LED BULBS going bad, bleeding to other circuits

[rockwind1]

2007 attitude 33' toyhauler

replaced all my bulbs in my trailer with LED's a while back and nothing but trouble it seems. worked great at first but then all the bulbs started burning out and they are supposed to last like a million hours or something.

they usually start flickering first, for a while and then they just go. the place i bought them said they would replace them but it's such pain to ship them back plus it's been a while so they probably wouldn't now.

the other thing is right by the front door there is a panel of abut 5 switches, one is for the main cabin which has 3 double lights on that circuit, and then another is 2 circular flood lights for the starboard? side of the trailer (which i also put LED bulbs in). however, whenever i turn on the main cabin lights, (at this point on 2 of the 6 bulbs are working), when i go outside, the flood lights are partially on, just kinda dim.

it's like some electricity is bleeding thru some how, even if the switch is off to the outside lights.

any thoughts on here? thanks

[CA_Traveler]

OP,

Bench test the LEDs which will isolate the problem to the LEDs or rig.

My M4 LEDs are voltage regulated and always have consistent light.

[dougrainer]

lets look at this logically.
1. 12 year old trailer, never had a problem with the old lights
2. Buys New LED lights and now has a few problems
3. The problem is the LED lights regardless of cost
4. Jayco had a MAJOR recall to replace ALL the lights in their tralers a few years ago, because the LED lights would heat up too much
5. Tiffin has NOT had a recall but I have replaced all the LED's in about 10 Tiffins over the past few years for the same problem--they either overheat or they flicker. Both Jayco and Tiffin changed their supplier Doug

[77rollalong]

i had the same problem with some LED lights I bought to retrofit the fluorescent bulbs, they where 12v, but as I used them the leds started to fail bit by bit I think due to being 12v Max, not 14V plus the converter was spiking at. found some LED strips on stick on strip that have been working well so far..

[time2roll]

+1 for the grounds. Lamps state they are polarity neutral so they are probably subject to the backfeed of a bad ground.

[rockwind1]

SoundGuy wrote:

2oldman wrote:
You may have bought cheap bulbs that have a very low tolerance for fluctuating voltages like when your converter kicks on.

rockwind1 wrote:
i bought them here, http://www.m4products.com/led-rv-retrofit-bulbs/

do you have any recommendations for a high quality place?

M4 Products is well known for selling high quality products so rather than seeking WAGs from rest of us wouldn't it make more sense to call M4 Products and ask for their input on your issue? :@

well, i did contact them a while back to return but i told him about my rv, brand, setup, and he said it was a solid unit so we figured it was the bulbs. i think i had to fill out a return form or something and then ship the stuff back, plus i had to locate all the bad bulbs which i had put in some drawer somewhere,,, i tend to procrastinate tasks i don't want to do, like that.

plus i did ask the question about voltage bleeding over which is not really related to the bulbs themselves.

but i also wanted to find out if anyone else had similiar problems and one thing that i forgot to mention, it seemed to be only the inside bulbs, i have 6 floodlights around the trailer and none of those have ever gone bad.

but i also wanted to see if i had something wrong before i got new ones, is another reason for my post.

plus, i think once or twice WAG's have come in handy. and i also think there are some very smart people on here with a lot of experience so that is why i asked.

do you have any ideas? i guess i will go check the grounds first.

[SoundGuy]

2oldman wrote:
You may have bought cheap bulbs that have a very low tolerance for fluctuating voltages like when your converter kicks on.

rockwind1 wrote:
i bought them here, http://www.m4products.com/led-rv-retrofit-bulbs/

do you have any recommendations for a high quality place?

M4 Products is well known for selling high quality products so rather than seeking WAGs from rest of us wouldn't it make more sense to call M4 Products and ask for their input on your issue? :@

[YC_1]

Yep, remove and bench test.

Your description of them acting like they are leaking together is a ground problem. The bulbs basically end up in series and run dim.

You have more than one problem so sort out each ground issue.

One way is to make your own ground wire as a temporary tester. Make it plenty long and find a shiny place to connect it. Then go to one of the lights that is acting dimly and figure out which side should be ground by taking the bulb out and using a voltmeter to test. Then ground the proper side while testing. Use a voltmeter and your handy new ground for the negative lead of the voltmeter. Test the hot side of the bulbs.

[time2roll]

Did you remove and bench test? Any warranty?

[MrWizard]

sounds like a wiring problem
sounds like the lamps are grounding thru the outside lights that are glowing dim

I tried some retro fit bulbs, not enough light for me

I ended up replacing the fixtures with new led fixtures
I replaced 10 fixtures so far,

I got them from Amazon

After almost one year of daily use, all still work like new

[Lynnmor]

M4 bulbs are not cheap so that probably is not the problem. I use the real cheap bulbs from eBay without issue. The fact that you have other lamps coming on with low output tells me there is likely a bad ground connection. Use a voltmeter at each problem fixture and check that against battery voltage, there should be very little difference. LEDs are sensitive to low voltage, even the regulated ones if way too low.

[SidecarFlip]

Cheap LED's have cheap drivers that make electrical noise. Like everything else in life, you get what you pay for. This is no exception.

Average life is 100,000 hours, not a million. That entirely depends on the SMD quality and the driver quality.

[rockwind1]

time2roll wrote:
The few I clicked on said 10-30 volts so they should be fine.



http://www.m4products.com/alplate-24-5630-ww-warm-white-double-aluminum-plate/

i know, but they sure as heck are not fine. i will say, it was great for the first month but that is all they lasted,

i can't figure it out.

[time2roll]

The few I clicked on said 10-30 volts so they should be fine.



http://www.m4products.com/alplate-24-5630-ww-warm-white-double-aluminum-plate/

[2oldman]

I don't know which bulbs you bought from there. It doesn't matter where you got them as much as making sure you check the voltage specs for something like 10-35 vdc.