The flood of cheap imported LED bulbs is making the price of good quality LED lights fall dramatically. The problem with such lights is that they are not as effective as their pricier counterparts, yet they are still expensive.
Therefore, regular LED bulbs are being targeted by counterfeiters who are selling ‘bad quality’ LED lights, which is not uncommon these days. The best way to tell if your LED bulb is dead is to leave it on, then turn it on and see if it cuts out after a minute or so.
Checking for a burned out bulb
Experts have estimated that the life of a light bulb is about 1,000 hours. And yet, we still throw out tons of them every year. That’s because they’re so cheap and easy to find, and as a result, most of us are not replacing them often enough.
Because of that, we’re quickly running out of perfectly good bulbs that we can use in lamps, track lights, ceiling lights, and other fixtures.
The first thing you need to do is check your bulb’s base. It should have a glass lid over the filament to protect it from water and a white or yellow color.
If it’s black, it’s burning out. If it’s white, it means the bulb is good and you’re still able to see light, but it’s not as bright as it should be.
Why do light bulbs blow?
Why do light bulbs blow? The answer: because the filament inside them generates intense electrical heat. The more power your light bulb uses, the longer the heat builds up and the more likely it is to break.
Whether you’re replacing a blown bulb or simply changing the bulb in your light fixture, the first and most important thing to do is test your bulb’s wattage.
There are ways you can test a bulb with your hand, you can also use a bulb tester, which works by sending a small amount of current through the filament. If the light is on, it means the bulb is working properly. If it isn’t, replace it with a new, higher wattage bulb.
Other common causes :
- Poor insulation
Poor insulation is one of the biggest reasons why light bulbs blow. Its a short-sighted way to save a few quid on an electrician’s bill, but it can lead to costly problems down the line.
It’s a common problem all over the world: sometimes, all it takes is a little electrical charge to blow a light bulb. All you have to do is plug it up to a light socket and it’ll start to Flicker.
And then, suddenly, explodes with a bright flash of light. If that happens to you, chances are you’ve been the victim of a electrical fire, or electrocution
- Loose connection
Lights have a tendency to blow when they are left switched on. Loose connections, or the occasional dust mite invasion, can cause an electric shock if you are not careful.
It can be a little annoying when it happens, but we still have thousands of light bulbs that we use every day that are perfectly fine.
- Excessive wattage
To the surprise of no-one, light bulbs have gone from being a minor inconvenience to a major annoyance. It’s not just that they last for so little time, or that their heat output is so high, but the fact that they’re so expensive to replace. It’s like the price of light bulbs is increasing every year.
If you have ever had this problem, you will have noticed that when you plug them in they make a strange popping sound and then a gush of smoke comes out of the socket.
The culprit is excessive current that is flowing through the light bulb, which overheats it. If this happens, the bulb can suddenly explode in your hand.
- Cheap bulbs
Cheap bulbs are a thing of the past – LED lighting has become the new standard. With the prices of incandescent bulbs dropping, the light output of LED bulbs is better than ever.
We’ve all had poor quality bulbs that either burn out after a few hours or don’t last at all. They’re expensive to replace and a waste of your time and money.
- Arcing electricity
During the day, you’re lucky enough to wake up to a nice, bright white light that instantly brightens up your bedroom. As the sun sets, however, you might start to notice your room getting darker.
What’s going on? Usually, when the power goes out, bulbs can’t properly light up the room, and they just sit there, dim and refusing to turn on. This is called lighting “blowout”, and it happens when the bulb is discharged of its power.
Why does this happen? If you have ever experienced lighting blowout, you would probably assume the bulb itself is the problem. But, in reality, the main cause is the problems with the circuit that the bulb plugs into. Gaps in the wiring, poor connection.
- High voltage
When technology supports high voltage, the most common cause of light bulb failure is a short circuit. As fans of LED lights, we think that high voltage and the high current that creates it is a great thing, and we wouldn’t mind using it to our advantage.
However, there is now a wide range of light bulbs on the market, with different ratings for different wires and circuits. Can this diversity be used to our advantage?
One of the common complaints about new LED bulbs is that they blow after only a few days, a few weeks or even a few months of use.
This is a problem known as premature lamp failure (PLF), which is one of the most common reasons for the failure of new LED bulbs. And due to high voltage.
- Vibration
The vibrations from a swinging light can interfere with the operation of sensitive electrical equipment. The best way to reduce vibrations is to minimize the swinging motion of the bulb.
The simplest way is to mount the light on a support or to reinforce the mounting bracket, but there are other solutions. You can try using a vibration isolator, which is a bracket that you can hang from the supporting light.
Other solutions are designed to prevent light bulbs from becoming loose or to protect the light bulb from vibration.
- Short circuit
We all know that a light bulb can be a dangerous thing if you leave it on for too long. However, what you might not know is that they can also be dangerous if they are not put into the right socket.
Sometimes, when a light bulb has been in use for a long time, it can develop a fault called a “short circuit”. This is when the filament inside the bulb gets hot enough to cause a short circuit to occur. It can then affect the operation of the rest of the bulb and could lead to the light bulb blowing.