Are LED Light Bulbs Safe?

[mlynn]

We are steadily replacing old incadescent, CFL and halogen bulbs in our house with LED bulbs. They tend to be the 2700k for the warm colour. We tried the daylight colour ones but they were too bright.

From my standard grade physics I know that LEDs are low powered devices that need direct current so does an LED bulb contain a transformer? Even at 5 volts an LED needs a resistor inline, so do they all contain resistors as well? Could these components wear out in an unsafe way? I only buy the bulbs from supermarkets like Tesco, Morrison's or Sainsbury's. They're CE marked and seem to be well made. I don't buy them from eBay or Amazon. In the bedrooms we are currently using Philips Genie 40W CFL bulbs but when they wear out we might replace them with LED. All circuits are MCB and dual RCD protected.

First of all we fitted a 5.5W (40W equivalent) one at the top of the landing for instant light. It was hard to access because the stair case is curved so we wanted something that would last a long time. It has been running for 2 years fine. We also fitted one in the bathroom and that works well. That replaced an old torroidial transformer track light that we couldn't get a replacement transformer for. Scottish Gas homecare had to qualms about installing them. The bathroom one has a strange shaped holder for protection I think.

From a health point of view we tried LED spotlights at work but we could work under them for a full day because they were too bright. One colleague who suffers from migraine also complained about them triggering headaches. We ended up using standing lamps with halogen bulbs. I don't want to install anything that could be electrically unsafe or harmful to the health of my family's eye sight.

 

[Midwest]

Only time will tell.

 

[Doomed]

After fitting out an office with LED panels the staff were oo-ah ing over how much better the new lights were, I was extoling the better light quality, cheaper to run etc.
Unfortunately I have a terrible sense of humour and went on to say that there is no evidence for them not causing cancer....

 

[telectrix]

but beware of the "smart" LEDs. they can monitoer your every move. even tell when you've gone for a dump and analyse the smell to sell info to chinese and indian takeaways, telling them your preference for kurma or vindalloo.

 

[GeorgeCooke]

From my standard grade physics I know that LEDs are low powered devices that need direct current so does an LED bulb contain a transformer?

Your standard grade physics clearly did not tell you that transformers only change voltage or current, and do not change AC to DC.
That is the job of a rectifier which many LED lamps will contain. They will also have some sort of electronic switch mode converter unit.

Yes components can wear out but decent LED lamps will have some sort of internal safety fuse.

If the LEDs are too bright, surely the answer is to use a lower powered one.

 

[Squid]

but beware of the "smart" LEDs. they can monitoer your every move. even tell when you've gone for a dump and analyse the smell to sell info to chinese and indian takeaways, telling them your preference for kurma or vindalloo.

 

[dmxtothemax]

All LED lamps run on lower voltage, so they do contain some form of power regulator, and this is their weak point, this regulator will most likely fail long before the LED element will. Head aches from LED lamps are caused by some people having a sensitivity to flashing lights, LEDs are flashing off and on, we cannot see it because it happens so fast, but suggestion is some people are sensitive to this.
The Chinese lamp manufacturers are aware of this and working towards a better way, but many cheap lamps out their already flashing away. Driving us nuts.

 

[Silly Sausage]

View attachment 46130

I'll call your dude and raise you U-Roy

 

[Marvo]

Cheap, poorly designed and manufactured LED lights/lamps are high fire risk. Good quality, recognised brand name LED's are generally very safe.

 

[Gary K]

When my lad was quite young, we used an led Parasol light (saucer sized round device with about 8 led's spaced around it and powered by 4 AA batteries) as a night light.
One night my son called out to us and as I approached this lamp that was on a shelf near his bed,I could see one of the leds has failed and there was a little flame eating away at the plastic surrounding it. No problem as it was easy to blow out but it reignited when the batteries were reconnected, outside the next day
I hate to think what the consequences could have been if we were all asleep.

 

[mlynn]

Thanks for the replies. I forgot about the rectifier. I did my standard grade over 25 years ago! So there is quite a lot of components crammed into the base of any LED bulb. I have just fitted another 2 SES bulbs in the living room and the quality of the light is quite good and it's OK for typing and watching TV etc.

When I said the spotlights were too bright at work I meant that the colour (white 6500k) was too white. It reflects badly off keyboards.

We have 3 Ikea light fittings over the kitchen counter which have very tight 12V 833mA (10W) transformers. When we first moved in I burned out a transformer by accidently using a 15W bulb. The transformer failed safely though. I had to get a replacement transformer. Luckily Ikea still had them in stock at that time. The bulbs are G4 type. It would save energy to use 3x1.2W=3.6W instead of 3x10W=30W on those.

These Philips bulbs are very expensive though:
Philips 1.2W G4 LED Capsule Bulb, Pack of 2, Clear at John Lewis & Partners - https://www.johnlewis.com/philips-1-2w-g4-led-capsule-bulb-pack-of-2-clear/p2721453

 

[telectrix]

pack of 4 here for £10.65.
4 x Philips LED 1.2W - 10W G4 Capsule Light Bulb A++ 120lm 12v Warm White 2700K 5056149817196 | eBay - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-x-Philips-LED-1-2W-10W-G4-Capsule-Light-Bulb-A-120lm-12v-Warm-White-2700K/362286000863?hash=item5459edaadf:g:5MwAAOSwfXJaw3aP:rk:2f:0

 

[a-z electrics]

With the propensity for downlights etc, I would say there is far lower risk of fire using good quality LED lamps than halogen etc which get VERY HOT!

 

[pirate]

I replaced my halogen 50w downlights with LED 5w ones, all 44 of them. Now when my daughter comes home and puts on the hall, kitchen, stairs and landing lights, plus her bedroom, we're only using 32 x 5w = 160w
and as she never switches them off, I reckon I've saved the cost of the LEDs 10 x over in just a few months ...and I don't worry about my attic going on fire, which is a bonus.

 

[telectrix]

come on pirate, who you kidding:

it's not an attic on a pirate ship, mate. it's a poop deck. it's not a hall, it's a gangway, it's not a landing, it's a grounding, it's not a kitchen, it's a galley, and the toilet is the head. .