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be careful with led replacement bulbs

red_ranger
Explorer
Explorer
i bought a pair of the bayonet type at walmart. i think they were $12
put one in porch lite and other in overhead. they were not real bright and i used them as nitelites. the one in the overhead burned up. the leds are charred enough that the solder melted in drops. fortunately they only got hot enough to scorch the fixture before they failed. otherwise by by mh. the porch bulb is just browned. the bulbs have 3 led on top and 6 rows of 2 around.
be careful
red
14 REPLIES 14

FIRE_UP
Explorer
Explorer
Well gang,
I've purchase ALL my LEDs from superbrightleds.com and, we're talking at a minimum, 30 + LEDs for various fixtures all over/out/inside this coach and, never had any issues with heat or damage or, burnt out units. They've been in there now for over three years. Yeah, I may have paid a bit more than many of you ordering direct from China but, the quality of the bulbs and the "offering" of outstanding service, including instant returns should any problems arise.

And, I've been goofing around with them for quite a while and, to the best of my knowledge, an LED CANNOT USE 12VDC!!! It will burn up almost instantly. It is my belief that, they must be stepped down in voltage. And, if I recall, the max they can actually handle is around 2.5 - 3.0 volts DC. When you look on all LED light strips (just purchased three of them) you'll find a zillion resistors along the total length of the light strip.

And, in the pictures below, you'll see that I had to use resistors in building my little project of "turn signal arrows" in my mirrors on my 2008 Honda GL 1800 Goldwing. When you purchase regular, over the counter LED bulbs, ALL OF THEM will have built in resistors. You may not see them but, they're there.

In one of my early tests of a RAW led bulb, the same kind you see in the pictures, I applied 12VDC to one of the bulbs and, it was like a flash bulb on the old cameras, you know, the ones with what looks like steel wool inside them, it flashed just about as fast as those old bulbs did. Then, OUT! So, to the OP, unless you're having EXCESS 12VDC in all other applications, i.e. water pump, other incandescent light bulbs, and other 12V powered components, I'd definitely say you got some bad LED bulbs.
Scott















Scott and Karla
SDFD RETIRED
2004 Itasca Horizon, 36GD Slate Blue 330 CAT
2011 GMC Sierra 1500 Ext Cab 4x4 Toad
2008 Caliente Red LVL II GL 1800 Goldwing
KI60ND

USMC46
Explorer
Explorer
A couple years ago, I started looking at LEDs for our coach. I thought they were expensive. I found a Chinese source on line and ordered them from China. Got them quickly, and they have performed perfectly. They were a fraction of the cost of those sold here.
Jim & Carmel

2016 Escape 17b
2017 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk With Factory Tow Package

garry1p
Explorer
Explorer
You need to check the voltage at the light sockets, incandescent bulbs only want 12VDC +/- connections polarity make no difference.

LED bulbs want 12VDC with the correct polarity (+ to + / - to -) they can be shorted and burned out with a reverse polarity. The center connection must be positive, the side connection must be the negative connection.
Garry1p


1990 Holiday Rambler Aluma Lite XL
454 on P-30 Chassis
1999 Jeep Cherokee sport

wa8yxm
Explorer III
Explorer III
You got Wal*marted.. Wal*mart wants cheeper so they can make obscene profit while charging you less.. So they buy lowest cost.. OFTEN the quality is not that great.
(sometimes it is good,,, I mean brand names must maintain but some brands will not even sell to Wal*mart cause they do not want to play that game).

LEDs do vary in quality,, the first ones I got were dark blue and short lived.

Later purchases have been recommendd by others and work well.. I now stick to peer reviewed brands.
Home was where I park it. but alas the.
2005 Damon Intruder 377 Alas declared a total loss
after a semi "nicked" it. Still have the radios
Kenwood TS-2000, ICOM ID-5100, ID-51A+2, ID-880 REF030C most times

red_ranger
Explorer
Explorer
Wow Mr wiz sounds like cheap $6 ? Led at 13.5 v could burn up my mh and its my bad for using them on shore power. Wow again!

MrWizard
Moderator
Moderator
red ranger wrote:
i bought a pair of the bayonet type at walmart. i think they were $12
put one in porch lite and other in overhead. they were not real bright and i used them as nitelites. the one in the overhead burned up. the leds are charred enough that the solder melted in drops. fortunately they only got hot enough to scorch the fixture before they failed. otherwise by by mh. the porch bulb is just browned. the bulbs have 3 led on top and 6 rows of 2 around.
be careful
red


Are you on shore power ?
Some cheap LED's do not have voltage regulators
Being on shore power could subject them to voltages higher than they should be used
I can explain it to you.
But I Can Not understand it for you !

....

Connected using T-Mobile Home internet and Visible Phone service
1997 F53 Bounder 36s

2oldman
Explorer II
Explorer II
voltage intolerance
"If I'm wearing long pants, I'm too far north" - 2oldman

Alan_Hepburn
Explorer
Explorer
crasster wrote:

I wonder if there is too much power going to them. Any other light trouble or 12V trouble?

Did you try to meter the sockets to check power?


In electrical circuits power gets pulled by the load, not pushed by the source. The LEDS will only draw whatever power they're designed for, unless there is a problem in them.

Maybe you're intending to reference the voltage supplied to them: if they are sold for automotive purposes then they SHOULD be designed to handle any voltage normally found in automotive electrical circuits. If they are sold for household use they will have internal circuitry to drop the 120VAC supply to whatever DC voltage they use - but again they'll only draw whatever power is required for that conversion.
----------------------------------------------
Alan & Sandy Hepburn driving a 2007 Fleetwood Bounder 35E on a Workhorse chassis - Proud to be a Blue Star Family!
Good Sam Member #566004

Davisfamily8182
Explorer
Explorer
I have bought some wedge base leds from superbightled And have used them for a month and have been extremely happy with them.

sssooo
Explorer
Explorer
my bet they were made in China'usa'

crasster
Explorer II
Explorer II
Dog Folks wrote:
Just curious, do you remember where they were made?


My guess is they were made from a diode. 🙂


To the OP:
I wonder if there is too much power going to them. Any other light trouble or 12V trouble?

Did you try to meter the sockets to check power?
4 whopping cylinders on Toyota RV's. Talk about great getting good MPG. Also I have a very light foot on the pedal. I followed some MPG advice on Livingpress.com and I now get 22 MPG! Not bad for a home on wheels.

Dog_Folks
Explorer
Explorer
Just curious, do you remember where they were made?
Our Rig:
2005 Dodge 3500 - Dually- Cummins
2006 Outback 27 RSDS

We also have with us two rescue dogs. A Chihuahua mix & a Catahoula mix.

"I did not get to this advanced age because I am stupid."

Full time since June 2006

gemert
Explorer
Explorer
A friend of mine had the same thing happen to one of the LEDs he bought at wally world also. It looked hot enough to start a fire. melted the lens also. They were the automotive style 12v that are in all the older RVs.
Jerry
Chief USN Retired
2003 Beaver Patriot Thunder C-12 505HP
2004 Dodge Ram 1500 4X4

okgc
Explorer
Explorer
Sounds like you purchased some defective LED bulbs.
Months ago we replaced some factory bayonet bulbs with LED units from Amazon. The originals got very hot to the touch and these stay cool with brighter light.
2010 Tiffin Allegro RED 36 QSA with GMC Envoy
Alaska 2015