Can LED lights be repaired?

Not long ago I bought a Chinese 16 LED light from a seller here. I have no beef with the seller. He's offered great service and I don't want to even appear to be slamming him in an inappropriate forum. What I'm looking for are the answers to two questions. Well, more than two but two basic thoughts about this "failed" LED.

1.) Can the light be repaired? What's the best way to go about it if so? If not, will the "burnt out" LED affect the other 15 negatively?

2.) Since the "life" of LEDs tends to be very long, it's my assumption there is some other failure at work here, a bad solder joint, something else. Is it typical for these inexpensive lights to be failing so quickly or did I just hit the bad luck jackpot? The light has hardly been used and has been subjected to no abuse or accidents. It just suddenly was missing one LED.

Thanks very much for any answers, help or comments you care to offer.

1 50 cent LED in bank of lights failed? Aint worth fooling with. Live with it. Thats what is good about multiLED lights- 1 dies the rest live. Boo Hoo. Don't you have a cavity in a tooth? You live on. I do.

NikolaTesla /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

An Arc lamp is the Spark that takes away the Dark--HID Forever!

My Lights

It should be pretty easy to repair, once you can get it open. Unless yyou get a fairly expensive light, it won't be regulated, ie LED's running right off the battery. This is good for inital brightness, but it really kills the LED life. I got a 4 white LED 3xAA flashlight from a discount store a while ago. It was nice and bright. but after a weeek, two of the LEDs were dead, one was blinking (internal failure) and the last one was dim. upon opening it I found the LEDs were running straight off the batteries, ie 4.5v. If I had used recharageables in it, it might have fared better. but the included batteries were too much for it. White LED are happy around 20-25mA. When I tested the current on another light of the same type, it was drawing a total of 220mA, or 55mA per LED. I guess a couple of 1/2 cent resistors would have raised the price too much

Jeff

I have one of these as well, which I bought from a retailer in S'pore. Funny enough same thing happened to mine too, one of the Leds near the centre seemed to stop working, but at times it just flashes very weakly as well... Looking at the construction of the light, it might not be that straightforward to open up, the bezel seems glued down to the body I think.. But then brightness is not affected by much, so for the price, I think I'm just gonna leave it as it is...

Thanks WR. It doesn't surprise me the light is fairly cheaply constructed. It certainly didn't cost me much so it's no big deal but it might have been an interesting project to try and fix.

Stanley, sounds very similar to my light. One near the center went out. And yes, I think the bezel is cemented on somehow. I think your last is the right one, now it's, maybe, 1/16th less bright. Not a big deal. Especially for the money.

Thanks to both of you for taking the time to respond.

If the LED's are connected in parallel(which is most likely) , I think that wouldn't bode well for the remaining ones. Assuming the LED that gave out "died" of over current, that means the remaining LED's get to share more current which will further shorten their life until another gives way and the cycle repeats(domino effect). /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jpshakehead.gif

Interesting legtu. It sounds plausible enough. I think I've learned something about cheap lights. And that's fine, it was an inexpensive lesson indeed.

Thanks.