I just took apart a failed LED bulb replacement. The circuitry appears fairly complex using caps diodes and active components Complex relative to a circuit that is just a rectifier and current limiting resistor. While the LEDs themselves may have high reliability I think the failing point is going to be the power supply and I am not expecting them to have much better reliability than CFLs. I do think there is a future for home LED lighting that will come when buildings are wired for low voltage lighting that removes the 120 VAC to low voltage DC power supplies from the bulbs.
That sounds better made than most christmas light strings which are nothing more than a bunch of LEDs series wired, with (possibly) a resistor ahead of the first LED in the string. I had one of them fail this year, the string of around 100 lights is in 3 parts and one part failed. I found 3 bad LEDs.
In your light, I'd check the diode rectifiers at the input from power line, and check the capacitors. All this can be checked with a multimeter. The diodes should read high resistance in one direction, and very low the other way (reversed test leads). If you get zero ohms both ways the diode is shorted, if high or no resistance both ways, it's open. They can be replaced pretty easy, Radio Shack has them, get one rated at least 200volt and one amp (which well exceeds your needs).
Caps should not be shorted. A multimeter should show the meter or digital readout spike as the cap charges. No resistance or no spike means it's dead. Reversing the leads will cause a second spike. These are electrolytics, so the red lead really should go on the + marked side of the cap, but reversing them with a meter wont harm them. However in the circuit, they MUST be wired so the + goes to the correct side.
Of course, look for loose solder joints and anything that looks burnt.
I'd be interested to see a photo of the innards of that light. Can you take a photo and post it to one of them free photo sites? Of course post the URL on here afterwards.
You really need to go back to high school and learn to read. If you got a High School diploma, tear it up. You dont deserve it. Even the subject line says *LED*.
No, but it can be much better quality using a transformer or a switching power supply, ( very efficient) and not have to be duplicated for every light. We have low voltage power supplies that have been running for 20+ years 24/7.
Wait a minute, every electronic device in your home has a power supply that converts 120Vac to a lower voltage DC (unless it's an old vacuum tube device). This includes computers, tvs, radios, cd/dvd players, vcrs, stereos, etc. The power supply in these dont fail on a regular basis. Apparently these LED lights are using inferior components in their power supply, not to mention being made in China. For one thing, each one should have a surge supressor. And the CFL lights are not much better. I've had two of them blow sparks and smoke when they fail. Once again, cheap components and made in China.
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