FEIT Electric T48 bulb failure

[Dirtmerchant]

Thought I'd put this up as a PSA:
FEIT Electric
T48/840/LED/2
4000K/14W
1750 LM

I have 4 sets of 48" two bulb fixtures in my house, 2 that I installed these bulbs in about a year ago and the other 2, in the garage, that I installed them in maybe 6-months ago. This morning I noticed the newer two sets only had one bulb in each fixture working. Upon removing the bulbs I discovered 3 of the 4 bulbs had overheated and melted through the end cap where it connects to the tombstone. The older two sets are working great and show no signs of overheating.

I have attached pics of the bulbs, fixtures including the ballast of the lights that overheated.

The two sets that are fine were bought together and the two sets that are damaged were bought together, assuming they were from different lots. The fixtures, with florescent tubes back in them are running cool at the tombstone.

My thought is that since everything is running cool, the old LED bulbs are good and it was 3 out of 4 that overheated that I just got bad bulbs. In as much I'm going to return them to the Wholesale Club for replacement.

Any thoughts on why this may have occurred?

 

[BillK]

Are all four fixtures identical ? It probably has nothing to do with this failure but why would you not get the type of tube that does not need the ballast and get even more efficiency ?

 

[GRB]

Feit is a total garbage company. The Costco/Feit shop lights seem to be the anomaly in that they seem very reliable, even if they aren't that great a light.

 

[Dirtmerchant]

Are all four fixtures identical ? It probably has nothing to do with this failure but why would you not get the type of tube that does not need the ballast and get even more efficiency ?

@Billk No, the two in the garage where the overheat occurred are newer, probably 10-years old. The ones inside the house are about 25-years old and all original.

It's totally a matter of convenience, I'm there shopping for groceries and remember I need bulbs... sad but true. In reality, if they don't fail, the light output from them while not as good as a retrofit, is more than sufficient.

Rod

 

[Lassen Forge]

The electronics in the end cap hot hot and melted down. They're not supposed to do that, but unfortunately, I had the same thing happen with other Feit bulbs in the past. Now I stick to Philips, and haven't had a repeat of the issue...

 

[Dirtmerchant]

@GRB I've had pretty good luck with their LED Recessed can lights. I have been running close to 30 of them for going on two years with about 10% failure rate early on. I always buy a few extra so that I can replace them without worrying about a style change, at least initially....

I recently bought 12 of their chandelier bulbs too, they are all still doing fine and have a nice soft color but better output than the incandescents they replaced.

Rod

 

[driftpin]

GRB wrote:
Feit is a total garbage company. The Costco/Feit shop lights seem to be the anomaly in that they seem very reliable, even if they aren't that great a light.

I have the Costco FEIT LED shop lights, 4 ft, giving good service in two different garages after several years. I am very satisfied with the light output and service they have given me. Mine are the designed-as LED lights, not the fluorescent retrofit bulbs.

 

[ard]

Report this to federal regulators. CPSC, etc.

Over time this is the only way consumers can exert corrective action.

 

[alfredeneuman]

Feit is a total garbage company.

(EDIT)
We installed some (customer purchased) Feit PAR38 lamps mounted base-up @ 35' in a Church once.
The glue holding the body to the base melted and the rest of the lamp crashed down right next to the Priest while he was conducting Mass.
We replaced them with GEs at their expense

 

[cybrdyke]

It's doubtful that the Feit lamps are compatible with the ballast that's shown. Most LED tubes are only compatible with Instant Start ballasts, not Rapid Start, with only a few exceptions.
I tried to verify this for you, but not only are Feit's products garbage...so is their website.
CD

 

[66HertzClone]

This isn't good to hear, I have 10 of these already and just stopped off and picked up another 8 to use in the basement. I have 6 fastened to the ceiling in the garage already and plan to mount more once I get past the inspection of my boiler replacement.

 

[Dirtmerchant]

It's doubtful that the Feit lamps are compatible with the ballast that's shown. Most LED tubes are only compatible with Instant Start ballasts, not Rapid Start, with only a few exceptions.
I tried to verify this for you, but not only are Feit's products garbage...so is their website.
CD

@cybrdyke, I don't remember seeing anything in the instructions or packaging about ballast types as I would have looked to see if they were compatible. If that is indeed the case, I'll have to buy new fixtures or retrofit bulbs.

 

[driftpin]

This isn't good to hear, I have 10 of these already and just stopped off and picked up another 8 to use in the basement. I have 6 fastened to the ceiling in the garage already and plan to mount more once I get past the inspection of my boiler replacement.

Sounds like the OP has the replacement bulbs and not the entire luminaire like the Costco unit I believe you and I have.

 

[Bert_]

@cybrdyke, I don't remember seeing anything in the instructions or packaging about ballast types as I would have looked to see if they were compatible. If that is indeed the case, I'll have to buy new fixtures or retrofit bulbs.

Cybrdyke is right but it doesn't mean you need new fixtures. Simply buy ballast bypass tubes. Plenty of info on that in the best light fixture sticky. Everything in that thread is fairly decent budget oriented lighting.