LEDs may be diodes, but they are not designed to work with reverse polarity. It can cause metal migration, etc in the LED and lead to failure.
Any decent bulb replacement LEDs will have at the very least a diode or bridge inside them… some really crappy ones do not. Nice regulated G4 halogen replacements for cheap
I suspected that, the real reason I added the bridge. When I got the LED bulbs for the first set in the OP from FastTech, some bulbs shipped as DC only, others were AC/DC. Those had the bridge.
June 11, 2017
Here it is now over 4 and 1/2 years later. Up until now everything has worked perfectly.
This week I noticed one of my lampposts and the associated landscape lights had stopped working. When I put these up, I mounted a waterproof box to protect the timer I had used to power the lights on and off.
I drilled holes in the bottom of the box to pass the wires in and out for the timer. Surely no water could get in there!
I was right, water didn’t get in, but ants did :person_facepalming:
So I cleaned everything up and replaced the timer.
And this time I calked the holes.
Just goes to show how difficult it can be to anticipate everything and create something that is “bug free”
YIKES! :confounded:
THX 4 that update!
(I suddenly now need to go rush out to check on few getups in the yard which I left not super air tight & enclosed. I hope it isn’t too bad… :person_facepalming: )
At my parents house we had a well and ants got into it the contact plate that goes down when it gets turned on. Had just so many smashed ants piled up until it couldn’t make contact anymore. I’ve seen them destroy a lot of other things as well. Its almost like they are drawn to electricity at times and I wouldn’t be surprised if they are.