Led's burning out

brenkco · 01-30-2016, 10:24 PM

All of a sudden, I have had 3 ceiling led's burn out, 2 in the kitchen area, one in the living room. These are supposed to be 50,000 hour, 4 watt Led's. At $20-25 a piece, I'm getting concerned about them. I have 4 days to go on my 2 year warranty, so I'll check with Redwood.

This bulb was discussed before:
http://www.redwoodowners.com/forums/...nual-2618.html

The replacement at Amazon is not the same manufacture or wattage.

Just wondering if there are others with the same issue?

Thanks,

Ken

Don and Judith · 01-31-2016, 03:42 AM

We've got this issue as well. Have 3 out of 5 in the kitchen out, and 1 in the living room that has blown twice. These have all blown within the last 2 months. We are also coming up to the end of the 2 year warranty. We had asked dealer for spares but at 95 bucks after shipping, I'll try to get them somewhere else.

ted 95 · 02-01-2016, 11:29 PM

Generally an LED is rated from 20,000 to 50,000 hours on a warranty. And longer by theory. If you consider a year is 8700 hours and even if you live full time they are maybe on 6000 per year. If you say you are burning 2 - 3 at a time I would look at the following. What is the voltage rating of these fixtures. If they are rated only for 12 or 14 volts. When you are charging your batteries you maybe floating them at 13.5 and as high as 14+ volts. If these 2 don't have the tolerance between them then this could be why you are blowing multiples at a time. I would get a DC voltage tester and verify what the batteries are charging to. If this is the problem you can install a 5 cent diode inline to reduce the voltage.

brenkco · 02-02-2016, 05:09 AM

Ted,
A friend on another forum marketed LED's for RV's for a number of years. He encountered the same problem and designed/manufactured ones that didn't have an issue. I believe that the solution was a diode to solve the exact issue you describe. AFAIK, there are several thousand in use today with no failures.

I see the charge from the converter on the magnum display at 13.7 volts all the time. I certainly don't mind adding the diode to save the fixtures at $20 or so each. Can you tell me if the diode should be installed on the positive or common side? Where might one find the diodes?

Thanks!!

Ken

ted 95 · 02-02-2016, 05:34 AM

It should go on the positive side. I believe there is 2 options you can use. A) A reducing diode. Tell the shop you want a diode that will reduce the voltage by about 4-5 volts "DC". B) A diode that limits the out put of the voltage to 12 volts. By that I mean you can apply 12 up to 24 volts on the in side and the max 12 v will be on the out side. Be sure to ask what side is the hot/feed side. You can pick them up usually at an electronics store. One that is into parts. Radio shack may have what you need. But I'm not sure. Last little note...If you can get the diode to have an output at 10 volts your LEDs will last even longer. And if they do dim the eye should not notice it. I will try to contact someone I know tomorrow and get back to you.

brenkco · 02-02-2016, 01:51 PM

Ted,
Thanks!!

Let me know what else you find.

Ken

ted 95 · 02-03-2016, 07:16 AM

my contact was not in today... Will have the info in a day or 2.

Shane Wood · 02-03-2016, 02:43 PM

The LED fixtures I have that are going out are 12v 4W made in china. My float voltage is 13.3v This should not cause these lights to burn out. Just ordered another dozen from Tiara in anticipation of more going out. have replaced 6 of the 4 1/2" so far in 15 months

brenkco · 02-03-2016, 03:07 PM

Shane,
It's my belief these are an older style, defective design as described above. Either I'll modify what I have as Ted is researching or I'll go another route find a replacement LED with the correct electronics. Simply stated, LED technology has overcome this problem, these lights have not.

Ken

ted 95 · 02-03-2016, 04:42 PM

ken
http://www.rvlighting.ca/document/Ec...0catalogue.pdf
while I'm trying to get you the other info but this may help. They supply parts for RV industry. I know some of the items they sell are automatically made to work on 6 - 12 - 24 volt (universal) let me know

brenkco · 02-03-2016, 05:45 PM

Ted,

The halogen replacements look close but I'm pretty sure they won't work. There is some sort of electronics in the OEM fixture itself. I'd drill out the rivets and check, but I'm sure redwood will want the bad ones back.

Let me know what you find on the diodes.

Thx

Ken

mhs4771 · 02-04-2016, 12:16 AM

Thus the reason some LEDs are on E-Bay for 1 or 2 bucks and others are 10 and 12 bucks, and of course we get the 50 cent versions.

Shane Wood · 02-04-2016, 01:57 AM

That's wherein the problem lies. You get what you pay for. The new LED fixtures probably cost the manufactor a couple bucks ea. An LED bulb or fixture should last a couple of years the incandescent and halogens have heat and small filo men's to deal with that shorten their lifespan. I am now going on over 6 mths with 3 of them I purchased from Tiara. The LED pattern is different inside the fixture than the stock ones. My only concern is the made in China sticker on these new ones to

mhs4771 · 02-04-2016, 02:27 AM

Changing to LEDs was the first mod to our 2012 RL, cost me $365.35 to do every lite in it, but three years later when we traded we hadn't had a single failure nor heard the converter fan run when we turned on the main ceiling lites.

rob_fla · 02-04-2016, 02:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mhs4771

Changing to LEDs was the first mod to our 2012 RL, cost me $365.35 to do every lite in it, but three years later when we traded we hadn't had a single failure nor heard the converter fan run when we turned on the main ceiling lites.

Same experience on our previous SOB 5th Wheel, changed out 39 Halogens to LEDs, (cost was about $275) no more light failures and rarely heard the converter fan come on again.

Grizzby · 02-04-2016, 03:46 AM

We've converted to LED's in our 2012 36FL. The only problem we encountered, was that the LED's worked their way out of the pin sockets while travelling. I put some musuem putty on the ends and solved the problem. All of the LED's were purchased through Amazon. None have failed after two years of use.

Bob

ted 95 · 02-04-2016, 04:16 AM

I have found these on ebay
10 G4 MR11 Low Voltage Landscape Light Bulbs 12 LED's in Warm White | eBay
they are 2.4 watt and work on 10 to 30 volts. At 20$ for 12 for me this is your least expensive solution. Also they are only driving them at 190 lumens so without seeing all the tech info it does not look like they are over driving them. That is one of the biggest problems with LEDs "overdriving" I went to a dealer today and got this part number off the chip KL-3W5730 from the fixture over the bed. (for me the 10 to 30 volt window will at least eliminate the voltage variance if you have that issue)

brenkco · 02-04-2016, 03:44 PM

Ted,
Thanks, that might be a good solution. Replacing the bulb by soldering it at less than a buck a piece is worth a try. Clearly better than a new fixture at $20 ea. The OEM bulb is held in place with 2 small screws....this replacement might need a mod to hold it in placce.

Ken

ted 95 · 02-04-2016, 04:06 PM

I have one more item to through at you. You know the big 2"+ catalogs the RV dealers give out. The ones that sell "everything we don't need" my wife says. In the lighting section they sell the same type LED disk but are more wattage and $$$. The manuf is "Diamond" but they do not give any details / specs. Maybe a dealer in your area might actually have them in stock. To install the disks they should not get that hot. Plug one in and let it hang there to see the temperature then decide what high heat material you could use.

formulabill · 02-07-2016, 04:29 AM

I just changed out all mine to LED's , got them from M4 Retrofit LED Lights. Great people to deal with and very helpful. Phone # 818 717 8840 if your interested.

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