Failed LED driver

[pc1966]

Had a Knightsbridge VFRIC8WW IP65 downlighter fail recently (started to flash), disappointing as only 18 months or so old and probably only a couple of hundred hours use (bathroom). Got a new light & driver but clearly just the driver had failed so all OK now.

Decided to take the borked one apart out of curiosity so behold:

And below:

Overall I was pleasantly surprised by the build quality for a mass-marked bit of kit. Nothing looked overheated or bulging electrolytic caps. Even appears to have proper input filtering for EMC and (presumably) half-decent protection against over-voltage spikes. Hopefully this was just a one-off random fault and not something of poor design/build.

TL,DR; Half-decent product but still failed.

 

[MJPD29]

I find knightsbridge to be decent quality so I would expect its hopefully a one off

 

[Lucien Nunes]

Yeah but... what actually is the fault? Is it high ESR anyway despite the lack of bulges? If so, any others from the same original install are likely to go the same way.

 

[pc1966]

Yeah but... what actually is the fault? Is it high ESR anyway despite the lack of bulges? If so, any others from the same original install are likely to go the same way.

I don't know, but the electrlytics are on the ELV side as far as I can see, and the failure from fine to quick flashing was fast, so I doubt it is just high ESR, so my suspicion is eith the regulator IC or related feedback parts. Nothing shows any visible damage or stress.