Local factory possibly causing premature failure of LED lights in nearby house ?

As the subject says. Is it possible that spikes of some sort from a local factory can cause premature failure of sensitive equipment.  

Over the last few years i have regularly fitted a certain circular LED mains under cabinet light . Out of probably fitting well over a hundred, i know not a massive amount, i have never had a call back to replace any.  I fitted 6 in a property local to me last year and have so far replaced 2 and just had a call back as another has failed.  So dodgy batch possibly or is it possible that a local factory could be spiking the mains somehow ( literally next door but one to the house) ? I have replaced a couple of external LED lights at the same house.  The factory is a wool mill or something similar making tennis balls and snooker table clothes amongst other things and runs all day and all night.

Any thoughts please, is that feasible ? I don't currently know if the latest failure is an original or a replacement .

Gary

Parents
  • Quite a few things to consider on this one.

    Are LED lights the same quality all the time.  I would say not and a faulty batch is more possible now than lets say 10 years ago.  Eg Osram/Sylvania are now Chinees brands and not made to the same high quality as before.  However most people remember them as very good brands and continue to purchase them.  The internet is full annedotal evidence of LEDs in homes and outside homes failling.  Some fail in strange ways like a PIR flood light that stays on or even start to flash.

    Might be worth getting the customer to speak to the local neigbours to see if they are experiencing some thing similar?

    Is there SPD type 2 and 3 at the property?  Could it be fitted?

    Hire or purchase a PEL (power energy logger) from Chanvin Arnoux and leave a the property for a week or 2.  CEF and others hire them out quite cheep.

    Has an EICR been done at the property recently?

    How old is the current install of electrics at the house?

Reply
  • Quite a few things to consider on this one.

    Are LED lights the same quality all the time.  I would say not and a faulty batch is more possible now than lets say 10 years ago.  Eg Osram/Sylvania are now Chinees brands and not made to the same high quality as before.  However most people remember them as very good brands and continue to purchase them.  The internet is full annedotal evidence of LEDs in homes and outside homes failling.  Some fail in strange ways like a PIR flood light that stays on or even start to flash.

    Might be worth getting the customer to speak to the local neigbours to see if they are experiencing some thing similar?

    Is there SPD type 2 and 3 at the property?  Could it be fitted?

    Hire or purchase a PEL (power energy logger) from Chanvin Arnoux and leave a the property for a week or 2.  CEF and others hire them out quite cheep.

    Has an EICR been done at the property recently?

    How old is the current install of electrics at the house?

Children
  • Be aware that some makers (Fluke for example)  make a distinction between energy monitors and power quality monitors - the latter record more events, like fast spikes, while the energy monitor is more concerned with energy use, power factor, harmonics  and brownouts. worth seeing what is and is not logged by any particualr model.
    For spikes and RFI, you need an instrument with a high sampling banwidth, ideally ten MHz or more (the first hundred harmonics of 50Hz only get you to 5kHz - a sharp spike can easily be 1000 times faster. )
    The good ones save it all to a memory card so you can look at the waveform, or at least inspect the statistical data created from it later.
    Mike.