# I'm Having Problems With LED Light Bulbs



## OneEyedDiva (May 26, 2021)

Right now, I'm both annoyed and concerned. I can no longer find regular bulbs or CFL bulbs. I've never had a problem with either of those but the LEDs flicker. I've bought Sylvania bulbs and LEDs from Dollar Tree. Truthfully, the Dollar Tree bulbs are better; the flicker is less noticeable and stops after a couple of minutes. The Sylvania's flicker so much it gives a lit candle affect. 

Do you have similar problems with LED bulbs? Can you still find regular and CFL bulbs?


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## Gaer (May 26, 2021)

I read flourescent bubls can affect your vision and damage the retina PERMENANTLY.  LED bubs that flicker would be damaging as well, IMO!
When the incandescent 75 watt bulbs were outlawed, I bought up all that was left in the hardware store to put in storage.  
They give a soft, romantic glow.  I don't like being told what we are allowed to buy and not buy.  
There is a bulb you  can buy called "Day-Glo", I  think.  It simulates the rays of the Sun.  I think you canstill get those.


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## Keesha (May 26, 2021)

Ok I thought it was just me. I also prefer incandescent lights. They do offer a softer glow that isn’t as irritating as led or fluorescent but I’m not sure they even make them any more.


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## RnR (May 26, 2021)

Oh how I yearn for the days when a light bulb was just a light bulb. I now have two boxes full of replacement bulbs because every time a house or appliance light goes it requires a "special" bulb ... no two the same of course.


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## Jeweltea (May 26, 2021)

Some LED bulbs do flicker. I put some in the fixture over my kitchen table and they drove me crazy. They were the type shaped like little candles. I had to go back to regular bulbs there. I also have 2 boxes full of light bulbs since there are so many different types.


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## win231 (May 26, 2021)

My electrician explained why LED's might flicker, especially when used with dimmers on lower brightness settings.
The older dimmers were designed for regular bulbs; not LED's.  When he replaced 3 of my dimmers, he upgraded them for LED's & they never flicker.


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## Mike (May 27, 2021)

Ikea sell LED bulbs that don't flicker, they have 2 types
warm/soft glow ones have a *O* on the packet and the
daylight/bright ones have a *O* on the box/packet.

Mike.


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## Oris Borloff (May 27, 2021)

Can anyone suggest a brand of LED bulb that lasts more than 6 months?  Since many claims as to longevity are made on the package I wrote down the date on the base when i replaced the bulb.  I've been getting about 6 months each.  

RE: flickering.  I've had some flicker intermittently and then work , some would do it then die soon after, none of which have dimmer switches on the circuit.


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## John cycling (May 27, 2021)

I've been getting LED lights from Ebay for years, most of which have been fine.
Some have lasted fine, some haven't, but over time the lights have been getting much better.
There was never much issue with flickering.  I never use fluorescent or incandescent lights any more.

I usually get 0.3 watt bulbs for night lights, and 3 (dim) or 6 watt 5000k light bulbs for rooms.
Recently I got a box of 8x 6 watt Torchstar A19 5000k LED lights (470 lumens) from Ebay that so far have been fine.

Some people prefer 9 watt bulbs but they're extremely bright.
The 6 watt bulbs are plenty of light for me, and I usually prefer indirect lighting.


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## Buckeye (May 27, 2021)

I can't remember ever having to replace an LED bulb or that had a problem with flickering.  Some I buy at Wally's, some at Lowes, etc. 

YMMV


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## Ruthanne (May 27, 2021)

Seems light bulbs will never be the same.  I don't know why they had to change them to all these fancy schmanzy rather crappy bulbs.  The ones I buy don't last very long and then get darker when they need replacing.


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## squatting dog (May 27, 2021)

Oris Borloff said:


> Can anyone suggest a brand of LED bulb that lasts more than 6 months?  Since many claims as to longevity are made on the package I wrote down the date on the base when i replaced the bulb.  I've been getting about 6 months each.
> 
> RE: flickering.  I've had some flicker intermittently and then work , some would do it then die soon after, none of which have dimmer switches on the circuit.


All my LED's came from either Wally's or Lowes. I knew about the dimmer problem mentioned earlier, and since I had already upgraded the dimmers, I've yet to see any flickering. As for longevity, I have 2 burning 24 hrs a day in my shop and one burning 24 hrs a day in the carport. They have now been in there going on 5 years. 
I still have a supply of incandescent bulbs (75w and 100w) to use in my well house.


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## Oris Borloff (May 27, 2021)

squatting dog said:


> All my LED's came from either Wally's or Lowes. I knew about the dimmer problem mentioned earlier, and since I had already upgraded the dimmers, I've yet to see any flickering. As for longevity, I have 2 burning 24 hrs a day in my shop and one burning 24 hrs a day in the carport. They have now been in there going on 5 years.
> I still have a supply of incandescent bulbs (75w and 100w) to use in my well house.


Squatting Dong, thanks for the reply.  Have you use LED's anywhere that the lights are turned on and off on a regular basis?  I've been curious if the cycling may have more to do with limited life span.


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## fmdog44 (May 27, 2021)

I bought a large quantity of standard bulbs about 6 years ago. Should last 10 years more.


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## squatting dog (May 27, 2021)

Oris Borloff said:


> Squatting Dong, thanks for the reply.  Have you use LED's anywhere that the lights are turned on and off on a regular basis?  I've been curious if the cycling may have more to do with limited life span.



I use LEDs in my entire house. In the last 5 years I think I have had 2 burn  out (although they didn't actually burn out, they just went real dim). Other than that... no problems. The added benefit was the lower monthly cost of electricity. Regular incandescent use way more juice. 
On a side note, I use mostly the daylight Bright bulbs. The soft whites are only in the bedroom.
Just took a quick count, I've got 37 bright white bulbs between the house, yard, and porch lights.  and 4 soft whites in the bedroom.


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## squatting dog (May 27, 2021)

LED bulbs cost less to operate (leave on) than incandescent bulbs. To illustrate this, let’s compare two bulbs of similar brightness: a 60W incandescent and a 12W LED.
Here’s a breakdown of the math:
The 60W incandescent bulb consumes *60 kilowatt-hours (kWh)* of electricity every 1,000 hours.
The 12W LED bulb consumes *12 kilowatt-hours (kWh)* of electricity every 1,000 hours.
As of 2019, the residential electricity rates in Virginia average approximately *$0.11 per kWh*.
At this rate, it would cost *$6.60* to operate the *incandescent bulb* for 1,000 hours.
It would cost *$1.32* to operate the *LED bulb* for the same amount of time


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## Lethe200 (May 29, 2021)

A couple of lamps with fluorescent or halogen, but otherwise ALL our lighting - and that's a lot as we have installed track lites throughout both floors - is LED. No flickering.

Not only are LEDs cheaper, but give off much less heat as well.

Estimated lifespan for all bulbs is based on continuous usage, never turning it off. Turning on and off, especially for just a few minutes' of light, shortens their lifespan considerably.


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## Capt Lightning (Jun 4, 2021)

Nothing to do with the bulbs, but with the power supply.  If you swap mains (240V in Europe) incandescent to mains LED bulbs, they will be OK.  If you change 12V halogen bulbs to LED, they will probably flicker.  This is because the 'switching' power supply requires a minimum load for stability.  You need a power supply specifically for LEDs that work with a low power load.


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## Chet (Jun 4, 2021)

The LED bulbs for home lighting, being relatively new, are probable going through a period of growing pains. Someday they should get it right, but how will they make money if they are perfect and last forever.


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## Lethe200 (Jun 4, 2021)

LED light bulbs have been around since 1962. There is no 'relatively new' about them, after almost 60 yrs.


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## Chet (Jun 4, 2021)

Lethe200 said:


> LED light bulbs have been around since 1962. There is no 'relatively new' about them, after almost 60 yrs.


I was referring to their use in home lighting and street lighting as energy savers within the last few years. Perhaps that was done on the west coast earlier. I don't know. In my experience, I have only seen them in the past as indicator lights.


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## Gardenlover (Jun 4, 2021)

I find LED lights to be harsher, especially in automobiles.


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## Nathan (Jun 4, 2021)

I like the LEDs, have not experienced any flicker.  The CF bulbs were problematic, would be dim when first turned on, and the life expectancy wasn't nearly as long as promised.


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## Oris Borloff (Jun 5, 2021)

Lethe200 said:


> Estimated lifespan for all bulbs is based on continuous usage, never turning it off. Turning on and off, especially for just a few minutes' of light, shortens their lifespan considerably.


That seem's to match my experience.  Therefore, they are totally unsuitable for most uses in my home.  The cost of operation is quite a bit more  than incandescent having to factor in the cost of  replacing bulbs so often.  

Anyone have experience with halogen bulb durability when they need to be turned off at night?


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## mathjak107 (Jun 5, 2021)

I will take a guess and I think you may be using regular leds in enclosed fixtures …any fixture with a glass cover or plastic one needs leds rated for enclosed fixtures. It will say on the box approved for enclosed fixtures


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## mathjak107 (Jun 5, 2021)

Lethe200 said:


> A couple of lamps with fluorescent or halogen, but otherwise ALL our lighting - and that's a lot as we have installed track lites throughout both floors - is LED. No flickering.
> 
> Not only are LEDs cheaper, but give off much less heat as well.
> 
> Estimated lifespan for all bulbs is based on continuous usage, never turning it off. Turning on and off, especially for just a few minutes' of light, shortens their lifespan considerably.


the rating cycle of an led is based on different parameters than other lamps since leds are not effected much by on off cycles ….because they technically never blow out they are rated in hours for when the lumens fall off to 70% or 50% depending on rating used


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## Oris Borloff (Jun 5, 2021)

mathjak107 said:


> I will take a guess and I think you may be using regular leds in enclosed fixtures …any fixture with a glass cover or plastic one needs leds rated for enclosed fixtures. It will say on the box approved for enclosed fixtures


Thanks for the reply.

I just checked, rated for indoor/outdoor enclosed fixtures.  None of the bulbs are in an enclosed fixture, just ones that have a shade to diffuse the light, otherwise plenty of air circulation around the bulb.


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## mathjak107 (Jun 5, 2021)

Oris Borloff said:


> Thanks for the reply.
> 
> I just checked, rated for indoor/outdoor enclosed fixtures.  None of the bulbs are in an enclosed fixture, just ones that have a shade to diffuse the light, otherwise plenty of air circulation around the bulb.


Other causes of flickering is voltage fluctuation in the house , wrong style dimmers and just plain old cheap badly designed leds lamps .

being in the industry I like philips,cree , sylvania


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## Oris Borloff (Jun 5, 2021)

mathjak107 said:


> Other causes of flickering is voltage fluctuation in the house , wrong style dimmers and just plain old cheap badly designed leds lamps .
> 
> being in the industry I like philips,cree , sylvania


Thank you, for the brand recommendations.  I'll try those and see.


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## AnnieA (Jun 5, 2021)

I also stocked up on incandescent lights several years ago.  I use LEDs in overhead fixtures but prefer incandescent for reading lamps and lamps for evening lighting.


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## Llynn (Jun 5, 2021)

On the amateur radio forums I visit, leds are the subject of frequent and lengthy discussion. Poorly made  led lighting can be a source of rfi (radio frequency interference).  The USA  has extensive standards which led manufacturers are expected to meet.

Unfortunately some of our Asian trading partners don't pay much attention to our manufacturing standards. I've bought some led bulbs that wiped out major chunks of the high frequency spectrum.


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## OneEyedDiva (Jun 9, 2021)

win231 said:


> My electrician explained why LED's might flicker, especially when used with dimmers on lower brightness settings.
> The older dimmers were designed for regular bulbs; not LED's.  When he replaced 3 of my dimmers, he upgraded them for LED's & they never flicker.


Win, it appears you've helped me get to the bottom of why this is happening! Thank you. The flickering is taking place in the lamps connected to dimmer switches even when I haven't lowered the brightness settings.  When I put the LED bulb in another lamp without...it didn't flicker. But the problem is I have dimmers in the living room, hall and the bedroom lamp I turn on when I first enter the room. I have three lamps in the BR. One of them uses a special bulb which is probably incandescent. I may replace the lamp on my dresser, which is on dimmer, with that one. But I'm hesitant because I bought the dresser lamp especially for that spot and the base on the other one is much wider. I *hate* it when so called upgrades/improvements make things more complicated.

@Mike Thank you so much for the info about the bulbs sold at Ikea. I'll definitely check that out as soon as I can get either my son or grandson to take me there.

@John cycling  I never would have thought to order lightbulbs online. I'd be afraid some of them would get broken in transit somehow. They must take extra care with the packaging.

@Nathan  The only problem I had with CFLs is they couldn't be used with dimmers...they'd die. They did come out with dimmable ones but they were too expensive. I haven't seen CFLs on the shelves in quite awhile.


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## Gary O' (Jun 9, 2021)

Buckeye said:


> I can't remember ever having to replace an LED bulb or that had a problem with flickering.


That's me

I *love* the LED bulbs
They last....forever
and take less juice

Right before the change over, I was replacing bulbs every few months


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## OneEyedDiva (Jun 9, 2021)

mathjak107 said:


> I will take a guess and I think you may be using regular leds in enclosed fixtures …any fixture with a glass cover or plastic one needs leds rated for enclosed fixtures. It will say on the box approved for enclosed fixtures


I have a linen lampshade that sits on top of the bulb via metal pieces. It has a wide opening at the bottom and smaller at the top (but wider than the bulb itself) so I don't know if that's considered enclosed. But with Win's explanation about the use with old dimmers switches, enclosed or not is moot in my case.


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## OneEyedDiva (Sep 18, 2021)

@AnnieA @Gaer @fmdog44  My grandson took me to Home Depot and found a box of 16 Ecosmart incandescent bulbs for $17.64 (including tax), which is just a little more than what I paid when I was getting them from Dollar Tree. I've seen incandescents as high as $9.95 for 4 bulbs. I think I'm going to go back and get at least one more box. I only need them in three of my fixtures. I don't know if at some point companies will stop making incandescents (I thought they had already) and I'd hate to be stuck with only LEDs for the rest of my life.


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## horseless carriage (Sep 18, 2021)

Gary O' said:


> I *love* the LED bulbs
> They last....forever
> and take less juice.


Light doesn't have any mass. If it did, then it would've been called heavy.


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## Packerjohn (Sep 18, 2021)

I sort of got "ripped off" when the change came from the regular bulbs to the LED.  I bought 2 dozen packages of the old bulbs as the "advertisers" said that they would no longer be manufactured and the LED were so expensive.  Then the price of the LEDs went down and I just gave my bulbs to some good place like the Salvation Army Thrift Store.  Now, I have just LEDs.  Some flicker and some don't.  There is one in my computer room that likes to flicker.  Dirty little bugger!  When I figure out which one of the 3 up there is flickering, I'm gonna send it "to the promise land."


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## OneEyedDiva (Sep 18, 2021)

Packerjohn said:


> I sort of got "ripped off" when the change came from the regular bulbs to the LED.  I bought 2 dozen packages of the old bulbs as the "advertisers" said that they would no longer be manufactured and the LED were so expensive.  Then the price of the LEDs went down and I just gave my bulbs to some good place like the Salvation Army Thrift Store.  Now, I have just LEDs.  Some flicker and some don't.  There is one in my computer room that likes to flicker.  Dirty little bugger!  When I figure out which one of the 3 up there is flickering, I'm gonna send it "to the promise land."


It's nice to be charitable but too bad you got rid of all your incandescents!


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## Don M. (Sep 18, 2021)

We've got 2 4ft. florescent ceiling fixtures in our kitchen, and I had to replace the florescent bulbs with LED's a couple of years ago.  After a few weeks, one of the fixtures started to "flicker" a bit, and changing the bulbs didn't help.  I wound up replacing the "ballast" in that fixture, and haven't had any more problems.  I bought a spare ballast for the other fixture, and if it starts to flicker, I'll replace that one, too.


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## OneEyedDiva (Sep 22, 2021)

I got wild and crazy today. I ordered two more boxes of Ecosmart incandescents instead of purchasing just the one. My son will pick them up from Home Depot for me today. So I've purchased 48 incandescents in the past week for the same price they used to be at Dollar Tree. I will try each one (tried 16 already) to make sure they all work.  I'm happy now.   

@Don M.  It's a good thing you identified the problem and could take care of it yourself. Smart to get the extra ballast too.


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## Lorenzo Lago (Sep 22, 2021)

I've had a problem with flickering LED bulbs. I've tried different brands. The ones that seem to work the best are the Great Value bulbs I bought at Walmart. You might want to give them a try.


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## OneEyedDiva (Sep 22, 2021)

Lorenzo Lago said:


> I've had a problem with flickering LED bulbs. I've tried different brands. The ones that seem to work the best are the Great Value bulbs I bought at Walmart. You might want to give them a try.


Thank you Lorenzo...but refer to the reply I added just before yours.


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