# 110V LED Bulb - BatterySpace Bulb Quality Problem?



## TheWalkman (May 15, 2006)

Has anyone else had quality problems with the BatterySpace 110v LED bulb?

I bought the bulb less than a year ago and only two of the nine LEDs function properly. The ad/ box says the typical life expectancy is "over 60,000 hours" (nearly seven years.)

BatterySpace won't do anything - they will only warrant the bulb for three months - very disappointing.







http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1242



I did a post mortem on the bulb and of the nine LEDs, only two LEDs are still showing normal intensity, five are diminished and two are dead:

G N N
D D D
G D D 

G - LED works fine
N - LED Not working
D - LED Dim

$12.95 for a bulb which lasts less than a year? Not good!


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## winny (May 15, 2006)

The LED might last for 60 khours but the electronics will not. It's probably made in China as cheap as possible so the quality comes with the price...


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## Mr_Light (May 15, 2006)

I bought a couple from batteryspace around a year ago. One of the two didn't even light right out of the box, (they sent me a replacement no questions asked). Both started out VERY dim and went down hill from there. I have had good service from them, but there products and pricing leave much to be desired.


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## Wim Hertog (May 15, 2006)

winny said:


> The LED might last for 60 khours but the electronics will not. It's probably made in China as cheap as possible so the quality comes with the price...




Almost all 110V (and 230V) LED lamps use a capacitive ballast to drop the voltage. Any spikes on the line will go straight to the LEDs. That's the main reason why these LED bulbs never reach their 50000hrs life expectancy. 

The luxeon bulbs should be better as they use a switching power supply.


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## winny (May 15, 2006)

Wim Hertog,

Capacitors cheap and small that last 60 khours in somewhat hot environments are hard to find. Electronic ballast for fluorescent lamps are often rated to about 50 khours max because of this, and they are expensive...


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## Wim Hertog (May 15, 2006)

winny said:


> Wim Hertog,
> 
> Capacitors cheap and small that last 60 khours in somewhat hot environments are hard to find. Electronic ballast for fluorescent lamps are often rated to about 50 khours max because of this, and they are expensive...




Isn't this because they use electrolytic caps? They can dry out due to the heat etc which causes the problems. The caps used in the LED lamps I dissected where polypropylene ones...I don't think they have the same issues as the elcos. 

Anyway, this still doesn't justify the 1 year lifetime (= 10 000hrs?) of the LED bulbs from the OP.


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## winny (May 15, 2006)

Wim Hertog,

You are absolutely right about the drying. The heat is a big concern for wet aluminum and tantalum capacitors and have less effect on polypropylene and similar.
However, dry capacitors with the same capacity as wet ones are more expensive if you need low ESR and bigger. Therefore, I assumed they where always used in Chinese bang-for-buck applications.

Ah! I think I get it now. He took out the LEDs and tested them without the ballast/PS... Well, it's probably the same here. Best bang-for-buck does not equal quality.


TheWalkman,

Where you able to find out who made the LED? Was it a Luxeon clone?


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## hotbeam (May 15, 2006)

I'm guessing the LEDs are 5mm ones


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## mobile1 (May 15, 2006)

anyone know where to get high quality LED bulps...?


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## s0crates82 (May 16, 2006)

I've noticed that there is a huge gap in the prices for crap LED bulbs versus quality ones.

Crap ones go for 5-10 dollars, whereas quality ones are 30 and up.

Quality ones are usually pretty directional, and have sizable heatsinks.


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## TheWalkman (May 18, 2006)

winny said:


> Wim Hertog,
> 
> 
> Ah! I think I get it now. He took out the LEDs and tested them without the ballast/PS... Well, it's probably the same here. Best bang-for-buck does not equal quality.
> ...


 

When Batteryspace refused to help, I decided to break the globe and look inside. Of the original nine LEDs, only two show normal brightness.

I've never seen LEDs quite like these. They are square packages, approximately 1/4 " on a side, with round convex lenses molded in the center.


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## winny (May 18, 2006)

TheWalkman,

Interesting! Can you post some pictures?


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## Wim Hertog (May 18, 2006)

TheWalkman said:


> When Batteryspace refused to help, I decided to break the globe and look inside. Of the original nine LEDs, only two show normal brightness.
> 
> I've never seen LEDs quite like these. They are square packages, approximately 1/4 " on a side, with round convex lenses molded in the center.




My guess is they are superflux LEDs like in this pic: http://image01.conrad.com/xl/1000_1999/1700/1760/1760/176000_BB_00_FB.EPS.jpg

They are supposed to be better in hot environments due their lower thermal resistance. 

Probably one of the in series connected LEDs in the string failed (as a short) which caused the other LEDs to receive more current...-> chain reaction.


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## TheWalkman (May 19, 2006)

Wim,

The bulb, in fact, uses the Superflux LEDs.

Here's the dissected bulb:



 



 

Note the obvious color differences of the LED materials with no power applied.

The second shot doesn't show the intensity difference well but the LEDs light at a fraction of the original intensity.

Sorry for the delay in posting these.


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