Led Lighting for litho burned out please help

[Sallen1215]

Ok so i bought 5050 SMD led lights on a 16ft reel. I installed them into a lithobox, no problem right? So about a month and a half later i have the cuspumer ( also family friend) call me and say the light is nowhere near as bright anymore. i open the box to find thisyeah not very bright white anymore. all connections were soldered properly and voltage and amperage was correct for the dc adapter. this is a comparison between the way the lighting strip should look v/s the fried bacon look i am now left with. can anyone out there shed some light (no pun intended) on whats gong on and what i should do? im worried about selling anymore of these lights as they seem to me a fire danger.


any help is appreciated

Stephen

[quarrydesigns]

Best guess would be that they are getting to warm / hot.. checked the specs and some call for operation at temps below 80. Not sure how your overall enclosure is made but may need to provide a head escape / air flow opening.

Daniel Smith
Quarry Designs Wood Working
www.quarrydesginswoodworking.com

[dbfletcher]

That does seem odd. LED generate virtually no heat. The resistors however could generate heat if they have to dissipate more power than the circuit uses. I would stick a temp probe in there and see what the tempurature is doing.. then double check your specs for your power supply and the led requirements. This is right up Digitalwoodshops' ((or Kenm810's) ... been away for awhile) area of expertise as well so I'm sure he'll be chiming in eventually

[pkunk]

Some LED voltage compensating circuit boards generate considerable heat. The LED's themselves do not. Transformers needed for voltage regulation generate heat. You need to keep them out of the enclosure. If you posted exactly which LEDs you are using I might be able to help. Generally, you get what you pay for in LEDs.

[Kenm810]

I've been using LEDs for a few Years without problems,
but in a few applications I've found the circuitry can generate damaging heat.
Most often it's from the poor of air flow or lack of some type of heat sink to bleed off or diminish some of the harmful heat.
I feel it's rare -- but it does happen. Here an article that mentions the LED Killers --over heating and over voltage
http://prudentrver.typepad.com/leds/...r-voltage.html -- one type of Application

[Sallen1215]

Thank you for fast replies, that truly is what sold me on buying this machine. many others claim to do so much but there is no help to understand the vast programs. here is a shot of the reel label as to the lighting purchased now the one thing i'm worried about, is that these leds are waterproof and are enclosed in a silicone shell. Not sure if that makes a difference.

Stephen

[Digitalwoodshop]

WOW... I have the same REEL LED's but without the cover...

Yes looks like Heat Damage....

Wondering what power transformer you used..... And measure the output voltage NOW to see if the load was just too great and caused the power supply to go bad... There would be a full wave rectifier in the power supply and sometimes they open or short.... When they Short... they let some AC Voltage get to the DC side and can cause this.... A Full Wave Rectifier consists of 4 Diodes. When one shorts it causes all kinds of problems...

Let us know.... Use a Voltmeter on AC Volts measuring a DC output to see the AC Factor riding on the DC.... OR a O' Scope....

Next is Ventillation... Were there any vents built into the back of the case?

What were the voltage and current measurements when you built it....?

I plan on using a few rows of the LED's in a clear epoxy bed to illuminate a Truck Hitch Cover with Color Art like a Fire Dept Logo.

AL

[Sallen1215]

I used a 12volt 1.5 amp transformer, it powered 45 leds , i didnt have any ventilation holes in the backing and that may be one of my downfalls. when i built it i am pretty sure the voltage was around 12.9 or so but i cant be sure.here is the picture of the dc voltage when i switch to ac volts i got nothing but
i used an enercell adapter from the local radio shack

Stephen

[quarrydesigns]

Could it be that these lights are intended for submerged use only and the waterproof covering cant take the heat of operation in the open air?

Daniel Smith
Quarry Designs Wood Working

[Sallen1215]

Ok is everyone ready for this?

so i got an email from the company stating that i should remove the brown silicone and the lights should work fine. I finally got a phone number to call them and surprise surprise noone spoke English!. So i'm left with those instructions which wont work cause the silicone is already so brittle, they stated that the product will only get this way if the silicone is exposed to contamination, or overheating working temperature, they then began to tell me working temperature was the room temperature and that they did not have a maximum working temperature. So now i'm not the happiest person cause they also told me i used too high of voltage and i advised them that i tested their ac adapters and they provide the same voltage and that 12v is an average and not a constant. I might as well have been trying to explain it to a wall. so needless to say that ebay store lost my business.

Why cant we have real customer service anymore?


Stephen