GU10 LED bulbs blowing.

VinceSamios

Situation:

-12w GU10 LED bulbs (both Cool White and Warm White)
-Mounted fully exposed (ie. not in a socket, ie. plenty of cooling)
-No dimmer switches but plugged into one of two mechanical timers. Simple on/off timers.

Results:

-16 bulbs have been installed for about 24 hours run time.
-2 bulbs have blown completely, I've taken a look inside and the LED driver has blown itself up. Both times this tripped the fuses in my house. Bulbs have blown on both circuits.
-2 bulbs flicker dimly and quickly. No visible problems on the inside.

Question:

Is this normal with the cheaper LED GU10 bulbs on the market? Surely even the cheap stuff can't be this rubbish! 25% failure rate in 24 hours (of an advertised 10,000 hour lifespan)

Am I missing something obvious here?

I've tried to attach pictures of the two blown LED drivers, but I'm new to the forums, so instead you'll have to do some kind of copy-paste with the links.

vsamios.co.uk/photo%20%2850%29.JPG
vsamios.co.uk/photo%20%2851%29.JPG

27col

A GU10 led that I installed in December blew this week, after only about 16hours. I wrote to the supplier (Someone on Amazon) and they have supplied a replacement bulb. Although they do not give a guarantee as to the life of the bulb. It is not certain that they would replace any others, however.

muckybutt

I havebeen using Philips and Megaman / Modu lamps for a while now and ...touch wood never had any fail.

I would say you have a dodgy batch to say the least, and with them blowing like that personally I would remove them all for risk of them firing !

At the end of the day though you pay for what you get, which is one reason why I have never endorsed buying cheapo gear. Im not saying its all garbage....just 99% of it

ukjoel

We bought 2 different sets of cheaper chinese LED GU10s to decide which we preferred.

I think within a week we had lost 2 from the first set and 1 from the other.

We then switched to Philips and Osram ones and its been six months and all are still 100% ok.

We needed 40 bulbs for the house so while I appreciate 6 months isn't a long time-frame the volume and 100% rate means I am impressed.

Both these can be had for as little as a fiver each (when B&Q have a 20% sale on)

All our 40w bulbs are now 5 watts and electric bills have dropped a lot.

Yolina

No issues with my Osram GU10s - a friend got no-name cheapos and had a high failure rate and has since then switched to more expensive bulbs and has not had any further blown ones.

I'd say that for the time being, it's probably best to stick to the better brands

VinceSamios

The cheap LED GU10's can't really by THAT crap can they? Even a Chinese no-name company isn't going to produce a product which doesn't last past the shop which sells it?

Quiet_Spark

VinceSamios wrote: »

The cheap LED GU10's can't really by THAT crap can they?

Yes, and the build quality in the pics you provided proves it.

You'll also find that the advertised "10,000 hour lifespan" refers only to the LED's themselves, not the electronics wrapped around them.

VinceSamios

To be honest, visually the construction of these looks excellent. The heatsink/housing is excellently milled, the lenses are excellent, even the LED driver is well soldered, its just blowing itself up.

It doesn't make sense. I've also checked the advertised lifespan (50,000 hours it turns out) - which is for the product, not just the LED's.

Worst comes to the worst I might remove the drivers all together and wire the LEDS to an external driver, but I really don't want to get involved with that kind of ball ache.

VinceSamios

Replaced 3 faulty bulbs yesterday, another two are bust today.

lisa701

I've been using the Asda own ones and they are rubbish. Soon as I've replaced one another seems to go. Seriously considering ditching the light and going for a regular light fitting with regular bulbs!

samatSimplyLED

Check out the NxtGen series II bulbs from SimplyLED, they come with a years warranty and a 21 day home trial.