# LED Flicker

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/led-flicker/790585>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 6, 2017, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/led-flicker/790585 "2017-07-06T05:00:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Okrahoma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90db22/32.png) [@Okrahoma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Okrahoma)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2017, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/led-flicker/790585/21 "2017-07-07T00:38:37Z")

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> [@Reply](#):
>
> Frankly, I think they do have failure rates higher than other consumer electronics. Of the about 30-40 consumer LED bulbs I’ve purchased, I’ve had 3 or 4 failures. That’s almost 10%. But what you’re seeing is crazy bad.
> 
> Where do you live? Could it be any of the following:
> 
> 1. Really unstable mains power (do you get a lot of brownouts/blackouts?)
> 2. Are you a really hot or humid environment?
> 3. Do you keep the LEDs in enclosed fixtures? While they don’t put out as much heat as an incandescent, they are also more sensitive to heat and ideally would be well-ventilated and not in an enclosed fixture.

1. It’s a 'burb, fairly well-heeled one, the power is fine.
2. It’s the south, but it’s AC 🙂 Temp/humidity inside the house should be ok.
3. Most LED bulbs that fail are not in enclosed spaces. Interestingly enough the few that are never fail.

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**Author:** ![Okrahoma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90db22/32.png) [@Okrahoma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Okrahoma)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2017, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/led-flicker/790585/22 "2017-07-07T00:41:15Z")

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> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#):
>
> Very few homes are built with 12 foot ceilings these days. Is this an older home? You might be getting a lot of vibration from people walking on the floor above where the lights are.

You know how there are 18 foot ceilings in the living room in some houses. That’s what I have. There is nothing but the roof above. The fan has like a 6-foot rod on which it sits, so it is about 12 feet above the floor.

> [@](#):
>
> Another potential issue is heat. LED bulbs don’t emit as much heat as an incandescent, but an incandescent puts out heat fairly evenly around the bulb, where an LED has the heat concentrated at the base. This can be a particular issue in something like a fan since the lights point downward and the heat can get trapped around the base of the bulb. All of that excess heat can cause the bulbs to die an early death.

Maybe. Same thing happens in the kitchen with the flood-bulbs there. They are pointed downwards there. In most lights/fixtures I have the bulbs are pointing downwards.

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