4' LED Bulb Takes a Lickin' and Keeps on Tickin'!

[mccutter]

4' LED Bulb Takes a Lickin' and Keeps on Tickin'! I thought you'all would get a kick out of this...

A few months ago I'm working on my son's GF's car as a "Christmas" present. Needed valve cover gaskets. It is a 1999 V6 Toyota Solara and to put the rear gasket on, the intake had to come off. Real miserable job--no good deed goes unpunished.

As I'm prying a bracket back into place, the prybar slips and smashes my rigged up 4' LED underhood light. For some reason I was thinking the tube was made of hard plastic but no, it was glass. A sharp piece actually flew into my hand and drew a tiny drop of blood that healed almost immediately. I'm lucky I didn't get any in my eyes. Picked the broken glass off the top of the engine and finished what I was doing since the bulb was still working fine.

When done working for the night, I put the bulb on the bench and removed as much of the broken glass as I could. Found an old thin plastic "bulb protector" and cut a couple feet out of it. Slit it lengthwise, rolled it tight around the bulb and firmly taped it over the intact ends with 3M Heavy-Duty shipping tape (the only stuff I use). Went right back into service... Note the bungie on the end--that is how it attaches under the hood and it is plugged into straight 120v.

[gimpyrobb]

Looms like a win to me!

I'd have wrapped the whole thing in plastic if you had enough material.

[Lew Hartswick]

Wonder why they are using glass. Maybe the chain of supply is so firmly in place it's not "economical" to change it. :-) Or possibly the glass is more ridged.
...lew...

[dubby]

I'll be darned. You've inspired me!

I re-lit the shop with a mix of the 8' and 4' LED units like that a couple years ago and they've done really well. To get the right mix, I ended up with 3 spare 4' ones. I installed one in my closet project and have 2 others just laying against the wall.

I think I'm gonna find some magnets for the under-hood light! Woo!


I did have one of mine wiggle loose from it's ceiling bracket early on. It took a helluva smack on the way down but didn't break. I wonder if they're glass as well? I can see the benefit of using glass rather than plastic just so it holds up better over time and doesn't 'yellow' out.

[mccutter]

Originally Posted by dubby

I can see the benefit of using glass rather than plastic just so it holds up better over time and doesn't 'yellow' out.

I bought these out from Lowe's probably 5yrs ago? Close-out at $4/ea or something like that. I bought 1-1/2 cases/24--down to 2-3 now. They are the kind that require the ballast be bypassed so they will only run on 120v for the rest of their lives. This is the first one I've broken and I've been treating them like they WERE made of plastic. I'll have to go a little easier on them. I use slightly modified butt splices (blue) slid over the posts on the end. Only one end of the bulb has "LINE/Neutral", the other is non-conductive.