Aldi LED lamps
 

In article ,
Andy Burns wrote:
The wirewound resistor was burnt to a crisp (the lamp didn't fail
spectacularly just flickered then faded away) all the surrounding SMDs
looked like their solder was cooked and discoloured, one surface
resistor had melted away from the PCB, so looks like long term
overheating.

Seems like the guts of the 13W are pushed too hard.

It's what happens with CFLs too. I'd guess they use a large fan to keep
them cool when testing.

Proably the same lab as VW.

--
*How many roads must a man travel down before he admits he is lost?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Aldi LED lamps
 

On 02/10/2015 12:39, Andy Burns wrote:
wrote:

I now have to report that one of the lamps has failed entirely. So
that's just 16 months of life, maybe 2 hours a day = 1000 hours.

My second one managed more than that, lets say 18 months at 6 hours/day,
3000+ hours, nothing like the 25,000 headline figure on the packaging.

I contacted ALDI by email, their response was 12 month warranty, tough.

I didn't want to faff about convincing them to refund/replace, so I took
it apart, hoping I might find an obviously failed capacitor in an easily
accessible location, no such luck.

Fairly normal layout, all potted in soft silicone, input resistors to
mains rectifier to bead-type smoothing caps, then there was a wirewound
resistor feeding into the ICs/transistor chopper section, feeding small
transformer and output smoothing caps.

The wirewound resistor was burnt to a crisp (the lamp didn't fail
spectacularly just flickered then faded away) all the surrounding SMDs
looked like their solder was cooked and discoloured, one surface
resistor had melted away from the PCB, so looks like long term overheating.

That sounds more like the switcher failed dead short to ground and the
current limiting resistor and all ancillary components were cooked.

Seems like the guts of the 13W are pushed too hard.

Boo.

Indeed, sod lidaldi for LEDs in future, the LEDhut ones of similar age
(fewer hours and lower wattage) are still going OK, but I'll try some
with a multi-year warranty, what were those recommended by Adam,
"Integral" ?

I have only had one of mine from any source fail so far. The 25k hours
is for the bare LEDs - I reckon 5k hours is pushing it where the
capacitors are concerned and much less if it is cooking in an unsuitable
hot enclosure. LEDs don't make much heat but what heat they do produce
is more than enough to dry out capacitors over time.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

Aldi LED lamps
 

In article ,
Martin Brown wrote:
I have only had one of mine from any source fail so far. The 25k hours
is for the bare LEDs - I reckon 5k hours is pushing it where the
capacitors are concerned and much less if it is cooking in an unsuitable
hot enclosure. LEDs don't make much heat but what heat they do produce
is more than enough to dry out capacitors over time.

As if the public care what fails when it stops working?

Seems to come from the same stable as LED watts. Try measuring the actual
power consumption from the mains...

--
*Is there another word for synonym?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Aldi LED lamps
 

Martin Brown wrote:

Andy Burns wrote:

The wirewound resistor was burnt to a crisp

That sounds more like the switcher failed dead short to ground and the
current limiting resistor and all ancillary components were cooked.

Could be, when first digging it out, I wondered if the resistor was
there as a fuse, but thought they'd usually use a carbon rather than
wirewound for that? Then saw it was "mid" circuit, rather than at the
mains input, where I assume they'd put a couple to act as multi-purpose
(inrush limiting, current limiting and as a fuse?)

The 25k hours is for the bare LEDs

Yes, I know that ... but should they really get away with claiming it on
the packaging, with no small print?

LEDs don't make much heat but what heat they do produce
is more than enough to dry out capacitors over time.

The LEDs are on a sizable chunk of aluminium, about 1cm thick, with not
much heatsink compound, the whole of the PSU PCB was potted (not in
resin but grey, presumably thermal, silicone).

Aldi LED lamps
 

On Fri, 2 Oct 2015 12:39:00 +0100, Andy Burns wrote:

I didn't want to faff about convincing them to refund/replace, so I took
it apart, hoping I might find an obviously failed capacitor in an easily
accessible location, no such luck.

Fairly normal layout, all potted in soft silicone, input resistors to
mains rectifier to bead-type smoothing caps, then there was a wirewound
resistor feeding into the ICs/transistor chopper section, feeding small
transformer and output smoothing caps.

The wirewound resistor was burnt to a crisp (the lamp didn't fail
spectacularly just flickered then faded away) all the surrounding SMDs
looked like their solder was cooked and discoloured, one surface
resistor had melted away from the PCB, so looks like long term
overheating.

I shall have to open up the two that failed here recently. I shall
add that they failed when our overnight mains voltage was pushing 255
and occasionally reached 260... What is the German tolerance on the
nominal 230 V they are marked?

Indeed, sod lidaldi for LEDs in future, the LEDhut ones of similar age
(fewer hours and lower wattage) are still going OK,

That's hardly a fair comparison. B-)

--
Cheers
Dave.

Aldi LED lamps
 

Andy Burns wrote:
wrote:

I now have to report that one of the lamps has failed entirely. So
that's just 16 months of life, maybe 2 hours a day = 1000 hours.

My second one managed more than that, lets say 18 months at 6 hours/day,
3000+ hours, nothing like the 25,000 headline figure on the packaging.

I contacted ALDI by email, their response was 12 month warranty, tough.


Under EU rules, there is a 6 year liability for inherent faults. If the
supposed design life is 25000 hrs then it would seem they have an inherent
fault. The retailer can't limit it by a warranty which is shorter.

I got a replacement iPhone by quoting this after the Wifi IC failed
following one of the IOS updates. The chip failure was a common fault after
the update and the IC overheated. I argued the phone had an inherent fault
as it was designed to have the OS upgraded.

Aldi LED lamps
 

On Friday, 2 October 2015 21:23:21 UTC+1, Brian Reay wrote:
Andy Burns wrote:
wrote:

I now have to report that one of the lamps has failed entirely. So
that's just 16 months of life, maybe 2 hours a day = 1000 hours.

My second one managed more than that, lets say 18 months at 6 hours/day,
3000+ hours, nothing like the 25,000 headline figure on the packaging.

I contacted ALDI by email, their response was 12 month warranty, tough.


Under EU rules, there is a 6 year liability for inherent faults. If the
supposed design life is 25000 hrs then it would seem they have an inherent
fault. The retailer can't limit it by a warranty which is shorter.

I got a replacement iPhone by quoting this after the Wifi IC failed
following one of the IOS updates. The chip failure was a common fault after
the update and the IC overheated. I argued the phone had an inherent fault
as it was designed to have the OS upgraded.

Indeed. Write them an LBA.

You're not in a strong position in that you can't prove how much use its had, and you can't expect bulb retailers to replace all dead bulbs free. Aldi are in an iffy position from selling goods that don't match their description. So I'd see it as a gamble.


NT

Aldi LED lamps
 

In article ,
wrote:
You're not in a strong position in that you can't prove how much use its
had, and you can't expect bulb retailers to replace all dead bulbs free.

I've seen the life of an LED quoted as 22,000 hours. About 3 years of
continuous use.

Just about right for the usual Lidl etc warranty.

--
*Kill one man and you're a murderer, kill a million youand 're a conqueror.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Aldi LED lamps
 

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

In article ,
wrote:
You're not in a strong position in that you can't prove how much use its
had, and you can't expect bulb retailers to replace all dead bulbs free.

I've seen the life of an LED quoted as 22,000 hours. About 3 years of
continuous use.

I've seen manufacturers and sellers claim this (or similar).
I haven't seen any independent testers confirm it.

--
Timothy Murphy
gayleard /at/ eircom.net
School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin

Aldi LED lamps
 

In article ,
Timothy Murphy wrote:
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

In article ,
wrote:
You're not in a strong position in that you can't prove how much use
its had, and you can't expect bulb retailers to replace all dead
bulbs free.

I've seen the life of an LED quoted as 22,000 hours. About 3 years of
continuous use.

I've seen manufacturers and sellers claim this (or similar).
I haven't seen any independent testers confirm it.

Well, yes. Seems to me if they want to claim such things, should be backed
up by a warranty.

--
*Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Aldi LED lamps
 

On Mon, 05 Oct 2015 11:12:42 +0100, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

In article ,
Timothy Murphy wrote:
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

In article ,
wrote:
You're not in a strong position in that you can't prove how much use
its had, and you can't expect bulb retailers to replace all dead
bulbs free.

I've seen the life of an LED quoted as 22,000 hours. About 3 years of
continuous use.

I've seen manufacturers and sellers claim this (or similar).
I haven't seen any independent testers confirm it.

Well, yes. Seems to me if they want to claim such things, should be backed
up by a warranty.

Those that I got from Ledlam are 50kh and have a 5-year warranty - time will
tell...
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway

Aldi LED lamps
 

On Sat, 3 Oct 2015 06:36:50 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

I now have to report that one of the lamps has failed entirely.
So
that's just 16 months of life, maybe 2 hours a day = 1000 hours.

My second one managed more than that, lets say 18 months at 6
hours/day, 3000+ hours, nothing like the 25,000 headline figure
on the
packaging.

Just hacksawed open one of the failed ones here. Electronics of
driver board look OK. I did notice that one of the SMD LED chips was
not attached at one end, during further hacking it and two others
fell off. These chips appear to be mounted on a 2 mm thick bit of ali
that is bonded to a similar thickness collar of ali to act as a
heatsink. Other LED chips are not square to their pads and the solder
looks grey and mottled so it looks like they might have got a "bit
hot" or the orginal flow soldering wasn't up to spec. I'll try
soldering the chips back on and powering it back up at some point,
however there is a land under the chip that I won't be able to get
at. The hot air paint striper gun would blow all the chips off when
it melted the solder...

This bulb would have been in use 24/7 in and enclosed (but 60W
incandescant rated) fitting. The LED board has what looks like a part
number and the numbers "2012-11-1". Unfortunately I don't know when
this bulb entered service.

--
Cheers
Dave.