LED G9 lamps constantly failing

[Trazor]

In my lounge we have a ceiling lighting unit with 5 spiral arms.

The G9 2.5W Led bulbs last no time all.

I fitted 5 new lamps 6 weeks ago, only 2 are now working.
They seem to flicker before finally failing.

Any ideas would be appreciated,........Thanks.

 

[Old Salt]

Are you buying cheap bulbs?

 

[Trazor]

Are you buying cheap bulbs?

Crompton lamps on the box, from Amazon.

 

[Trazor]

 

[DetlefSchmitz]

Amazon customers are giving a LOT of bad reviews saying the same. Chances are that they are fake. I bought some fake Kingston SD cards last week, and had to get a refund. There's a lot of it about!

 

[huggybear]

Hi Trazor,

Never buy bulbs from places like Amazon and eBay. There are a lot of fakes and rubbish quality bulbs on them websites. I've had some last only a day or so many times and have learnt my lesson. Always buy them from reputable companies that sell ones that are made to UK/European standards. Never had any problems with Screwfix, B&Q and Toolstation own brands personally.

Regards,
Huggybear.

 

[Murdochcat]

Are you trying to dim them ?

 

[ericmark]

I found I could not get G9 bulbs local, they all had a shimmer on them when used with an electronic smart switch. In the end my wife got some from the internet, illegal as did not have watts or lumen marked on the bulb, and far bigger than the orignal so covers no longer fitted, and also much brighter.

But they worked, well one failed and I opened it to see what was inside and found a dry joint re soldered and put back into service now some 3 years old.

I think the problem is making them small enough to fit in covers, which are not really required by LED versions but essential with quartz versions.

Have you tried without covers? And have you got SPD fitted? I have no proof a SPD is required, but it would depend where you live, the larger ones had a massive smoothing capacitor inside nearly as big as the whole of the old bulb.

 

[Trazor]

Have you tried without covers? And have you got SPD fitted? I have no proof a SPD is required, but it would depend where you live, the larger ones had a massive smoothing capacitor inside nearly as big as the whole of the old bulb.

Covers are open lattice work, so fully ventilated.

Surge protection in operation.

Going for some Screwfix lamps......touch wood.

 

[ericmark]

When I get back to PC I will try and post picture of bulb I used.

 

[ericmark]

The two bulbs as you can see the replacement was far bigger. No details on bulbs but work well.

 

[JohnD]

Osram have started putting a scannable QR code on the packaging of their more expensive car bulbs so you can verify if they are genuine

 

[Alec_t]

No details on bulbs

The type on the left in the first post #11 pic have lots of LEDs in series. The bulbs I've got have 75 LEDs apparently in series, so their total forward voltage is about 3 x 75 = 225V, hence with mains voltage applied they don't need much (if any) in the way of a voltage-dropper in series. I think the type on the right have fewer LEDs and a voltage-dropper capacitor. Using a capacitor can result in a current surge at power-up, which is a possible cause of the early demise of the bulb.