1 LED bulb burnt out.. I think.

So I have the 48 Rapid LED DIY kit. I finally mounted it up into my canopy and and ran all of my chords through the canopy.. turned the led's on and....

The whites on one heatsink are noticably dimmer than the other heatsink. I noticed one of the white bulbs is not lit up.. I took some wire and connected the soder on either side of the burned out bulb and all of the whites got brighter (matched the intensity of the other heatsink).. The bulb that was out did not light up. So.. I narrowed the problem down to a burned out white led bulb.

What is the easiest way to fix this problem... hopefully without taking my whole canopy off again. Is it okay if I just say.. f-it and connect a wire from either side of that led bulb, so the others are bright like the other side.. or is there an easy way to replace that bulb or mount another led bulb on the heatsink and use wires to connect the new one or something?

I do not have the click on bulbs.. this is one of rapid led's first kits where you soder the wires together and glue the optics on yourself.

 

The LED not lit is backwards, happened to me on my first time, lol

 

But if I bypass the LED with wire (soder to soder) on either side of the led.. they light up like they should.. If it was backwards .. wouldnt the rest of the bulbs connected to that line not light up?

 

No, actually, they will just be very dim. Trust me, been there, done that Re check where you soldered on the star, and maybe the LED was put on backwards, I have seen that too. Sometimes the actual diode is just messed up, but some current still makes its way through.

 

I really know nothing about electronics but they were built by someone else. When I received them all of the bulbs worked 100%. So I am not sure if its wired backwards or not. Is there a way to tell by looking at the led?

 

If it worked before, then it is a bad LED. You can get a new one for about $5, removing them is very easy, I use a chisel (if they are glued) and wedge it under the star. they pry up pretty easy.

 

hmm. sounds like ill need to take the canopy off again.

I wonder if I can replace it with one of those new soderless led's with the click on optics.. then maybe I wouldnt have to take the canopy off??

I hope a few other people chime in here.

 

You can replace the LED with any other LED that has the same wattage and amperage range. I would recomend sticking to soldering, unless, you have difficulty with that.