Recessed light fittings

[oliver602]

We have 4 Aurora DGUF5015/40 lights in our kitchen. These are 750lm, dimmible, recessed, cfl, 4000k, reflector lamps. We have had 3 fail, one of those was a replacement. They have been discontinued so no more replacements.
On the odd occasion one of the working lights will decide not to light. On one occasion one of the 'broken' lights, after 3 months of brokenness, decided to light for a few evenings.

Anybody had good experience with any LED lights similar to these? LED replacements for these from Aurora with the same or higher output are about £30 each. For that price id expect them to last 1,000,000 years  why are recessed LED fittings so expensive?

(edited the price, they have dropped, but id still consider very expensive)

[steve30]

Are Aurora one of the more well known, high quality brands? (As far as I'm aware they are, but I've not used them myself). If so, you are probably paying for high quality LEDs, high quality drivers, safety, etc. All things that you probably wouldn't get with cheap chinese stuff.

LED fittings from most of the major 'high quality' manufacturers seem quite expensive.

[Zero999]

How old were they when they failed? If they were well below 10000 hours, the first thing you should do is, take them back to where you purchased them from and demand a refund.

[oliver602]

They are about 3 years old. The first failed within the first year and we did get a replacement, they wouldn't take the second and third, they failed outside of the first year. Well before the 10,000 hours.

I think they are more popular in commercial than residential from comments on the internet. I might be willing to stretch to that price with assurance that they are very reliable. Our current lights are only 3 years old so I'm very sceptical.

I'd like to know if anybody could recommend a light they have had good experience with.

The shift from CFL to LED being so recent I can appreciate there may be little insight into long term reliability.

[SeanB]

Look at bigclive.com youtube channel where he has some LED lighting teardowns and usage info.



Latest on some lamps that might be a replacement for yours.

[Seekonk]

I have been buying 18W recesses lights for my camp that look like yours.  With a utility rebate they are pretty cheap.   I modify them for 12V operation and they then use about 9W.  The real story is I also have a Philips 32W DLM lamp.  This has a massive several pound aluminum heatsink and the power supply isn't even included in the assembly.  Obviously Philips knows something.   I would have to think it is heat killing these things just like the cheap CFL lamps.  You got to tell us if it is the inverter or LED going bad.  Mine operate at about 35-40V.

[coppice]

Most CFLs are designed for use in the open air. Most say they should not be used in an enclosed luminaire, although they may use the tiniest of text to say this. They overheat when you restrict the convection air flow around them. The cement used to fix the tube into the base usually softens when they are run too hot, and they may just fall apart. If they run cool enough that this doesn't happen their life will be greatly shortened. Its not just the electronics which suffers from excessive temperatures. The tubes themselves blacken much faster in an enclosed luminaire.

[amyk]

Look at bigclive.com youtube channel where he has some LED lighting teardowns and usage info.

I was going to mention this, although from what I've seen his LED lights are in the sub-10W range.

[SeanB]

True, but you can see who his suppliers are ( or ask him) and then see if they have larger wattage ones, and buy as appropriate.

[oliver602]

You got to tell us if it is the inverter or LED going bad.

They are CFL. Im not sure how they went bad, although it doesn't look like they got too hot. There is no discolouration. The intermittent failure would have me guess it's not heat. The fourth one is on its way out. Sometimes it just refuses to light up from cold. When I look closely I can see a very dim flash every two seconds or so like it is trying to start.  I don't know anything about the circuitry. Is there a way to test?

[kingofkya]

I have a few cheap chines led oens as well $10-20 units and they also seam to be putting the psu outside of the fixture as well.  So obviously there concern about failures from heat as well. I have 4 that have been working for 2 years now, so i cant say mutch on longevity yet.

Example:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ultra-Bright-Cree-LED-Panel-Light-Bulb-Ceiling-Downlight-Recessed-Surface-Mount-/361107047641?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item5413a844d9

[SteveyG]

The failure mode on those lights seems to be the connections so the CFL lamp rather than the electronics. See if you can clean them up and they'll probably all work again.

[oliver602]

The wirewrap connection to the tubes? They looked a bit corroded but I dismissed it after a quick test with a multimeter in continuity mode. I'll take a more thorough look at those.

[Delta]

Are they on a proper CFL dimmer switch, or just a good old TRIAC dimmer?

[SteveyG]

The wirewrap connection to the tubes? They looked a bit corroded but I dismissed it after a quick test with a multimeter in continuity mode. I'll take a more thorough look at those.

Sorry, ignore me - for some reason I didn't end up at the right product page. I thought you had the recessed fittings with 4 pin PL-L lamps.

[oliver602]

Are they on a proper CFL dimmer switch, or just a good old TRIAC dimmer?

I think so, it was supplied with the lights. AU-DSP400X. Suitable for control of dimmable compact fluorescent and LED lamps, dimmable electronic transformers, LED drivers, toroidal transformers and tungsten lamps. Integrated trimming potentiometer allows CFL and LED lamps to be set at a minimum level to prevent them going out or flickering at the bottom of the dimmer range. Leading edge phase control. For use with resistive and inductive loads.

I have a few cheap chines led oens as well $10-20 units and they also seam to be putting the psu outside of the fixture as well.  So obviously there concern about failures from heat as well. I have 4 that have been working for 2 years now, so i cant say mutch on longevity yet.

Example:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ultra-Bright-Cree-LED-Panel-Light-Bulb-Ceiling-Downlight-Recessed-Surface-Mount-/361107047641?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item5413a844d9

I ordered a very similar 12W panel light from ebay for testing. Cost £14 for dimmable version. I don't think the colour rendering is as good as the Aurora CFL lights they are replacing. They are supposed to be the same colour temperature. Maybe there is an easy way to measure the difference in CRI for the layman? For the price I am really considering these. Any they should be easily repairable.

I also ordered an Aurora 13W dimmable light. Cost £49 (including £18.99 ?!? packaging and delivery). Very disappointed. Sent it back. Felt cheap, nasty plastic bezel.  Dimmer response and turn on time like a incandescent bulb, but glitchy and sometimes flickers. Had a nice big heatsink though. Like the cheap LED panel light colour seamed different to the original CFLs I had.

Subjective opinion of course, for the price I just expected 'something a bit more.' Build quality of original CFLs was very good.

[Halcyon]

I just bought LED down lights for a house I'm in the process of building. After weeks of homework and reviews I opted for the HPM branded LED lights. They cost me as follows:

HPM Dalia, 15 watt, warm white LED (P/N: LDL023KWE) - AUD$63.45 + tax
HPM Azalea, 11 watt, warm white LED (P/N: LDL013KWE) - AUD$38.70 + tax
HPM Freesia, 8 watt, warm white LED (P/N: LDL033KWE) - AUD$38.70 + tax

They all feature 3000K colour temperature, minimum CRI of 80+ and a driver which is capable of being dimmed by either a leading edge or trailing edge dimmer with among the lowest measured flicker and are IP44 rated. HPM also offer twice the warranty of other cheaper brands.

I figure I'll pay the slight premium but never have to replace them.