Remote ballasting a 100 watt Mercury vapor fixture

[iwire]

There are several LED traffic signals in my town that have multiple LED's out. They are only a few years old.

That is not due to the cold, that is simply failure.

LEDs like the cold.

 

[ActionDave]

There are several LED traffic signals in my town that have multiple LED's out. They are only a few years old.

Traffic light LEDs are the reason I am not so quick to embrace using LED lights. I kept seeing burnt out chunks of them inside stop lights all over town when I was waiting for the light to change. I thought to myself, fifteen years? Really? These things can't one month. I eventually bought one for my house, just to try it and because it was on sale.

 

[iwire]

Been installing tons of LEDs, my experience is that like a lot of electronics a certain percentage give out early once you get past those they last pretty well.

Just in supermarket shelf lights we have done thousands of them.

Next Tuesday night I start another LED retrofit job.

Now what is going to happen as they all start dimming at the end of their life? I think there are going to be some very disappointed building owners when they learn the unsubsidized cost of replacing the old LEDs.

 

[ActionDave]

Next Tuesday night I start another LED retrofit job.

Now what is going to happen as they all start dimming at the end of their life? I think there are going to be some very disappointed building owners when they learn the unsubsidized cost of replacing the old LEDs.

Sounds like you would fit in well in the Wild, Wild West.

 

[kwired]

Is possible those failing traffic signal LED's can't quite take the summer heat?

 

[tkb]

Is possible those failing traffic signal LED's can't quite take the summer heat?

If they like the cold, they may be failing by being beat on with the summer sun and heat.

 

[kwired]

If they like the cold, they may be failing by being beat on with the summer sun and heat.

That was my thought, biggest enemy outside of physical abuse or over voltage of an LED is going to be heat.

I know almost nothing about what is common with traffic signals, but I can see one designed with/for LED's to account for the heat in it's design. One that was designed for incandescent lamps and has retrofit LED's may not manage heat well enough, especially on a hot summer day.

 

[peter d]

Now what is going to happen as they all start dimming at the end of their life? I think there are going to be some very disappointed building owners when they learn the unsubsidized cost of replacing the old LEDs.

I hope by that time there will be some industry standardization and replacement parts will be readily available.

 

[kwired]

I hope by that time there will be some industry standardization and replacement parts will be readily available.

Any standardization will not likely include what is on products that are currently in operation, they are mostly "throw-away's" once they fail.

 

[peter d]

Any standardization will not likely include what is on products that are currently in operation, they are mostly "throw-away's" once they fail.

I agree, as it stands now everything is proprietary with the exception of the driver depending on the product.