LED Driver Repair

[Joe Brewster]

My bro asked me to look at a couple of cheap china led lights that died
Found no power coming from the driver

So I opened up the driver
You will need a small screw driver to pry it open

Inside I found that beside the main power wires, the main power resistor got so hot that it melted the solder & was no longer making contact
This is the resistor

You will need a soldering iron , pointy bladed knife, solder & maybe some extra flux
First you will need to scrape the lead on the resistor( because overheating turned it blue & corroded)
apply some flux (if you have it ) if not hopefully the flux in the solder is enough & than some solder

Here is the finished solder job
lights work again, for a few minutes work
This is another reason you should not mount your driver on top of the light

 

[Tokin Roll]

That's the bad thing about buying cheap LED's; that often don't even have name.

 

[bluter]

it's a plastic body driver which means it isn't even internally grounded. that is enough to keep me away.

good fix for a cheap light. i'd be wondering more about why it managed to produce enough heat to create a fail point though. the resistor did it's job, it's designed as the fail point to prevent enough current from flowing through to create an overheat and fire.