The house we bought in 2014 has a couple of wall mounted sconces / carriage lights flanking the garage. We installed new LED fixtures when we bought it, since these we keep these on from dusk to dawn as security lights for the house and driveway. And these were nice decorative fixtures, with built in LED panels - not replaceable bulbs. Well, figure 12 hrs/day, and 7.5 years… right about the 30,000 hour expected life for that era of LEDs. Sure enough, about a month ago I noticed one had reduced output, and only about 25% of the LEDs on the PCB were lit. Three weeks later, the other one started doing the same. First step was to verify there wasn’t a voltage issue - nope, all good.
So we started looking online at replacement fixtures. Criteria were LED (energy efficient), dust-to-dawn sensor, not motion activated. Not too modern, but not something that looks like a colonial lantern. Difficult to find anything under $100 (x2 lights = $200+).
So I decided to try putting my electronics knowledge to work. Surfing the web, found that you can buy “LED light engines”, which are basically a PCB (printed circuit board) with LEDs and driver electronics. They’re intended as retrofits for older non-LED fixtures, but at $8 each I figured I’d give them a try before spending $200 on new fixtures.
Took apart the old fixtures, and removed the dying LED electronics. I kept the old dust-to-dawn sensors, and wired their output to the new LED engine. A couple of self tapping screws allowed me to mount the new light engine inside the fixture, reusing the bracket/plate from the old electronics. Voila - good as new for $16 and an hour’s work. And these are rated for 40,000 hours, so they could last me the next 10 years.
I’ve bought a couple of integrated-LED fixtures, and each time I wonder about when they fail. Just assumed I’d get new fixtures. Nice to have other options.
Recently, I replaced a DR ceiling recessed integrated-LED light, not because it had failed (it had been installed 6 years ago before I moved here), but because recessed lighting is just harsh. It’s great for a kitchen, but in LR, DR, BR, etc, it’s better to have anything else: floor lamps, table lamps, wall sconces, even flushmounts.
There are a lot of artistic pendant and chandelier fixtures now with integrated LED that look fabulous, but I decided on a simple drum pendant, and the integrated-LED drum pendant I liked was closed on the top, so there’d be no uplight to the ceiling. So I got an old-fashioned drum pendant that specs 40W incandescents, and just used LED bulbs instead. Uplight and downlight, looks terrific. At some point in the future, LED bulbs will be considered as quaint as incandescents/halogen/CFL’s are now, but I hope that’s a long way off.
We have coach lights like that. The LED power supply occasionally dies. We have three coach lights, and I’ve had to replace two of the supplies. I just write to the manufacturer, complain about the component, and they send a new one. I don’t recall if I had to pay for the latest one, but if so it was only a few bucks. Cut the old one out, wire-nut the new one in, remount the light.
It’s a black box, and I think it was resin-sealed. So I couldn’t open it up. Just had to cut out the old one, splice in the new one.
The LEDs themselves are holding up really well. And this is AZ, with ridiculously hot summers (which are usually hard on electronics).
I just write to the manufacturer … The LEDs themselves are holding up really well. And this is AZ, with ridiculously hot summers (which are usually hard on electronics).
I couldn’t even tell you who made ours, so not sure how I’d go about asking for replacement parts.
We’re in FL, so high humidity is probably worse on electronics than outright heat in AZ.
I still have one of the boxes the lights came in. Plus I took a picture of the UPC code with model number and manufacturer (including their contact info). I usually do that for stuff with a warranty. And once I email them, I save the email (which usually includes address and phone and name of customer service person).
We have coach lights and lamp posts from Costco. All LEDs that have light sensors, though we have them switched anyway. Our coach lights (and lamp posts) are off right now, but I could turn them on and then they would activate themselves at dusk.
Yeah, humidity can be a problem. Though if properly constructed, it shouldn’t be. Reliability testing usually includes humidity testing, and we rarely saw fails for that (I was a Rel guy a long time ago). Though we never tested salt humidity (which I assume you have there…it would enhance corrosion).
And these are rated for 40,000 hours, so they could last me the next 10 years.
I am not certain about this, but think it is true – how would you like to make these things last say 400,000 hours? Just lower the voltage that the LEDs “see” by 10%. A resistor should do the job - well two resistors. One for each fixture.
I am not certain about this, but think it is true – how would you like to make these things last say 400,000 hours? Just lower the voltage that the LEDs “see” by 10%. A resistor should do the job - well two resistors. One for each fixture.
What would that do to the brightness? Would it induce any flickering?
You shouldn’t try lowering the voltage to a 120 Volt LED circuit. The LED driver circuitry is not as simple as an incandescent light bulb circuit. The typical 120 volt AC circuitry has an active integrated circuit constant current regulator. LED light output is controlled by the current the current which the regulator keeps constant regardless of the voltage beyond the minimum voltage required.
A nice simple primer:
A resistor should do the job
In theory, but any modification I might make to the PCB (it has surface mounted resistors) would probably reduce it’s MTBF, not increase it.
Not to mention, there are ~40 surface mounted mini-LEDs on the board… no thanks.
