Hi Kreosan. Thanks for excellent video and very valuable information. Many of your viewers also had great feedback. I have only one additional comment: as an electrical engineer of 40+ years, I think you need to emphasize the danger of working with live AC circuits. These lamp circuits are powered by straight rectified AC mains voltages and in addition to the common 220 V AC, they can have DC voltages present ac high as 300 V. This is a voltage level that can be deadly. Under no circumstances should they be touching a live conductor (meaning any wire or component of the circuit of lamp that is already powered up) without a fully insulated tool. (A toothpick works just fine, but not an ordinary screw driver, for example). Best regards.
@@omerzeki4302 yes thank you top of 220volt is √ 2 x 220v = 311 volt. And in Europ they want to increase 220 volt to 240 volt, now it is ( at least in Holland) 230 volt. Thank you EU.
😘 Although I’m a little confused and have a few questions, I’m so grateful that you took the time to do voiceover for us that only speak English instead of blasting annoying music and “pointing” or expecting us read subtitles simultaneously:) thank you 😅
Agreed about the planned obsolescence, when LED lamps first came out they had fairly elaborate heat sinks to reduce heat and prolong the life of the bulb. Clearly the business model changed.
The lightbulb cartel got to them, too, and now led bulb manufacturers have to limit the longevity of the bulbs they make, just like the incandescent bulbs.
@@jankoodziej877 The LED themselves are the expensive part, so at first they had temperature control in mind as they designed the first bulbs. They wanted to impress customers with the long life of the New Environmentally Friendly LED Bulbs. They lasted for several years and years, only becoming dimmer and dimmer after 24/7 use. Now the LED's are much cheaper for the manufacturers to buy, and there are many many more lightbulb manufacturers than before... Competition breeds Collaboration. So who will they sell lightbulbs to now that their long lasting bulbs have proliferated so far? Stop making the long-lasting bulbs and come up with a design that lasts for about a year. The new design is a little bit cheaper to make but the main point of the re-design is that they don't last for as long as the first ones do. And so that's how we are today with bulbs breaking after a year of use, again. Planned Obsolescence.
Evolution of LED bulbs: - 1. LED bulbs made during 2014 or earlier were more expensive. First I thought, I was "economies of scale". 2. They lasted > 6 years, when lit for 24 hours. They were impossible to be dismantled unless you wack them with hammer. Diffuser itself was thick as my toe nail. 3. When I opened one, I realized that they had SMPS flyback converter, which were way more efficient (converter did not heat so much). But that made the circuit and bulb more expensive. 4. Later years, the flyback converter was still there, but the EMI suppressors were removed. Such bulbs created massive noise on AM radio (still used by my grandmother). 5. Subsequently came the low cost bulbs, which had linear regulator with low efficiency. In addition to heating of LED, the converter themselves heats up quite a lot. 6. The LED now has multiple LED inside them (to take care of the voltage drop) and hence heating is more concentrated. 7. Now a days, LED bulbs are available at lower cost, but do not last long. Manufacturer is happy (higher revenue), customer is happy, environment is not happy. I see lot of LED bulbs floating in lake and drain.
Edison bulbs have lasted well over a century. There's one in a firehouse I saw on a news report that has been on since the 1890s. Low glow, I don't know if it is a DC or AC circuit.
This video alone made me subscribe. I truly appreciate people who tell me how to fix things rather than throwing them away. As an American, I am very impressed with the techies of other countries. Often you know many practical things that the majority of Americans are unaware of, since here it is easier to throw things away and waste. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. :)
It Works! Just repaired one but instead of wrapping a wire around faulty LED or covering it in window sealant, I simply cracked the lens off of the bad LED with needlenose pliers and soldered over the exposed contacts on top of it. Now the bulb is back in action. In my case all of the LEDs were initially glowing dimly when power was applied. During the repair process pressing on individual LEDs did nothing and the bad one was NOT discolored. I had to identify it by jumping each one out of the circuit individually with a small piece of copper wire. When the bad diode was shorted out the other 8 light right up.
Hi. I personaly repair these bulbs also.. So I am happy to see that I am not alone ;) I just use different methods. Current: When there are a few components, it is probably the integrated driver (constant current supply), so it is "safe" to bypass one LED.. But some LED bulbs contains power source that has resistor in series with LEDs to set the current (depends on voltage drop of LED chips). So by bypassing one LED you actualy increase current through them.... Diffuser: yeah without diffuser light is more bright.. but also more directional.. So if you need the bulb just above the table it is beneficial to remove the diffuser. But if you want to light entire room evenly, you would need more bulbs.. So whatever fits you... You could also leave diffuser on and drill holes in it.. It will still diffuse light, let pass some airflow, and most importantly - you cannot touch wires and get shocked ;) Thermal: You idea with screws looks interesting.. but I'd rather use screws with nuts (and maybe washers) and tighten them tightly instead of some sealant. Maybe add some thermal paste under the head of the screw?? Or is it overkill? Main problem is getting heath from plate (PCB where are the LEDs mounted) to the body of the bulb to radiate it. Some bulbs have this plate screwed (with thermal paste) on another plate that is part of the body. But those you show have this plate just pressed into the body.. so heat is transsfered just via the rim of the plate.. poor thermal contact.. So yes, manufacturers are fiddling with those things to lower the mfg price resulting in lower lifespan... which leads to more unnecessary waste (of money and resources). This is sad.. So we should deal with it by repairing what is repairable, and don't throw it away just like that ;)
@@dariovicenzo8139 In this case the faulty part is the High Voltage electrolytic capacitor. After such capacitor has run away, there is no longer a DC voltage at the driver but a pulsed voltage. Such behaveour mistakenly triggers the overcurrent protection of the driver that waits for some milliseconds up to several seconds until the driver tries to restart the function, but, as the power is still pulsing, it goes into protected mode again, and again, and again, and the effect is that the lamp leds light on in a stroboscopic fashion. Just replacing such capacitor (you can use one savaged from a broken cfl lamp) fixes this issue.
@@CarinoGamingStudio yes, but, not. The topology is one similar to a step-up, but, in a step-up converter (like, for example, a Joule Thief) , you put the load in parallel with the converter output. But if you use the same build with the load put in series, the such converter behaves like it was a step-down (a Joule Thief can also be used for that).
I didn't know you can do this. I fixed my first LED bulb today thanks to your tip. One of the LEDs had a black spot on top like in your video, but it also blocked two others from shining. I removed it and bridged the contacts with solder.
I had the cover break off of an LED light I was using for my sons basketball hoop. It was so much brighter without the cover on. 3 years later it is still functioning as bright as ever. I stumbled upon this hack and didn't realise how awesome it really is. I just butchered every other LED light in my house and expect to get triple or longer life expectancy out of them. And, YES, they are way brighter too! Thank you for making my grey matter click in and realize I was right about that first one years ago... haha 😃
SAVE THIS ONE! This is the best, simplest, most comprehensive, and compact presentation that I have found on the internet on this topic. Excellent information. Looking at the powered on light in the dark, and the super quick and safe window sealant fix are 2 of the best tips here. Of course, the designed overheating is another very valuable fact. I'm going to try drilling a few 1/4" holes in the diffuser, and in another I'm going to drill a 1 or 1.5 inch (2.5 - 4 cm) hole in the middle of a diffuser to see how the light and temperature are improved. Thank you!
Interesting video. As for myself, I kept the good LED's from the first bulb that failed and used them to replace the burnt LED's on subsequent failed bulbs. I really liked the black window sealant trick and will have to try that one out.
@@kiyoponnn doesn't solder melt at that high temp? The heat inside goes up to 75C, and solder melts at around 90. ZnAl might work tho. Google says that thing has a very melting point at sth 360Celsius. Or use solder of anykind and those sealant glues used inside electronics.
I think the solution is unsafe for certain reasons. my high school physics told me that the worse an electric transmitter is, the more heat it gives out. so while the black window sealant may work as a by-pass, it may generate heat far higher than the LEDs. moisture could be a problem once the protection cover is removed, leading to a fuse jump or killing off some other appliances that use power from the same circuit section. bugs may go inside and host in it if you drill holes in the base. I like the knowledge it reveals, but the suggested solutions are not ideal.
I've been repairing these, too, but I use a multimeter set to the 200VDC scale. There is actually 166VDC present across the capacitor. By putting the ground lead on the capacitor negative, I can then touch the negative end of the first LED and it will light up fairly well if it is good. Then, I move the positive meter lead to the negative end of the next LED. It and the first one will light. Then, number 3; 3 LEDs light. When I come to an LED that doesn't light itself and the previous ones, that's the bad one. To check the remaining LEDs, you can just move your positive meter lead to the capacitor positive and the negative meter lead to the point where the positive lead was. All the remaining LEDs should light if they are all good. If you have a good soldering gun, you can scrape the top of the bad LED down to the metal and apply solder to short across the actual diode. That way, you don't have to fight with the small wire. I agree about the heat and have drilled holes also. My only worries about this are the possibility of damaging the circuitry inside with a slip of the bit and the possibility of insects getting inside the bulb. Too, there's even more heat up near the ceiling or in a light fixture or in hot summer weather. So being an LED could be pretty tough. If you have a pair of rubber gloves, you can get enough grip to just rip the plastic dome right off those suckers! That's how I do it.
When i saw this video, i thought interesting, i have to try, when i will have some broken bulb, 3 weeks later i am revisiting this video un thanks Kreosan, and thanks for your suggestion to scrub down led till metal, then solder, and bulb works!! Mine had 1 led with black dot, Bulb itself worked somehow, flickering and dark. Since i dont have that black sealant, and with that wire is only pain, i tried. Scrubbing worked nice. From now on i will always try to repair them before recycling. Thanks!
Burn in the hole, by using the hot tip of a soldering iron. These melted holes can then be enlarged as much as you like, with the soldering iron. The smell of melted plastic needs room ventilation.
To run the LED's in parallel, they'd need to run off higher voltage, therefore there would be room for only 1 diode in each bulb which would run hotter.
It's nice to see someone doing this too. I've been saving bulbs of my neighbors when they just throw it out. When I told them I can fix them, they were like : "No way! This is impossible to fix".. I think they thought that LED bulbs are like incandescent, once broke, cannot be fixed. One method I use since I have all the tools is to use multimeter and set it to continuity. Then test the LEDs if it lights up or not. If it does, then the LED is good. Sometimes I found 2 or 3 LEDs burnt. I then use my heat plate to replace them with a new one. BUT your video shows a great example of how some people without tools can repair them.. Great video.
Poi leggi sulla cronaca di morti folgorati o di incendi inspiegabili. L' elettronica si ripara sostituendo i pezzi, non certo facendo cavallotti sui componenti. E da persone competenti.
@@robertomagnani7362 Lo que cuentas no es aplicable a las bombillas LED. Los incendios y electrocuciones se producen porque la gente compra bombillas de mala calidad, muchas veces en bazares chinos.
But you didnt fix it, you just bypassed it with a jumper. You now have a light missing 1 or more leds. Fixing would be desoldering the faulty led and replacing it with a new one.
@@Pepe-dq2ib But then again, a normal person without the tools can't do the removing and replacing of LEDs. And you can't just buy a few pieces of LEDs. You need to buy in bulk like 50 or 100 pieces per purchase.. You will also need an expensive heat gun to desolder and solder the LED. The point of this tutorial is not about the proper way of fixing LED bulbs but rather the CHEAPEST WAY POSSIBLE so that you, and other people will not have to buy a new bulb. It's one way to save money.
I like the idea that somebody else did something successfully that I had the idea to try. Now I know it's possible, I'm stubborn like that, to try and see if the seemingly irreparable can be repaired. Thanks for sharing
I would not recommend leaving exposed screws poking out like that. There's always the chance that the socket/box/fan the light fixture is attached to is wired improperly resulting in the hot/neutrals being reversed. (this can especially happen if you use this in a lamp that does not have a polarized plug). If the connection is reversed from normal the exposed screws are on the "hot" side of the AC connection and can electrocute you!
Agree. The screws are a bad idea. Removing the diffuser is a bad idea. When no diffuser, someone else could try to change the bulb and electrocute themselves. The holes feel wrong too. Some things, like a TV, will have vents but smaller openings and probably further from the mains voltage wires.
@@kidsteach938 The LEDs or some components in there will be definitely at mains voltage; taking off the diffusor is quite dangerous and I strongly advise against taking it off. Unless there is zero percent chance anyone will ever touch it (good luck with that). With some unfortunate luck the switch to the lamp will cut off the neutral wire which is even worse. Then there will be a lamp which isn't glowing but still yet at mains voltage. yikes
Wow, I'm pretty impressed at how easy most of your suggestions are. I knew the issue with these bulbs was head...I think they are, indeed, engineered to fail. Nice work!
As a Canadian in the Niagara Peninsula it was easy to see American products as engineered to fail. With electronics, in 1960s, they always seemed to "go on the fritz" the day after the warranty expired, And yes, "fritz" was using a German word in a demeaning way.
@@bendirval3612 I don't blame China for using trade practices to get even with Americans. I complain about Chinese products here in the Niagara Peninsula. A drill can have a great motor and chuck, but a thin plastic level for reverse or forward. A winter boot can have a small grey plastic piece in the tread that loosens and becomes a suction for any water on the ground. My new big thing to ridicule is the recent automotive trend for plastic grills, and they're big, getting more three-dimensional. Talking in front of a vehicle like that, I'll be pushing it, saying it's flexible, and the owner says when it gets hit it breaks. That could be half of the front end of the vehicle.
@@johnwattdotca I can't get past how many cars are making a lot of the parts on top of the engine out of plastic instead of metal now. If it's touching a running engine and the plastic is becoming almost pliable from the heat. It's not s good place to change it from metal to plsstic.
@@1liar2many The only new cars I get to see are driving past or sitting in a parking lot. I've never really thought of plastic parts in the engine compartment. However, if plastic parts are going to melt anywhere, that's the best place. Do you know you can make gasoline by melting plastic?
Great video. What I don't understand, is how the manufacturers get away with telling us that their bulbs will last 20,000, 40,000, or some other ridiculous amount of hours. I have never had one to NOT fail.
GREAT video. Lots of small improvements can be made as others have said for safety or whatever, but you explain why these things fail so quickly instead of lasting a whole lot longer. Thank you!
@@MrSilver708 If you want to throw your home insurance out the door ... go ahead and do this. Frankly ... anyone with an electrical background (qualified) will tell you you're nuts. But don't let safety stop you .... there's plenty of room on the Darwin Awards list.
@@MrSilver708 In fact he is not a qualified, if you drive the LED with it's proper voltage and current and maintain it temperature as per its data sheet no need to do these unnecessary measures, But unfortunately the the manufacturer's are not chairing these all.
thanks a lot for this neat introduction. Besides opening them you can also use a dimmer to reduce overheating. I bought a 5 $ dimmer for my 12 Volt led bulbs and discovered that they still shine quite brightly after considerable reduction in power consumption (displayed on the meter). This means that the %age graph of the 2 factors are not parallel, i.e. not directly proportional. = A 30 % lower power input does not result in a 30% reduction of luminescence, but still gives you some 90 % of the original light, This way you can save 12 V power while still enjoying relatively bright light, especially if you use several bulbs in parallel. I never tested this on dimmable 110 V Leds but all 12 V Led bulbs I tried accept dimming.
This may be the best DIY vid on YT! I've kept about 30 burned out LED bulbs simply because I was pissed off by their short lives. Thanks! I'll never have to buy another bulb!
The comment above reeks of being a shill or bot comment, but I agree with your point. If a single LED module burns out that fast, another one will simply fail shortly after repair, again, and again, and…
I had 3 bulbs left over from our use. These are the dusk to dawn bulbs that automatically turn on when it’s dark enough. Due to the relatively high price and occasional stock shortages, I decided to try to fix them. Best and safest way to open them is with a cardboard cutter. The blade goes in nicely and after prying a bit in one area I move it to the next spot. First 2 bulbs the leds were fine. The regulators below must have been bad. Last one had one led blackened. Since the others were still good, it was easier to unscrew the board and replace the whole thing. Plugged it into an outside light fixture (at noon time) and it illuminated. Not supposed to so 3 out of 3 are not repairable. Firefly is the brandname.
Thank you ! It works . I also cracked the yellow surface of the led and found 2 metallic contacts that come together very close, but don't touch each other. You can solder with tin these contacts together if you put a drop of engine oil on them before soldering . I wasn't able to solder them using usual flux, so I guess they are made of aluminium .
Thanks buddy....this was an eye-opener for me. I didn't know that they could be opened. I opened mine and saw the interior as you presented yours. It's a cool experiment for me, man. Blessed
74° Original lamp. 60° after removing the diffuser (which is there to spread the light over the whole room instead of the spotlight effect when it is removed). 55° with vent holes drilled. 52° when compromising the shock protection by having screws fixated with conductive sealant through the insulating cup. Just don't. No temp measured after increasing the resistance.
I have hated all my burned out LED bulbs. This video is the first I've seen that addresses this problem. Love the foreign original, with English overlay. It was a bit hard to follow, but sometimes we need to scour the globe to find ingenuity. We North Americans usually solve the problem by going out and buying another bulb.
Great video I'm definitely going to try this! I'm an electrician and when an LED fails I tell people to just buy a new one but I'm going to give this a shot.
I would be very careful not to tell paying clients to do anything but buy a new bulb. You could put yourself in legal trouble by recommending repair versus replacement when dealing with a 3rd party for hire.
I will try this. One of my led bulbs stopped working last week and it was in the bag for electronic recycling, now I will rescue it and repair myself. Thank you sir.
One of your BEST videos! It's also wise when you can, to purchase a chandelier in which the bulbs point UP instead of DOWN, as a wiser purchase, heat goes up instead of being trapped at base of bulbs, and if you remove the bulb diffusers, the glass chandelier shrouds will still dissipate the light without hurting your eyes, then the light bounces off of the ceiling and it pleasant. All the Best! THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING WHAT IS GOING ON THERE. 73 DE W8LV BILL
@@winstoncleghorn470 re: " humankind has been hoodwinked for a long time but western capitalists" And the communist, socialist state? Did what? Besides offing 'millyuns' ...
Very cool! The best cooling woild probably be to drill a larger hole in the center of the diffuser then small holes close to the board. Then drill holes on the cone close to the board and more near the base. Then you would have convection cooling on both sides of the board. Providing you are keeping the diffuser of course.
Thank you Kreosan I never knew, but I knew there had to be a way. I just tried to open one and thought I better ground myself and do some research. I have worked with many electrical things at work and I know, the big manufacturers use snap-together with a little glue for products. I saved them 50-70 thousand dollars a month, tearing things apart and fixing them. The first video I saw said to get a saw out (Right) I know better. Thanks to you, I know how to deal with the glue on the bulb, it is different from what I am used to. Thank you Again Kreosan☺
I buy Osram and write the date on the lamp with pen. Not one LED bulb from Philips, EuroLux or Osram lasted more than 12 months. I am buying more LED bulbs than ever before. Nice video. Thanks.
The simplest method to short circuit a LED is to remove the plastic from the top (it rips apart by pressing from one side with a sharp tool). Then you have two exposed pads from inside the LED that you can solder together, since they are very close to each other.
If soldering is the best solution, then why not? People who watch the video are looking at ways to fix LED lights. It doesn't mean that everyone watching is explicitly looking for something that doesn't use soldering under any circumstances. It's easier for some people to solder than to try to seek out which black sealant is conductive.
Awesome video, personally couldnt find any conductive silicone so I just snipped the broken LED off with pliers to expose the copper or aluminium pads and then soldered them together. Did this to two bulbs and both work flawlessly now.
I used to remove the diffuser in order te get more light - as I use for photography and sometimes movie making... In practice, the diffuser takes off 1/3 of a stop - which means that will decrease the luminosity by 1/3. Which is a LOT! I found your video very informative and funny at the same time!! 😉
the diffuser serves a 2nd function. it insulates the contacts so that someone doesn't touch them. You could fix that easily by coating the contacts in nail polish.
Guys, I did wrong maths. It's correct to say that the dome takes off 1/3 of a stop, but this does not means that the lumens output is 1/3 less - sorry. I guess it's 1/6 less. So, If you have 6 lamps with dome, you can Get the same lumens with Just 5 without dome. Anyway, it's significant. I Will meter with a lightmeter to confirm.
Wow. Lots of tech info in 1 video. All to save replacing a light bulb. I like it. As far as giving off more light with the cover off, you will recieve more light directly beneath the bulb. But without the cover, you will not have much light spread about the room. It acts more as a projector than a flood light.
Good video. My local power company subsidizes bulbs so that they cost less than a dollar, so I would probably only repair one in a pinch. But now that I know how easy it is to remove the diffuser I am doing that when replacing bulbs that go inside diffusers built into the fixture.
Also useful in the other direction, there are cases where I could use frosted plastic domes like that for crafting projects and with your trick I could just harvest those from cheap LED bulbs.
@@Nirrrina Depends on what you're doing. One upcoming project of mine will be a diorama with the bulb painted in various effect colors and some glittering lights inside to create a spherical fantasy portal. Radomes for military scenes are another use for them or the dome for the miniature black hole powering large custom Star Wars spaceships.
Thank you. I didn't see any darkened LEDs, so I gently probed each with a plastic handled screwdriver till I found the defective one. When I withdrew the driver tip, everything when out again, so I bore down a little with the tip on the wonky LED and that fixed its apparently loose connection. I also drilled six 3/8" holes in the bulb before sticking it back on. Voila!
Instead of letting the screws stick out, it would be much better to make much more smaller holes instead and add a round heat sink to the aluminum backplate of the LEDs with the help of a self sticking thermal pad.
Thermal performance would be greatly improved if airflow could convect across the PCB. It should be possible to trim the edge or drill some holes, carefully, in places where there is only plastic substrate and no electrical components or traces. Modding the base with "radiators" does provide thermal radiation but does not provide any thermal convection. The heat is captured in the air but the air is then trapped, it has no flow path which can lift the heat away.
This video shows last resorts to save a LED lamp. Some methods are safe, but some are dangerous. Depends on the skill and know-how of the doer. Here's a safe way to increase any LED lamp life a bit. Without removing the plastic diffuser, just simply drill many holes in the diffuser of new LED lamp(s) before using them. But be sure not to damage any internal parts of the LED lamp while drilling the holes. Drill holes maybe 1/4" to say maybe 3/8" in diameter uniformly spaced all around the plastic diffuser. This allows more heat to escape therefore lengthening the lamp life a bit, also more light will be emitted thru the holes too. This is a safer win-win solution. However, for the diehards who want to still further extend the lamp life after the lamp finally fails, they can then go with the suggestions in this video.
I'm thinking of adding a new 100 ohm to the light, to lower the power sent to the LEDs. Other than that, there appears to be no more great ideas and better solutions. To decrease heat build up and planned obsolescence by killing the LEDs with too much power.
Some great ideas, thanks. I might want to re-check my life-insurance, smoke-alarm, fire-extinguisher status etc before trying a few of them, but most would be pretty safe if done with care
A radical suggestion; how about relying on your COMMON SENSE when making such a modification? And how on earth can *cooling* an LED create a fire hazard?
@@jackx4311 By exposing 120v conductors to incidental contact, moisture or contaminants, and then buttering it liberally with sealant that has already been shown to be conductive.
Thanks for helping extend the light of these bulbs. What would be even more brilliant would be if the comment section was turned off and all your Know-it-all's and complainers replying Would be short circuited.
Good informative video. I've also posted a video where I used the same technique, shorting out the bad LED in the array. The only difference is I actually scraped the bad LED off and soldered the connections better, but same result. I never thought of it running cooler and lasting longer with the diffuser removed, but it makes sense.
Yup, this works because the PWM controller reducing the duty cycle of the LED's basically lowers the average current passing through them as it is repeatedly and very rapidly dropping the current to zero. In theory there is a bit more temperature fluctuation with this method but it generally will be pretty minimal as the PWM cycles are typically very fast. They pretty much have to be as if they aren't then your eyes would perceive it as flicker which is generally undesirable. But this also means the LED's have only a little time to cool before the power comes back on again so the temp tends to be fairly stable albeit lower than were it on constantly as they are only drawing current and thus generating heat part time.
Surely it is safer to just buy another light bulb rather than risking your life prodding the inside while electricity is running through it. Many years ago I read that all that the companies had to do was to make the filaments thicker which would mean the bulb would never burn out. The reason they don't do this comes down to a loss in profit. Still, life is more important than a light bulb. I appreciate what you have shown here and enjoyed your video.
Fixed a Sylvania 60 Watt using the toothpick method to find the bad LED. Removed it with a pair of needle nosed pliers and bridged the metal gap with a small drop of solder. Now I'm reusing the bulb in a handheld shop light in the garage.
I used to do the same, my high school electrical teacher taught me how to as the LEDs were very new and unreliable. We used to use a wire from a desoldering cord or whatever it's called.
For those without experience I would definitely not recommend using very sharp blades and knives as tools to replace way safer tools as pliers, wire cutters, wire strippers etc. It is definitely not worth it to take the risk of cutting a finger or worse. Great video, techniques and advice on fixing LED lamps. Thanks!
Many electric tool accidents cause permanent injury. They should use gas powered tools. Never use one of those dangerous electric tools when you can use a chain saw.
If you live in the UK, please do not add screws as heat sinks. The screws have the potential to come in to contact with the supply wires. This could cause a short circuit and result in a fire. Any following investigation will discover this and your insurance will be void. Thats best case scenario. Worst case is that someone gets an electric shock from them and dies. That will be a manslaughter charge as you deliberately made the bulb unsafe and will end up with a long, long time in prison. Even removing the diffuser may expose enough of the circuit for an electric shock.
Very impressive video. I've been disappointed by the stated lifespan of these bulbs compared to the actual. I'll be repairing and modifying them from now on. Thanks.
I appreciate having a diffuser because the leds are so bright when the are directly in sight. I think that the bulbs are made to be weather proof. The irony is that it would be more expensive to add aluminum fins and it would make the bulbs last longer so they would sell fewer. But I am glad that led bulbs are repairable and even easy to improve. I might consider 3d printing my own light bulb diffusers with venting. Something that makes them easier to look at will still allowing for cooling.
@@spudpud-T67 when LED lights are used in a lamp, the lamp glass could also work as protection so the LED shouldn't have it so it could cool better in a larger piece of air.
Well, I was somehow sceptical - but this video turned out to be useful as well as entertaining with that charming sense of humor, I will definetely repair my lamps, thanks
Same! I'm always skeptical or these "Russian hack" videos but I can confirm, this works! I can't believe I just fixed a light bulb by jumping 2 connections.
An easy way to repair it bridging the led is, with a knife remove the plastic cap of the broken led, and with the point of the knife rivet one contact to the other. The contacts are made from soft metal so you can bridge the gap easily. The best way to decrease temperature is to decrease the current removing one of the resistors, you can do it with the same knife!
@@Unknown-ek8eq The resistors are in paralell, (the total resistance is lower than each resistor's resistance). When you remove one, the resistance increases and that lowers the current. Typically one has a higher value than the other, so you can choose to lower the current a little (by removing the higher value one and keeping the one with the lower value) or to lower the current much more (doing the opposite).
The original incandescent light bulbs lasted forever. There is one in a Livermore California firestation that has burned since 1901. The light bulb manufacturers got together and conspired to only make light bulbs last for a few years, thus creating a need to replace bulbs. LEDs should last 30,000 hours, essentially a lifetime. But my experience has been that they last no longer than incandescent ones and cost 10 times more. I wondered why the LED bulbs were burning out so quickly. Now I know. Thanks Kreosan.
thx for the video. I just broke the led off the board then cleaned it with flux and placed a solder bead on the two contacts. the bulbs are back to work.
I have LED bulbs that go on for 30 seconds and off for good. I like the idea of using less electricity and having bulbs that will last for months if not years. After using LED's and throwing many away after a short time, it's beginning to feel like a racket for the bulb makers.
👍 Good ideas. But instead of jagged screw tips sticking out of the bulbs base ( 7:23 for cooling), maybe larger holes ( 6:33 ) would help for more air flow! Thanks!
If you have a series of resistors and you short-out one, then the others get more voltage. Same for the LEDs in a chain. Wouldn't that shorten their lifespan also? Wouldn't it be better to replace the burned one with a resistance? But I understand, this would need difficult soldering, and Kreosan's method is much better to revive the lamp than having no lamp at all. Thanks, will try it next time a LED bulb breaks! (And I agree with the commenters on the screws: that looks dangerous. Wouldn't try it at home.
If there is an integrated circuit in the bulb, it wants to supply current, not voltage. If it is set to supply X milliamps, it will supply X milliamps no matter what you connect to it.
That's not the problem. The circuit limits the current. But the missing voltage drop must be drop in the regulator and creates heat there instead of light, if the LED is only bridged.
As a fellow electronics content creator i can really appreciate this video. I kept a few of these bulbs from 2022. i didnt know these tricks but somehow i believes i could fix them. Now i know how. I was also wondering, if the LEDs are in series, it means they each drop a specific amount of the total voltage. But shorting the damaged LED, there will perhaps be a highter voltage across the other working ones. Can this a problem in your experience?
Hello Kreosan English Sir! It's great to see the interesting videos coming on Sundays regularly. Keep doing the good work of spreading valuable knowledge to whole world. God bless you and your whole family and team with good health and well being :)
Love it. Make a light bulb not only be a electrocution hazard but also add some screws on it for extra hazardness! It's a good video nonetheless but I'd be careful with open circuits hanging around. There'll be one day where you eventually touch it. Might be a good fly killer though.
This works ones with the driver, there are cheaper ones that uses some sort of capacitor resistor voltage drop system and uses LEDs in series to reduce the voltage. If you short circuit those, the lamp break almost in no time. You may get better results if you replace the led, but that is not that simple. Also diffuser has a purpose, it increases the angle of the light. If you remove it, light will shine brighter directly below, but will not light up sides. Also, also, be careful, if you light the lamp and disconnect, there still can be charge after a long time if the LEDs are not working at all.
I have been to cheap to buy custom bulbs to fit older desk lamps so I have always just peeled off the plastic cap they do seem to put out better light but thats good to know I was actually doing them good by adding better cooling
A few things. I'm all about repair, reuse, recycle. Those are fantastic tips. Now, onto the "Cooling" section of removing the frosted diffuser and drilling the base. The diffuser itself is a challenge for a ton of manufacturers because LEDS are inherently directional in it's light output. You immediatly see in the video that it gets brighter like a beam vs where the diffuser helps to bounce the light to get a general field glow as older incandescents were able to do naturally. This had to do with electrifying the filament and using the gases in the lamp to help push light outwards. You put that same LED lamp with a diffuser in a light fixture and you're just highlighting the ceiling. Now for the true rocker bulb - for the love of god, don't do that. That shield is also used to bleed any excess electricity into the neutral. If the unthinkable happens, you're allowing for yourself, a loved one, or a bystander to get hurt. Higher end manufacturers usually fill that cavity with a nonconductive thermal compound that is used to move away heat and expell it from the same base. I wouldn't be surprised if half the lamps in his hands don't weight close to a feather. I'm not knocking this, because cooling is the right idea, but there are safer methods.
To identify a problem and then offer no solution is moronic. Don't post, if you have no solution. Any moron can suggest that there is a problem that can be rectified or improved. But an absolute clown who offers no solution is an attention seeking goose.
You can soften the glue holding on the globe with a heat gun or maybe even a hairdryer on the high heat setting. Same as getting a screen off a smartphone for replacement.
I'm glad they are plastic now No more broken glass No more toxic pwd coming from glass spiral bulbs Thanks for showing us how to fix or make them even better Much love xoxox
That black window seal is electrically conductive, but is it intended to be utilized as a conductor? Wondering if it could heat up and catch on fire if basically used as an electrical component within the heated environment of the bulb.
I've seen lots of flickering bulbs, and this is the first comment I've seen mentioning that problem. I don't know what causes this, but I plan to find out when the next flickering episode begins.
@@TechHowden I can't understand what you mean. Whether linear or switched, the LED power supply is not likely to cause random flicker unless there's a loose wire. Even if a capacitor fails, all that does is increase the ripple. It's a mystery what causes this flicker in so many bulbs I've tried. So what do you mean, exactly?
it's so easy to replace the bulb, i also share a lot of ways! Thank you
Hi Kreosan. Thanks for excellent video and very valuable information. Many of your viewers also had great feedback. I have only one additional comment: as an electrical engineer of 40+ years, I think you need to emphasize the danger of working with live AC circuits. These lamp circuits are powered by straight rectified AC mains voltages and in addition to the common 220 V AC, they can have DC voltages present ac high as 300 V. This is a voltage level that can be deadly. Under no circumstances should they be touching a live conductor (meaning any wire or component of the circuit of lamp that is already powered up) without a fully insulated tool. (A toothpick works just fine, but not an ordinary screw driver, for example). Best regards.
C'man...Do you want to live forever? 😝
How ru smart 😦
@@omerzeki4302 yes thank you top of 220volt is √ 2 x 220v = 311 volt. And in Europ they want to increase 220 volt to 240 volt, now it is ( at least in Holland) 230 volt. Thank you EU.
@@omerzeki4302 let others ppl comments don't bother you. Your tip comes from a good heart👍.
Mmm 0:53
😘 Although I’m a little confused and have a few questions, I’m so grateful that you took the time to do voiceover for us that only speak English instead of blasting annoying music and “pointing” or expecting us read subtitles simultaneously:) thank you 😅
please write down your questions, im curious
Agreed about the planned obsolescence, when LED lamps first came out they had fairly elaborate heat sinks to reduce heat and prolong the life of the bulb. Clearly the business model changed.
The lightbulb cartel got to them, too, and now led bulb manufacturers have to limit the longevity of the bulbs they make, just like the incandescent bulbs.
They cost 1/10 of they used to back then... It's not planned obsolescence, it's just making them as cheap as possible.
I have a bunch of the first generation bulbs. Not a single one has failed to this day!
I have cheap LED light bulbs on for 24/7.
I don't even know how long they last.
Must be years.
@@jankoodziej877 The LED themselves are the expensive part, so at first they had temperature control in mind as they designed the first bulbs. They wanted to impress customers with the long life of the New Environmentally Friendly LED Bulbs. They lasted for several years and years, only becoming dimmer and dimmer after 24/7 use.
Now the LED's are much cheaper for the manufacturers to buy, and there are many many more lightbulb manufacturers than before... Competition breeds Collaboration. So who will they sell lightbulbs to now that their long lasting bulbs have proliferated so far? Stop making the long-lasting bulbs and come up with a design that lasts for about a year.
The new design is a little bit cheaper to make but the main point of the re-design is that they don't last for as long as the first ones do.
And so that's how we are today with bulbs breaking after a year of use, again.
Planned Obsolescence.
Evolution of LED bulbs: -
1. LED bulbs made during 2014 or earlier were more expensive. First I thought, I was "economies of scale".
2. They lasted > 6 years, when lit for 24 hours. They were impossible to be dismantled unless you wack them with hammer. Diffuser itself was thick as my toe nail.
3. When I opened one, I realized that they had SMPS flyback converter, which were way more efficient (converter did not heat so much). But that made the circuit and bulb more expensive.
4. Later years, the flyback converter was still there, but the EMI suppressors were removed. Such bulbs created massive noise on AM radio (still used by my grandmother).
5. Subsequently came the low cost bulbs, which had linear regulator with low efficiency. In addition to heating of LED, the converter themselves heats up quite a lot.
6. The LED now has multiple LED inside them (to take care of the voltage drop) and hence heating is more concentrated.
7. Now a days, LED bulbs are available at lower cost, but do not last long. Manufacturer is happy (higher revenue), customer is happy, environment is not happy. I see lot of LED bulbs floating in lake and drain.
Edison bulbs have lasted well over a century. There's one in a firehouse I saw on a news report that has been on since the 1890s. Low glow, I don't know if it is a DC or AC circuit.
Yea, I noticed that some of the bulbs in the video used some sort of SMPS and others used that cheap linear current regulator chip.
@@STho205 There are no edison bulbs and never were. edison was a thief who stole everything he claimed he invented.
@@STho205But doesn't that bulb run really dim (low current?)
@@whackowafer4765 it is low current. Below fatal shock.
This video alone made me subscribe. I truly appreciate people who tell me how to fix things rather than throwing them away. As an American, I am very impressed with the techies of other countries. Often you know many practical things that the majority of Americans are unaware of, since here it is easier to throw things away and waste. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. :)
This channel is awesome. You have no idea. The best part is that you realize how similar we are, even though we are "supposed to be" different.
Thank you ☺️
The best way to recycle ♻️ is to not buy more crap. But fix what you have.
Well done 👍
It Works! Just repaired one but instead of wrapping a wire around faulty LED or covering it in window sealant, I simply cracked the lens off of the bad LED with needlenose pliers and soldered over the exposed contacts on top of it. Now the bulb is back in action. In my case all of the LEDs were initially glowing dimly when power was applied. During the repair process pressing on individual LEDs did nothing and the bad one was NOT discolored. I had to identify it by jumping each one out of the circuit individually with a small piece of copper wire. When the bad diode was shorted out the other 8 light right up.
Hi.
I personaly repair these bulbs also.. So I am happy to see that I am not alone ;) I just use different methods.
Current: When there are a few components, it is probably the integrated driver (constant current supply), so it is "safe" to bypass one LED.. But some LED bulbs contains power source that has resistor in series with LEDs to set the current (depends on voltage drop of LED chips). So by bypassing one LED you actualy increase current through them....
Diffuser: yeah without diffuser light is more bright.. but also more directional.. So if you need the bulb just above the table it is beneficial to remove the diffuser. But if you want to light entire room evenly, you would need more bulbs.. So whatever fits you...
You could also leave diffuser on and drill holes in it.. It will still diffuse light, let pass some airflow, and most importantly - you cannot touch wires and get shocked ;)
Thermal: You idea with screws looks interesting.. but I'd rather use screws with nuts (and maybe washers) and tighten them tightly instead of some sealant. Maybe add some thermal paste under the head of the screw?? Or is it overkill?
Main problem is getting heath from plate (PCB where are the LEDs mounted) to the body of the bulb to radiate it. Some bulbs have this plate screwed (with thermal paste) on another plate that is part of the body. But those you show have this plate just pressed into the body.. so heat is transsfered just via the rim of the plate.. poor thermal contact..
So yes, manufacturers are fiddling with those things to lower the mfg price resulting in lower lifespan... which leads to more unnecessary waste (of money and resources). This is sad..
So we should deal with it by repairing what is repairable, and don't throw it away just like that ;)
those circuit are step down right?
What if the leds just flashing in a loop
@@CarinoGamingStudio no their high voltage DC with LED's in series.
@@dariovicenzo8139 In this case the faulty part is the High Voltage electrolytic capacitor. After such capacitor has run away, there is no longer a DC voltage at the driver but a pulsed voltage. Such behaveour mistakenly triggers the overcurrent protection of the driver that waits for some milliseconds up to several seconds until the driver tries to restart the function, but, as the power is still pulsing, it goes into protected mode again, and again, and again, and the effect is that the lamp leds light on in a stroboscopic fashion.
Just replacing such capacitor (you can use one savaged from a broken cfl lamp) fixes this issue.
@@CarinoGamingStudio yes, but, not.
The topology is one similar to a step-up, but, in a step-up converter (like, for example, a Joule Thief) , you put the load in parallel with the converter output. But if you use the same build with the load put in series, the such converter behaves like it was a step-down (a Joule Thief can also be used for that).
I didn't know you can do this. I fixed my first LED bulb today thanks to your tip. One of the LEDs had a black spot on top like in your video, but it also blocked two others from shining. I removed it and bridged the contacts with solder.
Draw a thick black square completely around the bad LED using a soft #2 pencil. Graphite conducts electricity, too
@@holeshothunter5544Solder would be safer because of the current draw. Powered graphite might catch on fire.
I had the cover break off of an LED light I was using for my sons basketball hoop. It was so much brighter without the cover on.
3 years later it is still functioning as bright as ever.
I stumbled upon this hack and didn't realise how awesome it really is.
I just butchered every other LED light in my house and expect to get triple or longer life expectancy out of them.
And, YES, they are way brighter too!
Thank you for making my grey matter click in and realize I was right about that first one years ago...
haha 😃
SAVE THIS ONE! This is the best, simplest, most comprehensive, and compact presentation that I have found on the internet on this topic. Excellent information.
Looking at the powered on light in the dark, and the super quick and safe window sealant fix are 2 of the best tips here.
Of course, the designed overheating is another very valuable fact. I'm going to try drilling a few 1/4" holes in the diffuser, and in another I'm going to drill a 1 or 1.5 inch (2.5 - 4 cm) hole in the middle of a diffuser to see how the light and temperature are improved.
Thank you!
This is EXACTLY what TH-cam was made for!
Thank you so much dear friend. This is wonderful contribution for a less polluted, green world.
Interesting video. As for myself, I kept the good LED's from the first bulb that failed and used them to replace the burnt LED's on subsequent failed bulbs. I really liked the black window sealant trick and will have to try that one out.
dielectric grease will probably do well too - a dab will do ya..
soldering is the superior method, these methods are good for emergencies
@@kiyoponnnhow to solder the contacts..
Should i just pour it over the damaged led
@@kiyoponnn doesn't solder melt at that high temp? The heat inside goes up to 75C, and solder melts at around 90. ZnAl might work tho. Google says that thing has a very melting point at sth 360Celsius. Or use solder of anykind and those sealant glues used inside electronics.
I think the solution is unsafe for certain reasons. my high school physics told me that the worse an electric transmitter is, the more heat it gives out. so while the black window sealant may work as a by-pass, it may generate heat far higher than the LEDs. moisture could be a problem once the protection cover is removed, leading to a fuse jump or killing off some other appliances that use power from the same circuit section. bugs may go inside and host in it if you drill holes in the base. I like the knowledge it reveals, but the suggested solutions are not ideal.
I've been repairing these, too, but I use a multimeter set to the 200VDC scale. There is actually 166VDC present across the capacitor. By putting the ground lead on the capacitor negative, I can then touch the negative end of the first LED and it will light up fairly well if it is good. Then, I move the positive meter lead to the negative end of the next LED. It and the first one will light. Then, number 3; 3 LEDs light. When I come to an LED that doesn't light itself and the previous ones, that's the bad one. To check the remaining LEDs, you can just move your positive meter lead to the capacitor positive and the negative meter lead to the point where the positive lead was. All the remaining LEDs should light if they are all good.
If you have a good soldering gun, you can scrape the top of the bad LED down to the metal and apply solder to short across the actual diode. That way, you don't have to fight with the small wire.
I agree about the heat and have drilled holes also. My only worries about this are the possibility of damaging the circuitry inside with a slip of the bit and the possibility of insects getting inside the bulb. Too, there's even more heat up near the ceiling or in a light fixture or in hot summer weather. So being an LED could be pretty tough.
If you have a pair of rubber gloves, you can get enough grip to just rip the plastic dome right off those suckers! That's how I do it.
Thanks for these points and information.
Solder across the dud diode is 👍
When i saw this video, i thought interesting, i have to try, when i will have some broken bulb, 3 weeks later i am revisiting this video un thanks Kreosan, and thanks for your suggestion to scrub down led till metal, then solder, and bulb works!! Mine had 1 led with black dot, Bulb itself worked somehow, flickering and dark. Since i dont have that black sealant, and with that wire is only pain, i tried. Scrubbing worked nice. From now on i will always try to repair them before recycling. Thanks!
These are great tips too!
Lewis, Are you in a summer now in 2022-Nov, are you in a Southern Hemisphere? (in a Late spring - more exactly)
@@MA-channel1 No, I'm in the southeastern USA, in Alabama.
You are one clever engineer, whenever there is a failure, engineer gets restless. He got to fix it. I learned something from you today
The drilling holes with a self boring/tapping screw is pretty clever. I won't forget that next time I can't find a bit.
How did you not know that
Burn in the hole, by using the hot tip of a soldering iron.
These melted holes can then be enlarged as much as you like, with the soldering iron.
The smell of melted plastic needs room ventilation.
It’s also handy for drilling out pop rivets.
Clever way to ignore you drill bits..
@@gregzeng but I like the smell of melted plastic
A law should be passed to make these led circuits parallel instead of series, so it’ll still light up if some leds stop working.
To run the LED's in parallel, they'd need to run off higher voltage, therefore there would be room for only 1 diode in each bulb which would run hotter.
@@joeshmoe7789 not really but the faraway led would shine less
There should be laws against planned obsolescence or even to force an efficient design.
Laws smaws (Chinese)
We have been short changed or short circuited.
It's nice to see someone doing this too. I've been saving bulbs of my neighbors when they just throw it out. When I told them I can fix them, they were like : "No way! This is impossible to fix"..
I think they thought that LED bulbs are like incandescent, once broke, cannot be fixed. One method I use since I have all the tools is to use multimeter and set it to continuity. Then test the LEDs if it lights up or not. If it does, then the LED is good. Sometimes I found 2 or 3 LEDs burnt. I then use my heat plate to replace them with a new one. BUT your video shows a great example of how some people without tools can repair them.. Great video.
Poi leggi sulla cronaca di morti folgorati o di incendi inspiegabili. L' elettronica si ripara sostituendo i pezzi, non certo facendo cavallotti sui componenti. E da persone competenti.
@@robertomagnani7362 English please. I don't understand your language 😅 thanks
@@robertomagnani7362 Lo que cuentas no es aplicable a las bombillas LED. Los incendios y electrocuciones se producen porque la gente compra bombillas de mala calidad, muchas veces en bazares chinos.
But you didnt fix it, you just bypassed it with a jumper. You now have a light missing 1 or more leds. Fixing would be desoldering the faulty led and replacing it with a new one.
@@Pepe-dq2ib But then again, a normal person without the tools can't do the removing and replacing of LEDs. And you can't just buy a few pieces of LEDs. You need to buy in bulk like 50 or 100 pieces per purchase.. You will also need an expensive heat gun to desolder and solder the LED. The point of this tutorial is not about the proper way of fixing LED bulbs but rather the CHEAPEST WAY POSSIBLE so that you, and other people will not have to buy a new bulb. It's one way to save money.
I like the idea that somebody else did something successfully that I had the idea to try. Now I know it's possible, I'm stubborn like that, to try and see if the seemingly irreparable can be repaired. Thanks for sharing
I would not recommend leaving exposed screws poking out like that. There's always the chance that the socket/box/fan the light fixture is attached to is wired improperly resulting in the hot/neutrals being reversed. (this can especially happen if you use this in a lamp that does not have a polarized plug). If the connection is reversed from normal the exposed screws are on the "hot" side of the AC connection and can electrocute you!
Obviously someone without electric experience won’t try this unless they’re stupid
Agreed...the screw idea seemed a bit screwy...otherwise, the other suggestions would be fine.
Or even one of the screws bumping back in & touching phase/live... neat experiment but shouldnt be copied.
Agree. The screws are a bad idea. Removing the diffuser is a bad idea. When no diffuser, someone else could try to change the bulb and electrocute themselves. The holes feel wrong too. Some things, like a TV, will have vents but smaller openings and probably further from the mains voltage wires.
@@kidsteach938 The LEDs or some components in there will be definitely at mains voltage; taking off the diffusor is quite dangerous and I strongly advise against taking it off. Unless there is zero percent chance anyone will ever touch it (good luck with that). With some unfortunate luck the switch to the lamp will cut off the neutral wire which is even worse. Then there will be a lamp which isn't glowing but still yet at mains voltage. yikes
Ihr zeigt der interessierten Welt wozu TH-cam gut sein kann - good job guys !
Wow, I'm pretty impressed at how easy most of your suggestions are. I knew the issue with these bulbs was head...I think they are, indeed, engineered to fail. Nice work!
As a Canadian in the Niagara Peninsula it was easy to see American products as engineered to fail.
With electronics, in 1960s, they always seemed to "go on the fritz" the day after the warranty expired,
And yes, "fritz" was using a German word in a demeaning way.
@@johnwattdotca Though, all these bulbs, and almost all products we buy that seem shoddily designed, are made in China, not the US.
@@bendirval3612 I don't blame China for using trade practices to get even with Americans. I complain about Chinese products here in the Niagara Peninsula. A drill can have a great motor and chuck, but a thin plastic level for reverse or forward. A winter boot can have a small grey plastic piece in the tread that loosens and becomes a suction for any water on the ground. My new big thing to ridicule is the recent automotive trend for plastic grills, and they're big, getting more three-dimensional. Talking in front of a vehicle like that, I'll be pushing it, saying it's flexible, and the owner says when it gets hit it breaks. That could be half of the front end of the vehicle.
@@johnwattdotca I can't get past how many cars are making a lot of the parts on top of the engine out of plastic instead of metal now. If it's touching a running engine and the plastic is becoming almost pliable from the heat. It's not s good place to change it from metal to plsstic.
@@1liar2many The only new cars I get to see are driving past or sitting in a parking lot. I've never really thought of plastic parts in the engine compartment. However, if plastic parts are going to melt anywhere, that's the best place. Do you know you can make gasoline by melting plastic?
Great video. What I don't understand, is how the manufacturers get away with telling us that their bulbs will last 20,000, 40,000, or some other ridiculous amount of hours. I have never had one to NOT fail.
maybe the 20,000 hours is in a laboratory, not in actual use. So they have a trick to deceive and technically avoid regulation.
Company security.
I have a lot that hasn't fail. In general I found that if it didn't fail early, it's going to survive forever.
20000 hours is about 2.5 years. A good lightbulb will last that time, even if it will stay on one or two hours every day. That's the trick.
Because practically no one saves their receipts to make the warranty claims!
GREAT video. Lots of small improvements can be made as others have said for safety or whatever, but you explain why these things fail so quickly instead of lasting a whole lot longer. Thank you!
He alluded to it in the video..heat. heat is what kills these LED bulbs. Thats why he was drilling holes in it and taking the cover off
@@MrSilver708 thank you...I now wished I had not thrown so many away.
@@RKMetalWorx Just took one down today. I never researched this vid The lamp is talking to the computer(a plot ha-ha).
@@MrSilver708 If you want to throw your home insurance out the door ... go ahead and do this. Frankly ... anyone with an electrical background (qualified) will tell you you're nuts. But don't let safety stop you .... there's plenty of room on the Darwin Awards list.
@@MrSilver708
In fact he is not a qualified, if you drive the LED with it's proper voltage and current and maintain it temperature as per its data sheet no need to do these unnecessary measures,
But unfortunately the the manufacturer's are not chairing these all.
thanks a lot for this neat introduction. Besides opening them you can also use a dimmer to reduce overheating. I bought a 5 $ dimmer for my 12 Volt led bulbs and discovered that they still shine quite brightly after considerable reduction in power consumption (displayed on the meter). This means that the %age graph of the 2 factors are not parallel, i.e. not directly proportional. = A 30 % lower power input does not result in a 30% reduction of luminescence, but still gives you some 90 % of the original light, This way you can save 12 V power while still enjoying relatively bright light, especially if you use several bulbs in parallel. I never tested this on dimmable 110 V Leds but all 12 V Led bulbs I tried accept dimming.
This may be the best DIY vid on YT! I've kept about 30 burned out LED bulbs simply because I was pissed off by their short lives. Thanks! I'll never have to buy another bulb!
The comment above reeks of being a shill or bot comment, but I agree with your point. If a single LED module burns out that fast, another one will simply fail shortly after repair, again, and again, and…
30? Did you not use different brands?
I had 3 bulbs left over from our use. These are the dusk to dawn bulbs that automatically turn on when it’s dark enough. Due to the relatively high price and occasional stock shortages, I decided to try to fix them. Best and safest way to open them is with a cardboard cutter. The blade goes in nicely and after prying a bit in one area I move it to the next spot. First 2 bulbs the leds were fine. The regulators below must have been bad. Last one had one led blackened. Since the others were still good, it was easier to unscrew the board and replace the whole thing. Plugged it into an outside light fixture (at noon time) and it illuminated. Not supposed to so 3 out of 3 are not repairable. Firefly is the brandname.
Thank you ! It works . I also cracked the yellow surface of the led and found 2 metallic contacts that come together very close, but don't touch each other. You can solder with tin these contacts together if you put a drop of engine oil on them before soldering . I wasn't able to solder them using usual flux, so I guess they are made of aluminium .
hot glue is better. Oil is not good because it is slippery, and it allow solder to escape like water.
Vaseline works as flux.
Lemon juice😯 too I read.
Thanks buddy....this was an eye-opener for me. I didn't know that they could be opened. I opened mine and saw the interior as you presented yours. It's a cool experiment for me, man. Blessed
74° Original lamp.
60° after removing the diffuser (which is there to spread the light over the whole room instead of the spotlight effect when it is removed).
55° with vent holes drilled.
52° when compromising the shock protection by having screws fixated with conductive sealant through the insulating cup. Just don't.
No temp measured after increasing the resistance.
I have hated all my burned out LED bulbs. This video is the first I've seen that addresses this problem. Love the foreign original, with English overlay. It was a bit hard to follow, but sometimes we need to scour the globe to find ingenuity. We North Americans usually solve the problem by going out and buying another bulb.
Great video I'm definitely going to try this! I'm an electrician and when an LED fails I tell people to just buy a new one but I'm going to give this a shot.
I would be very careful not to tell paying clients to do anything but buy a new bulb. You could put yourself in legal trouble by recommending repair versus replacement when dealing with a 3rd party for hire.
I will try this. One of my led bulbs stopped working last week and it was in the bag for electronic recycling, now I will rescue it and repair myself. Thank you sir.
One of your BEST videos! It's also wise when you can, to purchase a chandelier in which the bulbs point UP instead of DOWN, as a wiser purchase, heat goes up instead of being trapped at base of bulbs, and if you remove the bulb diffusers, the glass chandelier shrouds will still dissipate the light without hurting your eyes, then the light bounces off of the ceiling and it pleasant. All the Best! THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING WHAT IS GOING ON THERE. 73 DE W8LV BILL
re: "heat goes up "
Air.
WARM air rises. Its the AIR ...
And the bulb fills with dust and gives a nice burning smell🤔
Excellent... humankind has been hoodwinked for a long time but western capitalists... thanks you are one of the human assets to humanity..
@@winstoncleghorn470 re: " humankind has been hoodwinked for a long time but western capitalists"
And the communist, socialist state? Did what? Besides offing 'millyuns' ...
Very cool! The best cooling woild probably be to drill a larger hole in the center of the diffuser then small holes close to the board. Then drill holes on the cone close to the board and more near the base. Then you would have convection cooling on both sides of the board. Providing you are keeping the diffuser of course.
convection cooling would not work. Holes too small = no air passing thru for cooling take the diffuser off
What about drilling the diffuser itself?!
Omgg usually i'm not so much into technical videos but this one was really really interestinggg and useful! Thank you Kreosan!!!
Thank you Kreosan
I never knew, but I knew there had to be a way. I just tried to open one and thought I better ground myself and do some research. I have worked with many electrical things at work and I know, the big manufacturers use snap-together with a little glue for products. I saved them 50-70 thousand dollars a month, tearing things apart and fixing them. The first video I saw said to get a saw out (Right) I know better. Thanks to you, I know how to deal with the glue on the bulb, it is different from what I am used to. Thank you Again Kreosan☺
This video is absolutely wonderful! Just like the ones in the beginning of this channel. Love it.
I buy Osram and write the date on the lamp with pen. Not one LED bulb from Philips, EuroLux or Osram lasted more than 12 months. I am buying more LED bulbs than ever before. Nice video. Thanks.
Wow... Guess your mains electricity is really poor quality. I've changed maybe 2 bulbs in the last 8 years.
Yes the Osram bulbs are terrible and when you replace it with a newer one, the new one lasts even shorter.
The simplest method to short circuit a LED is to remove the plastic from the top (it rips apart by pressing from one side with a sharp tool). Then you have two exposed pads from inside the LED that you can solder together, since they are very close to each other.
The simplest method to short circuit a LED without soldering is to solder it together. 🤣😂
@@hhgygy instead, you may try filling in the exposed part by pencil, then that is not soldering, and way more handy and safety even for layman
If soldering is the best solution, then why not? People who watch the video are looking at ways to fix LED lights. It doesn't mean that everyone watching is explicitly looking for something that doesn't use soldering under any circumstances. It's easier for some people to solder than to try to seek out which black sealant is conductive.
Those who cant solder will not fix led
Actually, this is a very useful comment. Thank you. I have a soldering station so this tip makes my life a whole lot easier.
Awesome video, personally couldnt find any conductive silicone so I just snipped the broken LED off with pliers to expose the copper or aluminium pads and then soldered them together. Did this to two bulbs and both work flawlessly now.
I used to remove the diffuser in order te get more light - as I use for photography and sometimes movie making... In practice, the diffuser takes off 1/3 of a stop - which means that will decrease the luminosity by 1/3. Which is a LOT! I found your video very informative and funny at the same time!! 😉
the diffuser serves a 2nd function. it insulates the contacts so that someone doesn't touch them. You could fix that easily by coating the contacts in nail polish.
Guys, I did wrong maths. It's correct to say that the dome takes off 1/3 of a stop, but this does not means that the lumens output is 1/3 less - sorry. I guess it's 1/6 less. So, If you have 6 lamps with dome, you can Get the same lumens with Just 5 without dome. Anyway, it's significant.
I Will meter with a lightmeter to confirm.
Makes on wonder why they don't just use clear / transparent covers rather than diffuse the light from the beginning?
Wow. Lots of tech info in 1 video. All to save replacing a light bulb. I like it. As far as giving off more light with the cover off, you will recieve more light directly beneath the bulb. But without the cover, you will not have much light spread about the room. It acts more as a projector than a flood light.
Good video. My local power company subsidizes bulbs so that they cost less than a dollar, so I would probably only repair one in a pinch. But now that I know how easy it is to remove the diffuser I am doing that when replacing bulbs that go inside diffusers built into the fixture.
thank you very much. I lost several of such bulbs, burning out. you are saving me money, thankyou.
Also useful in the other direction, there are cases where I could use frosted plastic domes like that for crafting projects and with your trick I could just harvest those from cheap LED bulbs.
I know right?
I'd never even thought about saving the domes on lightbulbs for craft projects.
I'm not quite sure what I'd use them for though.
@@Nirrrina Depends on what you're doing. One upcoming project of mine will be a diorama with the bulb painted in various effect colors and some glittering lights inside to create a spherical fantasy portal.
Radomes for military scenes are another use for them or the dome for the miniature black hole powering large custom Star Wars spaceships.
@@Iskelderon Nice!!
Thank you. I didn't see any darkened LEDs, so I gently probed each with a plastic handled screwdriver till I found the defective one. When I withdrew the driver tip, everything when out again, so I bore down a little with the tip on the wonky LED and that fixed its apparently loose connection. I also drilled six 3/8" holes in the bulb before sticking it back on. Voila!
Instead of letting the screws stick out, it would be much better to make much more smaller holes instead and add a round heat sink to the aluminum backplate of the LEDs with the help of a self sticking thermal pad.
Thermal performance would be greatly improved if airflow could convect across the PCB.
It should be possible to trim the edge or drill some holes, carefully, in places where there is only plastic substrate and no electrical components or traces.
Modding the base with "radiators" does provide thermal radiation but does not provide any thermal convection. The heat is captured in the air but the air is then trapped, it has no flow path which can lift the heat away.
I wonder if he got shocked he put allot of black silicon in there and he said it conducts electricity.
This video shows last resorts to save a LED lamp. Some methods are safe, but some are dangerous. Depends on the skill and know-how of the doer. Here's a safe way to increase any LED lamp life a bit. Without removing the plastic diffuser, just simply drill many holes in the diffuser of new LED lamp(s) before using them. But be sure not to damage any internal parts of the LED lamp while drilling the holes.
Drill holes maybe 1/4" to say maybe 3/8" in diameter uniformly spaced all around the plastic diffuser. This allows more heat to escape therefore lengthening the lamp life a bit, also more light will be emitted thru the holes too. This is a safer win-win solution. However, for the diehards who want to still further extend the lamp life after the lamp finally fails, they can then go with the suggestions in this video.
I'm thinking of adding a new 100 ohm to the light, to lower the power sent to the LEDs. Other than that, there appears to be no more great ideas and better solutions. To decrease heat build up and planned obsolescence by killing the LEDs with too much power.
Some great ideas, thanks. I might want to re-check my life-insurance, smoke-alarm, fire-extinguisher status etc before trying a few of them, but most would be pretty safe if done with care
A radical suggestion; how about relying on your COMMON SENSE when making such a modification? And how on earth can *cooling* an LED create a fire hazard?
@@jackx4311 By exposing 120v conductors to incidental contact, moisture or contaminants, and then buttering it liberally with sealant that has already been shown to be conductive.
Thanks for helping extend the light of these bulbs. What would be even more brilliant would be if the comment section was turned off and all your Know-it-all's and complainers replying Would be short circuited.
Good informative video. I've also posted a video where I used the same technique, shorting out the bad LED in the array. The only difference is I actually scraped the bad LED off and soldered the connections better, but same result. I never thought of it running cooler and lasting longer with the diffuser removed, but it makes sense.
Draw a thick black square completely around the bad LED using a soft #2 pencil. Graphite conducts electricity, too
Remove the bad led and use liquid solder between the contacts. Nice video.
One recommendation I've heard is buy dimmable leds and keep them running
that is a good theory, I know it works for incandescent bulbs
Yup, this works because the PWM controller reducing the duty cycle of the LED's basically lowers the average current passing through them as it is repeatedly and very rapidly dropping the current to zero. In theory there is a bit more temperature fluctuation with this method but it generally will be pretty minimal as the PWM cycles are typically very fast. They pretty much have to be as if they aren't then your eyes would perceive it as flicker which is generally undesirable. But this also means the LED's have only a little time to cool before the power comes back on again so the temp tends to be fairly stable albeit lower than were it on constantly as they are only drawing current and thus generating heat part time.
Thanks to this tutorial, I feel confident enough to fix my LED lamps myself. Great job explaining everything so clearly
Surely it is safer to just buy another light bulb rather than risking your life prodding the inside while electricity is running through it. Many years ago I read that all that the companies had to do was to make the filaments thicker which would mean the bulb would never burn out. The reason they don't do this comes down to a loss in profit. Still, life is more important than a light bulb. I appreciate what you have shown here and enjoyed your video.
Fixed a Sylvania 60 Watt using the toothpick method to find the bad LED. Removed it with a pair of needle nosed pliers and bridged the metal gap with a small drop of solder. Now I'm reusing the bulb in a handheld shop light in the garage.
I used to do the same, my high school electrical teacher taught me how to as the LEDs were very new and unreliable. We used to use a wire from a desoldering cord or whatever it's called.
Desolder braid
Thank you. I used a tiny piece of copper and the jumper method worked. Next I need to try to reduce the heat
For those without experience I would definitely not recommend using very sharp blades and knives as tools to replace way safer tools as pliers, wire cutters, wire strippers etc. It is definitely not worth it to take the risk of cutting a finger or worse. Great video, techniques and advice on fixing LED lamps. Thanks!
Many electric tool accidents cause permanent injury. They should use gas powered tools. Never use one of those dangerous electric tools when you can use a chain saw.
@@MaxBrix 😂👍
uh oh, now I'm really scared😬😜😂
Be careful cutting your steak with your plastic spork
If you live in the UK, please do not add screws as heat sinks. The screws have the potential to come in to contact with the supply wires. This could cause a short circuit and result in a fire. Any following investigation will discover this and your insurance will be void. Thats best case scenario. Worst case is that someone gets an electric shock from them and dies. That will be a manslaughter charge as you deliberately made the bulb unsafe and will end up with a long, long time in prison. Even removing the diffuser may expose enough of the circuit for an electric shock.
I've never had an led bulb go out on me yet, but I'll be ready for them now! Great video!!!
@@b.t4604 They're called "Luminus LED." I get them at the local dollar store, nothing fancy.
Very impressive video. I've been disappointed by the stated lifespan of these bulbs compared to the actual. I'll be repairing and modifying them from now on. Thanks.
I appreciate having a diffuser because the leds are so bright when the are directly in sight. I think that the bulbs are made to be weather proof. The irony is that it would be more expensive to add aluminum fins and it would make the bulbs last longer so they would sell fewer.
But I am glad that led bulbs are repairable and even easy to improve. I might consider 3d printing my own light bulb diffusers with venting. Something that makes them easier to look at will still allowing for cooling.
Drill holes in the diffuser and reinstall.
@@spudpud-T67 when LED lights are used in a lamp, the lamp glass could also work as protection so the LED shouldn't have it so it could cool better in a larger piece of air.
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Well, I was somehow sceptical - but this video turned out to be useful as well as entertaining with that charming sense of humor, I will definetely repair my lamps, thanks
You have inspired me to repair all my failed LED bulbs! I knew keeping them would pay off lol
Same! I'm always skeptical or these "Russian hack" videos but I can confirm, this works! I can't believe I just fixed a light bulb by jumping 2 connections.
Dood! Yes
Useful informative video, but not sure how keen I would be on the idea of prominent screws.
An easy way to repair it bridging the led is, with a knife remove the plastic cap of the broken led, and with the point of the knife rivet one contact to the other. The contacts are made from soft metal so you can bridge the gap easily.
The best way to decrease temperature is to decrease the current removing one of the resistors, you can do it with the same knife!
@@Unknown-ek8eq The resistors are in paralell, (the total resistance is lower than each resistor's resistance). When you remove one, the resistance increases and that lowers the current. Typically one has a higher value than the other, so you can choose to lower the current a little (by removing the higher value one and keeping the one with the lower value) or to lower the current much more (doing the opposite).
@@Unknown-ek8eq bigclivedotcom here on youtube has some really good videos on how to do this, and calculations if you want to really understand it
The original incandescent light bulbs lasted forever. There is one in a Livermore California firestation that has burned since 1901. The light bulb manufacturers got together and conspired to only make light bulbs last for a few years, thus creating a need to replace bulbs. LEDs should last 30,000 hours, essentially a lifetime. But my experience has been that they last no longer than incandescent ones and cost 10 times more. I wondered why the LED bulbs were burning out so quickly. Now I know. Thanks Kreosan.
There's lots of planned obsolescence in led bulbs.
thx for the video. I just broke the led off the board then cleaned it with flux and placed a solder bead on the two contacts. the bulbs are back to work.
Love these tech videos! Great stuff Kreosan and team!!
"Don't try this at home" and "Do so at your own Riak" 🤣🤯😆 lol
I have LED bulbs that go on for 30 seconds and off for good. I like the idea of using less electricity and having bulbs that will last for months if not years. After using LED's and throwing many away after a short time, it's beginning to feel like a racket for the bulb makers.
👍 Good ideas. But instead of jagged screw tips sticking out of the bulbs base ( 7:23 for cooling), maybe larger holes ( 6:33 ) would help for more air flow! Thanks!
Or you could install a small fan (PC chip fan) by the holes to create a cool air circulating environment. 😂
I'll try that but instead I'll drill the globe to diffuse the heat. Thanks for the tip!
If you have a series of resistors and you short-out one, then the others get more voltage. Same for the LEDs in a chain. Wouldn't that shorten their lifespan also? Wouldn't it be better to replace the burned one with a resistance? But I understand, this would need difficult soldering, and Kreosan's method is much better to revive the lamp than having no lamp at all. Thanks, will try it next time a LED bulb breaks!
(And I agree with the commenters on the screws: that looks dangerous. Wouldn't try it at home.
If there is an integrated circuit in the bulb, it wants to supply current, not voltage. If it is set to supply X milliamps, it will supply X milliamps no matter what you connect to it.
That's not the problem. The circuit limits the current. But the missing voltage drop must be drop in the regulator and creates heat there instead of light, if the LED is only bridged.
As a fellow electronics content creator i can really appreciate this video.
I kept a few of these bulbs from 2022. i didnt know these tricks but somehow i believes i could fix them. Now i know how.
I was also wondering, if the LEDs are in series, it means they each drop a specific amount of the total voltage. But shorting the damaged LED, there will perhaps be a highter voltage across the other working ones. Can this a problem in your experience?
Draw a thick black square completely around the bad LED using a soft #2 pencil. Graphite conducts electricity, too
Hello Kreosan English Sir! It's great to see the interesting videos coming on Sundays regularly. Keep doing the good work of spreading valuable knowledge to whole world. God bless you and your whole family and team with good health and well being :)
India?
@@Мойевропейскийжидобандеровский Yeah! I'm Indian.
@@dexter.lab.and.tech.solutions guess how I guessed it.
@@Мойевропейскийжидобандеровский how you guessed that I'm Indian, by seeing my videos?
@@dexter.lab.and.tech.solutions no
doing this instantly....mine was no. 7 burned out.....by pass that as you mentioned.....exacactly it returned to life.....thanks a lot😚
Love it. Make a light bulb not only be a electrocution hazard but also add some screws on it for extra hazardness!
It's a good video nonetheless but I'd be careful with open circuits hanging around. There'll be one day where you eventually touch it. Might be a good fly killer though.
I am entertained, thank you
Thank you. That was an easy fix.
I used solder instead of a wire, so nothing can come off.
This works ones with the driver, there are cheaper ones that uses some sort of capacitor resistor voltage drop system and uses LEDs in series to reduce the voltage. If you short circuit those, the lamp break almost in no time. You may get better results if you replace the led, but that is not that simple.
Also diffuser has a purpose, it increases the angle of the light. If you remove it, light will shine brighter directly below, but will not light up sides.
Also, also, be careful, if you light the lamp and disconnect, there still can be charge after a long time if the LEDs are not working at all.
Thank you soooo much !!! I have lots of LED "burnt lamps" now nomore !!
I have been to cheap to buy custom bulbs to fit older desk lamps so I have always just peeled off the plastic cap they do seem to put out better light but thats good to know I was actually doing them good by adding better cooling
A few things. I'm all about repair, reuse, recycle. Those are fantastic tips. Now, onto the "Cooling" section of removing the frosted diffuser and drilling the base. The diffuser itself is a challenge for a ton of manufacturers because LEDS are inherently directional in it's light output. You immediatly see in the video that it gets brighter like a beam vs where the diffuser helps to bounce the light to get a general field glow as older incandescents were able to do naturally. This had to do with electrifying the filament and using the gases in the lamp to help push light outwards. You put that same LED lamp with a diffuser in a light fixture and you're just highlighting the ceiling.
Now for the true rocker bulb - for the love of god, don't do that. That shield is also used to bleed any excess electricity into the neutral. If the unthinkable happens, you're allowing for yourself, a loved one, or a bystander to get hurt. Higher end manufacturers usually fill that cavity with a nonconductive thermal compound that is used to move away heat and expell it from the same base. I wouldn't be surprised if half the lamps in his hands don't weight close to a feather. I'm not knocking this, because cooling is the right idea, but there are safer methods.
To identify a problem and then offer no solution is moronic. Don't post, if you have no solution. Any moron can suggest that there is a problem that can be rectified or improved. But an absolute clown who offers no solution is an attention seeking goose.
You can soften the glue holding on the globe with a heat gun or maybe even a hairdryer on the high heat setting. Same as getting a screen off a smartphone for replacement.
A heat gun on a smart phone.... oh ! Do THAT !!
I'm glad they are plastic now
No more broken glass
No more toxic pwd coming from glass spiral bulbs
Thanks for showing us how to fix or make them even better
Much love xoxox
Amazing - a lot of good ideas. The fix for the bad LED is brilliant.
Draw a thick black square completely around the bad LED using a soft #2 pencil. Graphite conducts electricity, too
Great information many cool hints to find faulty LED's
This was fantastic... so many good ideas. Thanks you for making this video.
I believe that bul, drilled with ventilation hole, will last many years, esp when it's used in the windy, cold out doors.
That black window seal is electrically conductive, but is it intended to be utilized as a conductor? Wondering if it could heat up and catch on fire if basically used as an electrical component within the heated environment of the bulb.
if you used it for repair in an incandescent light bulb, it would surely smoke and possibly burn. LED bulbs have very low current.
Actually, it worked, the toothpick method. TNX !
Thank you for a very useful and cost saving video - very good hack but be aware of the dangerous voltage - toothpicks don't sound a good idea lol!
Toothpicks are made of wood...
Wood cannot conduct electricity, no need to worry.
Toothpicks & chopsticks are common tools for small, tight, tedious electrical repairs.
Awesome! Even if it doesn't last as long with the bypassed led, it's still got more life than a dead bulb in the trash!
7:04 Increase the life expectancy of your LEDs. Decrease yours.
Tin!
cooling efficiency by air circulation can be increased by providing a pair of holes for entry and another pair for exit a different levels.
The worst problem of LED bulbs for me is when it starts to flicker. None of my LED bulbs have ever stopped working completely.
That depends on filtering,which cheaper bulbs don't have
I've seen lots of flickering bulbs, and this is the first comment I've seen mentioning that problem. I don't know what causes this, but I plan to find out when the next flickering episode begins.
@@TechHowden Just a guess? Or do you have a reason?
@@TechHowden I used the word 'flickering' to mean random step changes in brightness, not powerline hum. So I think you misunderstood.
@@TechHowden I can't understand what you mean. Whether linear or switched, the LED power supply is not likely to cause random flicker unless there's a loose wire. Even if a capacitor fails, all that does is increase the ripple. It's a mystery what causes this flicker in so many bulbs I've tried. So what do you mean, exactly?
Brilliant! Just when I thought I'd buy some light bulb after work to replace the one in the kitchen. Thanks, I'll try to repair it first