Glass bulb LEDs going dim? It maybe dying in its own funk

Flicker Index

Flicker Index

Senior Member
Location
Pac NW
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Lights
These days, LED lamps with the LED elements sealed up inside an airtight glass bulb like below is quite common.
Apparently that is often due to manufacturing or design issues.

Plastic and glue materials used within can give off organic gases as they heat up and some of them will darken the LED elements.

If you experience a situation when you end up with a whole bunch of them turning super dim prematurely, crack open the glass on one of them. You can do it without damaging the internal LEDs by wrapping it in cloth and squeezing in vice until it cracks. If you smell nastiness or see LED elements scorched brown, that's a hint.
Break the glass off and let it operate for a few days in a safe location. (the elements will be live). If outgassing is the cause, the bulb will generally return to normal output and the brown scorching goes away after a few days of operation without the envelope. If that brought it up to normal output, then remaining bunch of lamps that turned dim likely also snuffed out in its own funk. If they're still within warranty period, warranty them all.





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Flicker Index said:
These days, LED lamps with the LED elements sealed up inside an airtight glass bulb like below is quite common.
Apparently that is often due to manufacturing or design issues.

Plastic and glue materials used within can give off organic gases as they heat up and some of them will darken the LED elements.

If you experience a situation when you end up with a whole bunch of them turning super dim prematurely, crack open the glass on one of them. You can do it without damaging the internal LEDs by wrapping it in cloth and squeezing in vice until it cracks. If you smell nastiness or see LED elements scorched brown, that's a hint.
Break the glass off and let it operate for a few days in a safe location. (the elements will be live). If outgassing is the cause, the bulb will generally return to normal output and the brown scorching goes away after a few days of operation without the envelope. If that brought it up to normal output, then remaining bunch of lamps that turned dim likely also snuffed out in its own funk. If they're still within warranty period, warranty them all.





View attachment 2575814
Click to expand...
FWIW............we moved house about six years ago. I replaced all the bulbs to LRDs. So far we have had just one failure in that period. These are the units we use.

 
Flicker Index said:
If you experience a situation when you end up with a whole bunch of them turning super dim prematurely, crack open the glass on one of them. You can do it without damaging the internal LEDs by wrapping it in cloth and squeezing in vice until it cracks.
Click to expand...

Been seeing A lamp LEDS lately with plastic bulbs. You can squish them like a plastic cup.

-Hal
 
hbiss said:
Been seeing A lamp LEDS lately with plastic bulbs. You can squish them like a plastic cup.

-Hal
Click to expand...
Making it thicker won't offer additional benefits. The globe is there so you don't see the glare from L.E.D. elements themselves and to prevent people from being able to casually touch the energized L.E.D. elements which are usually hundreds of volts above ground potential.

The issue I am talking about are LED lamps made that house LED elements in hermetically sealed glass to look visually indistinguishable from old school light bulbs they intend to replace. The glass is actually hermetically sealed, so if the components within the sealed part outgasses something LED elements do not like, they turn brown.

Breaking the envelope and letting it run gives you the chance to see if it recovers and proving production/engineering defect so you can make a warranty claim.

You just have to break one bulb envelope and keep it going among all other LED lamps in a whole warehouse. If the test lamp with the bulb broken returns to normal brightness, then you know the LED lamp bulbs in rest of the bulbs have turned dim due to production/engineering defect helping substantiate the warranty claim.
 
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