Okay, I feel a bit stupid asking this question since I was trained as an electrician way back in the day, but here goes.
A couple of years ago we bought a bathroom vanity light fixture. It was interesting to me because there weren’t any actual light bulbs in the thing, just these three LED “buttons” that illuminate. Never seen those before. Anyway, they put out good light and we were happy with it.
A couple of days ago the whole fixture went dark, as in none of the emitters were emitting. I checked the wall switch and it’s working just fine. So now I’m assuming that there is some component of the fixture which has fried, since it’s unlikely that all three LEDs would burn out at once. But I’m not an electronics guy, so I have no idea what it might be or if I’ll be able to replace it.
Any ideas, or am I going to have to fork out another $150 for a fixture?
It all depends on the particular fixture.
There may be an LED driver circuit that is powering all three emitters - take the fixture apart and see if they all wire to a single board. But, even so, that’s probably not a user-replaceable part. You might be able to buy one from the manufacturer, but I doubt it. There also might be a fuse.
Hopefully a fuse, but more likely a small electronic part has fried that helps to power all 3 LEDs. If you’re very lucky, it is visible and it can be unsoldered and replaced.
We had pendant lighting over a kitchen island that was more than a year out of warranty, but when it blew, the manufacturer replaced it at no cost (though I had to install it).
Maybe worth considering taking a shot at this … if all else fails.
I’m guessing that replacing that board would be like replacing the CPU in one’s computer and would cost nearly as much as replacing the whole thing. I’m waiting for an answer from the company as to a solution, but don’t hold out much hope.
Replaced a bathroom light fixture a few years ago. Bought the fixture, sleek looking and compact LED, more than we wanted to spend but it “caught my wife’s eye”. Called the electrician to put it in. As he was tearing out the old fixture he saw the new one and said that “ya know, if that quits working you replace the whole fixture, there are no bulbs to replace”. Realizing it was hard wired in and would need an electrician to replace if it failed/burned out we quickly took it back and got a standard fixture and used LED bulbs.
I’m considering that. My wife saw an LED fixture she liked online with the same emitter lamps. The price was $400! For something that may just quit on me? Don’t think so.
I get the problem with lack of user-serviceable parts but it’s disappointing that the answer is to get a fixture designed for A-series bulbs and then put in LED replacements for incandescent A-series bulbs. In theory, LEDs should last a really long time and there’s no reason to stick with the A-series bulbs and sockets. The fixture can be any shape.
And even if it’s past warranty, as someone here said, they may replace it.
I’ve had three Cree bulbs die; emailed, they send a new one. I assume that’ll stop eventually, but at this point they haven’t been on the market long enough for the warranty to run out.
An LED fog light bulb for my car, OTOH, died after less than a year–with a “10,000 hour” warranty, but only six months actual warranty. I had to kind of bludgeon them (via email) before they replaced it. Saying “10,000 hour life” but then only warrantying it for six months is kinda bogus.
I installed an LED fixture in my laundry room about 5 years ago. It crapped out a few months ago. Swapped out all the LED stuff for a regular light socket and installed an LED bulb. I had the parts so the change didn’t cost anything. I wasn’t going to buy another $75 light fixture.
My wife and I have had that same conversation about replacing bulbs versus replacing entire fixtures. We like LEDs, but in the form of screw-in bulb only. I don’t enjoy replacing fixtures.
I really prefer using standard fixtures with LED bulbs. I’m not a fan of LED fixtures either, but I just ended up having to suffer through 3 being installed for the new bathrooms. I’ll be cursing most of them sometime in the next 6-10 years.
Yeah, they might. I bought a couple of Sylvania brand 100 W equivalent bulbs at a Lowe’s back when the things were costly. I saved the boxes and receipt. One started to flicker, Lowe’s replaced it with a similar bulb since they didn’t sell Sylvania bulbs any more. Lowe’s kept the receipt. The other one went bad a year later. I e-mailed the company, and they said no problem. They proceeded to send me a new bulb by UPS.
I’d contact the manufacturer!
My point is the manufacturer can only say no if you contact them, and they may replace it. If you still have the box it came in, include the UPC code and model number of the product and describe the problem. If you don’t have those things, look them up online.
I contacted Kichler’s tech support. They basically said that it’s an unreplaceable component inside the fixture. I replied that I thought it ironic that they sell a product with lights that are supposed to last for ten years and then put in cheap electronics that crap out soon after the warranty is done. No answer to that, but I didn’t expect one.