Lamps often burn out? Try to check this

  • Dec 14, 2020
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LED lamps are gradually replacing the usual "Ilyich bulbs" for three reasons: cheaper, more economical and more durable. But are they really so durable, and what to do if expensive LED products burn out too quickly. In this case, it is necessary to check several possible reasons for such rapid exploitation.

1. Poor contact

Electrical engineering is the science of contacts and often the cause of lamp burnout is precisely the poor contact in the cartridge itself.

Deterioration of the contact between the lamp base and the conductive part of the holder can occur when:

  • Incorrectly screwed in the lamp. It is worth not tightening the light source by just one thread, and the lamp will be accompanied by excessive sparking, and will end in an early failure.
  • Curvature of the conductive contact in the cartridge. Then the light bulb can be screwed in until the very end, but the service life of the product will significantly decrease and there is no doubt that soon the light source will simply burn out.
Figure 1: Standard lamp holder
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To avoid this, you need to follow a simple sequence:

  1. Disconnect the line on which the cartridge is located.
  2. Use a thin file or a simple flat screwdriver to clean the contact well.
  3. Bend the conductive contact as much as possible with the same screwdriver.
  4. Screw in the lamp and apply voltage to the socket.

Very often the consequence of poor contact in the cartridge is a tightly "stuck" cartridge, which has to be removed with pliers.

2. Too high or low voltage in the network

Deviation from the nominal potential difference leads to a reduction in the service life of both conventional incandescent lamps and LED products. You can always check the voltage in the network with a multimeter. It is enough to set the option for measuring AC voltage on the device, and insert the probes into the outlet. The display will show the real voltage in the network.

Figure 2: High Line Voltage

The solution is simple, but a little expensive - installing a voltage regulator or relay. The voltage relay simply turns off the electrics of the entire apartment or house until the parameter is restored, and the stabilizer levels it. But the cost of the stabilizer is much higher than the relay, and then the owner himself has to choose.

In the last century, home craftsmen advised simply soldering a diode to the phase wire, but such a life hack hardly helped anyone. It is definitely better not to do this with modern light sources.

3. Low-quality products

Unfortunately, such a simple explanation also has a right to exist. If the cost of an LED lamp does not even reach $ 1, then this is the first sign that the products are not of high quality and even 3-5 such products screwed one after the other can very soon burn out.

Figure 3: Example of low quality energy saving lamps

It is best to give preference to high-quality and proven manufacturers, the cost of products of which simply cannot be low. Such LED lamps are capable of withstanding non-rated voltage and even, in some cases, poor contact. Therefore, it is better to overpay once than to do it systematically.