Chinese selling "overdriven" IP65 units?

primuspaul

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I have a cheap IP65 LED floodlight (10W) that recently burned out. Before that I noticed the case was getting quite hot. I finally got around to opening it up and saw that the LED chip was indeed a basic 10W chip (presumably 12v). I took a look at the sticker on the driver and saw that it was rated for 24-36V! I hooked up a bigger bulb, one size up and I believe rated for 24-36V.

Is this standard practice (to boost light produced without using a bigger chip, to hell with bulb lifespan) or did I get a defective unit?
 

zespectre

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I have a cheap IP65 LED floodlight (10W)

that is a lot like saying "I have a car can you tell me what is wrong with it?"
we're going to need a bit more information.

but as a sort of answer, one of the big quality control issues in some countries (China) is that many of the workers don't read any english and some parts may -look- identical with only a label to differentiate them. So, as an overseas rep once told me, sometimes if a paid-by-the-piece worker runs out of a part and they see another tray of parts sitting "over there" they might just grab those parts and keep going (time is money to them, no assemblies, no pay) totally unaware, unless a supervisor catches them, that they are now building a faulty product.

It happens with labeling products too which causes even more issues.
 
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primuspaul

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that is a lot like saying "I have a car can you tell me what is wrong with it?"
we're going to need a bit more information.

but as a sort of answer, one of the big quality control issues in some countries (China) is that many of the workers don't read any english and some parts may -look- identical with only a label to differentiate them. So, as an overseas rep once told me, sometimes if a paid-by-the-piece worker runs out of a part and they see another tray of parts sitting "over there" they might just grab those parts and keep going (time is money to them, no assemblies, no pay) totally unaware, unless a supervisor catches them, that they are now building a faulty product.

It happens with labeling products too which causes even more issues.

Well I got it working for a little while with a bigger LED chip I had lying around. I think this one is rated for that voltage, and it worked for 20 minutes straight, but I doubt the paste seated correctly on their excuse for a heat sink and don't expect this new chip I put in to last long.

Once I have a replacement light working there, I'll probably end up salvaging the case, which is the most expensive component anyway.
 

snakebite

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most of those drivers are constant current.
so a 12v array would work if it can take the drivers current setpoint.
however, the china cob led arrays with few exceptions are garbage.
best you can hope for is to use a higher current array than the driver.
underdriving it may extend its life.
the reason the housings are as heavy as they are is the fact they are recycled from production of halogen floods.
they do make a decent heatsink if you dont push the leds too hard.
i have one where the cob was cooked.
i drilled and tapped holes to mount 3 luxeon altilon 1x4 arrays in series.
it easily gives twice the light and barely gets warm.
but unless you have access to surplus altilons this is not really feasable.
 

ssanasisredna

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Pretty much all misinformation in this thread ....

1) The LED is almost definitely not 12V if the driver is 24-36. There may be some bad engineers in China, but most of them are not idiots.
2) LED fixtures get hot ... it's really not that big of deal unless it is really really hot, and even then, it's not going to cause a hard failure of the LED, just wear it out really quick.
3) LED fixtures are not repurposed Halogen fixtures. It's cheap to build a new mold in Asia ... far cheaper than trying to mount an LED into a halogen fixture.

It is true that a lot of no-name Chinese COBs are not very good, a combination of poorly binned die, poor die attach and poor wire bonding ... and then at the fixture level, often poor thermal attachment of the COB to the fixture.

You got a defective unit.
 

snakebite

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you give the "engineers" in china too much credit.
and yes my 24-36v led drivers i tried will run a 12v array at the rated current.
probably suboptimal but when the focus is on cheap it will be done and shoved out the door.
and 3 of these fixtures i have had open had the halogen bulb socket mounting points cast in them.
even drilled/tapped.
 

ssanasisredna

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you give the "engineers" in china too much credit.
and yes my 24-36v led drivers i tried will run a 12v array at the rated current.
probably suboptimal but when the focus is on cheap it will be done and shoved out the door.
and 3 of these fixtures i have had open had the halogen bulb socket mounting points cast in them.
even drilled/tapped.

No I am just assuming that I have way way more experience working with Chinese engineers in China than anyone else commenting on this thread, and I am guessing that virtually all those fixtures are from one supplier, probably very old, and this is not remotely the normal case.

By far the vast majority of ~10W COBs are 34-36V.

An old halogen fixture has more than enough surface area (and aluminum to move heat) for a 10W LED, even the old little 100W/150W. Even if it did not, sudden failure (after normal operation) is not a normal failure mode for too hot of an LED .

The fact that one driver designed for 24-36V works at 12V does not mean all of them would. Many would not.
 

nbp

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Keep focused on the product and troubleshooting, not the ethnicity of the assembler.
 
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