LEDs are burning out quickly

Question

I am an DIYer and replaced bathroom light fixtures 3 years ago. Was using halogen and incandescent bulbs, but decided to switch entire house to LED. I admit that I purchased these bulbs from the dollar store and that may be part of the problem. Four of the nine bulbs have burned out after a few months. However, I just bought a new batch of bulbs from Home Depot, but do not want to install them if there could be another issue. It is in a bathroom and there are 3 fixtures chained together with 3 bulbs apiece. I believe the wiring is all correct or the fixtures would not have worked for 3 years? Right? The only other thing to note is that the switch itself is one of those lit ones that you see at night. That was also causing a problem with the LED bulbs glowing at night because they were picking up the current from the switch. Did some internet searching to solve that one. I changed the last bulb in the series to a different type of LED and the glow disappeared.

Do you feel it is the bulbs, switch. Or, possibly the wiring?

Answer 1

I'm pretty sure it's a quality issue, possibly exacerbated by minor power issues that probably can't be fixed.

Several years ago, I found a 2-pack of bulbs at Costco. They were LG bulbs and pretty pricey ($15/bulb if memory serves). Other than having my kids break the glass cover (bulb works fine), those bulbs have lasted through years of regular use.

By contrast I bought a 12-pack on a Black Friday sale a couple of years ago. While some bulbs are doing just fine, I've had to replace 3, although one might have been due to a dimmer that was on one fixture before I swapped it for a normal switch. I've even had some cheaper "branded" bulbs burn out on me within a year.

So what gives? There's a few reasons why cheaper bulbs burn out quicker. The largest is that LED bulbs have to perform a power transformation before they can power the LEDs. Cheaper bulbs invariably means cheaper components to transform that power. Add in that your house might not have the best wiring or random power fluctuations and you have a recipe for disaster for these cheap components.

I would check your voltage to make sure it's steady. If it's not, buying a dimmable LED for those locations might be advisable. Because they're built for the power change they tend to have higher quality power transformation.

Answer 2

Are the fixtures fully enclosed or are the bulbs exposed to open air? LED bulbs, while they generate much less heat than incandescent, do generate heat and the driver circuitry in the base can be distroyed by excess heat. If you look on the packaging for many LED bulbs, you’ll see the wording “not for enclosed fixtures”.

If you are using enclosed fixtures, look for bulbs so rated. Otherwise, you may have to leave those incandescent.

Answer 3

Do you feel it is the bulbs, switch. Or, possibly the wiring?

I doubt the wiring is a problem.

It is fairly unlikely the backlit switch would cause a premature failure.

It is possible that the bulbs are poor quality and failed early.

If the fixtures were designed for old-fashioned incandescent filament light bulbs, which don't mind getting very hot, it is possible they don't provide enough air-flow to cool the LED bulbs, which are generally more sensitive to overheating. The driver circuitry built into the base of LED bulbs sometimes use electrolytic capacitors - which can also fail early if run hot.