The Forum is currently experiencing technical issues which the team are working to resolve. Thank you for your patience.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!

LED bulb explodes

Just a LED bulb explode into tons of small bits never seen a bulb do this before, anyone else had this problem.

Comments

  • stator
    stator Posts: 7,441 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Never heard of an LED bulb exploding.


    Did it overheat? Some spotlight holders don't work well with LEDs because there isn't enough room for the airflow to keep the transformer cool.
    Changing the world, one sarcastic comment at a time.
  • stator wrote: »
    Never heard of an LED bulb exploding.


    Did it overheat? Some spotlight holders don't work well with LEDs because there isn't enough room for the airflow to keep the transformer cool.

    How would i know if it over heated ? i just turned it on and bang it's the bulb we have in the hallway
  • FreeBear
    FreeBear Posts: 18,072 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    LED bulbs have a small electrical circuit buried in the back - Most use a capacitor to drop the mains voltage down to a usable level before it is rectified and fed to the individual LED elements. This capacitor is highly stressed, and if the bulb manufacturer sourced a cheap one, it is quite possible that it failed. Capacitors can experience uncontrolled & spontaneous deconstruction, and switching on could be just the trigger needed. Just have a look on youtube for exploding LED lamps..
    Her courage will change the world.

    Treasure the moments that you have. Savour them for as long as you can for they will never come back again.
  • shaun_from_Africa
    shaun_from_Africa Posts: 12,858 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Where did you buy the LED lamp from?
    If it was ebay or similar then it could well be a cheapo Chinese made one which wasn't up the same standard as some others.
    FreeBear wrote: »
    LED bulbs have a small electrical circuit buried in the back - Most use a capacitor to drop the mains voltage down to a usable level before it is rectified and fed to the individual LED elements.

    A capacitor can't be used to drop voltages, this function is carried out by a transformer.
    Capacitors are in a circuit to either store a charge or to help smooth out any ripple in a DC signal.
  • FreeBear
    FreeBear Posts: 18,072 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    A capacitor can't be used to drop voltages, this function is carried out by a transformer.

    A capacitor has a property called "impedance" - In an AC circuit, a capacitor will exhibit some of the characteristics of a resistor and can be used to drop a voltage.


    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitive_power_supply
    https://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/capacitor/capacitive-voltage-divider.html
    Her courage will change the world.

    Treasure the moments that you have. Savour them for as long as you can for they will never come back again.
  • chrisw
    chrisw Posts: 3,767 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    A capacitor can't be used to drop voltages, this function is carried out by a transformer.
    Capacitors are in a circuit to either store a charge or to help smooth out any ripple in a DC signal.

    LED bulbs tend to use transformerless power supplies, using capacitors and resistors.

    Here's an example circuit:-

    https://www.etechnog.com/2018/06/working-of-modern-led-bulb-with.html
  • forgotmyname
    forgotmyname Posts: 32,900 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Yep, hone one go pop also. It was one of the UFO camping lights from the £ shop.

    Popped the batteries on and one LED glowed orange not white, turned over to check the batteries and it went pop and scattered itself. Luckily it was facing downwards and not in my face.

    Would never have expected it from an LED and just 4.5volts.
    Censorship Reigns Supreme in Troll City...

  • shaun_from_Africa
    shaun_from_Africa Posts: 12,858 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Thanks for the info Freebear & chrisw.

    I've learnt something new today.
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 350.5K Banking & Borrowing
  • 252.9K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 453.3K Spending & Discounts
  • 243.5K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 598.1K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 176.7K Life & Family
  • 256.6K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.6K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.