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Sorry if this is the wrong place. I thought it fit better here than DIY Stack Exchange.

I replaced a 230 V halogen light bulb with a 6 LED package. Now I notice that all the LED's blink every 15 seconds when it's plugged in*. Initially I thought it was some circuit in the package using energy stored in capacitors, but I don't think that anymore since it stops as soon as I unplug it.

The LED lamp is rated for 12000h of light and 20000 on/off cycles. I solved the equation:

1/15 hertz * x seconds = 20000 times

for x, and I found that the lamp will last only 300000 seconds, or 3.47 days. That is, if each of these blinks count as a on/off cycle.

Please help me save my lamp.

  • Note: Plugged in here means that the circuit is nominally switched off / depowered and the bulb is not "on" but is in the mains powered socket. The bulb is "off" most of the time but flashes briefly every 15 seconds.
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I doubt you are getting a power spike or interruption regularly every 15 seconds. This sounds like something in the circuit. Maybe this unit is broken? – Olin Lathrop Mar 9 '12 at 14:27
Is the light actually turning off and on or is it just getting brighter in a pulse? I think this might be a better question for DIY. The reason I say that is they will have more knowledge with knowing if they have seen this behavior before and what was done to fix it. – Kellenjb Mar 9 '12 at 14:33
@Kellenjb: Yeah, it's actually turning on. I think I'll make a video of it and post it to DIY. Thanks. – Janus Troelsen Mar 9 '12 at 15:03
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Here is the question I was thinking of: diy.stackexchange.com/questions/11798/… – Kellenjb Mar 9 '12 at 16:01
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There is leakage through the mains switch. This is slowly charging a capacitor in the light until a trigger voltage is reached, when the LEDs turn on and operate briefly until the cpacitor id discharged to some minimum level, then the LEDs turn off again. This probably does not count as a prper on off cycle for lifetime counting purposes. The switch is faulty and dangerous and should be replaced. Even if the switch is "designed" to be "leaky due to electronics or capacitance it could potentially kill someone. Kill it first!!! – Russell McMahon Mar 9 '12 at 18:58
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