LED batten fittings ...anyone having problems ?

As per customer's instructions at print works , I replace fluorescent batten fittings when the tubes are dead,  with the equivalent LED  .     Been doing this for about 2 yrs now .

Now the LED versions are carping out ,  the third one  tomorrow .    Wholesaler is replacing for free  but it costs me a minimum of  three hours  to replace  .  I hour change fitting  + travel + time in wholesaler. 

I fit what the wholesaler stocks  ,   originally Eterna   then KSR    at around £26  +VAT  .   Just priced up JCC  £42 +VAT .

I was led to believe LEDs would be fit & forget until about 10 yrs  

Just spoke to another sparks there   ...also having the same problem  .   It seems they are NOT  commercial quality , as in being on for 8 hours a day .       

I'm still being a fossil ......... good old fashioned florescent fittings still ......... they are as cheap as LED's and normally don't go wrong , PLUS the customer can replace the tubes  

KSR had problems with the heat sinking, basically can't handle temps over 300C. They have supossedly corrected this now. The most reliable stuff I have found so far is Crompton tubes - never had to return to replace one of those.

binky said:

The most reliable stuff I have found so far is Crompton tubes - never had to return to replace one of those.

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Do you mean the conversion tubes   Binky? 

yep, never had any problems with those. 

Just had a thorn aquaforce fail. As usual its the driver (tridonic)

Jus fitted 20 Ansell,Tornados last week ....2 lifts of tower scaffold BUT unit was  empty, so a clear run. Now we wait

had loads of hassle with YESSS own brand LED downlights recently

swapped out 23 on 2 jobs

put claim in for time los and got paid out to the penny.  

2 faulty on one site and 3 on another. Said I wanted ALL replacing FOC

modern drivers are rubbish, unless tubes are changed before the lamps go really black on the ends, they trash the drivers after only 1 failed tube, ie the 2nd tube kills the driver.

I'm thinking that the ones I fitted  , Eterna & KSR  , are NOT a viable replacement for  a standard fluorescent batten in a commercial situation . 

The amount of LED lamps and drivers that are going into the skip at a tiny fraction of their supposed lives leads me to question both the cost savings and the environmental benefits they were supposed to bring.

Fitted quite a few Phillips Coreline in last year or 2 and not seen one fail yet

Bruspark said:

The amount of LED lamps and drivers that are going into the skip at a tiny fraction of their supposed lives leads me to question both the cost savings and the environmental benefits they were supposed to bring.

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Agreed...   :Salute

I will only supply LED's tubes & charge for converting the fitting... 

Supplying any combined driver + LED light fitting, where you cannot do a quick & easy replace 'Lamp only' is far to much of a gamble...

In-fact I would bet that 95% of LED failures are down to the driver NOT the actual 'Glow & create the light bit'!!!

So far I have not had to go back to any customers with an LED 'tube-only' light that I have supplied/converted..

& my two twin-4ft fittings in my garage that I ripped the guts out of and converted to LED tubes area all still working good...  Guinness

In fact on a similar note,  a couple of weeks back, along with some other stuff I was asked to look at 4x kitchen pelmet LED's that had all failed... 

Looked above the pelmet and low & behold I found one of these....

https://www.toolstation.com/sensio-24v-led-driver/p52061

Replaced the driver and all 4 LED's working again!!!

Yet another failed LED driver!!!!

So you either want lights where you can change the driver easily..

Of just lamps with the drivers built in to the lamp NOT the light fitting!!!

LED drivers are equal to ...

Or worse than  MR16 lamp holder connectors..

https://www.toolstation.com/spare-lampholder/p99286

Another toy designed by Satan and doomed to bring early failure, so as to inflict maximum misery to the user!!

Guinness  

revjames said:

Fitted quite a few Phillips Coreline in last year or 2 and not seen one fail yet

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NOt fitted those, but have fitted Phillips floodlighting on several projects 5 years ago, and all are still working fine. However, cost is prohibitive for most domestic installations.

On the subject of the YESSS Luxnar fittings

they had FOUR dustbins FULL of faulty units....so,they are a green product then!

kerching said:

they had FOUR dustbins FULL of faulty units....so,they are a green product then!

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Its a bloody joke  .... they love to bang on about the "Green Issue"  ....the only green thing  is us mugs who are  unknowingly   fitting sub- standard shytte  ,  typical far eastern trade thinking .....make 'em cheap , pile 'em high , who cares that they don't last 6 months  after fitting .   But look how green we are  ,  fit our lights and the planet is saved ,  elephants will walk without fear ,  rhinos will keep their horns  and hunting to extinction will cease  .....    cue music   .... , There'll be no sadness, no sorrow , no trouble I see , there will be Peace in the Valley for me ..oh yes .    

Evans Electric said:

Its a bloody joke  .... they love to bang on about the "Green Issue"  ....the only green thing  is us mugs who are  unknowingly   fitting sub- standard shytte  ,  typical far eastern trade thinking .....make 'em cheap , pile 'em high , who cares that they don't last 6 months  after fitting .   But look how green we are  ,  fit our lights and the planet is saved ,  elephants will walk without fear ,  rhinos will keep their horns  and hunting to extinction will cease  .....    cue music   .... , There'll be no sadness, no sorrow , no trouble I see , there will be Peace in the Valley for me ..oh yes .    

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Which is precisely why I continue to be a dinosaur ad fit the very reliable fluorescent lights and GU10 can downlights .................... 

binky said:

NOt fitted those, but have fitted Phillips floodlighting on several projects 5 years ago, and all are still working fine. However, cost is prohibitive for most domestic installations.

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cost prohibitive in domestic arena of course. In my job reliability is the main driver.

Fitted out a warehouse with x 11k LED fittings last year, some were failing while commissioning :wacko:  

We repaired at least a hundred!

Blue Duck said:

We repaired at least a hundred!

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What make were they?