General > General Technical Chat
CREE light bulbs - high failure rate
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cvanc:
Hi all-

So a while back I replaced every incandescent lamp in my home with Cree LEDs.  They were the usual residential stuff, purchased from Home Depot.  I *thought* I was buying the best available quality.

Unfortunately my failure rate is approaching 25% just a few months later!  I thought these were the best on the market... am I just unlucky, or have things changed, and these guys are not what they used to be?

Thanks.

(edited, holy cow I meant Cree not Osram... sorry)
BrokenYugo:
The magic phrase on the box you have to look for is "Suitable for enclosed fixtures", i.e. "Built with halfass decent high temp parts".

EDIT to reflect OP's edit: That said, I thought Cree was the good stuff too.
cvanc:
Thanks, ands sorry for my brain fart.

Love your name, side question - did you ever see a Yugo that actually worked?   ;)
mawyatt:
Might have something to do with the quality of the power you have with high energy "glitches". Maybe lots of lightning storm induced "spikes" like where we live. Incandescent bulbs are almost immune to the power line quality, and don't need any protection, whereas an LED is basically an electronic device and needs some protection, and in household use probably has little to keep the cost down.

Best,
BrokenYugo:
Yes, had one on the road for one summer/fall about 10 years ago, was even a daily for a while, then it went and wiped a cam on me, life got in the way, and I never got back to it. I like slow cars on skinny tires you can beat the crap out of without breaking the speed limit.

But back to topic, I also was thinking maybe bad power quality. That is a ridiculous fail rate. Have you done an autopsy on any of the dead ones? Assuming we aren't talking about the clear glass globe LED filament type the diffuser will pop off mostly unharmed if you're careful with it (they're usually sealed with silicone caulk for water resistance).
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