Amaran 198 led

James Manford · September 19th, 2013, 11:02 AM

Gutted ... Only been 3 months since i've had this 198 LED Video light and I now have 3 dead LEDS!

Is there anyway of replacing 3 LEDS doing a DIY job ? It cost me £70 to buy as a brand new unit, I don't have any warranty / guarantee as it's from China. I'm not willing to spend stupid amounts on postage sending it abroad for repair after chasing up the company I bought it from (a chinese ebay seller).

Alastair Traill · September 23rd, 2013, 02:10 AM

Hi James,

If you are handy with a soldering iron it is not difficult to replace an LED – note that they have a polarity and have to be inserted the correct way. There should be a flat surface near one of the electrodes so you have to fit the replacement the same way as the original. More of a problem is matching the LED to the original.

My first step would be to contact the supplier. I complained to a Chinese e-Bay supplier about a Chinese item that only partly worked and I was sent another at no charge and they did not want the original back thereby saving postage.

LEDs are not like incandescent lamps and require a means of limiting the supplied current e.g. with a resistor. I bought a cheap LED light that I plug into a USB port on my computer keypad. Its 3 LEDs blew one after the other over a period of a few weeks. Its design was such there was only one resistor in series with the 3 LEDs that were set up in parallel. When one LED failed there was more current available for the other 2. This proved too much for one of the 2 remaining so it blew leaving even more current for the last LED which did not last long. The solution was to buy 3 more LEDs and provide a resistor for each LED.

September 19th, 2013, 11:02 AM	#1
James Manford Trustee Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: London, UK Posts: 1,393	Amaran 198 led - dead leds! Gutted ... Only been 3 months since i've had this 198 LED Video light and I now have 3 dead LEDS! Is there anyway of replacing 3 LEDS doing a DIY job ? It cost me £70 to buy as a brand new unit, I don't have any warranty / guarantee as it's from China. I'm not willing to spend stupid amounts on postage sending it abroad for repair after chasing up the company I bought it from (a chinese ebay seller).

September 23rd, 2013, 02:10 AM	#2
Alastair Traill Major Player Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Melbourne Australia Posts: 626	Re: Amaran 198 led - dead leds! Hi James, If you are handy with a soldering iron it is not difficult to replace an LED – note that they have a polarity and have to be inserted the correct way. There should be a flat surface near one of the electrodes so you have to fit the replacement the same way as the original. More of a problem is matching the LED to the original. My first step would be to contact the supplier. I complained to a Chinese e-Bay supplier about a Chinese item that only partly worked and I was sent another at no charge and they did not want the original back thereby saving postage. LEDs are not like incandescent lamps and require a means of limiting the supplied current e.g. with a resistor. I bought a cheap LED light that I plug into a USB port on my computer keypad. Its 3 LEDs blew one after the other over a period of a few weeks. Its design was such there was only one resistor in series with the 3 LEDs that were set up in parallel. When one LED failed there was more current available for the other 2. This proved too much for one of the 2 remaining so it blew leaving even more current for the last LED which did not last long. The solution was to buy 3 more LEDs and provide a resistor for each LED.