Are LED light bulbs supposed to get hot?

[Spork Schivago]

Hello,

Are LED light bulbs that go in one of those mini light sockets supposed to get hot? We have the baby's bedroom with a ceiling fan and three light sockets and we replaced the failed bulb and the working bulb with three LED bulbs. One bulb was completely missing from the socket. The socket is bad. It's falling apart.

I gotta figure out how to replace that socket. But I'm wondering if there's some sort of short somewheres. Before I put the LED lights in, the other night, I went in and the two working lights flashed a couple times. Today, I go in, turn on the light and one of the two workings bulbs is dead. I didn't think LEDs were supposed to get very hot.

The metal part that gets screwed into the socket is very hot as well. So hot, you can't touch it for very long.

Thanks.

[diif]

Re: Are LED light bulbs supposed to get hot?

Sounds more like arcing or corrosion causing heat buildup and failure.
My 240v LED spots get mildly warm. My 12v LED desk light gets a bit warmer bit not hot to touch.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Are LED light bulbs supposed to get hot?

Before today, there weren't any LEDs in any socket. I just replaced the old school with the LED ones. Perhaps the old ones warmed up the base and the heat transferred into the LED ones? I'll keep an eye on it. I do worry about the wiring sometimes. They said updated wiring, so you know what that probably means. I know the updated gas lines were very, very wrong.

[diif]

Re: Are LED light bulbs supposed to get hot?

Possibly. Remove the non LED bulbs amd you'll find out.
Depending on the fitting and the way they are wired its not advisable to mix types of bulbs.

[stj]

Re: Are LED light bulbs supposed to get hot?

are you using a dimmer?

[keeney123]

Re: Are LED light bulbs supposed to get hot?

Before today, there weren't any LEDs in any socket. I just replaced the old school with the LED ones. Perhaps the old ones warmed up the base and the heat transferred into the LED ones? I'll keep an eye on it. I do worry about the wiring sometimes. They said updated wiring, so you know what that probably means. I know the updated gas lines were very, very wrong.

I guess I would open up those sockets and look at them and measure the resistance.

[rhomanski]

Re: Are LED light bulbs supposed to get hot?

All the led's I have, have a metal base as a heat sink. Some even have flutes in the metal. It's not for the led but for the electronics in the base.

[stj]

Re: Are LED light bulbs supposed to get hot?

no, it is for the led's

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Are LED light bulbs supposed to get hot?

For LED bulbs that get hot at the base, I would make slits or at least have a tiny fan! Just like a monitor!

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Are LED light bulbs supposed to get hot?

Possibly. Remove the non LED bulbs amd you'll find out.
Depending on the fitting and the way they are wired its not advisable to mix types of bulbs.

I wasn't mixing the bulb types. Sorry if I was unclear.

There were two non-LED type bulbs but three sockets. One socket was empty (because it was broke, but we didn't know that at the time). Today, one of the two bulbs blew, so I removed all the bulbs and installed three LED type bulbs.

After a while, we went in there and checked the bulbs, they were nice and cool. I mean, there was a little warmth but not like before, so I'm pretty sure it was the heat from the old bulbs that warmed up the socket and the sockets heated the new LED type bulbs.

Tomorrow, I'll keep an eye on it. If it gets hot again, we'll know there's a problem somewheres.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Are LED light bulbs supposed to get hot?

are you using a dimmer?

Nope. No dimmer.

I want to pull the switch and see if they installed the wires around the screw or if they put them in the back. Do you know what I mean?

We have a switch in the bathroom. I haven't checked to see if it's live or not yet. But wires are hooked up to it. What does it control? From what we can tell, absolutely nothing. Nothing in the attic, no lights in the bathroom, no outlets in the bathroom, not the fan in the bathroom. The faceplate is attached to the switch but the switch isn't connected to the box, so we can see the wires.

[stj]

Re: Are LED light bulbs supposed to get hot?

underfloor heater?

maybe wires under the tub for a never-fitted air-pump?

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Are LED light bulbs supposed to get hot?

underfloor heater?

maybe wires under the tub for a never-fitted air-pump?

Upstairs, it's just a shower, the tub / shower is downstairs. But I never thought of that, heated floors. That'd be really cool. I would have thought that'd be a big selling point though and the owners would have mentioned that. We'll test it out though. First thing I'll do is see if the wires are live.

This switch, it's right next to the toilet. I went in the attic and looked for a wire coming up and didn't see any in that area. I thought maybe it ran up there. There's a balcony that we have that you get to through the upstairs bathroom. I thought maybe they were going to add a light out there, but why put the switch next to the toilet and not next to the balcony door?

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Are LED light bulbs supposed to get hot?

The wires are hot. The wire that the switch turns on and off, that runs up through the work box or whatever you call it (the blue box that the switch screws into). It doesn't run down, it runs up. Maybe it's going into the ceiling or one reason or another. Or maybe they just punched the top part of the box out and ran it down to the floor, instead of just punching out the bottom part of the box. I doubt that though.

There's insulation in the attic. Maybe I should go back up and take a closer look. Maybe the wire runs to some outlet up there or something that I didn't see.

[stj]

Re: Are LED light bulbs supposed to get hot?

conect a lamp across the switch to see if there is a load.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Are LED light bulbs supposed to get hot?

conect a lamp across the switch to see if there is a load.

I'm not following this logic Stj. Turn on the switch and just connect a lamp between the two hot wires will somehow tell me if there's a load? Can't I use the multimeter for this?

[rhomanski]

Re: Are LED light bulbs supposed to get hot?

no, it is for the led's

Okay, I thought it was the electronics. None of my led's get hot that I can get to. Only those are glued together with a cover on them.

[stj]

Re: Are LED light bulbs supposed to get hot?

I'm not following this logic Stj. Turn on the switch and just connect a lamp between the two hot wires will somehow tell me if there's a load? Can't I use the multimeter for this?

with the switch OFF, put a lamp (40-60w) between it's input and output terminals.
if it lights then something is drawing current through it.

something else it could be, a heated towel rail.
i had forgotten about those stupid things.

[diif]

Re: Are LED light bulbs supposed to get hot?

We have a switch in the bathroom. I haven't checked to see if it's live or not yet. But wires are hooked up to it. What does it control?

A secret door to a batcave ? or a towel rail as stj suggests.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Are LED light bulbs supposed to get hot?

with the switch OFF, put a lamp (40-60w) between it's input and output terminals.
if it lights then something is drawing current through it.

something else it could be, a heated towel rail.
i had forgotten about those stupid things.

I think I understand. The lightbulb will act as the switch, right? If there's no load on the other end, nothing will light...makes sense. Thanks!