# Defunct LEDs



## richard863 (May 1, 2005)

Appologies if finger trouble got this quip has into the wrong spot :? 

After having fitted at great expense LED replacement xthousand hours life bulb units, side contact, MR3s and the rest. I now discover at least 3 individual LEDs in all bulbs are not illuminating. As the MH is only 4 years old I am sure I haven't exceeded the running hour quote.  

Have any other members experienced this problem, and how have you got over the problem.

A great or better new year to all.


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

I can not help much but at least you will get a bump.

We have LCD through out now nearly three years old without trouble. Did you buy LCDs which will tolerate a wide variety of voltages, ours are 11 to 30 volt or some such. Alan.


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## airstream (Jan 7, 2009)

*gtee 12months?*

Hi,
All the retailers and webb supps I have found claim x100000 hrs but only 12 month gtee - why?
I have 20 ish on my boat and several have needed to be replaced due to individual leds failing, all just after 12 months
Cheepo leds I purchased from Lidle 18 months ago still ok - these say 12 volt unlike the ones that failed that were 9 to 15 volt
Luck of the draw?
Regards Rat


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## GerryD (Sep 20, 2007)

Unfortunately lots of people are spending lots of dosh on "LED Lights" that are not worth having. Any LED with sufficient light output to replace an incandescent or any type of filament light cannot and will not for the foreseeable future provide any more than a fraction of the expected light output.
Stick to Flourescent for light output with energy efficiency or halogen for brightness.
Fashion is great, but inevitably the leaders of fashion soon learn the errors of their ways.
Gerry


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## gaspode (May 9, 2005)

GerryD said:


> Fashion is great, but inevitably the leaders of fashion soon learn the errors of their ways.Gerry


You do seem to be having a bad case of negativity tonight Gerry, didn't she buy you that new 'van for Xmas? :wink:

The older type of LED (glass "blob" type) seem to be much less reliable that the more recent surface mounted types. We've been using LEDs for quite a while now and haven't had a single failure (yet). :?

I have in the past experienced failures with the older type of unit, usually due to poor quality of soldered joints onto the circuit board rather than actual LED failure. If you're adept with a soldering iron and can access the rear of the board, these can often be "sorted" by just going over all the joints with a hot iron.

To say that LEDs aren't "up to the job" is I think quite misleading. We've got a mixture of types in the van, all warm white colour and they do an excellent job, hardly distinguishable from the halogens that were originally fitted (except for current consumption). You do need to choose the correct bulb for the application though. We use surface mounted units with a wide beam for ceiling mounted fittings and narrow beam "glass blob" units for spotlight fittings, works very well for us without compromising lighting levels.


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## Spacerunner (Mar 18, 2006)

The first LED's I bought were the 'blob' type and quickly started to fail.

The next ones are an enclosed type with a magnifying lens on them and have been great with an excellent light output.

I think that over the last 18-24 months there has been a vast improvement in the technology so it might pay you to search out some more up to date versions.

OK its going to be more money but when wildcamping off EHU you are not going to be worried about the batteries going flat.


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## richard863 (May 1, 2005)

*defunct LEDs*

Many thanks all

Most of my Leds are of the little bubble side contact type, the new sort with the super brights on the end of what looks like a cross are fine. I didn't realise the older versions were so septable to voltage variation, as when the leisures run down a bit and then you recharge them.
Althought I use a battery to battery charger which starts a charge at around 50 odd amps it is still only a stable 12 volts, so could this be part of the problem?


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## bobandjane (Dec 29, 2007)

Hi Richard, we have all ours done apart from the 3 spot lights, not had any problems, just got another 4 , and all except one came from Aten Lighting that advertise on here along with 5% discount.  But the first case I'v seen mentioned was on the other side on the 24th I don't know if you saw it. He had trouble with this type, I only have the flat ones.  Bob.


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