nicebutdim
Registered
Hi all. Some of us have had issues with these lighting sets as they do not like water ingress at all. The legs of the leds rust and the sets soon pack up. I've managed to replace all the leds and waterproof mine so hopefully they shall give a good few years of reliable lighting. Here's how;
I bought a set of leds from ebay from here http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/280643995096?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649 < Link To http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm...ksid=p3984.m1439.l2649 . You will have to ensure that you are replacing all the leds in the WHOLE set, if you don't the resistance will be unequal between the 3 circuits and some lights will light and some will be really dim, if lit at all. Pull the decorative shade from the top of the light. Next locate the flat side of the led in it's holder and using a permanent marker draw a line from the holder onto the socket, directly below the flat. This makes reassembly a whole lot easier,
Now pull the led & holder from the socket, bend the legs straight and remove the led from the holder. The new leds are very similar to the original,
Using a cheap hot glue gun, fill the holder with a little glue and place the new led into the holder, ensuring the flat lines up the the mark mentioned earlier and making sure some of the glue squeezes out around the led, add more glue if required. You will have to be quite quick here or the glue will cool and you'll never get the led to seat flat. Cut the led legs so there is about 5mm protruding from the holder. Now I spread a little graphite grease on the legs and bent them round like the originals were. Around the top ring of the holder I spread some silicon grease, so eventually it looked like this,
Push the led & holder back into the socket firmly, wiping any grease that squeezes out. At the bottom of the tube is a rubber grommet, I pulled this out and filled the bottom of the tube with hot glue, pushing the grommet into that to seal the bottom too. This should have now fully sealed the light against any water getting in. Try not to use silicon sealant, I found it rots solder joints and led legs really quickly. Make sure the led flat and marker line all line up to ensure correct polarity.
The leds I have listed above are warm white, which is totally different from the yellow in there originally, but a little brighter too. You can probably use almost any other type of low voltage 5mm led, but ensure all 30 are the same, or the brightness will be way out of balance.
It is a long tedious job changing them all, but quite easy as long as you're careful. The led legs are quite sharp too, be careful not to stab yourself when bending them.
I changed all of mine and they work fine now. I'm also considering glueing a small square of foil in the top of the shade to act as a reflector. When I eventually get mine in place I shall add a pic here of the finished effect.
If you get a set of these new I suggest you seal the leds & holders like I have described to prevent future problems.
I bought a set of leds from ebay from here http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/280643995096?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649 < Link To http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm...ksid=p3984.m1439.l2649 . You will have to ensure that you are replacing all the leds in the WHOLE set, if you don't the resistance will be unequal between the 3 circuits and some lights will light and some will be really dim, if lit at all. Pull the decorative shade from the top of the light. Next locate the flat side of the led in it's holder and using a permanent marker draw a line from the holder onto the socket, directly below the flat. This makes reassembly a whole lot easier,
Now pull the led & holder from the socket, bend the legs straight and remove the led from the holder. The new leds are very similar to the original,
Using a cheap hot glue gun, fill the holder with a little glue and place the new led into the holder, ensuring the flat lines up the the mark mentioned earlier and making sure some of the glue squeezes out around the led, add more glue if required. You will have to be quite quick here or the glue will cool and you'll never get the led to seat flat. Cut the led legs so there is about 5mm protruding from the holder. Now I spread a little graphite grease on the legs and bent them round like the originals were. Around the top ring of the holder I spread some silicon grease, so eventually it looked like this,
Push the led & holder back into the socket firmly, wiping any grease that squeezes out. At the bottom of the tube is a rubber grommet, I pulled this out and filled the bottom of the tube with hot glue, pushing the grommet into that to seal the bottom too. This should have now fully sealed the light against any water getting in. Try not to use silicon sealant, I found it rots solder joints and led legs really quickly. Make sure the led flat and marker line all line up to ensure correct polarity.
The leds I have listed above are warm white, which is totally different from the yellow in there originally, but a little brighter too. You can probably use almost any other type of low voltage 5mm led, but ensure all 30 are the same, or the brightness will be way out of balance.
It is a long tedious job changing them all, but quite easy as long as you're careful. The led legs are quite sharp too, be careful not to stab yourself when bending them.
I changed all of mine and they work fine now. I'm also considering glueing a small square of foil in the top of the shade to act as a reflector. When I eventually get mine in place I shall add a pic here of the finished effect.
If you get a set of these new I suggest you seal the leds & holders like I have described to prevent future problems.
