LED Failure?

[FutureBoy]

Driving around the other day, I saw this car:

If you look closely, the LED brake light bar at the top of the rear windshield has some blank spaces. At the time it was really clear that some of the lights in the bar were not lighting up. These lights were only coming on as part of the brake light signal.

So I’m wondering how often these lights fail. Seems really unlikely that there would be so many failures on the same light bar. On the CT with the front light bar I’d really hate to have to keep fixing these things.

Anyone have any insight as to what was going on?

 

[Crissa]

i have about... umm... actually, I don't know how many led strips I have. There are umm... 2x2x5 2x4x8 ... ahh... Lets just say currently there's about thirty meters of three color installed in our house.

Reliability is all over the map on the LEDs we've bought. While there's no real reason for them to fail without tens of thousands of hours... the leads can break, solder joints can fail, and the control chips can delaminate or absorb moisture. In the case of that bar on that car, I bet moisture got in, and corrosion made the copper traces to burn out.

If a part is properly potted and shielded from bending or vibration, this shouldn't happen. Cheap stuff is cheap, it's not about being LED or not.

-Crissa

 

[android04]

Driving around the other day, I saw this car:

If you look closely, the LED brake light bar at the top of the rear windshield has some blank spaces. At the time it was really clear that some of the lights in the bar were not lighting up. These lights were only coming on as part of the brake light signal.

So I’m wondering how often these lights fail. Seems really unlikely that there would be so many failures on the same light bar. On the CT with the front light bar I’d really hate to have to keep fixing these things.

Anyone have any insight as to what was going on?

Just for people who might not know, that light bar is not OEM. It's an aftermarket accessory installed by somebody. Some aftermarket LED lights come with a resistor that you can install in series them to reduce the current going through the LEDs. This is because if the circuit isn't designed will enough or you connect it to a higher voltage than designed, you will cause the LED/s to burn up. Perhaps that person did not install the resistor.

 

[Cybertruckee]

I have a cheap China-made light bar on the roof of my truck. it suffered more than enough abuse from searing sun, rain, snow and sleet. It even got pounded when I load up lumber on my roof rack. It is still going strong it's 4 years.

That could be an open led strip similar to what I have inside my RV where wires and bulbs were exposed and simply being held by the plastic runner. Yup, that's flimsy enough to have solder fail when stretched or pulled. Otherwise, led bulb will hold and won't fail with even violent jarring (talking about my led Christmas lights that I just pull out from the roof and would fall on the ground before I wind into it's wheel receptacle).

 

[Alan]

Just for people who might not know, that light bar is not OEM. It's an aftermarket accessory installed by somebody. Some aftermarket LED lights come with a resistor that you can install in series them to reduce the current going through the LEDs. This is because if the circuit isn't designed will enough or you connect it to a higher voltage than designed, you will cause the LED/s to burn up. Perhaps that person did not install the resistor.

Our 2017S has a light bar there.

 

[android04]

Our 2017S has a light bar there.

Across the full length of the rear window? I've never noticed it being that big.

Sometimes LEDs fail. I've seen multiple newer cars that aren't more than 3-5 years old with LED driving lights or signature lights that are burned out. I've had a few aftermarket puddle lights burn out for my Model 3. And I've had multiple LED house light bulbs burn out as well. I actually also expected them to last a very long time, but it seems like if one LED light fails it can cause the others in a string to overheat and burn out.

 

[Bluechip506]

Our 2017S has a light bar there.

Ours too. Late 2016 Model S 75D. I've never noticed if early or later models have that or not but I think they do.

 

[Ogre]

In general, as @Crissa suggests LEDs are the GOAT was far as lights go.

Some of the ones that plug into 110v at home will fade or yellow over time, but in general they last for 10s of 1000s of hours. They sell fixtures now with non-replaceable LEDs built into them. They are that reliable.

We use LEDs for night riding our mountain bikes. We beat the crap out of them. They get dropped, tossed in the truck, crashed on, rained on, caked in mud…. I don’t know that I’ve ever had an bike light fail on me and I ride weekly and need the lights for the whole winter. Usually what happens is I either lose them, the batteries fail, or I decide I want a brighter one since they are getting cheaper and brighter every year.

No… my bike lights probably don’t get as many hours of use as brake lights in a car, but they sure as hell take a lot more abuse.

It is possible they are just cheap bulbs. I don’t think Tesla installs cheap bulbs though.

 

[Cyberman]

The river was too deep?

 

[Cyberman]

The river was too deep?

 

[Ogre]

The river was too deep?

Not quite

 

[Crissa]

Yeah, usually I have to replace bike LEDs when the mounting fails or the battery dies but the LEDs are going strong. I have a box of 'em I need to wire into something new. The Christmas lights are the worst offenders, but they use so much massively less power than the incandescent that it's honestly amazing. They use from seven to fifteen percent the power.

I have some that are decades old while other batches died within a week.

?‍

-Crissa

 

[Ogre]

Yeah, usually I have to replace bike LEDs when the mounting fails or the battery dies but the LEDs are going strong. I have a box of 'em I need to wire into something new. The Christmas lights are the worst offenders, but they use so much massively less power than the incandescent that it's honestly amazing. They use from seven to fifteen percent the power.

I have some that are decades old while other batches died within a week.

?‍

-Crissa

As much as I love Christmas lights, I think Christmas/ holiday decorations are a nasty kind of seasonal detritus. People buy them and they accumulate in closets and nooks and crannies in their homes. Then when you pull them out to use them the next year a bulb tears loose and destroys the whole strip.

Those inflatable things are even worse, giant plastic bubbles which are put out in the worst possible weather with a blower attached that burns power all night long. Then they get put away wet and next season it’s a mildewy mess.

So much trash associated with holidays.

Bah Humbug.

 

[Crissa]

Yeah, I try my best to use only things I can fix or re-use. I have a box of incandescents I still use for party lighting - I got them one sale, parallel-series bulb-fallsxout-still works. They're twenty years old, now and of ten, I've only lost two so far, mostly to bulb decay, but two got wire damage.

In the same time, I have chewed through three times as many LED sets - I use them for construction lighting on my stairs, I go through three sets or so a year. But I use them year-round.

-Crissa

 

[Cybertruck Hawaii]

Driving around the other day, I saw this car:

If you look closely, the LED brake light bar at the top of the rear windshield has some blank spaces. At the time it was really clear that some of the lights in the bar were not lighting up. These lights were only coming on as part of the brake light signal.

So I’m wondering how often these lights fail. Seems really unlikely that there would be so many failures on the same light bar. On the CT with the front light bar I’d really hate to have to keep fixing these things.

Anyone have any insight as to what was going on?

LED bulbs run cool and that should prevent them from burning out?