Cheap LEDs; a cautionary tale

K

Kamuela

Member
About 6 months ago I bought a dozen or so LED wedge base bulbs; 110's, etc. Generic bulbs from fleabay, but with the (really unnecessary for my purposes; interior lights aren't monitored) resistor to fool the CANBus. I replaced the perfectly good incandescents in the dome light, footwells, trunk, center storage place, and license plate.
Yesterday I finally realized what was bothering me when I got in the car; it was dark! no footwell lights, dome light, etc.
As it happens, of the 7 or 8 bulbs I replaced, all but the two in the center storage had physically broken in half, with the pieces rattling around. The failure mode was a blob-y solder joint where the base joined the diode array. Curiously, the two map lights that I had replaced with focused LED wedge base bulbs were still fine; totally different construction, entirely enclosed in a plastic shell.
I guess the moral is, get the good ones, not the cheap ones. Or something like that. I totally didn't expect this.
 
Fleabay is flooded with both good and bad LEDs. Problem is you don't know which is which.
An added problem I found is the renowned manufacturers LEDs don't tend to be that bright.

I replaced mine but only from recommendations from people on here (that way I can blame them if they fail :rofl: )
 
There are many poor LEDs on the market and positive feedback doesn't always help because people are far too quick to give it. LED technology itself is reliable, hence they quote much better reliability, but in the case of LED lights the electronics usually fail.
 
Ive gone back to normal yellow mellow side lights as they never seem to last. The best ones Ive ever used lasted roughly a year and half before they started to flicker. Presently, there is no such thing as a reliable and bright led on ebay.
 
Yes ...all too true ....only buy LEDs from reputable suppliers...Cheap Chinese on EBay will not last ....
 
I've fitted 'Cree' brand bulbs to various cars and although they aren't cheap they are bright and some have been fitted for over 12 months with no problems. If you get them from a reputable seller it will help to avoid the brand knock-offs.
 
i replaced foo twell ones with new lamps but with buit in leds, ones in center console replaced with LEDs, and map ones with cree ones, nearly 2 years on all is still working
 
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