Arlec LED floodlight autopsy after failure

[Noyade]

Around three years ago there was a spate of thefts from backyards in my suburb. In an attempt to counter this for my backyard I mounted a 50 watt Arlec LED Floodlight (FLO55) from Bunnings on a pole facing the backyard.

In the end - I rarely used it. The backyard was lit like an atomic detonation.

Probably never used it longer that 5 hrs total.

But I tried it last night. Dead.

Thought it may be the lead - but no.

It was completely exposed to the elements but I thought IP65 covered this?

I took it down and with no receipt (I expected to die before it did) and performed an autopsy.

No loose leads/wiring. No water damage and very well sealed. In fact it was difficult to pull apart!

I was gobsmacked with the amount of electronics involved. Is this the problem with LED lights?

Spoke with a Bunnings staff member online - she suggested avoid Arlec and go with HPM or Brilliant.

Didn't Arlec use to make powered tools for Kmart, decades ago - badly?

Members thoughts?

[MikeTNZ]

Hi @Noyade,

Personally if that were me, I would have just glued the beaters into the mixer.

I don't think I've ever removed the beaters from my mixer, I just wash them in a bowl of hot water and detergent and dry them with a tea-towel.

Don't take this personally, but I really hate some of the things that just get thrown into landfill and yes it's not economical to repair things these days.

I used to repair appliances as a sideline to my day job as an electrician, it just got too difficult and people wanted things fixed cheap as.

I still do fix them for friends and family, I find it quite therapeutic bringing broken stuff back to life, without the inherent time/cost demands.

Cheers,

Mike T.

[Adam_W]

@Noyade it seems to be an unfortunate problem with LED now.
The whole idea was they would be more energy efficient than incandescent & have crazy-long operating hour life-spans. Problem is they don't live up to their promised life-spans, we've only had LED for probably over 10-years now and man those globes were expensive back then.

I have had a lot fail, flagship brands & cheapies, after nowhere near their claimed operating hours and of course... who keeps receipts & information about operating hours for all their light globes, right?
And then the biggest problem... these things aren't just some glass & aluminium etc. They are e-waste.
I'm pretty big on recycling & sustainability & I'll admit... I have no idea what you are supposed to do with a dead LED globe.

There's a fantastic documentary which you may find interesting -  The Light Bulb Conspiracy - if you can find it.

[Noyade]

Afternoon Mike!

"I would have just glued the beaters into the mixer."

Never thought of that at the time. 😮

I told my my wife a clever individual on this site suggested this and would she be happy if the blades were a permanent fixture.

She said 'yes.'

I turned the bin outside upside down and retrieved the parts.

Was gunna reach for glue (not entirely sure what would stick stainless steel to plastic, under stress) but I thought I would insert the blade to see how loose it was. To my disappointment, when moving the shaft about I noticed a fissure in the plastic. My concern now was under pressure the glue would leach out to the outer gap...

Crack

Then I decided to put both blades in and with the bottom chassis off and 240 V applied - to my 'coroner horror', those white geared teeth (hard to see the teeth properly in the photo) are stripped presumably by the metal worm gear - mixing thick baking ingredients perhaps? Dunno why Breville would make them outta plastic? The blade on the right only moves randomly...

"but I really hate some of the things that just get thrown into landfill"

Yes, I feel the same way Mike - but I'm not gonna take it outta the bin again.

[Noyade]

"There's a fantastic documentary which you may find interesting -  The Light Bulb Conspiracy - if you can find it.'

Thanks Adam - I will look for this. I've tossed out many LED lights - well before the advertised "20,000 hours."

[MikeTNZ]

Gidday @Noyade,

There is a couple of reasons why they use teflon gears in appliances like this, the first being that the nylon will "lubricate" the worm drive as this turns with a lot of force on it.

Secondly, if you used metallic gears and happened (for whatever reason) to get your fingers jammed between the spinning beaters, this is not going to end well, however, with the teflon gears, it will merely shear the teeth off the gears and save your fingers.........hopefully.

That's a pretty good call on your part though, you need to know where to draw the line with fixing things like this, no-one wants bits of plastic or God knows what else falling into their food as it's being mixed up.

Cheers,

Mike T.

[Noyade]

Another failure - after about 20 hrs of use. Arlec? Not sure. Purchased from Bunnings - but couldn't locate it in the store the other day.

Turned on.

[MitchellMc]

It doesn't look like you're having much luck with those Arlec floodlights @Noyade. It might be an idea to switch out the Brilliant panel floodlights. 

I'll pass your feedback on to Arlec. Let me know if you need a hand returning the faulty unit.

Mitchell

[Noyade]

Hi again @MitchellMc 

"It might be an idea to switch out the Brilliant panel floodlights."

Brilliant idea! 😁

In fact I did - but I dispensed with the floodlight idea.

A Brilliant product - can't remember the name ($26?) - and I thought I had to supply the bulb, but it's already fitted with a 500 lumen LED.

See how we go with this one.