Interesting failure of Philips street light module
Added 2021-05-19 22:03:53 +0000 UTCThe failure mode of this is very interesting.
Nice to know that these expensive lights are repairable, but most will end up in landfill.
Most street lighting companies will just replace the entire head.
Comments
If anything, put up a new head, then reman the old head on the ground.
Shira Wolven
2021-05-24 05:24:57 +0000 UTCMmmm, yes you're right - at the end of the day we are dealing with a poorly designed/made product when we shouldn't have to. Maybe that's why they're discontinued.
Ymir the Frost Giant
2021-05-22 19:20:30 +0000 UTCMaybe they factored the failure rate into the costings knowing that a certain percentage would go belly up. My point was more that Philips don't take responsibility for clearing it away and either repairing or replacing it. In the bin is not a good solution for any of us in the long run. I absolutely hate waste.
Rupert Kent
2021-05-22 16:50:51 +0000 UTCWarranty arrangements should be discussed ahead of any wholesale transaction. You buy enough, there are always some returns. So who carries that cost? When the margins are small, it matters.
Mike Page
2021-05-22 16:45:42 +0000 UTCIt's not just the man-hour. It's the cherry-picker-hour. I hate throwing things out but I'd hate myself more for buying rubbish in the first place.
Mike Page
2021-05-22 16:36:45 +0000 UTCSometimes a warranty doesn't help - the amount of time dealing with vendors to get something switched out - its sometimes cheaper to just buy a new one and replace the thing. One piece of hardware we had a guaranteed parts availability and many other things - but it was double the cost - there was no expectation that 50% of them were going to fail so who would pay more?
DrSquirrel
2021-05-21 10:57:46 +0000 UTCAs other hand days, such a shame that a big chunk of kit basically gets lobbed in the bin. Being commercial spec and looking at the build, these units can't be cheap to buy. I'm quite surprised it went tits up in warranty. Shame on Philips for not taking it back and offering a like fur like. Good on you Clive for resurrecting it.
Rupert Kent
2021-05-20 11:31:02 +0000 UTCFair enough but there's the other way of looking at it, thinking of Clive's landfill comment: your 10 mins versus 1 hour is 10 mins v. 60 mins of labour cost, against expensive new replacement vs. almost free repair. So it may depend on how much these units cost to the industry.
Ymir the Frost Giant
2021-05-20 10:27:23 +0000 UTCYes just because it's no longer made is no excuse, they should be supplying a compatible replacement. And of course Philips should be taking them back instead of letting them go to landfill.
Simeon
2021-05-20 09:25:14 +0000 UTCWow that is so wasteful. I wish there was a better way to use these so-so panels and make use of them, as you say, in a non-critical application. :(
Michael Thompson
2021-05-20 05:55:07 +0000 UTC10 minutes to replace the head vs an hour or more to take it down, swap the panel, put it back together... nope.
Scott Miller
2021-05-20 05:29:40 +0000 UTCIf a way could be found to remove the panels, and if the right heatsink compound was known, would it be viable for the roadside team to keep good whole panels as replacement units for future failures?
Ymir the Frost Giant
2021-05-20 03:46:39 +0000 UTCIt certainly sets the standard!
Ymir the Frost Giant
2021-05-20 03:32:13 +0000 UTCI didn't part them. I heated the whole assembly. I was wary in case it was a custom thermal pad that might be damaged or a specialist thermal compound.
Big Clive
2021-05-20 01:58:59 +0000 UTCWhen you removed the LED panel to solder the jumper, did you notice if there was a missing area of thermal compound? Perhaps the insulator between the circuit trace and the aluminium backplate was too thin, allowing ovrheating??? Just thinking out loud.
Chuck Kirchner
2021-05-20 00:41:51 +0000 UTCThis video is streets ahead!
Gadgetman
2021-05-19 22:05:21 +0000 UTC
