Cold-tolerant LED bulbs for outdoor use? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 01, 2019, 12:05:45 am
content: It had been several weeks since an "last forever" LED bulb had last died in my household. Unfortunately, a few days ago, it got cold. A few days earlier, I had replaced a burned out very low wattage incandescent bulb in a fixture by my door with one of my [brand name] LED bulbs. Straight out of the box. It had worked fine for several days. It was several degrees below freezing.Since I had to bring the garbage out, and it was dark, I flicked the switch."Pop" and it was DEAD.Is this normal? All of my neighbors seem to have front lights, all of which work.WTF?

author: BrianHG
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 01, 2019, 12:25:20 am
content: Caps froze in the capacitive voltage dropper. 120v/240v went straight into the LED array.Or the switching supply controller's clock froze/ran too slow and the mosfet was jammed ''ON'.

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 01, 2019, 03:27:14 am
content: I think the safest LED bulb for front door use, where it can get really cold, is likely the simplest one, just a power resistor and a bridge rectifier. Maybe potted. Who cares if its dim and inefficient as can be, as long as it doesnt get too hot, and lasts longer. It doesn't have to be that bright, just bright enough so people can see and don't trip.How does one get the bulb part off of these things? Is it possible to do it without breaking them? I guess I'll try heat.I have a bunch of them and want to do some autopsies.

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 01, 2019, 03:28:44 am
content: Condensation probably shorted something out...

author: BrianHG
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 01, 2019, 03:31:52 am
content: Click here:https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=big+clive+ledAnd scroll down to what you like. He opens all the LED bulbs and shows you whats in each one with schematic.

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 01, 2019, 03:43:31 am
content: My two RH sensors appear to be pegged at their lower limits.Its also only ten degrees Fahrenheit which is about -10 CBrrrrr! This is frostbite weather. Need to cover up face as well as ears.You Australians are lucky to have such mild weather!

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 01, 2019, 03:56:43 am
content: Quote from: cdev on February 01, 2019, 03:43:31 amYou need to do as the Scandinavians do. Go outside with no clothes on, roll in the snow, plunge into the water, then go into the sauna. It's good for the health!

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 01, 2019, 06:48:22 am
content: I don't know what is happening with some people's bulbs. Dirty power? Cheap bulbs? Terrible luck? I started converting my whole house over to LED bulbs in 2011, there are 3 porch lights in front, one on the side and a light out back that have had Philips and EcoSmart LED bulbs in them, installed in 2011 and operated dusk till dawn on timers and photocells. They have been through >100F heat waves and <15F cold snaps and not a single failure.Since I started using them I've had maybe 3 LED bulbs fail total and every one of them was used in a fully enclosed fixture despite warnings not to. LEDs should love the cold, I've had one in my refrigerator light for years and it works fine, sub-zero temps should be no problem at all.

author: mariush
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 01, 2019, 08:27:28 am
content: Your fridge leds are most likely the kind that only have a current limiting resistor inside and run from regulated 12v or 24v, or something like that. So not much to break. The power supply is in the back of the fridge where it's warmer.As others above said, probably the capacitive dropper went bad, frozen or something.james, your led bulbs probably have a switching power supply type of led driver, and the supply is probably inside some epoxy material, used for isolation and better heat transfer to the metal screw part. So probably that prevents humidity and cold from affecting the circuitry inside.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 01, 2019, 06:57:52 pm
content: Quote from: mariush on February 01, 2019, 08:27:28 amNo, the bulb in my fridge is an old Philips remote phosphor type with a switching regulator in it, originally it had an ordinary incandescent lamp. Nearly all decent LED bulbs have a switching regulator, I haven't seen one with a capacitive dropper in a very long time. Some of the filament type LED bulbs have a linear LED driver IC in the base instead of a switcher but they're still not a capacitive dropper. The vast majority of the bulbs in my house are the type with proper switchmode drivers.

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 01, 2019, 07:33:28 pm
content: Virtually all of the bulbs Ive had which have gone bad are Feit bulbs.When Ive bought light bulbs, since this began, Ive always bought other brands of bulbs, I'm the person who buys them in other styles. The oddball kinds that fit in specific kinds of lamps.I'm the person that does that. And they have lasted.But my SO is the person who usually does the shopping for the generic bulbs and she keeps buying this brand, because they are sold in big boxes and are cheap. Most have lasted a decent amount of time but some significant portion of them don't. They randomly fail.So now I have a bunch of bulbs that don't work any more. Time to find out what's been happening to them! What should I be looking for, what would people suggest I investigate? I am hoping to be able to salvage a large number of good LEDs.I am thinking that I could likely create some high quality low voltage task lighting using them, with some heat sinks behind them.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 01, 2019, 07:35:56 pm
content: Take them apart and see what happened, the few LED bulbs I've had fail, the LEDs themselves were damaged, as well as the driver. I don't know if the driver failed and blew up the LEDs or the other way around. Your case might be different, only way to tell is to look. My friend has a bunch of older Feit LED bulbs that have lasted well but I've always avoided that brand because I had so many Feit CFLs fail early, and before that some Feit incandescent bulbs that lasted only a few weeks.

author: rrinker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 01, 2019, 09:07:52 pm
content: I guess I have decent ones. From the local big box store. The two in my front porch lights have been there nearly 5 years now (I do take them out at Christmas and replace them with red and green ones, and at Halloween when I put black light ones in) and I also have a pole light down by the driveway that has 4 of the candelabra type LEDs which have been in there for about 4 years now. The ones in the porch lights are the same ones I used in all the standard fixtures in the house. I also have big floodlights, 4 of them, that I put in 2 years ago, in my back yard, and another pair on the front corner which rarely get used. The back yard ones are the most used exterior lights - in the summer when we are out late in the pool, and at all times through the year because they get turned on every time the dogs get let out. Last 2 days have been single digits (degrees F), no problem with any of the lights.I think these are Utilitech brand. I haven't taken any apart to see just what sort of dropper circuit they use.

author: darrellg
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 01, 2019, 11:40:24 pm
content: Quote from: cdev on February 01, 2019, 07:33:28 pmI've had zero luck with Feit bulbs. I used to buy them because Costco had them for a very reasonable price, but they all end up dying prematurely. Now I just go to Home Depot and spend more for Phillips. I've never had a Phillips fail.

author: electromotive
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 05, 2019, 04:51:46 pm
content: I use Phillips Osram, and I keep them on continuously during the winter. Seems to work out fine here in Ohio.

author: Cyberdragon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 05, 2019, 05:11:00 pm
content: The 2 for dollar discount LEDs seem to work fine outside in the mid-atlantic.

author: barbeque
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 05, 2019, 06:09:07 pm
content: I've had one of those Philips L-Prize yellow bulbs going in my outdoor walkway light for about 5-6 years now. Fully enclosed fixture, but it's a big one (sphere light on a pole).It has even held up in -32°C, though much worse than that makes it sometimes cycle on and off (although the housing itself was failing around then from corrosion on the wiring). My neighbour has had some luck with the $6 Ikea bulbs they sold a few years ago as well.Sounds like from this thread I've been extremely lucky. Perhaps quality is starting to fade in order to drive the price down?