulbs. I had purchase enough new ones so all could be replaced. I did not ask them where they purchased the originally installed ones from. But to date, I've had no other LED bulbs in the house fail.

 

[woodzy]

I probably have at least 150 LED that are over 2 years old and just installed 170 more in the past few weeks. I only have one issue with an outdoor dusk to dawn light that sometimes will just go out. I have a switch for it and if I turn it off for a few minutes and turn it back on it might work for months. Probably still under warranty but it could take me weeks to find the receipt. I'll probably just replace it when it fail completely.

Most of mine are can lights and when I purchased them (at three or four different times) I would do a couple of rooms with each brand (as every time you buy them they change by color tint or looks) and then bought one extra and in the event of a failure, I would use the spare and if I needed more than one then I would then just replace an entire room and then have spares for the other room. So far, I have about 8 spares and have no issues.

 

[rsanter]

Typically there are more problems with the off brand LEDs than the name brand.
Unless they are dimmable, they do not like being on a dimmer switch and do not like being in a circuit that has too much resistance ( is just like being on a dimmer switch)
If these are older fixtures or outside fixtures lake sure the socket is clean ( not corroded) and the base is making good contact. Potentially check wire connections too if it an outside fixture.

Bob

 

[reader2580]

My entire house is lit with LED since 2014 and no failures yet.

 

[tlmartin84]

These fixtures are relatively new, and indoors. Fixtures are good.

It is only occurring in my recessed can lights, and only with the GE flood light bulbs. They are not on a dimmer, but are dimmable floods....

 

[bushmechanic]

Philips Hue here, since the day of release... Not a single failure.

Last count I was running 47 of them. So, it's a decent sample size purchased over a decent period of time.

The proprietary Philips tech has been around by other names since around 2000 or so. It's very well proven, and has some nice new tricks up it's sleeve.

 

[Mickey O]

I'm slowing switching over, I've got 100 light bulbs in the basement mostly recessed cans, and that's a lot of juice, I think the LED bulbs would pay themselves off pretty quickly. I started with the fluorescent that said they'd last 5 or 10 years, they take a long time to brighten up and some of them didn't last a year, luckily I went every other fixture. I've been using what ever LED's I find on sale and replacing the fluorescent and incandescent bulbs as they burn out. I've got a few that have been in over a year with no problems.

I'm hoping they last a long time because I just bought some to put in the fixtures in the vaulted ceiling that are a royal pain to change.

 

[188slo50]

I've switch my rooms I use the most to led and have yet to see any big inmprovment of how they last longer. I've already switched my outside lights back to regular bulbs due to the constant flickering and replacement of bulbs.

 

[couch67]

I've switched all of the high use lighting to LED over the past few years, including the outside lights.

All good except for one issue with some pendant lights in the kitchen - on rare occasion, both lights on the circuit will flicker to the point where its annoying. Weeks might go by without it occuring. Then it will flicker for up to a few hours and then disappear.

The lights are Philips dimmables, and are switched with a Lutron LED rated dimmer switch. I might swap out the dimmer with a standard switch. I've double checked connections to the switch. Since this didn't happen with incandescent bulbs I don't think its wiring but who knows until you check. But if the switch doesn't change things, I may double check the connection at the lead fixture, and the panel just to close it out.

Anyone ever see flickering due to interference?

couch

 

[matt_i]

The 22W CFLs I put in c. 2010 (to replace the 100W indcandescents the previous owners used all over) are slowly starting to die off. No dimmers. I bought 2 exterior LED floodlights around $25/bulb at that same time, and those 2 are doing excellent.

Have bought a few LED screw bases to test out, but this is just starting. I did place my investment in 20 of the CostCo/Feit LED-tube shop lights, so we will see if that proves to be a good choice as time goes on.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

I have had nothing but problems with Feit products. I wouldn't give them to my worst enemy...

Tommy

 

[aar0s]

I've switched most of mine to led, I have 4 outside that have run 24/7 for over four years, no problems.

 

[James-W]

No failures here.....or with CFL's.

I think I've had 2 CFL's fail in the past 15 years.

The ground level of my garage has 18 CFL's in it. Going on 8 years....no failures.

I have 12 CFL's in my garage. So far none have failed. To be honest though, I don't turn them on all day every day. I only use them when I am out there doing stuff, which may be a week straight and then I won't be out there for several days at a time.

 

[cybrdyke]

I've switched all of the high use lighting to LED over the past few years, including the outside lights.

All good except for one issue with some pendant lights in the kitchen - on rare occasion, both lights on the circuit will flicker to the point where its annoying. Weeks might go by without it occuring. Then it will flicker for up to a few hours and then disappear.

The lights are Philips dimmables, and are switched with a Lutron LED rated dimmer switch. I might swap out the dimmer with a standard switch. I've double checked connections to the switch. Since this didn't happen with incandescent bulbs I don't think its wiring but who knows until you check. But if the switch doesn't change things, I may double check the connection at the lead fixture, and the panel just to close it out.

Anyone ever see flickering due to interference?

couch

maybe i can help. pm me with specific lamp info and specific dimmer info.
CD

 

[99LeCouch]

Two of the PAR38 LED floodlights in a motion fixture went out after 2.5 years. Brought them back and got them warrantied, aka store credit to get replacements. Put up some Cree replacements, which have been working okay so far. Time will tell how they hold up.

No other failures yet, and virtually all of the house is LED.

 

[swyman]

Installed 5 Utilitech floods from Lowes in the kitchen and have had to replace 4 in a little over a years time. Have been replacing with GE LED floods and so far so good.

 

[Norcal]

Installed 5 Utilitech floods from Lowes in the kitchen and have had to replace 4 in a little over a years time. Have been replacing with GE LED floods and so far so good.

Utilitech is a brand to avoid, tried them myself & they failed rather quickly, but to Lowes credit they did refund my money.

 

[Radix2]

One thing I have noticed reading the boxes of various outdoor LED par38 flood is that many of them say "damp locations only - do not expose directly to water" and have temperature ratings of -20c to 40c... which is -4F to 104F

There are other models that say specifically for "wet" areas, but you have to search the box thoroughly to find the small print for the limitations.

For Sylvania, only the glass models are for "wet", all the other ones seem to be "damp".

And what is with that temp limit? while unusual, here in MI we can get outside of both the high and the low....

 

[peterhall]

We had had a few led bulbs die within the warranty. Called the company and they shipped new ones out. I'm always amazed how nice customer support is on a lighbulb.

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[J king]

Had 1 of the sams club liters die. In less than a year. Took it back and replaced it under warranty. Holding breath now..

 

[bjcouche]

I've had what I consider terrible luck with LED's. I've installed 11 of the Cree flood lights in my kitchen CAN lights. When I installed them I wrote the date on the base in marker. I've replaced about 6 of them thus far. All of them lasted less than 50% of their expected lifetime. Some of them died within 12 months. On average I'm getting better lifespan out of halogen bulbs. The Cree lights are rated for dimmer operation, and I do have them on a dimmer, although it's usually set to it's highest setting.
As an EE I just had to figure what was the failure cause so I opened a few of them up. They all had LED driver circuit failures. The LED's themselves were still fully functional. So I guess Cree's statement that the LED's will last nearly forever is true.... It's the cheap Chinese sourced driver circuit that will die. The problem with swapping the failed ones out, is that the manufacturers keep changing the available models every 7-12 months so you can never get the same one and you end up with different colors...
I've seen similar driver issues with some CFL's I've tested. Then I have other CFL's that I have on 24/7 and they have outlasted most of my LED's, so go figure.
I have no idea on how to find a "quality" bulb that will last. It seems that consumers want cheap, and quality and longevity don't even enter into the equation.
Brian

 

[wendlwacker]

My new t8 replacement led lights failed at work almost everyone of them... but that is in a blast freezer at -15 degrees..... the rep is getting us a different style to try

 

[tinysparky]

regular LED bulbs - no problems
Smaller chandler style (for and outside fixture) and 2 out of 6 died after 3 years.

Yes, i would do it again but get fixtures with the bigger e26 bulb (normal size)

 

[jjkrjh]

We have 6 recessed lights in our kitchen. I think that they are Par 30. Installed GE Led's about a year ago. 2 started flashing on and off intermittently and have been replaced. Not the life span that I thought that we would have.

 

[zendriver]

Pick two: bright, cheap or high quality. Consumers made their choice, so manufacturers of LED lights are now in a "race to the bottom" to get their lights as cheap as possible.

How much does it cost to produce an LED? Not much. It's called markup.

The "GE" bulbs were probably expensive but failed the technology as well as quality has been improving and competition has been lowering price.

It happens with everything.

I have inexpensive tubes that are fantastic


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[DJL1967]

I have an led flood light that I use on my flag pole that when the temperature get down around 20° or lower it starts to flash. I take it out and use a regular flood light until it warms back up in the spring and then put the led back in. Guy at lowes says he's never heard of such a thing but that's what it does.

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Funny thing to come across this post after my son telling me last night that our outside light was flashing off/on. I had changed all the outside lights to LED's this fall. Our temps this week are waaay above normal for this time of year. It is actually raining out now when it should be -30c, so I'm not sure temp has a part to play in this malfunction but I will change it out with another LED and see how it functions.

 

[Mickey O]

I had high hopes for the LED's, I was already envisioning not changing a bulb for ten years plus after converting them all. At least they'll be better than the CFL bulbs although I might slow down on my change over and hope the LED's get better and cheaper over time. Unfortunately I just bought a **** load last week.

 

[zendriver]

Incandescent lights, have been around for about 150 years, LED light bulbs about 10.

Considering the technology involved, maybe we are expecting perfection a bit too quickly.

 

[American Locomotive]

Incandescent lights, have been around for about 150 years, LED light bulbs about 10.

Considering the technology involved, maybe we are expecting perfection a bit too quickly.

LEDs have been around since the 1960s, and modern high-powered white LEDs for nearly 20 years now. There really isn't much technology involved with screw in LED bulbs. They're extremely very simple. Much simpler than CFLs actually.

The issue is, there seems to be this huge drive to push the LED bulb price-point down to near incandescent pricing. Which doesn't make sense for a variety of reasons.

This drive to get the bulbs to the "magic" $2-4/bulb price point has resulted in every manufacturer selling poorly manufactured bulbs that run extremely hot with low-quality components. Then consumers wonder why they fail early.

LED and the electronics behind them are an extremely mature and reliable technology.

 

[zendriver]

LEDs have been around since the 1960s, and modern high-powered white LEDs for nearly 20 years now. There really isn't much technology involved with screw in LED bulbs. They're extremely very simple. Much simpler than CFLs actually.

The issue is, there seems to be this huge drive to push the LED bulb price-point down to near incandescent pricing. Which doesn't make sense for a variety of reasons.

This drive to get the bulbs to the "magic" $2-4/bulb price point has resulted in every manufacturer selling poorly manufactured bulbs that run extremely hot with low-quality components. Then consumers wonder why they fail early.

LED and the electronics behind them are an extremely mature and reliable technology.

Hmmm

When the Department announced the L Prize competition in 2008 (a competition designed to spur the development of ultra-efficient solid-state lighting products to replace common lighting technologies), there were just a few LED bulbs on the market that could serve as a replacement for incandescents, and most were 25-40 watt equivalents.

https://energy.gov/articles/history-light-bulb

The issue is, there seems to be this huge drive to push the LED bulb price-point down to near incandescent pricing. Which doesn't make sense for a variety of reasons.

It's been decades since I messed with LED,s but they were one of the most inexpensive components made. They re probably even cheaper to make today.Companies would not be selling them cheap, if they were not still making a nice profit.

Certainly GE and Sylvania would probably still love to get $13 each for small bulbs, but we all live in a world of fierce competition.

Personally I have never experienced an LED lighting bulb failure, having about 95% home and garage LEDs, either tube or screw in..

 

[zendriver]

Wondering if some LED failures are the result of power surges.

thinking of adding a surge suppressor to the lines for the garage LEDs.

 

[BDT/NWMN]

I started with the hallway and night lights, then the most used areas, and completed the gradual switch-over of the screw-in bulbs to LED last year..

One of the earlier purchases were five feit 40 watt equivalent bulbs from Menards. All were dead within six months. I have stocked up on the Walmart Great Value branded 60 watt equivalent bulbs and have used them indoors and in unheated sheds.. So far, I have replaced three of them due to flickering.. 4 bulbs for $1.92 .. Low price has something to do with an incentive from a local power company... I lack the details on that price incentive; but I am surely not complaining. At $0.48 per bulb I have opted for the cheap and bright option for all locations, so have not tried any LED floodlight bulbs..