fridge LED burned out

I have a piece of crap GE fridge and one of the LEDs on the board blew out I can see a black spot on it. I refuse to pay $55-103 before shipping. Is there any way to identify what emitter I would need to replace it with? This is the entire piece:

I just want to replace the burned out emitter not the whole unit.

This is worse than companies charging $300 for a cooker mainboard.

It must be one of the two world standards, either 2835-size or 5730-size. All over aliexpress or ebay.

Replaced ugly >7000K LED with 4500 Nichia 219

You could probably buy 30’ worth of striplight for 10-15bux and snip one section, and bam, there’s your 100buk replacement light (just swap the connector).

See a typical one:

where you can snip at every group-of-3, so whatever’ll fit, whether 3 or 6, would be pretty easy to do.

If you can get in there and measure the voltage, you are 99% there.
I’m sure it must be a standard DC voltage. I’m betting on 12v or 24v.
This will also tell you if the problem is the LED or the power source for the LED.

Pick something that matches the voltage.
Then use the original to get the proper connector to hook into the OEM setup.

You could also cobble something together using a micro switch to sense the door position and just hook the LEDs of your choice into the circuit and use an external power supply.
A LED strip like Lightbringer mentions could be stuck anywhere inside the fridge.

Let us know how you make out.
All the Best,
Jeff

Like djozz said, these low-power SMD LEDs come in common sizes, named based on their dimensions. A 2835 LED is 2.8 x 3.5 mm for example.

You can easily reflow a new one onto the board, I have done it many many times.

Here is a pic of me doing similar to a cheap lantern to swap cool white LEDs for warm white (see the outer ring of LEDs that I’ve started on).

To Mr. Joe, you need to be careful to make sure that it is only led that blow and not other problem.

if there is other problem in the fridge like driver problem, replacing led will not solve problem and it will happen again. Just need to make sure, because it is usually unlikely for led to fail for no reason when running at low power like inside fridge.

i agree that the other electronics may have made the led blow

wle

Ah quite the improvement. I would spec. 2700K-3000K for late night snacks. I would further spec. the lights to be 90 CRI minimum with a minimum R9 of 80, which looks like you may have did with the 219B. This would be an instance in which a high R9 is critical for things like seeing if meat or food is spoiled. I’m a little surprised manufacturers opted for such lousy chips.

Alright, so I FINALLY got the strip light from Aliexpress. I fit the connector on the strip, get everything ready. I checked the voltage at the connector and it’s putting out 31V. I ordered a 12v strip. UHG. 31V seems a bit high to me? Should I be looking for a 24v strip? Wouldn’t that still be too high? I’m frustrated lol.

Edit: So the whole reason I did this is because one of the LED’s had a visible burn mark. I assumed there was a short. These idiots went through all this trouble to put gaskets around everything and then just put a simple plastic reflector attached to the body of the fixture. The kind you push to one side with a flat head and pull out. Moisture could go right through. There was a lot of condensation inside of the fixture, as well.

edit 2: Now that I look at it, it looks like at least two out of the three LED’s have black spots

edit 3: photos:


Edit 4: Is it stupid to assume that I could cut the strips into sections and connect them in Series?

31v is odd. Though sometimes a power supply makes more than expected and uses a load to pull it down.
31v still seems high.
All the Best,
Jeff

If you do it right, yes you can wire individual sections of those strip-lights in series. The - of one goes to the + of another. I’ve done that for quick diagnostic on a 24VDC output. Not sure how you’d get 31V tolerant though, unless you also replaced the resistors.

I wonder if that voltage is intentional. Wondering if this could be why they burned out. I don’t think it worked for more than 2-3 months tops.

As sidehack said, chop out 3 small 12v sections and put them in series.
See how bright they are.
Too dim? Try it with 2 sections and see if they burn out.
You could always get a small buck converter and drop the voltage down to 12v.
All the Best,
Jeff

Before we intentionally burn out anything… howbow this?

Figure out how much current for each clump of LEDs. Then the equivalent resistance at 12V (eg, if 100mA, then 12V/100mA = 120Ω).

Voltmeter and various resistances from 500Ω on down to 120Ω or so, see what’s the applied voltage across the resistors.

If voltage drops a lot with lower resistances, then it’s a “soft” voltage source, and you can be okay. It would “self-regulate” to the load.

If it doesn’t drop much, eg, a “regulated” 31V, then it’s a “hard” voltage source, and you’d be in trouble hooking a 12V LED section to it.

A lot of appliances go cheap on voltage sources, like always-charging dustbusters and the like, that only use a small series capacitor(!) from the rectified AC mains to trickle-charge a Pb-acid battery. So it wouldn’t be unusual for a fridge to throw crap voltage at a few LEDs to light them for the short times the fridge is open. If it saves 3½¢, they’ll do it.

What happen If I connect 24V strip direct to12V, 10 Ampere power supply?
Leds will be very dim.but work without damage?

Might be too dim, if you already have the power supply, give it a go.
Or try something like this using the power inside your fridge.
Amazon adjustable led stepdown
All the Best,
Jeff

Yes ,my 12V supply is stabilized and wanted put 24V warm strip 90 CRI 10W/meter on my bedroom.
That’s why thought direct connect,I like if is very dimm. avoiding fry Leds
The potentiometer you posted works like a boost driver and will increase also voltage?
Cheers

Oops, missed the part about this being for the bedroom.
The dingus i linked to is a dimmer. It drops the boltage only.
Here is a boost converter that takes care of step up.
Drok boost converter
4 amps max.
There are others with a higher current rating.
I’ve had good with the drok brand.
All the Best,
Jeff