This video demonstrates how to repair an energy-saving bulb at home in just five minutes. The issue usually occurs in energy-saving sources like LEDs and fluorescent tubes. Replacing 15 inefficient incandescent bulbs in your home with energy-saving bulbs could save you about $50 per year. Today’s LED lightbulbs can take your home’s illumination to a higher level, but there is a learning curve. Making a switch to energy-saving bulbs can make a big difference in two ways: they use less energy and reduce your carbon footprint, and using less energy means you’ll save money.
This article provides 12 ways to save energy while lighting the home, with tips for efficient fixture placement and techniques to avoid wasting energy. One of the main methods is to replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs. There are several methods used to recover non-functioning bulbs, including using a capacitor connected to the filament.
Reassembly involves gluing the LED board back into the reflector, which was itself glued back together. Steps include removing the top cover, checking all leds, removing the led, taking a new led, and soldering a new led.
📹 how to repair led bulb with simple process 💡 💡 💡 🔥 🔥 🔥
How to repair led bulb with simple process | how to repair led light at home | led bulb blinking problem repair if you like this video …
Can a LED bulb be repaired?
LED lights can be repaired, especially when the issue is with individual LED diodes or the driver. Despite their long lifespan, LED bulbs can occasionally burn out or malfunction due to various factors. Common problems include flickering, dimming, or complete failure, often caused by issues with the diodes or circuitry. Understanding how to repair LED bulbs can help extend their lifespan and save money.
To successfully perform an LED bulb repair, it is important to understand the key components of an LED bulb: PC Cover, LED Chip, LED Driver, Heat Sink, and Coupling. The PC Cover covers the LEDs, the LED Chip emits light when electricity passes through, the LED Driver converts high-voltage electricity into low-voltage current, the Heat Sink dissipates heat from the LED chip, and the Coupling connects the bulb to the power source. Understanding these components is critical before starting any LED bulb repair.
What to do when an energy-saving light bulb breaks?
Clean up a broken Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) bulb by keeping a window or door open, vacuuming the area, and sealing the debris in a plastic bag. It is important to follow all recommended steps and take actions to prevent broken CFLs. If you can’t follow all the steps or don’t clean up properly, consult other sources for information on accidental breakage of CFLs. Use stiff paper or cardboard, sticky tape, damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes, and a glass jar with a metal lid or a sealable plastic bag for hard surfaces.
What is the risk of energy-saving light bulbs?
Energy-efficient light bulbs and fluorescent tubes contain mercury, which can be released into the environment if the bulbs are broken. However, the risks to human health from exposure to mercury are minimal. It is of the utmost importance to dispose of glass and mercury in a careful and responsible manner.
How long do energy-saving light bulbs last?
The lifespan of an LED light bulb is approximately five years, with a total of 15, 000 hours of usage. These bulbs consume approximately 80% less energy than conventional bulbs. The average household can expect to save approximately £4-6 per bulb per year, which represents 18% of the typical annual energy bill. The adoption of LED bulbs has the potential to result in annual savings of £140. This is based on the assumption that 34 light bulbs are replaced in a typical household, which would equate to a total savings of £140. This constitutes a notable financial benefit for households that have adopted LED light bulbs.
What is inside energy-saving light bulbs?
Low-energy bulbs emit UV light through argon gas containing mercury, which activates a coating on the inside surface of the bulb. The coating contains five rare elements: cerium, europium, lanthanum, terbium, and yttrium, which glow red, green, and blue, forming white light. Lanthanum carbonate pills can help prevent phosphate absorption in the stomach in people with chronic kidney dysfunction. Although mercury is an environmental toxin, the 3mg in a low-energy lightbulb is less than the mercury emitted from a coal-fired power station. Careful disposal is still necessary.
Do energy-saving bulbs use less electricity?
Energy-efficient light bulbs, such as LED, CFL, and halogen incandescent, can last up to 12 times longer and use less electricity to emit the same amount of light as traditional bulbs. These bulbs help reduce the carbon footprint of homes and offer a variety of warm, soft white light options. Previously, these bulbs were only available in sterile LEDs, which were cold and harsh. However, with the introduction of LEDs and CFLs, the time it takes for these bulbs to reach maximum brightness has decreased. As a result, there are numerous reasons to switch from traditional lightbulbs to energy-efficient options.
What should you do if an electric bulb burst all of a sudden?
When a light bulb explodes, it is crucial to avoid using your hand to remove it, as the glass is sharp and there is a risk of electrocution. Clean up the area and turn off power from the breaker before using gloves to carefully remove the broken bulb from its socket. This will ensure the bulb is cooled off before attempting to remove it. It is essential to clean the room multiple times a week to avoid glass shards, which can cause serious injuries.
If you suspect an underlying electrical problem, it is recommended to call a qualified electrician in Clearwater, Florida, to inspect your property and ensure safety. Contact the office at 771-9403 to speak to a qualified electrician.
Why do energy-saving bulbs flicker when turned off?
In the absence of an electrical current, the presence of capacitance in the wiring allows for the passage of a minimal amount of current, which in turn causes certain high-efficiency LED lamps to emit a low level of light and a compact fluorescent lamp to accumulate a charge and blink.
What to do when a light bulb breaks off?
The speaker employs a potato as a tool, but a pair of needle-nose pliers from Klein Tools is a more reliable alternative.
What to do when LED lights burn out?
LED bulbs do not undergo the same kind of deterioration as incandescent bulbs, which burn out. Instead, they degrade over time, which is known as “luminous decay.” This results in a gradual reduction in brightness. Once the luminosity has diminished to an insufficient level, it is necessary to replace the bulbs. Additionally, temperature influences the lifespan of these bulbs, as elevated temperatures can damage the circuitry and accelerate wear. The process may be accelerated by encasing the LED in a tight fixture.
What are the best energy-saving light bulbs for home?
LED bulbs are the most energy-efficient option, followed by CFLs, halogen bulbs, and incandescent bulbs. By understanding energy efficiency metrics like lumens per watt and ENERGY STAR certification, and considering factors like brightness, color temperature, compatibility, and fixture type, you can choose the perfect energy-saving light bulb for your needs. By making informed choices and implementing energy-saving strategies, you can enjoy a more efficient, eco-friendly, and cost-effective lighting experience. BKV Energy offers electricity savings of up to $500 per year for Texans, so consider switching to their electricity provider.
📹 How to DISASSEMBLE and REPAIR an LED lamp WITHOUT A SOLDERING IRON Do-it-yourself LED lamp repair
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That’s a big big lie. It does not come off that easy. I pried with screw drivers. It would not like originally But when I took the top off eventually and screw it in, it lit very dimly all the leds. No one shows anything for that problem. So stupid shaking your fingers or words. Like talking to children. duh. 🙄🙄using tape, are you serious? that will never last with the heat. Always solder. maybe some chewing gum is your speed. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Hi Kreosan. Thanks for excellent article and very valuable information. Many of your viewers also had great feedback. I have only one additional comment: as an electrical engineer of 40+ years, I think you need to emphasize the danger of working with live AC circuits. These lamp circuits are powered by straight rectified AC mains voltages and in addition to the common 220 V AC, they can have DC voltages present ac high as 300 V. This is a voltage level that can be deadly. Under no circumstances should they be touching a live conductor (meaning any wire or component of the circuit of lamp that is already powered up) without a fully insulated tool. (A toothpick works just fine, but not an ordinary screw driver, for example). Best regards.
This article alone made me subscribe. I truly appreciate people who tell me how to fix things rather than throwing them away. As an American, I am very impressed with the techies of other countries. Often you know many practical things that the majority of Americans are unaware of, since here it is easier to throw things away and waste. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. 🙂
Evolution of LED bulbs: – 1. LED bulbs made during 2014 or earlier were more expensive. First I thought, I was “economies of scale”. 2. They lasted > 6 years, when lit for 24 hours. They were impossible to be dismantled unless you wack them with hammer. Diffuser itself was thick as my toe nail. 3. When I opened one, I realized that they had SMPS flyback converter, which were way more efficient (converter did not heat so much). But that made the circuit and bulb more expensive. 4. Later years, the flyback converter was still there, but the EMI suppressors were removed. Such bulbs created massive noise on AM radio (still used by my grandmother). 5. Subsequently came the low cost bulbs, which had linear regulator with low efficiency. In addition to heating of LED, the converter themselves heats up quite a lot. 6. The LED now has multiple LED inside them (to take care of the voltage drop) and hence heating is more concentrated. 7. Now a days, LED bulbs are available at lower cost, but do not last long. Manufacturer is happy (higher revenue), customer is happy, environment is not happy. I see lot of LED bulbs floating in lake and drain.
I had the cover break off of an LED light I was using for my sons basketball hoop. It was so much brighter without the cover on. 3 years later it is still functioning as bright as ever. I stumbled upon this hack and didn’t realise how awesome it really is. I just butchered every other LED light in my house and expect to get triple or longer life expectancy out of them. And, YES, they are way brighter too! Thank you for making my grey matter click in and realize I was right about that first one years ago… haha 😃
SAVE THIS ONE! This is the best, simplest, most comprehensive, and compact presentation that I have found on the internet on this topic. Excellent information. Looking at the powered on light in the dark, and the super quick and safe window sealant fix are 2 of the best tips here. Of course, the designed overheating is another very valuable fact. I’m going to try drilling a few 1/4″ holes in the diffuser, and in another I’m going to drill a 1 or 1.5 inch (2.5 – 4 cm) hole in the middle of a diffuser to see how the light and temperature are improved. Thank you!
thanks a lot for this neat introduction. Besides opening them you can also use a dimmer to reduce overheating. I bought a 5 $ dimmer for my 12 Volt led bulbs and discovered that they still shine quite brightly after considerable reduction in power consumption (displayed on the meter). This means that the %age graph of the 2 factors are not parallel, i.e. not directly proportional. = A 30 % lower power input does not result in a 30% reduction of luminescence, but still gives you some 90 % of the original light, This way you can save 12 V power while still enjoying relatively bright light, especially if you use several bulbs in parallel. I never tested this on dimmable 110 V Leds but all 12 V Led bulbs I tried accept dimming.
I had 3 bulbs left over from our use. These are the dusk to dawn bulbs that automatically turn on when it’s dark enough. Due to the relatively high price and occasional stock shortages, I decided to try to fix them. Best and safest way to open them is with a cardboard cutter. The blade goes in nicely and after prying a bit in one area I move it to the next spot. First 2 bulbs the leds were fine. The regulators below must have been bad. Last one had one led blackened. Since the others were still good, it was easier to unscrew the board and replace the whole thing. Plugged it into an outside light fixture (at noon time) and it illuminated. Not supposed to so 3 out of 3 are not repairable. Firefly is the brandname.
Wow. Lots of tech info in 1 article. All to save replacing a light bulb. I like it. As far as giving off more light with the cover off, you will recieve more light directly beneath the bulb. But without the cover, you will not have much light spread about the room. It acts more as a projector than a flood light.
I’ve been repairing these, too, but I use a multimeter set to the 200VDC scale. There is actually 166VDC present across the capacitor. By putting the ground lead on the capacitor negative, I can then touch the negative end of the first LED and it will light up fairly well if it is good. Then, I move the positive meter lead to the negative end of the next LED. It and the first one will light. Then, number 3; 3 LEDs light. When I come to an LED that doesn’t light itself and the previous ones, that’s the bad one. To check the remaining LEDs, you can just move your positive meter lead to the capacitor positive and the negative meter lead to the point where the positive lead was. All the remaining LEDs should light if they are all good. If you have a good soldering gun, you can scrape the top of the bad LED down to the metal and apply solder to short across the actual diode. That way, you don’t have to fight with the small wire. I agree about the heat and have drilled holes also. My only worries about this are the possibility of damaging the circuitry inside with a slip of the bit and the possibility of insects getting inside the bulb. Too, there’s even more heat up near the ceiling or in a light fixture or in hot summer weather. So being an LED could be pretty tough. If you have a pair of rubber gloves, you can get enough grip to just rip the plastic dome right off those suckers! That’s how I do it.
I used to remove the diffuser in order te get more light – as I use for photography and sometimes movie making… In practice, the diffuser takes off 1/3 of a stop – which means that will decrease the luminosity by 1/3. Which is a LOT! I found your article very informative and funny at the same time!! 😉
I would not recommend leaving exposed screws poking out like that. There’s always the chance that the socket/box/fan the light fixture is attached to is wired improperly resulting in the hot/neutrals being reversed. (this can especially happen if you use this in a lamp that does not have a polarized plug). If the connection is reversed from normal the exposed screws are on the “hot” side of the AC connection and can electrocute you!
Hi. I personaly repair these bulbs also.. So I am happy to see that I am not alone 😉 I just use different methods. Current: When there are a few components, it is probably the integrated driver (constant current supply), so it is “safe” to bypass one LED.. But some LED bulbs contains power source that has resistor in series with LEDs to set the current (depends on voltage drop of LED chips). So by bypassing one LED you actualy increase current through them…. Diffuser: yeah without diffuser light is more bright.. but also more directional.. So if you need the bulb just above the table it is beneficial to remove the diffuser. But if you want to light entire room evenly, you would need more bulbs.. So whatever fits you… You could also leave diffuser on and drill holes in it.. It will still diffuse light, let pass some airflow, and most importantly – you cannot touch wires and get shocked 😉 Thermal: You idea with screws looks interesting.. but I’d rather use screws with nuts (and maybe washers) and tighten them tightly instead of some sealant. Maybe add some thermal paste under the head of the screw?? Or is it overkill? Main problem is getting heath from plate (PCB where are the LEDs mounted) to the body of the bulb to radiate it. Some bulbs have this plate screwed (with thermal paste) on another plate that is part of the body. But those you show have this plate just pressed into the body.. so heat is transsfered just via the rim of the plate.. poor thermal contact.. So yes, manufacturers are fiddling with those things to lower the mfg price resulting in lower lifespan.
Great article! Thank you so much. I was able to repair my lightbulb thanks to your instructions. I have one issue though: it seems that after removing the faulty led and soldering the contacts where that led was, although it works again, one led is shining much more than the rest. Why is this and how can I fix it?
It Works! Just repaired one but instead of wrapping a wire around faulty LED or covering it in window sealant, I simply cracked the lens off of the bad LED with needlenose pliers and soldered over the exposed contacts on top of it. Now the bulb is back in action. In my case all of the LEDs were initially glowing dimly when power was applied. During the repair process pressing on individual LEDs did nothing and the bad one was NOT discolored. I had to identify it by jumping each one out of the circuit individually with a small piece of copper wire. When the bad diode was shorted out the other 8 light right up.
74° Original lamp. 60° after removing the diffuser (which is there to spread the light over the whole room instead of the spotlight effect when it is removed). 55° with vent holes drilled. 52° when compromising the shock protection by having screws fixated with conductive sealant through the insulating cup. Just don’t. No temp measured after increasing the resistance.
It’s nice to see someone doing this too. I’ve been saving bulbs of my neighbors when they just throw it out. When I told them I can fix them, they were like : “No way! This is impossible to fix”.. I think they thought that LED bulbs are like incandescent, once broke, cannot be fixed. One method I use since I have all the tools is to use multimeter and set it to continuity. Then test the LEDs if it lights up or not. If it does, then the LED is good. Sometimes I found 2 or 3 LEDs burnt. I then use my heat plate to replace them with a new one. BUT your article shows a great example of how some people without tools can repair them.. Great article.
Very cool! The best cooling woild probably be to drill a larger hole in the center of the diffuser then small holes close to the board. Then drill holes on the cone close to the board and more near the base. Then you would have convection cooling on both sides of the board. Providing you are keeping the diffuser of course.
Thank you ! It works . I also cracked the yellow surface of the led and found 2 metallic contacts that come together very close, but don’t touch each other. You can solder with tin these contacts together if you put a drop of engine oil on them before soldering . I wasn’t able to solder them using usual flux, so I guess they are made of aluminium .
One of your BEST articles! It’s also wise when you can, to purchase a chandelier in which the bulbs point UP instead of DOWN, as a wiser purchase, heat goes up instead of being trapped at base of bulbs, and if you remove the bulb diffusers, the glass chandelier shrouds will still dissipate the light without hurting your eyes, then the light bounces off of the ceiling and it pleasant. All the Best! THE WHOLE WORLD IS perusal WHAT IS GOING ON THERE. 73 DE W8LV BILL
I have hated all my burned out LED bulbs. This article is the first I’ve seen that addresses this problem. Love the foreign original, with English overlay. It was a bit hard to follow, but sometimes we need to scour the globe to find ingenuity. We North Americans usually solve the problem by going out and buying another bulb.
E esse Brasil ai amigo? Me ajuda, eu meio que quebrei o soquete ele saiu essa parte que enrosca. não tem como prender de volta né? simplesmente parece que tem algo que ta faltando pq adianta nada por de volta e enroscar, da nem sinal. Acho que quebrei algum componente, não é possível, mas não parece ter nada faltando . É uma lampada igual essa, uma EWS 410
If you have a series of resistors and you short-out one, then the others get more voltage. Same for the LEDs in a chain. Wouldn’t that shorten their lifespan also? Wouldn’t it be better to replace the burned one with a resistance? But I understand, this would need difficult soldering, and Kreosan’s method is much better to revive the lamp than having no lamp at all. Thanks, will try it next time a LED bulb breaks! (And I agree with the commenters on the screws: that looks dangerous. Wouldn’t try it at home.
Good informative article. I’ve also posted a article where I used the same technique, shorting out the bad LED in the array. The only difference is I actually scraped the bad LED off and soldered the connections better, but same result. I never thought of it running cooler and lasting longer with the diffuser removed, but it makes sense.
I have a symptom not addressed here. All 30 LEDs glow dimly. About every 5 minutes they all glow brightly for about 30 seconds. Then back to dim again. I see no dark spots. Viewed through a darkener (some exposed film from 35mm days) they all glow uniformly, though dimly. Does this suggest some component other than an LED failed? None are exposed on the top of the circuit board.
For those without experience I would definitely not recommend using very sharp blades and knives as tools to replace way safer tools as pliers, wire cutters, wire strippers etc. It is definitely not worth it to take the risk of cutting a finger or worse. Great article, techniques and advice on fixing LED lamps. Thanks!
I appreciate having a diffuser because the leds are so bright when the are directly in sight. I think that the bulbs are made to be weather proof. The irony is that it would be more expensive to add aluminum fins and it would make the bulbs last longer so they would sell fewer. But I am glad that led bulbs are repairable and even easy to improve. I might consider 3d printing my own light bulb diffusers with venting. Something that makes them easier to look at will still allowing for cooling.
I use leds without a diffuser in place of directional lamps with a mirror, or where the shade served as as a white, imperfect reflector. They don’t look so nice in a globe, but ok with a socket splitter and 2 of them facing different directions. You can carefully pry the diffuser off with little damage using a dull paring knife, and then use sandpaper to even out the edge. I think if you short out one LED the others will get a higher current and burn out more quickly. I don’t think the holes would do anything for airflow in most situations. Maybe if the bulb burns horizontally in free air.
That was interesting. I did notice that for something that can last for 100 000 hours those LED-s do die off rather frequently. Now I know. Inbuilt obsolescence. They did a similar thing with regular light bulbs, some time ago. Manufacturers agreed that those should only last 10 000 hours, even if they could last 10 times longer if built to last.
Surely it is safer to just buy another light bulb rather than risking your life prodding the inside while electricity is running through it. Many years ago I read that all that the companies had to do was to make the filaments thicker which would mean the bulb would never burn out. The reason they don’t do this comes down to a loss in profit. Still, life is more important than a light bulb. I appreciate what you have shown here and enjoyed your article.
An easy way to repair it bridging the led is, with a knife remove the plastic cap of the broken led, and with the point of the knife rivet one contact to the other. The contacts are made from soft metal so you can bridge the gap easily. The best way to decrease temperature is to decrease the current removing one of the resistors, you can do it with the same knife!
I am shocked! This is absolutely not a good idea. Those who are not familiar with it should keep their hands off it. What is shown in the article is totally negligent! Above all, do not even point out that these modifications are dangerous if a mistake occurs and in the worst case can lead to personal injury or a house fire!!! Who knows what he is doing can properly replace the LEDs or at least remove the defective LED correctly. But the solution shown in the article is not ok!!!!! The person in the article is obviously an absolute amateur and that leads to dangerous situations! 🤯🤯🤯
To say that our host has a relaxed attitude toward SAFETY would be an understatement. I thought I was perusal a ‘parody’ of a repair article! Don’t do this stuff, people! Your risk of electrical shock is real, your risk of cutting yourself significantly is real,. Also you don’t operate ANY electrical device without it’s guards in place (the diffuser), ….and DRILLING holes into the enclosure????? If you have an ‘incident’, your fire insurance will NOT cover you, >>> you’ve deliberately altered a UL approved device, you’ve now voided it’s approval. This article is whacked ! Just for background, I’m a journeyman HVAC technician, licensed to work on equipment up to 600 VAC, 600 VDC. This article is offering up dangerous information, trying to save a little by doing such foolhardy practices is recklessness. Protect yourself, protect your family.
This works ones with the driver, there are cheaper ones that uses some sort of capacitor resistor voltage drop system and uses LEDs in series to reduce the voltage. If you short circuit those, the lamp break almost in no time. You may get better results if you replace the led, but that is not that simple. Also diffuser has a purpose, it increases the angle of the light. If you remove it, light will shine brighter directly below, but will not light up sides. Also, also, be careful, if you light the lamp and disconnect, there still can be charge after a long time if the LEDs are not working at all.
ATTENTION: Depending on where you live, this might NOT be a good idea. First you’re tampering with a light that has been deemed safe for sale and it’s use by Underwriters Laboratories (UL) or some other safety rating (in Canada the CSA). Secondly, the minute you take apart the bulb you’re changing it from how it was originally approved for use. If there is a fire in your home and the Fire Marshall investigating finds that this was the cause of the fire, your insurance company may declare your insurance policy null and void because you tampered with and changed the light from what it was in the original and “approved” state (even by just removing the diffuser). Insurance companies may NOT pay out the claim and you’ll be stuck with a partially (or totally) burned down house with no resources (money) to repair or re-build. This may be a cheap way to repair your LED light ….. but may turnout to be an expensive mistake. Personally, I WOULDN’T do this so DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK.
MY FRIEND THE WAY YOU USED THAT KNIFE TO OPEN THE BULB MADE ME LOOK AWAY. I DONT NORMALLY COMMENT ON THINGS NOT MY BUSINESS. BUT A SLIP WITH THE KNIFE ON THAT PROJECT WILL CAUSE YOU TO LOSE A FINGER NOT JUST GET CUT. IM A SERVICE ENGINEER AND HAVE BEEN CUT (NOT A FINGER LOSS) IN THE PAST. ALWAYS TRY TO CUT AWAY FROM YOUR BODY. AND SECURE THE WORK PRIOR TO CUTTING. GOOD LUCK AND THANKS FOR THE GREAT TIP.
If you live in the UK, please do not add screws as heat sinks. The screws have the potential to come in to contact with the supply wires. This could cause a short circuit and result in a fire. Any following investigation will discover this and your insurance will be void. Thats best case scenario. Worst case is that someone gets an electric shock from them and dies. That will be a manslaughter charge as you deliberately made the bulb unsafe and will end up with a long, long time in prison. Even removing the diffuser may expose enough of the circuit for an electric shock.
Removing the translucent bulb itself is not recommended though, unless you put another translucent screen between the LEDs and the human eye. Direct LED lighting is apparently not good for the eye. Is it the LED that heats up that much though? My understanding was that it was mostly the DC transformer from AC 220V. That’s why I prefer 12V LED light bulb: No transformer, so barely any heat, plus you can run them on a regular 12V battery in case of power outage.
Some warnings: 1st: Working on life connected mains equipment without galvanic separation can lead to electrocution and death. It is not clear if precautions with regards to this are taken in this clip. 2nd: Working or repairing electric or electronic equipment without current limitation can result in fire hazard or explosion of components, and a resulting spark arch can cause severe burns. 3rd: Modifications that breach the isolation of a lamp housing with for example insertion of a a screw can result in electrocution of people unaware of this in later usage, example while cleaning the lamp, with injury or death as result. One can be held liable for this. That said, something about the failure mechanisms of LED lamps: – The typical discolouration of a led as for example in 3:03, is caused by evaporation of metal parts being the bond-wire, or bond-wire attachment (ball) or metal anode or kathode grid of the internal LED. Reason for this is catastrophic local overheating due to over-current or a break in the bond-wire due to mechanical stresses like vibration, causing arching . The first can be caused by breakdown of the electronics current controller . Replacing or shortening of the defect LED will not take away the failure cause. – Poor (reflow) soldering in combination with thermal cycling of the lamp ( getting warm and cool again ), again in combination with a different expansion coefficient between components the the LED and the MC-pcb board can cause a crack in the external soldering joint, and thus flickering or failure of the lamp.
What an coincidence I found this article completely random and never really gave thought to these things. I kinda always knew there can be done something to these but the contacts are tiny and my soldering is crap. Still today perusal this and later going out to the storage room my light started flickering and died. I took it apart and looked around, seemed like the contacts barely had solder and it was corroded. Soldered them off and applied new solder to all LED contacts. Put the bulb back into the socket works better then new … My soldering was awful but couldnt care less, THE LIGHT WORKS AGAIN AND WITH THIS I SAVED MONEY AND DIDNT CREATED TRASH! Imagine how many people throw these out so often … ITS CRAZY This reminds me that some LED TVs and monitors work the same way, I wonder if same can be done to them, reflow the solder and contacts or change a cap, perhaps resolder one dead LED and will it fix the screen light? Or it’s more complex?
Why not drill holes in the diffuser towards the base where it’s hottest? Also, if water got into the one faulty unit, then drilling holes isn’t an option with any type of condensation or outdoor use. Seems like internal heat sinks would extend the life. But hurt future sales. These LED bulbs benefit the power company, but if they only last a few years, don’t help the consumer.
Some points were good about planned obsolescence and why LED fails. But the way how yo fix them, it’s straight way to kill somebody or cause fire. It’s bad to short LED without soldering wire to circuit because loosen wire can short circuit. Removing diffuser makes circuit open so that anybody cant accidentally touch it or flash with water, again short circuit or electrocution. Adding sharp metal objects near mains power and sealing them with electrically conductive adhesive it’s not good. Some bulbs were GU10 so it impossible to put bulb into place and it looks very weird if you can see bulb case
When diode are in series then the working voltage is divided by the number of diodes thus if you short out one lamp the rest will be overrun, the contro circuit is designed to run the lamps at the desired current it will try to run a reduced set at over current. You can replace an led, however you need to know what type of diode were used, because they all need to be the same so as the current divides equally some of us have qualification this guy does not
The “cooling screw” idea is really extremely bad, dangerous one, never do that, you are risking nasty shock surprise. The idea with the drilled holes is a bit less dangerous, but still far from OK, there is nothing conductive protruding, but you make the internal aluminum cap very close to be exposed. The thing is, although the LEDs are supposed to be insulated from the heatsink, it is only basic working insulation. If that gets compromised (a hidden defect,…), you can get phase voltage exposed on those screws. The plastic cup around the aluminum heatsink is there to provide second insulation layer, so in total there are two barriers the electrical safety rules require. Believe, if it could be made that way, LED makers would make the LEDs that way from the get go. The reason they don’t is the electrical safety. Yes, there are LEDs with exposed heatsink, but these have the second insulation barrier inside, somewhere between the LED PCB and the heatsink. Or when talking about floodlights (so not the screw in lamps), the heatsink is connected to the PE conductor which prevents it from being electrified (internal short just trips the RCD or breaker) But this approach has proven to be more expensive, so it is used really only on the higher power devices. And the same with operating the lamp without its cover. You have made the live electrical conductors exposed, that is very dangerous. Never do that.
Try making your own conductive paint. Use a blob of Elmers glue and add graphite powder. Mix well and keep adding graphite until you have a well mixed paste. Paint onto the LED and leave it to set. You should have a conductive glue sometimes called electric glue. Try using different glue where you live. 😃😃😃😃
As a fellow electronics content creator i can really appreciate this article. I kept a few of these bulbs from 2022. i didnt know these tricks but somehow i believes i could fix them. Now i know how. I was also wondering, if the LEDs are in series, it means they each drop a specific amount of the total voltage. But shorting the damaged LED, there will perhaps be a highter voltage across the other working ones. Can this a problem in your experience?
The original incandescent light bulbs lasted forever. There is one in a Livermore California firestation that has burned since 1901. The light bulb manufacturers got together and conspired to only make light bulbs last for a few years, thus creating a need to replace bulbs. LEDs should last 30,000 hours, essentially a lifetime. But my experience has been that they last no longer than incandescent ones and cost 10 times more. I wondered why the LED bulbs were burning out so quickly. Now I know. Thanks Kreosan.
Thank you. I didn’t see any darkened LEDs, so I gently probed each with a plastic handled screwdriver till I found the defective one. When I withdrew the driver tip, everything when out again, so I bore down a little with the tip on the wonky LED and that fixed its apparently loose connection. I also drilled six 3/8″ holes in the bulb before sticking it back on. Voila!
This article shows last resorts to save a LED lamp. Some methods are safe, but some are dangerous. Depends on the skill and know-how of the doer. Here’s a safe way to increase any LED lamp life a bit. Without removing the plastic diffuser, just simply drill many holes in the diffuser of new LED lamp(s) before using them. But be sure not to damage any internal parts of the LED lamp while drilling the holes. Drill holes maybe 1/4″ to say maybe 3/8″ in diameter uniformly spaced all around the plastic diffuser. This allows more heat to escape therefore lengthening the lamp life a bit, also more light will be emitted thru the holes too. This is a safer win-win solution. However, for the diehards who want to still further extend the lamp life after the lamp finally fails, they can then go with the suggestions in this article.
Just want yall to know not all led bulbs are connected in serial like the ones in the article. The one that from IKEA I opened up is clearly connected in parallel. The positive wire connected to leds in the inner ring and negative in the outer ring. In that case, there are probably some components fried on the PCB and not worth repairing.
Don’t drill holes in the base! This exposes live 240V wires that at enclosed for a reason, to prevent potentially fatal electric shocks, water ingress etc. You can’t “Safely Try” this! As stated by others shorting out an led is not a good idea! Either method shown (twisted wire or black window sealant) will either cause an in-reliable contact or a potentially high resistance one! This could result in an intermittent light, a dim light and potentially overload the other remaining LED’s which will fail pretty quickly!
Alternate title: “How To Save A Few Bucks And Risk Burning Down Your House ..” Only half-decent pros should attempt to fix electronics that use 230 V or 110 V. And you can’t know for sure that short-circuiting parts of the board is safe. You are after all messing with how the board is supposed to work. Only an electronics engineer would know for certain if it’s safe to do or not.
That’s not a fix, that’s a bug. Congratulations to the creator of the article. This is useless information. If they didn’t overdrive the built-in LEDs, it wouldn’t get too hot. I take apart the new led lamp, reduce the current to about 60%, eternal life + 6 days. The brightness will be about 80°%. You have to sell the new bulbs too….. I’m an electronics engineer, I’m not afraid to use a soldering iron. 🙂 Good luck
If one uses the very cheap LED bulbs ( Chinese ) some of the feet on GU10 lamps will not engage in the fitting, also, the lamps are slightly over sized, and in the ceiling lamps the retaining clip cannot hold the lamp in the holder unless it is ground down to size. Don’t buy cheap LED bulbs ..stay with the big named brands. One or two of mine have failed over the years but on the whole they are OK …some are going a tad dim. One started flickering. All in all they are a game changer from the traditional element type. Your history Edison.
Dangerous advice for people who have little knowledge of electricity or electronics. I suggest that you add a disclaimer. Otherwise you may be open to legal claims against you, if there is any damage to persons or property. (edit) Personally, I would particularly warn others, that adding metal cooling screws and sealing with conductive mastic is NOT a good idea.
Thanks for sharing your article ; This is a “short term” fix / solution only but do remember that each LED draws a certain amount of current from the total available current that’s applied to the globe, by bridging the gap of the “stuffed” LED – the remaining LED’s will get a slightly higher amount of current through them all & their lives will be shorter than that of having all LED’s working but by replacing the missing LED if possible – you’ll be able to keep it working properly as intended ; the only question is to where you’ll be able to buy these small SMD ( Surface Mount Device ) LED’s on their own to replace the “stuffed” LED that caused the issue in the 1st place.
Useful tip that BLACK sealant is conductive (due to smoke-carbon / graphite use to create the colour?) – but that must be checked for the used sealant. I got electroshocked by spark-plug wire due to graphite-vaseline. When the diffusor was on 180° only, the bulb was not lighting behind, I used to remove it, since the LEDs were diffusing in a wider angle. Since, the diffusors are significantly wider than 180°. Some bulbs stop working due to bad soldering: Once I contacted the bulb directly on two rods under 220V (not screwed into socket) – not working, later it made a flash, unconnected, because it was shaken (capacitor remained charged).
I winced when you used that huge kitchen knife to cut your wiring, but the temperature regulation method is interesting. I’ve noticed most of my bulbs seem to melt and I couldn’t understand why if the LED itself is cool to the touch. The step down from 120 v ac (in US) comes with a lot of heat waste I gather. I will start tinkering with these. Thanks.
Commercial LED lamps do these methods and I still have lights working years later with the led lamps still ON! Yes all the new bulbs fail way too fast and so I was thinking it was the transformer inside. Now I see there is NO transformer! So glad I have kept all my dead LED bulbs for future repairs and modifications. These are ELECTRONIC devices and thus throwing them away is stupid, unless the bulb caught fire. So removing the diffuser will lengthen the life eh? I will try that with all my cheap Home Depot LED bulbs!
Curious….. I’ve had it happen TWICE now that LED lights began to flicker slowly. Like, off for two seconds, one for one, then off for four, then on for three, over and over, random timing. Annoying and irritating. The flickering bulb is usually in a fixture beside a second light (which is working fine), so the net effect is not a complete ON and OFF of the light, but with one remaining on while the other randomly turns off and on again, it’s a dimming/brightening/dimming going on over and over. Is there a fix for THAT? Just wondering what’s going on inside the LED bulb that’s making THAT happen!
* DANGEROUS * PLEASE READ One thing I noticed: You use the sealant to hold the cooling screws in place. Very dangerous! If the insulation fails and a wire melts in there, making contact with any part of that sealant, you could have deadly line voltage on those screws, whereas before there were no exposed conductors (plastic housing and plastic diffuser). If the sealant is conductive in any way, this could kill someone.
I agree…great article, and comical at times. Thank you. Some of the comments here introducing heat sinks to the bulb just seems impractical to me. The reason: you would spend more resources than the bulb itself. Around this area, I can get a 5000k 9watt bulb for about $1.50. That is much less then paying for a heat sink. Extending the life of the the LED by drilling holes for are flow is, IMHO, the better alternative.
There’s another article on YouTube that talks about the history of light bulbs (and other electronics) and goes much more in detail about how and why they’re “engineered to fail”. It’s called “Planned obsolescence”. Which I find stupid, since LEDs seem to be our most efficient, and longest lasting, light bulbs. If you make so much money from people buying them that you never have to work again, why should you make it so people have to buy more?
Caveat: Be very aware that if things go wrong your insurance won’t pay because you fixed the bulb and not a qualified electrician. Yes, that sucks, but at least I made the decision for myself that I won’t jeopardize my future (having $$$$$$ in debt for damages a fire caused that’s not covered by insurance) over a $5 bulb.
I think it’s pretty obvious but all of this is HIGLY dangerous! There’s A REASON why the casings are closed and they put diffusors or glass around. Simply because otherwise you could easily touch any of the conductive parts and get into the circuit. This could potentially KILL YOU. Also these modifications may result in disabling any safety mechanisms, like an overheat protection or whatsoever there might else be inside. Any of this would result in your insrance to refuse any payments in case of a fire or whatever accident caused by such a modified bulb because they lose their permit if modified. Also removing the diffusor will result in a less even light distribution which you may not want depending on where and how you use the bulb. These methods are working, sure but there’s a lot of risk which I don’t think is worth it.
Have one with all leds are lit but very dim. Many parts in there, with 4 marked T2. No blacks spots on leds. Push each with toothpick, and no change. Will ceck resistor for continuity. I will stop throwing away bulbs. Was able to separate the bulb with careful cutting around with x-acto knife then prying. Took some time but no chipping of plastic. Thanks for the article !
I have an “ecosmart” bulb that looks the same as article, but built internally different. The circuit bard goes down into the stem of the bulb, and the disc with the led’s sits flat like the article and plugs into the circuit board with 2 little tabs. Anyway, all 9 led’s flicker dimly, none are burned out. Tried pushing on each one and nothing changed. 🙁
Dunno about you guys, but in 4:06 the supposedly faulty LED is not completely sealed and, when looking closely, it appears that it is actually working. Has this part been staged with a fully functioning lamp for some reason? Im not saying the method doesn’t work but this looks a bit fishy to me. Or is this just some reflection effect caused by the neighboring LED no. 13?
Hello Kreosan English and everyone, can the damaged LED be removed and replaced with a new one instead of bypassed please, I did not quite understand where the wire was bypassed from the damaged LED, can you please explain that part again please.Can you also tell me how I can find the fault on my Rug doctor mighty pro x3 carpet washer please, it will not turn on at all, and the on off button is stuck in the on position, I hope that’s helps, I have electricity measuring metres etc but my knowledge of electrical devices is basic Great article thankyou very much.
Interesting and being an Electronics Engineer most my life, but I would never try to repair the LED lamps. I could do this but why put all this effort into repairs and possibly create safety issues. LED lamps even with the diffuser on, will last quite a while (more than Incandescent lamps). I have dropped one or two of them and they still work – so the lamps are pretty durable – buy name brands. Just go out and buy some new LED lamps when on sale. Not worth the headaches to fix.
Thank you Kreosan I never knew, but I knew there had to be a way. I just tried to open one and thought I better ground myself and do some research. I have worked with many electrical things at work and I know, the big manufacturers use snap-together with a little glue for products. I saved them 50–70 thousand dollars a month, tearing things apart and fixing them. The first article I saw said to get a saw out (Right) I know better. Thanks to you, I know how to deal with the glue on the bulb, it is different from what I am used to. Thank you Again Kreosan☺
making a jumper line in place of a busted led will risk burning the other LEDs since each LEDs have only a maximum voltage capacity, every time an LED is reduced in a series connection, the division of voltage is reduced and the remaining LEDs will have to carry the extra voltage that the busted LED was supposed to carry
Thank you for posting, I have a question for you since you have been studying these. I replaced some 4′ long fluorescent bulbs with led tube lights, now 2 of them started blinking when i turn them on almost like a code, then after 2 minutes or so they get stable and work fine. Do you think this is a capacitor issue? Thanks in advance, and thank you again for the article kind sir
Just get a new light bulb for less than $1… if you drill holes like he did, you are going to get yourself or a loved one electrocuted eventually. Don’t do it. Also, don’t jumper an LED with a short, you’d change the load and increase current and heat through the rest of the LEDs. To do it properly, you should use a matched impedance, but so much can go wrong in such a small space, you might just short circuit something and start a fire when you are not looking. Don’t do it, it’s not worth it.
I once threw away an led bulb that had stopped working and when it hit the garbage can it briefly lit up as bright as if it were properly screwed into a light socket. I didn’t believe my own eyes and retrieved the bulb from the bin and gave it a whack and it did it again. I whacked it again and sure enough it lit up again. Fortunately it did it one more time when I demonstrated it for my girlfriend. If she hadn’t seen it too I’d think I was crazy. But it didn’t light again after that. I put it back into the socket to see if it really was burned out and also with the hope that I could recharge whatever had powered those flashes. No luck. Does anyone know how to purposely make a led lightbulb do this? (Yeah, I know you can buy “real” magic lightbulbs for ~ $8 from a magic shop, but it would be cool to make one from an ordinary bulb.)
If you have so much parts from defective bulbs, why you don’t assemble an other LED? You need just a special hot air soldering station and with the silicone you can glue the plastic cover back. In the country I live it is unfortunately not recommended to repair it, because after opening the CE certification is invalid and you lose the operating license of the bulb; if you cause a fire with it you have no assurance and you have to pay everything by yourself. If you make articles like this, please advice people about this legal notice!
Dangerous hints for crazy people. Seems that the author didn’t realising the reason for the enclosoure of the lamp. Yes, you can repair or modify a led-lamp with the propper tools and knowlege. If you don’t have even a soldering iron, knowlegue nor propper practice with mains voltage, never ever do this. Please do not make impropper advices to dummies.
In Russia, or were ever this is, this is what you do. In USA since we are filthy capitalist with stores on every street corner we just throw it away and go buy another for a few bucks. Maybe we should setup collection stations so we can send truckloads of broken LED lights to 3rd world countries so they can revive and use them.
The question remains. If they could be made to last longer, why isn’t the company making them do it? We should let the scientist make the products instead of the financiers, they would last longer and waste less resources. The ecologists would do a much better job to save the planet if they push of companies to make their products scientifically optimum instead of telling us to reduce consumption of products of mediocre quality.
I didn’t make it through the whole article. On the one hand the idea is to fix a lamp that stopped working. Then to identify which LED is out one approach is to power it on and look for which one is out. But the original premise is that it isn’t working. If it lights to see identify a dead LED, why would you need to bypass a dead LED? I assume most of the problem is in the translation, but that doesn’t help it make sense. Oh well.
Love your thought process and ideas. There are so many things you can do with the insides of these bulbs. One criticism, you scare me with some of your tool choices. Your knife tricks are dangerous and disrespectful to the knife. Keep thinking but try to make better tool choices so your viewers do not loose fingers.
i find out a strange thing with one of my led bulb. i had one in my desk lamp. i knocked down the lamp to the floor from my desk several times. after this the bulb stopped working, i left it in the lamp for a few weeks. after that i tried the lamp on power and it worked again. i dont know how it came to work normally once more, because when it stopped working i tried it 4-5 times, moving the bulb from lamp to lamp and it didnt work on any so i thought the bulb is dead after those knocks on the floor ( the bulb didnt break, cause is opaque plastic not glass, … but my lamp base broke into pieces….. since then, more than half a year, the bulb is working