Home Improvement Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for contractors and serious DIYers. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
I opened it and expected I'd find bulbs I could replace with smart hue-changing bulbs, but found a pad of LEDs:
But I see some holes near the center. Is hope not lost? Can bulb attachments be places there? Or does this whole fixture have to be replaced?
I tried Googling "Intertek MXL1074" per that label but it only results in this Energetic Lighting 14" LED Flush Mount Fixture for $30.
I can only assume that finding just an LED driver will be more expensive or time-consuming than it's worth. Sadly, many things are becoming a disposable commodity so you can either continue that trend or get a fixture with replaceable bulbs.
And for those interested in "why":
Unlike traditional incandescent light bulbs that typically last 1,000 - 2,000 hours, or a year if used just a few hours a day, LEDs can easily last on the order of 50,000 hours. The LEDs themselves rarely fail. The part that fails first is almost always the driver, which in this particular case may actually be replaceable (the box in the middle).
The result is that since a well-designed LED light fixture can easily last 5 - 10 years or even longer, depending on usage (how many hours per day, how many times on/off, ambient temperature, among other factors), the old mode of "easy to replace bulb" is being replaced with "appliance" mode. Do you worry about how easy it is to replace your oven's heating element or other parts? Not usually, and depending on when the problems start happening, often the solution is to replace the entire appliance.
There are two recent major updates to LED lighting, in addition to gradual improvements in color rendering (CRI), temperature, power usage and MTBF:
For WiFi or other remote control, the better overall solution, in my opinion, is smart switches. There are a number of reasons including control multiple fixtures with one switch and keeping normal "switch at entrance to room" functional.
For multiple colors - get a plug-in lamp that uses Edison-base bulbs. Personally, beyond dimming (and some dim much better than others) I see no point in adjusting the light output. But that's me.
The one you have can not be adapted to what you want, it needs to be replaced.
Turn off the power.
Remove/ unscrew the white box in the middle, and let it hang on the wires.
Unscrew the screws left and right of the white box (on the black part). No need to remove the 4 black small screws on the outside.
Now the whole assembly will come off but still hanging on the wires.
Take a picture of the wiring and Disconnect the wires.
Go to hardware store and decide what type of ceiling light fixture you want. Look for the one with with E27 screw in bulb holder.
Follow the instructions how to mount it
