LED lights are a great energy-efficient way to light your home or office. They use less power and last longer than other types of bulbs, making them the perfect choice for those who want to make an environmentally conscious purchase.
There can be some negative aspects that come into play after the extended usage of an LED light. If you notice that your LED lights are not performing as well as they used to or seem to be flickering more often than usual, then it could mean that they are going bad and need replacing.
In the remaining parts of this article, I will examine what it means when LED lights go bad and the factors that cause it to happen.
1. The High Voltage of LED Lights
All LED lights have certain voltage ranges in which they can work efficiently. The voltage that makes the diode light up is called the forward voltage. When this voltage limit is reached, the LED light almost becomes a short circuit.
The more you increase the voltage, the higher the current draw becomes, and as the current increases, so does the heat generated.
Like any other electronic device, the LED lamp does not like heat. The voltage fluctuations that cause temperature changes can burn out the LED bulb and shorten its life.
In short, any LED light will burn out faster the more you exceed the specified forward voltage as more heat is generated.
Obviously, you can increase the input voltage for any LED bulb if the diode is sufficiently cooled, but that’s not a good idea because efficiency decreases as the voltage rise above the specified forward voltage.
In the case of a car, the driver can tell the change in voltage by the brightness of the light, if it increases it means the voltage is increasing, and if it decreases it means the voltage is decreasing. The same can be detected wherever there is LED light, for example, at home or in industry.
Solution
It is advisable to have a proper thermal that can control the heat in a hot environment and help the LED light last longer. One of the advantages of the LED light is that it has low thermal components that can regulate the heat and reduce the damage.
Contact an electrician to test the voltage in your home or car and correct any faults.
2. Quality LED Light Component
Since LED light has a high demand due to its performance and efficiency, various brands of LED light with its components have been available in the market with varying quality, this has created a challenge for the users to identify the good quality to buy.
For example, a component such as heat sink, power supply, and crisps (such as chip on wide, chip scale package, and surface mounted device) can be very difficult to identify which is an original and which is a fake.
If you buy your LED components that are not from a reliable and genuine manufacturer, you may face problems. So, make sure that you buy your LED components from a manufacturer that uses only high-quality parts, and when you buy them, make sure that you test them to ensure that they can withstand temperature fluctuations and other challenges.
However, you can determine if the LED light bulbs are of the best quality by identifying these factors, such as if the LED provides adequate heat dissipation to eliminate the temperature and makes the light cooler.
Solution
Also, make sure you choose a chip size for the surface-mounted as this can provide lighter and more stability, although it’s expensive it is the best compared to chip on wide which provides less quality light and is not stable.
3. Overheating of LED Light Components
LED light components regulate the temperature like a reflector dish that cools the light every time the temperature rises, so if you have a component that is not working well, there is a chance of temperature increase and causes the heat to increase which can burn the bulb.
The performance of the LED light depends on the temperature fluctuations. When the temperature increases, the performance of the LED light drops by a certain percentage, which can cause the LED light to go bad.
In a rear case, overheating can be caused by the battery, this can happen when a car has a battery that has a voltage that exceeds the required limit of the voltage.
Solution
Make sure you do frequent maintenance of a component to identify the faults.
Choose a LED bulb that fits the size of your light to ensure proper ventilation.
4. Counterfeit LED Bulbs
The problem with lighting products is that there are many products on the market that are similar. Sometimes it is difficult to tell them apart even if you look at the logos, labels, or brands.
Some manufacturers produce in large quantities without paying attention to the safety of users, which has resulted in many poor-quality products on the market.
So, if users buy them carelessly, they may end up buying inferior components that can cause various problems such as overheating or burning out.
The solution, make sure that the LED light has been tested and validated with full determination proof certificate for safety for the applications, and specifically with a particular brand that is believed to be the best by visiting their website to confirm their products because if you do not do so, then it is possible to buy the fake products.
5. Environment To Which LED Light Operates
LED drivers are designed to work best in a specific ambient temperature. The further out of the horizon you are, the more inefficient they will be, as it has been shown that every 10°C variation below or above the maximum or minimum temperature reduces efficiency by two.
It is advisable to be aware of the operating temperature of your chosen LED component and protect it from heat or other harsh environmental conditions.
It is also advisable to install a LED fixture away from the heat source. This will help the cooling component to work effectively and increase the performance of the LED lights.
6. Power Loss of The LED Luminaire
Another reason that can cause the LED luminaire to go bad is something called efficiency drop, which occurs when the LED luminaire gets hot and the electricity inside the LED luminaire increases, causing the luminous efficacy of the LED luminaire to drop by as much as 20%.
For example, if the electricity running your LED is very high, then the impact on your luminaire will be greater and the efficiency will drop, and the likelihood of the luminaire going bad is very high.
To address this challenge, the manufacturer has set a standard of 350 mA. If your components or luminaire must operate above this standard, your LED luminaire may not last long.
7. Temperature Fluctuation
One of the reasons that could cause the LED fixture to expire before its rated operating time is up could be the temperature of the environment in which it is operating.
If the temperature in the environment rises and there is no proper heat sink, the LED light can overheat and then break.
This can happen, for example, if you use LED light that is not intended to be used in an enclosed fixture such as a downlight.
Although LED light was designed to work at a low temperature, if the temperature is lower than what is recommended, it can lead to a LED light failure.
It is always advisable to read the specification and consult the professional or manufacturer to find out if an LED light can be used in an enclosed fixture and what the minimum and maximum temperatures are required for operation.
8. Structural Aspects of LED Lights
Everything regarding the structure needs to be considered because if the structure is good, the light can last for a long time and if the structure is bad, the light can only last for a short time.
For example, if the LEDs are not made of high-quality materials, then it is possible for the problem to appear.
So, based on the structural problem, we can also think about the material that has been used to mount the light. If the materials used to mount the light are of better quality, then it could cause the current to flow and run in both directions through the LED.
That is why you better pay for value for money, the more expensive the LED light will be the higher quality LED light will provide better quality and efficiency.
9. Using LED Light With Other Lighting Technologies
Sometimes we are tempted to adopt a parallel transition from old light to a new light without replacing all the fixtures at once, but this can affect your new LED light. Incandescent bulbs, for example, can be very inefficient and heat up due to poor heat dissipation.
Unlike other light sources, LED works better in a cool environment, so using LED in heat-producing fixtures may not be good for your new lights.
This is because heat builds up around the fixture and without proper ventilation or control, the LED fixture may stop working.
Using these technologies together can cause incompatibilities, one of which is heat, and you can damage your fixtures.
10. Poor Connections
A bad connection can affect the voltage your light receives, which can cause premature wear. Poor connections can be caused by the following:
The bulb is loose in the socket, the bulb was screwed in too tight and is damaging the socket, the wire connection is loose, or the contact points are worn.
Solution
Contact an electrician to check that everything is in order.
11. Bad Batch
There is always the possibility that you bought a bad batch and therefore received a bad bulb that slipped through quality control or was damaged during packaging.
If you have tried your bulb in another fixture and it still does not work, check your warranty, and talk to the supplier for a refund or a new LED light.
12. Buy Cheap LED Lights
One mistake you can make is buying and using the wrong LED lights. Due to the over clouding of thousands of products on the market, it’s always possible to make mistakes when buying a cheap product as price is a deciding factor.
Most of the time cheap LED lights are always reliable like other fixtures. Many times these lights can have problems like overheating, spontaneous dimming, flickering and premature failure.
So, to ensure that you buy a quality and affordable LED light fixture, you need to research, find a reputable manufacturer, and make a sufficient comparison with the alternative product.
13. Using Faulty Current Drivers
The driver is one of the most important parts of the LED light fixture. Its main role is to regulate the power of the light and ensure its longevity of the light.
So, it is important to buy a good driver to avoid problems that could lead to premature failure of your LED light fixture.
Please note that a good quality driver should be a low voltage driver and be able to convert AC to DC current to ensure a constant current flow to LED light all the time and the driver with this quality is always reliable and efficient.
You can tell if the current driver is bad and not worth it if it has frequent heating and premature failure, or it sells cheap and its inferior quality.
You should make sure that you buy a LED fixture that comes with the best and high-quality power drivers.
14. Using Old or Incompatible Dimmers
Dimming is one of the most important features that LED light fixtures have to offer because dimmers allow you to control how many lumens a light fixture will give, which means that it will allow you to adjust your room lighting to suit any mood that you want.
If you are still using old technology, incompatibility can be a problem. Dimmer incompatibility can have several drawbacks, such as constant flickering.
With a dimmer, you can regulate the power to the light, which means you can adjust the light by lowering the power voltage whenever you want or setting it to maximum brightness.
Therefore, make sure that you use the dimmers recommended by the manufacturer.
15. Complex Circuit Boards
Another reason for the problem of LED light is the complexity of the circuit. The advancement of technology has led to several setbacks, one of which is the complexity of the circuit boards.
However, circuit complexity does not matter if the new product is high quality, more efficient, effective, and affordable than the previous one.
We should note that the more complex the circuit board, the greater the weakness and the possibility of damage to the LED light.
Final thought on LED Light Problems
We have seen that there are so many things that cause LED light problems or to go bad. While some of them have solutions others are out of control, we should keep in mind that LED lights will always have more longevity than other lights regardless of difficult circumstances because they are a revolution of lighting technology.
