LED tail lights, brake lights

[John K]

What have been your experiences with the life of these LEDs? I was behind a Caddy the other day, and noticed some of the LEDs were burnt out. In the high brake light, and many in one of the tall tail lights. Did a search on internet and found a replacement cost of the tail light of over $300! I don't know what the year or model of the suv was, but I thought these things weren't supposed to burn out???

 

[Hokiefyd]

Cadillac, in particular, was an early adopter of LED technology in tail lamps and brake lamps, and suffered poor durability initially. It's not uncommon to see dark sections or segments of brake lamps on Cadillacs. In fact, a Cadillac enthusiast started an LED repair company based only on fixing Cadillac LED units:

http://www.ledfix.com/

It looks like he has expanded to other vehicles as well, but Cadillac LED repairs are common enough to build a business around.

I'd think that their stuff is better today, though. Do you know how old this Cadillac was that you saw? If it had LED tail lamps as well, it couldn't have been older than 2004 (DeVille).

 

[The motor guy]

You see them out on eighteen wheeler trailers frequently. Not the whole light entirely, but a few individual bulbs. I have them on my boat trailer and actually haven't had to mess with them for a year or two now. Before I used to be fixing them once a month.

 

[HerrStig]

You'll note that LED traffic lights don't last forever either. High power LEDs have associated "driver" technology which adds component count and thus greater chances for failure.

 

[Donald]

They seem fine on my boat trailer. Better than regular lights that always had issued because of being dunked in the water.

 

[EdwardC]

I've noticed a bunch of the center tail lights that have a long row of LEDs that had a few LEDs out.

I think a lot of this is the design. LEDs are fairly durable, but everything around it can fail. And with a lot of individual LEDs, there that many more connection points to fail.

What bothers me more is when they use PWM to dim the tail lights and at speed, the flicker is noticeable. I think they've done better with this, as I notice it less now.

 

[Brad_C]

Older LEDs had to be driven *hard* to get the brightness. They just get old quick and die. In general newer LEDs don't need to be pushed so hard to get the lumens, so they last longer.

The electronics is getting better too, but generally its the LED that fails.

 

[eljefino]

My state inspection guidelines read that half the little LEDs can conk out before a unit fails inspection. Guess they're trying to be reasonable, and that it was enough of an issue to bring up.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Usually it's the circuitry that goes bad and not the LED itself. Big PITA because as you've found out the solution is to replace a $300 part vs a $20 bulb. On a car it's annoying because the vehicle is constantly telling you about your burned out lamp.

 

[meep]

I will add this--- all of the above seems to speak to oem.

aftermarket stuff is generally just bunk. most models do one thing well but miss on the other requirements.

maybe they are bright enough, but the lifespan is awful. or the dispersion is good, but brightness is poor. Or the low-intensity dispesrion and brightness are good, but the jump to full brightness is inadequate. I tried LEDs and wanted to like them. And I think if someone really rebuilds an incandescant fixture with a proper array and driver control, they'd be fine... but the aftermarket drop-in stuff just never cuts it.

 

[buck91]

Led chmsl on the 01 aurora needed a diode replaced last year. Not a led but an old school diode. No idea the purpose but after soldering a new one into the board it has been trouble free.

Running 1157 led drop ins in the tail/brake of my Yamaha for a few seasons without issue also.

 

[Vern_in_IL]

Originally Posted By: Brad_C
Older LEDs had to be driven *hard* to get the brightness. They just get old quick and die. In general newer LEDs don't need to be pushed so hard to get the lumens, so they last longer.

The electronics is getting better too, but generally its the LED that fails.


The components are ESD sensitive, static can shorten a components life, impractical to detect until failure... usually after warranty has expired.

Some vehicle models have LED modules that can be replaced, The LED Driver Module (LDM).