LED Light Bulbs

[Kdf101]

Ever since we replaced the incandescent bulbs in our house with the “longer lasting and energy efficient” LED’s, we have had terrible luck with them. It seems they are always burning out, flickering, or otherwise not lasting. It seems they are way worse than the old bulbs we replaced, and a lot more expensive. Maybe it is just us?

 

[Cameramonkey]

probably the bulbs you are buying. I burn out very few.


I have some that are at least 8-10 years old.

 

[WebSnyper]

I don't know if it's true, but I've been led to believe there are dimmer switches are not compatible with LED's and that can shorten the lives of the bulbs. Not sure if that's a marketing gimmick to sell new switches /fixtures or not.

There are definitely better quality LED'S than others.

 

[Kdf101]

What are good quality brands? I just bought the first ones I came to at Lowe’s……

 

[Michigan Slim]

I had to switch out dimmers to use LEDs.

 

[Kdf101]

I had to switch out dimmers to use LEDs.

If we have dimmers, I don’t know about it! We are not that advanced here. Maybe it is just buying crappy bulbs.

 

[Michigan Slim]

If we have dimmers, I don’t know about it! We are not that advanced here. Maybe it is just buying crappy bulbs.

Could be. We have some fail too. Lowes, Menards, etc.

 

[lrdudley]

A few facts about LED bulbs and dimmers.
Not all LED bulbs are dimmable. Check the package.
The technology for old style dimmers was created long before LED bulbs came into existence. It is a real oddity if they will dim a LED bulb properly.
Some modern LED dimmers have to be calibrated to the LED load on the circuit. Check the packaging for detail on how this is done.
I try to stick with Sylvania or other name brands and have had good experience. Sylvania was our #1 seller when I was the Electrical Manager at a Menards.

 

[Cameramonkey]

And the incompatible dimners and occupancy sensors will work. Kinda.

You can’t dim all the way, and an occupancy sensor will leak enough current when off that the led will give off an eerie glow.

 

[indyblue]

Phillips, sylvania are the ones I stick with. Most (not all) are now dimmer compatible, but older ones may not be. It’s not usually the LED portion that is the problem but rather cheap, under designed power supplies that are built into them. The LED itself runs on DC. They begin flickering when the full bridge rectifier goes defective and becomes a half rectifier.

 

[Hoosierdood]

LED lights will easily last 10+ years. Its the LED drivers that are the problem. Cheaper bulbs use cheap drivers to convert the 120v to the lower voltage of the LED bulb. It's not the LED that goes bad, its the drivers. Buy good bulbs (dont cheap out) and they will last a long time.

 

[Butch627]

I bought Sylvania dimmable LED cans with adjustable color temperature from menards. Bought matching Leviton switches. When turning the lights on, 12 of them they all start at different times and some flicker on startup for about 2 seconds it looks like a fireworks show. None have burned out but I am not happy with them.

 

[jkaetz]

When we moved in I replaced about 30 BR30 incandescent with LED equivalents. They lasted a couple years before they started fizzling out. I ended up replacing all the can fixtures with the dimmable 6" LED wafers and so far they are brighter and still working. I have also had a number of phillips LED "bulbs" fail when used in enclosed fixtures. While LEDs don't get as hot as incandescent, they do get hot and if they can't breath I believe it shortens their life. Most of the house has been converted over to Lutron's Caseta series switches for automation purposes. The dimmers work with most dimmable LEDs. A few needed a small load resistor.