Recalled LED bulbs under Sylvania, Definity, EcoSmart, and Westinghouse brands

Other Types of Lights LED Light Bulbs
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Lighting Science Group, the Florida-based makers of Home Depot’s EcoSmart LED bulbs as well as branded products for other companies, has issued a recall for a reported 554,000 of its LED bulbs. The bulbs are being called back due to their being a possible fire hazard after internal components overheat. This is a voluntary recall that affects bulbs sold under the Sylvania, Definity, EcoSmart, and Westinghouse brand names.

The recall, which is being organized under the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), was posted yesterday, March 19th, takes place after 68 reported product failures. Eight of those failures led to “visible smoke or fire conditions” and while others caused damage to a socket, fixture, or surrounding object. To date no people have been harmed by the faulty lamps.

The affected products include not just LSG’s own products, but ones that the company has made for other brands. These are 120V household bulbs operating at 6W, 8W and 9W within A19, G25, and PAR20 (R20) bulb types. Using the CPSC’s site and the label on an individual lamp it can be determined which products are affected and which are not.

One lamp that seems to be included in the mix is Home Depot’s popular EcoSmart A19. The bulb was one of the first to be available under the $10 mark, and was viewed as both a big win for Home Depot as well as for Lighting Science (though it’s questionable how much money Lighting Science made on the deal). This was never deemed as a particularly high quality bulb, but those judgements were restricted to the quality of its light and its build, never to its safety. EcoSmart bulbs are still available at Home Depot and Lighting Science’s Definity A19 Omni V2 is still available at Amazon so it seems that newer offerings are not affected.

Any product recall is bad news (especially one that causes fires), but this comes at a particularly bad time for Lighting Science. The company has a new CEO, Jeremy Cage, as of January 2013 and I’ve been told it has lost some talent over the past year. Also, the recall comes just days after Cree’s release of its A19 LED bulbs, products that can match Lighting Science’s low prices but — from what I’ve seen — are higher quality lights. Cree’s products are very competitive and will require a reaction from companies like Lighting Science.

http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets/lighting-science-issues-recall-of-554000-led-bulbs-because-of-fire-hazard-20130320/
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We’re looking forward to your products Lighting Science Group.

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Checking through my spare bulb stash, I have around 50 of the affected bulbs. I now need to check all the ones that are installed…

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Replace them all with the new Cree bulb :wink:

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Cree doesn’t have a PAR20 bulb…

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Just got through pulling all my downstairs PAR20’s… I had 24 Flaming Bulbs of Horrible Smoking Sizzling Death installed. Now to check the 23 PAR20 bulbs in the upstairs bathrooms…

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I went through all my bulbs and found two Sylvania GU25 matching the date codes given. Filled up the online form and now waiting for a reply from LSG.

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Latest Death Bulb count: 84 PAR20’s and 6 GU25’s. I still have to check the ones in the showers, basement, and attics.

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texaspyro, that is a lot of potentially dodged bullets there. :open_mouth:

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Texas, I think you need to scavenge them for LEDs. ;)

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Any idea of just how long it takes to pull over 100 bulbs from recessed PAR20 ceiling fixtures? It a royal pain in the ass even with my specially modified bulb pole… there is almost no clearance between the edge of the bulb and the baffle in the fixture. I’m going to hit them up for my time (or paying somebody to replace the bulbs).

Luxily the 50+ PAR20’s under the eves of my two story house are a different type of bulb (but still Sylvania’s). No freakin’ way I’m going up a 20+ foot ladder. Two rungs up is about my limit.

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I suspect that they will want them back. BTW, the LEDs in them are made by Citizen (named on the CSPC web site). I had one that the lens popped off of and they are an LED array chip.

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Have you made any additional progress in the recall process?

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I have several LED bulbs made by them, but luckily none are stamped with the recalled codes.

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After wasting over a month with the first person at LSG that I talked to, I re-submitted the info to them via their web page (had to it 6 times, once for each type of bulb) I heard back from them within a couple of days. Looks like they send you new bulbs and a UPS return sticker to send the old bulbs back (CPSC requires that the old bulbs don’t wind up being re-sold).

LSG only does the Definity and Ecosmart branded bulbs. Sylvania is handling their bulbs separately… haven’t heard back from them yet.

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I received my replacement bulbs two weeks ago and returned the defective bulbs last week. A UPS return label (PDF) was attached with an e-mail from LSG so I just dropped the package off at the nearest UPS Store after I was done. Although my bulbs were the Sylvania brand, the return addresses indicated LSG at Melbourne, FL.

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I heard back from Sylvania. Pretty much the same deal as LSG, but you have to pay for the return shipping…. these bulbs are heavy and I have 56 of them to return… GRRRRRR!

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Do they have to be in good condition? I'd be tempted to crush them to get more into the box. Hell, they're being recalled anyway, and I don't see where they have room to complain if they're not paying for the method and manner of shipping.

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You’re probably not going to be able to crush them… they are made with VERY heavy cast heat sinks.

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I now have all my replacement LSG/Ecosmart/Definity bulbs in from Lighting Science Group. Sylvania sent me an email today saying that they were shipping my replacement bulbs tomorrow or Monday.