9 out of 16 LED lightbulbs failed in 2015 38Q

arneinfloria · 06-02-2015, 10:29 AM

It is getting difficult to use our kitchen as we no longer have working overhead lights. In fact, more than half of our LED overhead lights no longer work. I could understand that one light would fail early, but it is hard to believe that 9 failures in two months is due to chance.

Did Winnebago buy a bad batch of lights? Anybody else have this problem? I assume that they will be replaced under warranty when we get to Forest City in August, in the mean time we will use temporary lights bought at Loves.

RLBCCB · 06-02-2015, 10:53 AM

We have had our 30T full timing for 2 months now. The overhead lights are used daily/nightly with all still burning.

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Luckiest Dreamer · 06-02-2015, 11:00 AM

Are yo
u sure they are LED. My 2012 Journey had halagen.

austx · 06-02-2015, 11:35 AM

We got our 2015 Meridian 36M 4 months ago and have been out on 4 week long trips with all LED bulbs working perfectly.

arneinfloria · 06-02-2015, 12:14 PM

Yes they are LEDs. I have searched the web but have not found any source for replacements. An e-mail to Winnebago has not yet been answered.

RETE8 · 06-02-2015, 01:05 PM

Our 2015 Itasca 42QD has 6 of the large LED lights out within 2 weeks. Got a dealer to order them as it is a whole fixture and not a bulb that can be replaced.

bobmac · 06-02-2015, 02:26 PM

Most of the light fixtures used by Winn are from ITC Elio. They have a booth at the GNR and you can download their catalog from their web site. I replaced all my halogen fixtures with their LED fixtures and have not had a single failure in 3+ years. Noticed in some of the recent Winn models that they are using a different and possibly less expensive fixture. If you are going the the GNR this year, you will likely be able to purchase fixtures directly from ITC. Their prices are competitive or less than RV dealer replacement bulbs and are much higher quality. The ones I purchased are identical to the halogen ceiling fixtures and come with the same thick glass lens. I'm sure Winn will replace the fixtures that failed but you might want to consider a higher quality fixture from the GNR and selling your current fixtures. Good luck,

Hikerdogs · 06-02-2015, 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arneinfloria

Yes they are LEDs. I have searched the web but have not found any source for replacements. An e-mail to Winnebago has not yet been answered.

If the lights are the same as the ones they used in the late 2014 models the entire fixture has to be replaced. When we bought our 2013 Adventurer Winnebago was still using incandescent lights. However they told us they were changing to LED's in 2014 so it would be only a matter of switching out a few bulbs if we wanted to switch to LED's in the future.

Like you we tried for several months to get replacement bulbs without success. Finally at last year's GNR we talked to a Winnebago rep. He disassembled several lights in a new coach in an attempt to determine what bulbs were being used. It appeared the bulbs were integral to the fixture and couldn't be replaced individually.

The upside was that each light had the manufacturers name, model number, and .com address stamped into the reflector. I visited their website to find our initial assessment was correct.

wa8yxm · 06-02-2015, 04:32 PM

I have found that in some cases, IN order to make the lights brighter, they push more current through them.. The result you see (Swift failure).

All I cn suggest is a better quality LED.

In the case of my grab handle.. I tripled the value of the current limiting resistor (Thus reducing the current by 2/3) and the Replacement led has lasted several years longer than the OEM.

But then on that light you can easily do that.

austx · 06-02-2015, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arneinfloria

Yes they are LEDs. I have searched the web but have not found any source for replacements. An e-mail to Winnebago has not yet been answered.

I find it better to call as they get inundated with emails.

arneinfloria · 06-02-2015, 04:46 PM

Thank you for the suggestion. The part number is 69240NS-21-3K and the manufacturer's website is Welcome - ITC-USA

I just ordered a replacement from Amazon for $20. Less than half of what Winnebago wants. Hopefully WGO will replace the rest of them when I get there in August.

bobmac · 06-02-2015, 07:24 PM

Arneinfloria
Those are the same fixtures that I put in my Journey and that Winnebago has used for at least 3 years when the introduced them in their high line coaches and are now widely used in most of their coaches.
You might have a bad batch but you might also want to check the voltage they are getting from your power sources - your inverter/charger or whatever you have. If the voltage is excessively high, premature failure would be a likely outcome. They are nominally rated for 12v by ITC and I wouldn't think you would have issues up to 14.5 volts or so. I'm sure you will find a lot of familiar looking fixtures in the ITC catalog. You should also consider attending the GNR from Jul 21-25th as ITC will be there selling some of their Winn items at outstanding prices. I paid about 1/3 of the Winn replacement part price at the GNR. Good luck,

grtharris · 06-02-2015, 09:58 PM

arneinfloria, Need to check the DC voltage level also check for the amount of AC on the DC line. Are you by chance connected to shore power with the coach batteries disconnected?

The Clock Meister · 06-02-2015, 11:07 PM

Have had the same problem with our new 2015 Cambria, after about three weeks of usage 3 of the 18 LED lights have failed.

Have checked voltage, has been 13.6 each time I checked it. Possible that it surges some when connecting, but don't think it would exceed 14.5

WI will replace under warranty, but getting into a dealer for just this issue seems senseless as it is a 300 mile round trip. Will get done in the fall when go in for a small punch list we are building up.

Thought about just getting some replacements myself until I found out the entire fixture has to be replaced to the tune of $45 each!

Chris McVetty
Murfreesboro TN
2015 Cambria 30J
2014 CRV

SuperGewl · 06-03-2015, 02:14 AM

Take it back to dealer and have them replace them under warranty.

BeachDude · 06-03-2015, 02:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arneinfloria

..... it is hard to believe that 9 failures in two months is due to chance.

Did Winnebago buy a bad batch of lights?...

LEDs are being widely marketed as the next best thing. The LEDs themselves have a typical reliability of about 20,000 hours.

However, the "weakest link in the chain" for all LED assemblies is the remaining circuit and components used to make the thing work. Those other components will invariably fail far sooner than the LEDs themselves.

Good LED assemblies are 100% bench tested for up to 24 hours before they are sold. They have a very high infant mortality rate, so if they are going to fail, they normally fail during the bench test.

New vendors of LED products cut corners wherever possible in many cases, sometimes completely eliminating a bench test burn-in period. That is what normally explains an entire batch burning out all together, assuming there was no issue with the installation.

The previous post was very correct about LED assemblies being driven beyond their intended design specifications in order to make them brighter. That is another common failure mode.

Just Sayin',........(designed aerospace lighting and avionics LED components for a few years).

Bacoats · 06-07-2015, 08:00 PM

We have had our new itasca for two months. Within two weeks we lost 9 led lights and had to purchase lamps till we got to the dealer. The dealer wanted to charge us but we called WIT and learned these lights should last 10 years and that each unit must be replaced. This is fully covered under the warranty. However, within 100 miles of leaving camping world we lost another light. Now we have 5 more lights out and some of these are the ones they just replaced. Will be checking g in tomorrow to have them replaced. Something is wrong with the system.

bobmac · 06-08-2015, 09:23 AM

Sounds like there is a real quality issue with a batch or so of the fixtures. You should get Winn to replace all of the same fixtures in your coach or you will be changing them one by one until they have all failed. Good luck,

arneinfloria · 06-08-2015, 10:28 AM

Winnebago charges $45 for each fixture if they are not replaced under warranty. Amazon charges $20. We will be in Forest City in August where they will replace our 9 failed fixtures. In the meantime I am ordering a few from Amazon so that we can see until then.

One reason for these failures could be excessively high voltage. I do not think that this is the case with us as we have surge/voltage protector on our landline.

John Hilley · 06-08-2015, 11:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arneinfloria

Winnebago charges $45 for each fixture if they are not replaced under warranty. Amazon charges $20. We will be in Forest City in August where they will replace our 9 failed fixtures. In the meantime I am ordering a few from Amazon so that we can see until then.

One reason for these failures could be excessively high voltage. I do not think that this is the case with us as we have surge/voltage protector on our landline.

It could be high voltage, but it wouldn't be on the 120 VAC side. The LED fixtures run on 12 VDC. It could be the converter or it could be the alternator when driving.