Hello everyone !
today I started a new group in linkedin, called LED disasters….
I decided to do this because I’m tired of seeing people with no idea about LED technology that try to sell absolutely disaster products to the mass and that’s not possible, because at the end they are confusing and making people lose their faith in this very good technology if well applied of course,
Today I start with a debate about the problems with the spotlights, one of the biggest market and one of the most complicated product to design and build to replace the old and beautiful halogen lamps of 50W
I have tried, tested and analized several designs and products from a lot of manufacturers, mostly coming from china of course, and the lifetime of this products is really low in comparison with what they claim or can demonstrate.
Ok let’s start….
Here you can see how the red wire is cut when going to LED PCB, this creates that the voltage is in the heatsink with a serious danger for people who touch the lamp when running…
This two photos are from a Taiwanese manufacturer, DOMAG LED
the LEDs used are good as they use CREE, but the driver and heatsink was too small for ths 12W spotlight lamp…..6 months later nearly all dead…. they never send me new ones, like the majority of asian manufacturers….a lot of warranty but when there is a problem they disapear !
Here you can see a problem with the cental LED, it has no space to remove the heat and it always break the same in the same place…
This lamps are from one of the biggest manufacturers in China SENGLED
http://www.sengled.com/english/
This lamps are a disaster in terms of electronic drivers and heat management, also there is no protection for spikes or surges produced by common lines in our houses, then at the minimum surge the lamp is out…The LEDs used are CREE, then good !
Here you can see a product with the LED not well soldered….this can make all the LED string default and all the lamp be out
And here another driver that is out…too much heat…
Well as you can see and as i have experienced during this latests years the main problem for LED bulbs and spots is the driver and the thermal management of it’s components, then please check very carefully before you start buying LED lamps or spotlights.
Ask for which type of capacitors they use, which kind of IC they use, and check the temperatures.
As a final point is always much better to use parts from known and renowned manufacturers instead of chinese suppliers that cannot supply reliable data like for the capacitors or other parts of the drivers.
and next days more photos and posts about LED Disasters !!
see you !!
Marc Juarez
LED specialist