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Eyc headlight problem



 
 
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  #1  
Old March 28th 21, 04:40 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Frank Krygowski[_4_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 10,538
Default Eyc headlight problem

On last night's ride I took the touring bike with its B&M Eyc headlight
powered by an old Union bottle dynamo. (Usually I take a bike with a hub
dyno.) The Lumotec Eyc is about 2/3 down this page:
https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/b&m-hl.php

My friend who rides with me often leaves his headlight off to save his
battery, since we can see so well by mine. But not last night. Right at
the start, my headlight turned itself off. I tried the switch (and I do
dislike "soft" switches buried under rubber covers), I felt the wiring
connections, spun the wheel a few times, then it came back on. Rode ten
feet and it blinked off. Then back on and stayed on, mostly, but would
occasionally blink off then back on.

At one stop to listen to a chorus of frogs, the Eyc was running only its
standlight when it suddenly blinked off. That tells me it's not a wiring
connection or an internal dyno problem. It must be a problem inside the
headlamp itself. Also, it's not triggered by bumps AFAICT, and it
sometimes blinked off while riding a perfectly smooth surface.

Fortunately, it always came back to life and for the rest of the 15 mile
ride it blinked out only occasionally, and for never more than a second.
But its very worrisome.

I'll be writing to Peter White, from whom I bought this. But I'm
wondering if anyone here has had similar troubles with a B&M lamp, or if
anyone wants to get a head start on speculating.

(When my electronic poltergeist starts infecting my bike equipment, it's
a bad, bad sign.)

--
- Frank Krygowski
Ads
  #2  
Old March 28th 21, 06:01 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Jeff Liebermann
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4,018
Default Eyc headlight problem

On Sun, 28 Mar 2021 11:40:08 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

I tried the switch (and I do
dislike "soft" switches buried under rubber covers), I felt the wiring
connections, spun the wheel a few times, then it came back on. Rode ten
feet and it blinked off. Then back on and stayed on, mostly, but would
occasionally blink off then back on.

At one stop to listen to a chorus of frogs, the Eyc was running only its
standlight when it suddenly blinked off. That tells me it's not a wiring
connection or an internal dyno problem. It must be a problem inside the
headlamp itself. Also, it's not triggered by bumps AFAICT, and it
sometimes blinked off while riding a perfectly smooth surface.

Fortunately, it always came back to life and for the rest of the 15 mile
ride it blinked out only occasionally, and for never more than a second.
But its very worrisome.


I've seen similar symptoms with LiIon flashlights and battery powered
bicycle lighting. My guess(tm) is a loose connection somewhere in the
wiring system. As you mention, it could also be inside the light. The
erratic intermittent behavior suggests that it's NOT an electronics
component failure, which would be more cyclic.

Most commonly (in flashlights), I see this caused by the LED COB. The
LED is soldered onto the PCB (printed circuit board) forming the COB
(chip on board). The PCB will flex as the LED heats up eventually
breaking the solder connection. The solder doesn't really melt, but
instead cracks. I fix these using a hot air SMD soldering station:
https://www.google.com/search?q=hot+air+smd+rework+station&tbm=isch
Tear the light apart, and touch the LED or slightly bend the PCB while
the lamp is operating. If it flickers, you found the problem. It can
also be components other than the LED, which should be detectable by
bending the PCB or visual inspection. Using the SMD soldering station
takes practice. I suggest you find someone who knows how to use one.

Another problem I've seen are crappy wire connections. These come in
a variety of failures such as cold solder connection, bad crimp,
insulation displacement, jacket creep, and corrosion. The best way to
find these is by probing with a DVM (digital volt meter). The catch
is that you can only find a bad connection if the light is in failure
mode. If it seems to be working normally on the workbench, you're
probably better off taking the light and wiring apart and pulling on
each connection. If the connection moves, stretches, or falls apart,
you found the problem. Corrosion should be obvious. Also, look for
annual rings (usually black) around wires that run through holes in
the PCB. Such rings are cold solder joints, caused by the assembler
being in a hurry, and need to be restarted.

I've only seen one broken wire on a bicycle, which took me weeks to
isolate. I finally found it by pulling on each of the wire ends. One
wire seemed to stretch, indicating a break somewhere. I found where
the insulation necked down from the stretching and spliced the wire.
Problem solved. This wire was NOT under tension and showed no sign of
corrosion, so my guess(tm) is that the wire was defective from the
vendor.

However, my initial wild guess points to the Union bottle dynamo. I
haven't seen any failures with these because I don't use them.
However, if it's as old as you suggest, it might be a good place to
start. Try powering the light with a battery or power supply. Then,
disconnect one of the power wires. The B&M lights usually have a
stand light feature, which is basically a supercap to power the LED
while the generator is NOT turning. If you disconnect the power wire,
and the light goes into stand light mode, and slowly fades away, then
it's working normally. Therefore, the problem is likely NOT in the
dynamo or wiring that power the light. I would need to be after the
stand light circuitry inside the B&M light.

Good luck.

Drivel:
https://phobia.wikia.org/wiki/Dizoangphobia
https://phobia.wikia.org/wiki/Electrophobia
https://phobia.wikia.org/wiki/BMWphobia
https://phobia.wikia.org/wiki/Cyclophobia


--
Jeff Liebermann
PO Box 272
http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
  #3  
Old March 28th 21, 06:50 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Lou Holtman[_5_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 826
Default Eyc headlight problem

Op zondag 28 maart 2021 om 17:40:15 UTC+2 schreef Frank Krygowski:
On last night's ride I took the touring bike with its B&M Eyc headlight
powered by an old Union bottle dynamo. (Usually I take a bike with a hub
dyno.) The Lumotec Eyc is about 2/3 down this page:
https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/b&m-hl.php

My friend who rides with me often leaves his headlight off to save his
battery, since we can see so well by mine. But not last night. Right at
the start, my headlight turned itself off. I tried the switch (and I do
dislike "soft" switches buried under rubber covers), I felt the wiring
connections, spun the wheel a few times, then it came back on. Rode ten
feet and it blinked off. Then back on and stayed on, mostly, but would
occasionally blink off then back on.

At one stop to listen to a chorus of frogs, the Eyc was running only its
standlight when it suddenly blinked off. That tells me it's not a wiring
connection or an internal dyno problem. It must be a problem inside the
headlamp itself. Also, it's not triggered by bumps AFAICT, and it
sometimes blinked off while riding a perfectly smooth surface.

Fortunately, it always came back to life and for the rest of the 15 mile
ride it blinked out only occasionally, and for never more than a second.
But its very worrisome.

I'll be writing to Peter White, from whom I bought this. But I'm
wondering if anyone here has had similar troubles with a B&M lamp, or if
anyone wants to get a head start on speculating.

(When my electronic poltergeist starts infecting my bike equipment, it's
a bad, bad sign.)

--
- Frank Krygowski


I have LED spotlights in the bathroom, porch with a promised lifetime of 20000hr or something like that. That is utter BS because they will fail almost all well within that time. It is not the LED that fails but some of the electronic component on the (small) PCB that drives the LED. They fail in a manner you described. I think it is a heat issue.

Lou
  #4  
Old March 28th 21, 10:14 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Mark cleary
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 51
Default Eyc headlight problem

On Sunday, March 28, 2021 at 12:50:33 PM UTC-5, wrote:
Op zondag 28 maart 2021 om 17:40:15 UTC+2 schreef Frank Krygowski:
On last night's ride I took the touring bike with its B&M Eyc headlight
powered by an old Union bottle dynamo. (Usually I take a bike with a hub
dyno.) The Lumotec Eyc is about 2/3 down this page:
https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/b&m-hl.php

My friend who rides with me often leaves his headlight off to save his
battery, since we can see so well by mine. But not last night. Right at
the start, my headlight turned itself off. I tried the switch (and I do
dislike "soft" switches buried under rubber covers), I felt the wiring
connections, spun the wheel a few times, then it came back on. Rode ten
feet and it blinked off. Then back on and stayed on, mostly, but would
occasionally blink off then back on.

At one stop to listen to a chorus of frogs, the Eyc was running only its
standlight when it suddenly blinked off. That tells me it's not a wiring
connection or an internal dyno problem. It must be a problem inside the
headlamp itself. Also, it's not triggered by bumps AFAICT, and it
sometimes blinked off while riding a perfectly smooth surface.

Fortunately, it always came back to life and for the rest of the 15 mile
ride it blinked out only occasionally, and for never more than a second..
But its very worrisome.

I'll be writing to Peter White, from whom I bought this. But I'm
wondering if anyone here has had similar troubles with a B&M lamp, or if
anyone wants to get a head start on speculating.

(When my electronic poltergeist starts infecting my bike equipment, it's
a bad, bad sign.)

--
- Frank Krygowski

I have LED spotlights in the bathroom, porch with a promised lifetime of 20000hr or something like that. That is utter BS because they will fail almost all well within that time. It is not the LED that fails but some of the electronic component on the (small) PCB that drives the LED. They fail in a manner you described. I think it is a heat issue.

Lou

All the new fangled bulbs claim to last years and years. I can tell you it is fake news.
Deacon Mark
  #5  
Old March 28th 21, 10:52 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
SMS
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 9,477
Default Eyc headlight problem

On 3/28/2021 10:01 AM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

snip

Another problem I've seen are crappy wire connections. These come in
a variety of failures such as cold solder connection, bad crimp,
insulation displacement, jacket creep, and corrosion.


I'd first look for bad crimps. I crimp then solder for both a good
electrical and good mechanical connection, except on crimp connections
like Anderson Powerpole where it's not practical to solder after
crimping. If the bottle dynamo uses a bare wire then hopefully there's a
little extra length to create a clean connection.
  #6  
Old March 28th 21, 11:08 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Frank Krygowski[_4_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 10,538
Default Eyc headlight problem

On 3/28/2021 1:01 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Sun, 28 Mar 2021 11:40:08 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

I tried the switch (and I do
dislike "soft" switches buried under rubber covers), I felt the wiring
connections, spun the wheel a few times, then it came back on. Rode ten
feet and it blinked off. Then back on and stayed on, mostly, but would
occasionally blink off then back on.

At one stop to listen to a chorus of frogs, the Eyc was running only its
standlight when it suddenly blinked off. That tells me it's not a wiring
connection or an internal dyno problem. It must be a problem inside the
headlamp itself. Also, it's not triggered by bumps AFAICT, and it
sometimes blinked off while riding a perfectly smooth surface.

Fortunately, it always came back to life and for the rest of the 15 mile
ride it blinked out only occasionally, and for never more than a second.
But its very worrisome.


I've seen similar symptoms with LiIon flashlights and battery powered
bicycle lighting. My guess(tm) is a loose connection somewhere in the
wiring system. As you mention, it could also be inside the light. The
erratic intermittent behavior suggests that it's NOT an electronics
component failure, which would be more cyclic.

Most commonly (in flashlights), I see this caused by the LED COB. The
LED is soldered onto the PCB (printed circuit board) forming the COB
(chip on board). The PCB will flex as the LED heats up eventually
breaking the solder connection. The solder doesn't really melt, but
instead cracks. I fix these using a hot air SMD soldering station:
https://www.google.com/search?q=hot+air+smd+rework+station&tbm=isch
Tear the light apart, and touch the LED or slightly bend the PCB while
the lamp is operating. If it flickers, you found the problem. It can
also be components other than the LED, which should be detectable by
bending the PCB or visual inspection. Using the SMD soldering station
takes practice. I suggest you find someone who knows how to use one.

Another problem I've seen are crappy wire connections. These come in
a variety of failures such as cold solder connection, bad crimp,
insulation displacement, jacket creep, and corrosion. The best way to
find these is by probing with a DVM (digital volt meter). The catch
is that you can only find a bad connection if the light is in failure
mode. If it seems to be working normally on the workbench, you're
probably better off taking the light and wiring apart and pulling on
each connection. If the connection moves, stretches, or falls apart,
you found the problem. Corrosion should be obvious. Also, look for
annual rings (usually black) around wires that run through holes in
the PCB. Such rings are cold solder joints, caused by the assembler
being in a hurry, and need to be restarted.

I've only seen one broken wire on a bicycle, which took me weeks to
isolate. I finally found it by pulling on each of the wire ends. One
wire seemed to stretch, indicating a break somewhere. I found where
the insulation necked down from the stretching and spliced the wire.
Problem solved. This wire was NOT under tension and showed no sign of
corrosion, so my guess(tm) is that the wire was defective from the
vendor.

However, my initial wild guess points to the Union bottle dynamo. I
haven't seen any failures with these because I don't use them.
However, if it's as old as you suggest, it might be a good place to
start. Try powering the light with a battery or power supply. Then,
disconnect one of the power wires. The B&M lights usually have a
stand light feature, which is basically a supercap to power the LED
while the generator is NOT turning. If you disconnect the power wire,
and the light goes into stand light mode, and slowly fades away, then
it's working normally. Therefore, the problem is likely NOT in the
dynamo or wiring that power the light. I would need to be after the
stand light circuitry inside the B&M light.

Good luck.

Drivel:
https://phobia.wikia.org/wiki/Dizoangphobia
https://phobia.wikia.org/wiki/Electrophobia
https://phobia.wikia.org/wiki/BMWphobia
https://phobia.wikia.org/wiki/Cyclophobia


Thanks for the information. I've emailed Peter White and will say what
he says before I dig in further.

But as I said, I suspect the problem is internal to the headlamp because
one of the time it shut down, I was stationary. The light was in
standlight mode, during which it gets no external current supply. The
standlight turned off just as suddenly as the main light was doing.

But again, thanks. (I'm hoping that on the bench, powering this with a
6VDC battery should be as valid as powering it with a dynamo.)

--
- Frank Krygowski
  #7  
Old March 28th 21, 11:57 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Jeff Liebermann
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4,018
Default Eyc headlight problem

On Sun, 28 Mar 2021 10:50:31 -0700 (PDT), Lou Holtman
wrote:

I have LED spotlights in the bathroom, porch with a promised
lifetime of 20000hr or something like that. That is utter BS
because they will fail almost all well within that time.


20,000 hrs would be:
20,000hrs / 8766hrs/year = 2.3 years
if you ran it 24x7. Multiply the 2.4 years by whatever fraction of a
day your bathroom and porch lights operate (duty cycle) to obtain the
estimate lifetime.

Note that lifetime for consumer LED bulbs is measured to the point
where the light output (Lumens) decreases to 70% or 80% of initial
value (L70 or L80). Here's some stuff from Australia on the topic:
http://www.liteonled.com.au/led-light-bulb-life-time/
Note that nobody is going to run an LED light test for years and
years. So, there are various schemes, such as TM-21, for
extrapolating the lifetime of the LED, again based on loss of output,
not catastrophic failu
http://www.liteonled.com.au/buying-guide/led-life-time/l70-lm-80-and-tm-21-data/

It's this extrapolation, combined with somewhat ignoring catastrophic
failures, and absurd over-control of operating temperature, that is
producing very large numbers for LED lifetime. Also, note that the
only thing that a consumer LED lighting has in common with bicycle
lighting is that both use similar LEDs. The boost or buck inverters
are quite different, the cooling problems are different, and the
operating levels are VERY different. If bicycle lighting was designed
to operate at the temperatures and output levels similar to consumer
LED lighting, we would be blowing up LED bicycle headlights at an
alarming rate. In other words, a 100 watt equivalent LED bulb (14
watts, 1350 lumens) is not the same as a B&M Lumotec Eyc running on
perhaps 3 watts. The major difference is the operating temperature
and the luminaire (housing). The typical consumer lighting fixture is
a bad joke which seems to be designed to incinerate the LED bulb.
Death from overheating is common. On a bicycle, there is moving air
to cool the housing and fewer things in the way before getting to
ambient air. Put a bicycle headlight inside a home luminaire, and
you'll probably be burning out headlights from overheating.

It
is not the LED that fails but some of the electronic component on
the (small) PCB that drives the LED. They fail in a manner you
described. I think it is a heat issue.


I agree. It's the driver board that dies first, not the LED. However,
that's not the case for all consumer LED lamps. Many of the COB (chip
on board) mounts for LEDs are lacking in heat conduction. How the LED
chip conducts heat to the COB is critical. The construction of the
COB is also critical. For example, it should be ceramic or aluminum,
not G10/FR10 PCB material. Yet, I see flashlights, light bulbs, and
cheap headlights using PCB material.

Another problem is that the consumer LED bulb drivers often use
aluminum electrolytic capacitors. These do not like high temperatures
and conveniently follow a well known temp to lifetime curve:
https://elc.kemet.com
https://www.illinoiscapacitor.com/tech-center/life-calculators.aspx
Give me the operating electrical conditions and temperatures, and I
can estimate when the capacitor will blow up. Want a 3 year lifetime?
I can provide the capacitor values needed to have most of the
components on the driver PCB blow up simultaneously.

"Selecting the right capacitor to ensure longer life of LEDs"
https://www.electronicsb2b.com/important-sectors/leds-led-lighting/right-capacitor-to-ensure-longer-life-of-leds/

"How Electrolytic Capacitors Effect the Reliability of LED Drivers"
https://www.led-drivers.com.au/blog/how-electrolytic-capacitors-effect-reliability-led-drivers
On the graph, notice how an operating temperature above 55C case
temperature has a drastic effect on capacitor life.

"Ensure long lifetimes from electrolytic capacitors: A case study in
LED light bulbs"
https://www.edn.com/ensure-long-lifetimes-from-electrolytic-capacitors-a-case-study-in-led-light-bulbs/

Note that MLCC (multi-layer ceramic capacitors) are a big improvement
over electrolytic caps, but still have (different) problems. Polymer
caps are a good compromise, but tend to be expensive. I've seen them
in computers and expect to see them in LED lighting eventually.

"Polymer Film Capacitors for LED Drivers"
https://www.powersystemsdesign.com/articles/polymer-film-capacitors-for-led-drivers/36/5690

Incidentally, a friend who specializes in lighting electronics design,
once told me that he could recognize the quality and lifetime of a
lighting driver or bulb by just looking at the capacitors. I'm not
sure I could do it today, but thinking back, his method was quite
accurate.

Enough for now.
May the light at the end of the tunnel not be a fire.

--
Jeff Liebermann
PO Box 272
http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
  #8  
Old March 29th 21, 12:07 AM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Jeff Liebermann
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4,018
Default Eyc headlight problem

On Sun, 28 Mar 2021 18:08:44 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

But as I said, I suspect the problem is internal to the headlamp because
one of the time it shut down, I was stationary. The light was in
standlight mode, during which it gets no external current supply. The
standlight turned off just as suddenly as the main light was doing.


Good observation. I also mentioned it at the end of my rant. Whatever
is intermittent is inside the headlight.

But again, thanks. (I'm hoping that on the bench, powering this with a
6VDC battery should be as valid as powering it with a dynamo.)


Bottles are usually designed to run 6 volts and 3 watts at about 15
km/hr.
http://www.myra-simon.com/bike/dynotest.html
6V should work, but watch out that the light doesn't get too hot.


--
Jeff Liebermann
PO Box 272
http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
  #9  
Old March 29th 21, 02:27 AM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
John B.[_3_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 5,697
Default Eyc headlight problem

On Sun, 28 Mar 2021 14:14:17 -0700 (PDT), Mark cleary
wrote:

On Sunday, March 28, 2021 at 12:50:33 PM UTC-5, wrote:
Op zondag 28 maart 2021 om 17:40:15 UTC+2 schreef Frank Krygowski:
On last night's ride I took the touring bike with its B&M Eyc headlight
powered by an old Union bottle dynamo. (Usually I take a bike with a hub
dyno.) The Lumotec Eyc is about 2/3 down this page:
https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/b&m-hl.php

My friend who rides with me often leaves his headlight off to save his
battery, since we can see so well by mine. But not last night. Right at
the start, my headlight turned itself off. I tried the switch (and I do
dislike "soft" switches buried under rubber covers), I felt the wiring
connections, spun the wheel a few times, then it came back on. Rode ten
feet and it blinked off. Then back on and stayed on, mostly, but would
occasionally blink off then back on.

At one stop to listen to a chorus of frogs, the Eyc was running only its
standlight when it suddenly blinked off. That tells me it's not a wiring
connection or an internal dyno problem. It must be a problem inside the
headlamp itself. Also, it's not triggered by bumps AFAICT, and it
sometimes blinked off while riding a perfectly smooth surface.

Fortunately, it always came back to life and for the rest of the 15 mile
ride it blinked out only occasionally, and for never more than a second.
But its very worrisome.

I'll be writing to Peter White, from whom I bought this. But I'm
wondering if anyone here has had similar troubles with a B&M lamp, or if
anyone wants to get a head start on speculating.

(When my electronic poltergeist starts infecting my bike equipment, it's
a bad, bad sign.)

--
- Frank Krygowski

I have LED spotlights in the bathroom, porch with a promised lifetime of 20000hr or something like that. That is utter BS because they will fail almost all well within that time. It is not the LED that fails but some of the electronic component on the (small) PCB that drives the LED. They fail in a manner you described. I think it is a heat issue.

Lou

All the new fangled bulbs claim to last years and years. I can tell you it is fake news.
Deacon Mark


Some do :-) We bought a new(to us) house about 3 years ago and I
replaced all the interior lighting with the "new" LED (I suppose)
lighting and to date 1 has failed, a circular overhead lamp, which I
replaced about a year ago.
--
Cheers,

John B.

  #10  
Old March 29th 21, 04:16 AM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Frank Krygowski[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 7,511
Default Eyc headlight problem

On Sunday, March 28, 2021 at 9:27:52 PM UTC-4, John B. wrote:
On Sun, 28 Mar 2021 14:14:17 -0700 (PDT), Mark cleary
wrote:

On Sunday, March 28, 2021 at 12:50:33 PM UTC-5, wrote:
Op zondag 28 maart 2021 om 17:40:15 UTC+2 schreef Frank Krygowski:
On last night's ride I took the touring bike with its B&M Eyc headlight
powered by an old Union bottle dynamo. (Usually I take a bike with a hub
dyno.) The Lumotec Eyc is about 2/3 down this page:
https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/b&m-hl.php

My friend who rides with me often leaves his headlight off to save his
battery, since we can see so well by mine. But not last night. Right at
the start, my headlight turned itself off. I tried the switch (and I do
dislike "soft" switches buried under rubber covers), I felt the wiring
connections, spun the wheel a few times, then it came back on. Rode ten
feet and it blinked off. Then back on and stayed on, mostly, but would
occasionally blink off then back on.

At one stop to listen to a chorus of frogs, the Eyc was running only its
standlight when it suddenly blinked off. That tells me it's not a wiring
connection or an internal dyno problem. It must be a problem inside the
headlamp itself. Also, it's not triggered by bumps AFAICT, and it
sometimes blinked off while riding a perfectly smooth surface.

Fortunately, it always came back to life and for the rest of the 15 mile
ride it blinked out only occasionally, and for never more than a second.
But its very worrisome.

I'll be writing to Peter White, from whom I bought this. But I'm
wondering if anyone here has had similar troubles with a B&M lamp, or if
anyone wants to get a head start on speculating.

(When my electronic poltergeist starts infecting my bike equipment, it's
a bad, bad sign.)

--
- Frank Krygowski
I have LED spotlights in the bathroom, porch with a promised lifetime of 20000hr or something like that. That is utter BS because they will fail almost all well within that time. It is not the LED that fails but some of the electronic component on the (small) PCB that drives the LED. They fail in a manner you described. I think it is a heat issue.

Lou

All the new fangled bulbs claim to last years and years. I can tell you it is fake news.
Deacon Mark

Some do :-) We bought a new(to us) house about 3 years ago and I
replaced all the interior lighting with the "new" LED (I suppose)
lighting and to date 1 has failed, a circular overhead lamp, which I
replaced about a year ago.


The first compact fluorescent light bulb I bought promised something like seven years life.
It lasted only about three years, IIRC. But I had saved the packaging and receipt. I took it back
to Lowe's and they replaced it with out a question, even though they no longer carried the brand.

After that, I began marking the base of each such bulb with the date of its installation. I now
have dozens of CFLs or, more recently, LEDs throughout the house. A very few have failed
early. Almost all have been completely satisfactory.

However, as I've described here in the past, I had an off-brand LED dynamo light fail. The LED
itself went bad. I actually managed (with difficulty) to solder a similar LED in its place, but the
resultant optics were not quite as good. But that headlamp is still in use on our tandem, which
we only rarely ride at night.

That was an Avenir headlight, no longer offered. It was the one that had super-simple electronics,
just a full wave rectifier, a voltage regulator and a few ancillary bits. (It has to be simple if an ME
like me can identify the parts.) An inexpensive B&M Lyt that I opened had a lot more tiny bits.
All of which makes me pessimistic about repairing this B&M Eyc. :-(

- Frank Krygowski
 




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