Are you still using halogen bulbs?

You could start with replacing the lower power lamps first. Lower power lamps produce less heat. Electronic components work best if not overheated. I have noticed lamps equivalent to 100W disappear from some shops, so maybe there were problems.

Electronic circuitry should be designed for the anticipated environment. In fact modern consumer electronic components are generally very happy at temperatures exceeding 100 degC or so – they have to be able to withstand temperatures much higher than that during the PCB fabrication process. Yet of the bulbs I have bought, oddly, it is the higher power ones which have seemed to me to be more reliable. Still, the direct experiences of myself are far from being statistically significant!

As a hobbyist, I have seen plenty of premature failure of electronic circuitry that has run hot, and thermal cycling may be partly to blame. I have not studied domestic LED lamps but it worries me that the caps can become too hot to touch.

I would like to see more light fixtures where the LEDs and electronics is separate, since that will prevent the heat of the LEDs affecting the electronics, and this is common in commercial lighting. Obviously that’s not easy with lamps that are direct replacements for the old fashioned light bulbs. The popular ‘filament LEDs’ seem a good design because the LED strips are at a distance from the electronics in the lamp cap.

It would be very interesting to find out which makes, types and styles work best. So far I have been lucky with various brands – all familiar brands – but I have kept every receipt just in case.

I’ve been using LED lamps for about 10 years now. In my house LEDs are gradually replacing compact florescent lamps. Only a few, infrequently used. lamps are still filament or halogen types.

I’ve never suffered a failure of any LED lamp but I can remember one or two early failures of compact fluorescent ones.

However I do not, and would not, ever buy lamp bulbs on eBay. As I see it, there is no need to do that, because I can get these items from local shops.

I use local shops too. I often use eBay for inexpensive products and have rarely been disappointed, but would not take the risk of buying mains voltage electrical goods from an eBay trader, an unheard of Amazon Marketplace trader or a market stall. I would rather pay more and hopefully avoid the risk of buying dangerous or counterfeit products.

I investigated the light in my old Bosch cooker hood because I thought one of the bulbs had failed. It is marked 2 x 15W but there is only one lampholder. There is plenty room so I fitted a LED lamp and that has made a great improvement.

That’s about it. Mosfet, SMT, SMPS and TCR might be everyday terms for some of us, but maybe they could be considered a bit technical for others.

That would interest me too, marlbenn. In my younger days I used to dismantle consumer electronics to find out the cause of failure. I saw evidence of overheating and failure in early CFLs, though in some cases the lamp had come to the end of its life. More recent CFLs tend to be more difficult to dismantle and CFLs are fast being replaced by LEDs.

Some have dismantled LED lamps and found the LEDs still working, but there are so many makes and models that it might be difficult to produce useful data.

I was wary of moving from CFLs to LEDs, not only because of concerns about reliability but because of reports of radio interference but my experience has been much better than expected, with a variety of lamps sold in local shops: Philips, Diall, Status. I don’t like the fabulous lifetime claims made by many manufacturers. Unlike many, I had very good experience with CFLs too.

It would be interesting to test how well LEDs cope with voltage spikes in the mains, because they can cause failure of poorly designed electronics.

If two lamps fail simultaneously, that could be a coincidence or caused by a spike/surge/transient, possibly thousands of volts but extremely short duration. Lightning is an obvious cause but local inductive loads such as refrigeration compressors can produce smaller spikes.

Like you I use a UPS on my desktop computer. That guards against brief interruptions in supply and the one I have is supposed to provide spike protection.

In the UK our mains voltage is nominally 230 V and the tolerance is -6% to +10%, meaning that a voltage of of between 216 V to 253 V is permitted.

I have wondered whether over-voltage is a problem with LEDs. In the early days it was a problem for those living off-grid and dependent on generators and storage batteries. To cope with over-voltage and spikes, specialist companies introduced 12 V LEDs that operated between 10 and 30 V and included spike protection. I have no idea of the voltage tolerance or spike protection in ordinary domestic LEDs for use on mains power or 12 V (e.g. MR16 downlighters).

I have not heard about surge arresters being used in the home but it’s something I know nothing about.

I suggest having a word with neighbours and see how their LEDs are performing. You might be unlucky.

My luck continues. I just bought two LED exterior security lights. I installed the first one and switched on. Thirty seconds of light, five seconds of flickering, and then dead. There’s no problem with getting a replacement, but it’s the hassle, especially of something more than a simple bulb change.

You are not having much fun. All sorts of lamps can fail prematurely. I fitted an outside light for a friend and one of the halogen bulbs failed not long after.

I wonder if you are just unlucky or if neighbours are having LED lamps fail.

If you buy dimmable LEDs and replace your existing dimmers with ones designed for use with LEDs you should not have any problem. I’ve done this twice in my own home and twice in a friend’s house.

With uplighters you need to be careful about the physical size of lamp so that they are not visible and in the case of small wall uplighters there may be limited space.