Led lights a word of caution (1 Viewer)

[Masman]

Hi Funsters.Having fitted Led lights to motorhome a couple of months ago I had a couple of failures which were replaced with no problems by supplier from EBAY.Went away at w,end and noticed a smell in van,smelled a bit like disinfectant.after investigating discovered a LED was the culprit.it had got very hot and was starting to melt.so I checked all lights and found another three were in the same situation.I have nowchanged back to original Halogen.I know lots of funsters have changed to leds .Maybe I had a bad batch but I always thought leds were supposed to be cooler than halogen.Just to be on safe side I would ask you all to check yours in case of fire risk.:thumb:

 

[DavidG58]

Good advice thanks, I bought some cheap LED bulbs some years ago, that were no good due to lack of light. But was amazed at the huge variation in price once I started looking for better

I guess there might be a quality issue here, not sure whether you bought cheap or not, or for that matter what is cheap?

We probably pay way over the odds now, but found a firm called Homewatt, great advice great product knowledge and they have backed up any issues, we have had 2 premature failures which they replaced

David

 

[icantremember]

One thing that doesn't seem to get attention when changing to led from halogen lamps is the fuse rating.

Surely if reducing the current draw by using less power hungry lamps then the fuse rating should be reduced accordingly.

Maybe I am being over cautious but perhaps some of our electrical wizards on here could advise.

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[JeanLuc]

One of the reasons for the difference in prices is whether or not the LED unit has voltage stabilisation built in. If you buy cheap ones without stabilisation, the natural variation in a motorhome's 12V system (anything between 14.8V and 10.5V) can cause them to fail.

 

[scotjimland]

One thing that doesn't seem to get attention when changing to led from halogen lamps is the fuse rating.

[HI]Surely if reducing the current draw by using less power hungry lamps then the fuse rating should be reduced accordingly.[/HI]

Maybe I am being over cautious but perhaps some of our electrical wizards on here could advise.

No.. Not required..

fuses are matched to the current rating of the cable, not to the load.

 

[Stacetop]

We have had no problems with yours although they did cost around £5per bulb but each one has its own built in fuse.

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[Jaws]

some of ours are now 5 or 6 years old.
Some came from the usual lads who do the shows, and some brought in from China via Broken Link Removed

Had one failure so far ( and we are in the van an average of 7 months of the year ) and that one was from the show supplier ( who did change it without query or issue )

There is a very good reason people sell stuff on eBay. It is often pee poor.

Whilst there are many good sellers on there ( and Amazon ) it is always worth considering the fact that decent kit will sell its self.. Iffy stuff, sold very cheaply, is sold cheaply for a good reason !!

As for fuses.. Yes, reduced mine.. Fuses may well relate to cabling TO THE DELIVERY POINT, but the unit being fused varies .. Otherwise there would be no point in putting different fuses in plug tops depending on what is being used ( as in maybe a 3 amp in a telly and a 13 amp in a 3kw kettle )

 

[tonyidle]

One thing that doesn't seem to get attention when changing to led from halogen lamps is the fuse rating.

Surely if reducing the current draw by using less power hungry lamps then the fuse rating should be reduced accordingly.

Maybe I am being over cautious but perhaps some of our electrical wizards on here could advise.

There are various opinions. I am firmly on the side of having a fuse no larger than is needed to protect (as far as possible) from exactly what you have experienced.. A fuse protecting the cable is far too large to offer any protection from circuit faults within the light unit.

 

[TheBig1]

Hi Funsters.Having fitted Led lights to motorhome a couple of months ago I had a couple of failures which were replaced with no problems by supplier from EBAY.Went away at w,end and noticed a smell in van,smelled a bit like disinfectant.after investigating discovered a LED was the culprit.it had got very hot and was starting to melt.so I checked all lights and found another three were in the same situation.I have nowchanged back to original Halogen.I know lots of funsters have changed to leds .Maybe I had a bad batch but I always thought leds were supposed to be cooler than halogen.Just to be on safe side I would ask you all to check yours in case of fire risk.:thumb:

sounds like you cooked them with over voltage well above the 12v they are designed to work on. if you were on hook up this could be over 14 volts due to the charger. in this case you need to fit a voltage stabiliser to the light supply wire

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[scotjimland]

As for fuses.. Yes, reduced mine.. Fuses may well relate to cabling TO THE DELIVERY POINT, but the unit being fused varies .. Otherwise there would be no point in putting different fuses in plug tops depending on what is being used ( as in maybe a 3 amp in a telly and a 13 amp in a 3kw kettle )

No harm in reducing , but as said not required..

On 230v systems..
The fuse in a plug top is matched to the flexible cable rating .. not the appliance wattage ..

in your examples, the tv cable will be 0.5mm or 0.75mm so it has a 3 or 6 amp fuse.. a kettle flex will be 1.0mm or 1.5mm cable so will have a 10A or 13A fuse..

Wattage. Current. Cable size .
720 (3A) 0.5mm2 Table lamps, food mixers, certain hair dryers. Note: length must not exceed 2m
1440 (6A) 0.75mm2 Refrigerators, vacuum cleaners, electric drills, irons, high power hair dryers, televisions
2400 (10A) 1.0mm2 New kettles, 2kW fan heaters
3240 ( 13.5A) 1.25mm2 3kW fires, older kettles
3840 (16A) 1.5mm2 Storage heaters, immersion heater.

 

[jonandshell]

A single LED going pop in your light fitting will create a lot less heat and therefore fire risk than a single fully functioning halogen bulb!

The quality of the light fitting is the key here. Electrical standards dictate that plastics used must be able to endure high temperatures with themselves igniting.

 

[davidallan]

...and moving a liile bit onto Home LEDs---

Over some 6+ years we have had NO failures [12v types for the M/Home] These were bought mainly from FleeBay & mixed suppliers as the prices came down

AS FOR replacement home 'Ceiling lights' / down lighters : NO SUCH LUCK--[mains voltage]

Bought a pack of 10 .....3 FAILURES in as many weeks. Smell + Smoke+ Flickering . and ALL ended up with 1 or 2 of the Segments which are now BLACK .


******WE ARE VERY PLEASED THAT WE DID ORDER THE ONES WHICH ARE "ENCAPSULATED IN GLASS ".......SOME OTHERS ARE OF THE 'OPEN TYPES'......FIRE COMES TO MIND and this could cause very serious outcomes *****
Hope this helps:thumb:

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[Trikeman]

Is there a particular 'type/sort' of LED that fails the most, or more importantly gets hot/fire? I don't really mean manufacturer/supplier.

I have had LED's for a while with no problems, however I'm interested to see which ones are failing/smelling/catching fire etc, spotlamps, downlighters, strips or multi-spots.

Regards,

Trikeman.

 

[Jaws]

If you can see the back of the unit, it will have something more on it than a resistor or two.
The best ones actually have a surface mount control chip on them, but most of ours have a surface mount transistor and a couple of discretes ( a resistor to bias the emitter, another to control the base voltage of the tranny and a capacitor to take out any stray RF or AC component on the feed voltage )

 

[Ed Excel]

This may be of interest:

Broken Link Removed

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[davidallan]

...Further info

Is there a particular 'type/sort' of LED that fails the most, or more importantly gets hot/fire? I don't really mean manufacturer/supplier.

I have had LED's for a while with no problems, however I'm interested to see which ones are failing/smelling/catching fire etc, spotlamps, downlighters, strips or multi-spots.

Regards,

Trikeman.

Hi Trikeman....These 10 units were GU10/MR16 48smd 5 Watt bulbs....actually from one of the biggest suppliers on Fleebay...some 130,000 sales !!

Obviously I shall inform the supplier since I regard these 'Failures' as being of a serious nature SO that they are aware...I am sure also that I am not likely to be the only Purchaser to have such incidents

 

[Scattycat]

Hi Funsters.Having fitted Led lights to motorhome a couple of months ago I had a couple of failures which were replaced with no problems by supplier from EBAY.Went away at w,end and noticed a smell in van,smelled a bit like disinfectant.after investigating discovered a LED was the culprit.it had got very hot and was starting to melt.so I checked all lights and found another three were in the same situation.I have nowchanged back to original Halogen.I know lots of funsters have changed to leds .Maybe I had a bad batch but I always thought leds were supposed to be cooler than halogen.Just to be on safe side I would ask you all to check yours in case of fire risk.:thumb:

We had a problem with some cheap LED lights off the net a couple of years ago.

They we're put together using hot melt glue which melted and the things fell apart as soon as they warmed up.

I took them down and cleaned all the wax off and reseated them using super glue and they've been fine ever since

 

[wasp]

I just bought two 4 meter strips to replace 6 Flourescents on top of the cupboards you got me thinking now !!

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[jetjem]

Switching from Halogens to LED

Hello,
I wondered if someone can send me in the right direction.
Just collected our 2007 Hymer C644 and wanting to make some changes to the interior lights.
I thought this was just a simple switch of compatible LED bulbs to replace the halogens, but reading further I see LEDs need to used with a LED driver?

Has anyone done the switch over on a Hymer C644 and if they have let me know how they did it.
Thanks,
Eddie

 

[DeuceBG]

I've replaced all of my halogen bulbs with LEDs in the habitation area and they are fine but they were not cheap ...Now I've replaced the interior bulb in the cab with a £1-89 one and it doesn't work :Angry:.
I guess sometimes you just get what you pay for eh!!

 

[Allanm]

We have 6 x Crown led28 ceiling lights and 6 x LED01 Lily SpotLite's fitted as standard, as well as led strips above the cupboards, and for that "old fashioned look" we have 2 halogen wall lights.
They are all standard fitment and looking at replacement prices, they are not cheap.
If I were buying led lights now, I would be looking at what the manufacturers fit and use those. They will all be properly tested and fit for purpose.
I wouldn't fit any cheap Chinese electrical stuff in the house or the van, there are too many horror stories about concerning these sort of things.

Allan

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[JOHNSTEY]

Replaced our bulbs with low energy ones off e-bay over a year ago.We have just completed 7 months in the van full time and have had no problems.:thumb:

 

[jetjem]

LED lights

Hello,
I wondered if someone can send me in the right direction.
Just collected our 2007 Hymer C644 and wanting to make some changes to the interior lights.
I thought this was just a simple switch of compatible LED bulbs to replace the halogens, but reading further I see LEDs need to used with a LED driver?

Has anyone done the switch over on a Hymer C644 and if they have let me know how they did it.
Thanks,
Eddie

Found one metal strip with 3 LEDs and resistors fitted. I had previously used some of these in my self build. I have removed the 4 x 10watt halogens over the sink/cooker and replaced them with the 3 x 1 watt (each) work perfectly.
I have sent off for some LED 1 watt bulbs to replace the single 10 watt halogens. Overall should reduce the current from about 110 watt to 11 watt :thumb:
Eddie