Nubo
Enlightened
- Joined
- Dec 23, 2004
- Messages
- 461
One of the most attractive features of LED is, of course, not having to worry so much about "blown bulbs". But I've been having problems with an LED light lately. I'm not going to name the manufacturer since they're bending over backwards to make it right. But, so far, I've had a 75% failure rate in just a matter of a few hours of runtime. These are 5mm LEDs, and aren't driven overly hard as far as I can tell. The Mfr. has a good reputation. The light itself wasn't abused.
The failures have all manifested initially by a "flicker" which progresses to a flashing/strobing behavior. The output didn't dim, just became intermittent. In one case the lamp stopped lighting altogether.
I guess I'm curious as to what exactly could be failing in these lamps? Could it be the thin wires leading to the die? Damage during soldering? I don't think the phosphor failed.
It's kind of disheartening as it has blown my assumptions about the reliability of LEDs.
The failures have all manifested initially by a "flicker" which progresses to a flashing/strobing behavior. The output didn't dim, just became intermittent. In one case the lamp stopped lighting altogether.
I guess I'm curious as to what exactly could be failing in these lamps? Could it be the thin wires leading to the die? Damage during soldering? I don't think the phosphor failed.
It's kind of disheartening as it has blown my assumptions about the reliability of LEDs.