WTF: 4 month old LED bulb flickering

[desura]

Had it in the bathroom. It was a cheap one, but still, it was LED and I expected it to last 20 years.

Flickers. This is worse than incandescents.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Probably a crappy AC-DC converter. May have gotten moist from being in that environment. If you trash it, at least keep the LED modules, they're probably still good.

I'm a monster and put 4 CFCLs in my bathroom, so far so good...

 

[PottedMeat]

theres a lot of garbage out there. the leds themselves may be ok but add in bad passives, poor soldering, stupid thermal design and you get shitty bulbs.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Also very dangerous ones if buying online. Exposed high voltage solder joints, non isolated designs, etc.

 

[Carson Dyle]

I've had a couple of cheap LED bulbs do the same thing after a bit of time. I think they were both Target branded bulbs.

 

[DCal430]

I have learned when it comes to LED cheap bulbs are cheap for a reason. They are often very low quality. They are often poor efficiency and have a very short life.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

To assume a manufacturer builds for duration would be a faulty assumption. But, the first LED bulb I bought is 4.5 years in running constantly and coming up on 40,000 hours.

Now, I have a couple of LED bulbs that have been continuously operating in outside sconces since November 2014 (~20K hours) without a flicker and those are house brand from Lowes. Not a single flicker and have survived through winter cold and summer heat and humidity.

 

[pontifex]

I got some cheap ones from costco. 1 completely went out and another started to flicker. not sure how long they have been in, less than a year I would say, though.

these are in a ceiling fan in my living room.