Dead string of lights

[JoeNorm]

I went to a residence where one issue was a string of LED recessed lights either flickering or not working at all(I think primarily the latter).

Checked the switch, good. Found the 120V switch leg and individual drivers(small pucks) for each light(3 total on switch) in a box in the attic.

Everything was working properly but it appears the LED's themselves have all gone bad. Each power supply is still providing proper low voltage to each light unit.

I am scratching my head as to what might have caused all three lights to fail, particularly having each their own power supply. There is another string on a separate switch in the same bathroom working fine.

Could a short or surge on that switch leg have caused an over voltage and toasted the lights? And not damaged the power supply?

I tested with a known functional light and it works as it should. So I went ahead and ordered three new lights to match but am a little puzzled.

 

[Little Bill]

Did you buy & install the original lights? If so, most LEDs have a 5 year warranty.
If the customer purchased them, ask them when they bought them. Some of the LED lights are junk!

 

[LarryFine]

I would try temporarily re-feeding the string to eliminate the supply as an issue.

If it was a lamp, you would try another receptacle, wouldn't you?

 

[JoeNorm]

I would try temporarily re-feeding the string to eliminate the supply as an issue.

If it was a lamp, you would try another receptacle, wouldn't you?

I confirmed voltage at the wires feeding each light, and I swapped a known good light into the circuit and it lit up. I put the bad light on a known good circuit and it did not light up.

 

[hillbilly1]

If they looked cooked, they probably don’t have a sufficient amount of heat sinks, heat kills LED’s! Are they tight against insulation? Even if they are rated for insulation contact, cheap fixtures don’t have sufficient heat dissipation.

 

[James L]

If they looked cooked, they probably don’t have a sufficient amount of heat sinks, heat kills LED’s! Are they tight against insulation? Even if they are rated for insulation contact, cheap fixtures don’t have sufficient heat dissipation.

I was thinkingbthe same thing.
I replaced some lovo recessed LED step lights which were cut into the posts around a deck. They were burning up one by one throughout a summer

 

[hillbilly1]

I troubleshot a job where they replaced all of the HID fixtures with LED UFO fixtures, 340 watt fixtures running on 208 volts, if I remember correctly. It was an equipment rental maintenance shop. The fixtures were burning out quickly, and the distributor tried blaming the power. Voltage was good, but fixtures were extremely hot, and had virtually no heat sink fins. The LED’s were all brown. Then they tried saying the fixture was not designed to operate in an ambient temperature of over 100 degrees. Yeah, it was a bad design! LOL! I think the office paid $60 a piece for them, so I don’t know why the project manager thought it was a good idea to buy them.

 

[JoeNorm]

These lights were from Aspect LED and they each have a large amount of heat sink. They are $100 a piece retail. They were in some insulation but not a lot.

Again, I was just puzzled as to why 3 on one switch(but with each their own DC power supply) would fail. The same lights on a different switch are still working fine.

 

[hbiss]

Again, I was just puzzled as to why 3 on one switch(but with each their own DC power supply) would fail.

Obviously, they are defective. Maybe the three are from the same lot. They were together in the box when you installed them?

Who knows.

-Hal

 

[Amps]

Anything going on in that room as compared to the other rooms?
Woodstove?

 

[JoeNorm]

Anything going on in that room as compared to the other rooms?
Woodstove?

It's a bathroom, so there is that.