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jeremywatco's avatar
jeremywatco
Explorer
Jul 23, 2014

LED wont work in one fixture

Good Afternoon,

Just finishing swapping out all my fixtures to LED bulbs and am on the final fixture.

This fixture is the dinette light and takes 3 bulbs. Swap out all 3 with these:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0087XOTWW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And only two turn on. OK, swap out the one that wont work with one of the working ones.. still nothing.. OK.. put the original bulb back in.. Works fine... put another working LED back in it.. Nothing....

Any ideas? I've wiggled, jiggled and cussed at it.. nothing.

6 Replies

  • Its always the simplest solutions isnt it? Flipped the bulb, works perfect.

    THANKS!
  • Usually I have been able to just turn the LED over and stick it back into the socket, and it will work because the polarity is corrected.
  • wa8yxm's avatar
    wa8yxm
    Explorer III
    Regular lamps work on AC, DC and reverse polarity DC

    LED come in two types. ONE type.. see above
    The other kind works
    On DC
    On ac but at reduced brilliance
    But not on reverse polarity DC

    Now bulbs come in a few flavors physically... Some you can turn the lamp 180 degrees and reverse the polarity (Wedge based) some you can remove the led assembly from the adapter and plug it in the other way around into the adapter. And some... Dissassemble the lamp fixture and odds are you will find a bunchy of white wires and black wires coming from the sockets to a common point.

    IF this is a 3 light fixture the wires from the sockets should are most likely bundled WHITE, WHITE, BLACK and BLACK, BLACK, WHITE the one that is not working being the odd one... I suspect by now you have figured the problem.
  • That one fixture may have been wired backwards. The old 'Normal' bulb will work either way. An LED will only work if the wire polarity is correct. Some LEDs can be damaged if the polarity is wrong. I always check.
  • LEDS do have a polarity. Sounds like that one socket (of the three) is wired backwards.
  • Have you tried turning them around. I understand some led's are polarity sensitive.