khawes Posted December 14, 2010 Posted December 14, 2010 I have several (8) strings of LEDs and one strand just today started acting up. Half of the strand (the side closest to the plug) is at what seems to be half intensity, the remaining half lights normally like the other 7 strands do.The strandfs came from Costco year before last, but this is my first LOR year.Do I need to make myself one of those snubbers? :?
George Simmons Posted December 14, 2010 Posted December 14, 2010 It could just be a string going bad for no apparent reason. Or it could be that the lights you have aren't amenable to dimming. A snubber isn't going to help either of those scenarios.
khawes Posted December 14, 2010 Author Posted December 14, 2010 Since the rest are dimming correctly, I guess it's the strand going bad The search is now on for a replacement.
George Simmons Posted December 14, 2010 Posted December 14, 2010 I hope that's all it is too. I've had some that lasted half a season before they began dimming, one by one, and others that bit it right away. It might have something to do with how often you fade. Some people are faders and some are flashers. Bad LEDs last longer for flashers than for faders.
khawes Posted December 15, 2010 Author Posted December 15, 2010 George Simmons wrote:I hope that's all it is too. I've had some that lasted half a season before they began dimming, one by one, and others that bit it right away. It might have something to do with how often you fade. Some people are faders and some are flashers. Bad LEDs last longer for flashers than for faders.Thanks -- I'm a fader. Looks like the others may be dying too. I'll try to scrape by until I can get some "real" lights from CDI next year.
George Simmons Posted December 15, 2010 Posted December 15, 2010 I don't know of anything that will prolong their life other than maybe getting rid of all your fades. I didn't do that and eventually all the "bad" ones went dark - or so dim they might as well have been. I'm guessing the buyers at Costco (and many, many other retailers) simply have no clue what a miniscule percentage of their customers want to do with the LED's. I doubt very many even know what questions to ask their suppliers and if they happen to buy LEDs that CAN be faded it is probably more by chance than by choice.
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