LED lights suck. Bring back incandescent

Just changed out my two head light assemblys on my 09 Tacoma. Truck looks brand new now. And i went back with original incadescent bulbs.

100% despise led lights - especially when idiots can't rub their two brain cells together to dim their high beams when there's other vehicles on the road.

Tallow candles suck, bring back the light from the moon

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Incandescents suck. Bring back oil lamps.

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Go back even further

Consumer bulbs for your house suck. The drivers are made so cheap, heat kills them.

Now for my truck, I love them. I don't like the rednecks who put them in their 97 F150 that scatters the light though.

Kicked the hornet's nest

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bad for your health and retinas, which makes sense.

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it does?

Nah, be a man, just use starlight.

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2. Many fixtures that were originally designed for incandescent bulbs simply aren’t really compatible with LED’s, largely because they don’t allow for sufficient heat dissipation.

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I generally replace with LEDs when I can, but can you unpack this logic for me? I get that the drivers can get hot. I've handled LED wafer lights that had been on for hours and they're certainly not "cool" to the touch, but compared to incandescent? Barely a blip.

If a fixture can handle a 60 to 100 watt bulb's heat, what in your mind is the heat challenge from the LED?

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If a fixture can handle a 60 to 100 watt bulb's heat, what in your mind is the heat challenge from the LED?

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The heat doesn’t damage the fixture. It damages the LED bulb.

They (generally) don’t get nearly as hot as equivalent incandescents, but incandescent bulbs aren’t nearly as sensitive to temperature either. The electronic components in LED bulbs cannot withstand very high temperatures without failing.

The bulb has to be able to dissipate the heat from the driver. Part of the problem is that LED bulbs are mostly built in formats that were not originally designed to accommodate LED bulbs. Ideally you would have some sort of heat sink, but manufacturers have to work within the form factor of the particular bulb type in order to ensure compatibility with existing fixtures.

As an example - a regular A19 light bulb has a specific shape. It’s not just the threaded connection at the base that has to match; it’s also the overall profile of the light. Otherwise the bulb might not fit. Hue bulbs, for example, won’t fit in every light fixture. But most LED replacements will.

So they have to get creative with how to dissipate heat. My understanding is that most of the heat from the driver in an A19 bulb is dissipated through the base/socket. That’s fine as long as the base is ventilated. But if it’s in a sealed fixture or a fixture with very little airflow, the heat can’t go anywhere. Heat builds up, temp goes up, and the driver fails.

Recessed can lights are probably the most common offender, and often need to be replaced/retrofitted to be compatible with LEDs. Generally something like a table lamp is going to have plenty of ventilation. Track light fixtures are more hit-and-miss depending on design. Ideally the fixture has holes/vents on the back side that will allow airflow. Newer fixtures that are actually designed for LED lights will provide greater reliability, because they account for the need to dissipate heat.

But again, buying quality bulbs makes a big difference as well.