Anyone know if it’s possible to fix this LED screw-in "bulb"? It’s a Philips hue BR30 and it fell from the ceiling. The base fell off, and I am not sure exactly where the black and white wires were beforehand.
Asked
Active
Viewed 2,483 times
3 Answers
7
I generally agree with RMDman's answer, replace the bulb. And if this were an ordinary bulb, where replacement would typically be $1 - $10, that would 100% be my advice. But these bulbs are apparently quite pricy, depending on features, so I see the rationale for trying to fix it.
Black = hot = center, white = neutral = side.
That is universal going back to incandescent days. It means that if you don't turn off the physical switch when changing a light bulb, and accidentally touch the metal side, you won't get zapped. That actually goes double for a bulb of this type because they could be used somewhere that doesn't have a readily accessible true on/off switch, as the bulbs need to be powered all the time to receive commands such as "turn on".
Doing this safely is a big problem
Safely here includes two parts:
- Solder or otherwise secure the wires to the appropriate locations, in a way that provides a good low-resistance connection.
Traditionally that would mean soldering. But if the original connections were soldered, they were done by machine, which can produce a consistent connection in tight spaces. Getting that middle hot connection done will likely not be easy. And problems are big problems because this is 120V AC, not 5V DC. The original connections might not have been soldered at all but may have been crimped or secured in some way with a very high pressure machine.
Because of the low power usage of an LED bulb, a high-resistance connection will work but will eventually fail, possibly damaging far more than the bulb when it goes.
- Securing the "cap" to the rest of the bulb.
It looks like it was originally crimped in place, secure enough for everything but a fall from the ceiling. Making it that secure again may not be easy.
I'd actually consider this much better as a bench project/experiment:
- Build an enclosure with an opening for the bulb.
- Run a plug/cord (from an old lamp or chop up an extension cord) into the enclosure.
- Connect the black and white wires with wire nuts (or WAGO or other proper connectors) to the cord.
Secure connections, no risk of the bulb falling on your head.
manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact
- 139,495
- 14
- 149
- 386
0
Swap the hot wire for a longer one, drill a hole in the end of the base and run the wire though, solder it as flat as you can, solder the neutral to the inside of the base, refit and glue the base..
