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Home Repair Remodeling Lighting

Do I have to change our entire light or bulb only?

4 years ago

last modified: 4 years ago

these lights were put in when we moved in our home 7 years ago. A couple of them pooped out after a few years and the others are still going strong. I’ve never changed a bulb on the ones still working well and when I try to open the unit to replace a bulb it seems impossible (or at least not within its design to do so) When they fail, am I supposed to pull the whole light out and replace it or is there a way to change the bulb? Pics attached. TIA!

Featured Answer

alvan1
Original Author

4 years ago

This is why I love this forum! Such great info! @Olychick I think that is my light-and I had looked at HD and Lowe’s and online and found nothing but I must not have used the correct search terms. Thank you, everyone!

Comments (7)

K R
4 years ago
Are they LED? I got sick of changing light bulbs so I replaced all my light fixtures to be LED fixtures.
alvan1
Original Author
4 years ago
Yes they’re LED and supposed to last a very long time-the others have, just a couple haven’t. There just doesn’t seem to be a clear/simple way to change a bulb. It’s a sealed unit with a way to push in the glass but not get the bulb out. :-/
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Is there a thin silver metal ring around the glass lens? If so, look for a break in it, and use a fingernail or small non-scratchy flat-blade object to pull it inwards and then down, after which the glass lens will fall out allowing access to the bulb. If it's an MR16 bulb, the bulb and reflector will be part of the same unit, so pull on the reflector not the glass bulb.
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DavidR
4 years ago
Unfortunately, there's a good chance that you'll have to change the entire unit.

If you can determine who made it, you might try contacting the manufacturer to ask if it's serviceable and whether replacement parts are available.

They may not be. I've run into cases where parts weren't available because the manufacturer was running low profit margins, and didn't want to spend any money to get UL certification for spare parts.

I've heard of electronics hobbyists repairing their own LED lights in such cases. But this isn't something the average homeowner could do.

I've been hesitant to go all in for dedicated, one-piece LED fixtures for this very reason. It's not so bad if you have only one fixture per room, but what if you have 2 or more? If you want them all to match, and you can't find a match to the failed one, what can you do? You either put up with a mismatch, or buy replacements for ALL of them. What a waste. That isn't a problem if you use good old fashioned incandescent fixtures, and install retrofit LEDs.
w0lley32
4 years ago
If the fixtures are using regular MR-16 or GU-10 bulbs, usually you can pry down on the bezel around the glass.

If the LED's are integrated you might not have a choice, like DavidR stated, but to replace the entire fixtures. I stay away from integrated LED fixtures for that reason myself.
SaltiDawg
4 years ago
I suspect the entire outer ring needs to be carefully pried away from the ceiling board... carefully.

Worst case, pull down one that way damage be damned, and patch and replace. This will allow you to disect that one fixture and determine what needs to be done.

It is very, very unlikely that the fixture was installed with no lamp replacement possible!
Olychick
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
Is it this unit? If you think so, it looks like they are integrated and you can just pop the whole center part and replace it....the reviews have some info about how it works to change, too.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Feit-Electric-6-in-75-Watt-Equivalent-3000K-Warm-White-E26-Recessed-Retrofit-Dimmable-LED-Directional-Spot-Light-Module-LEDR56SCP-930-SP/301437832

installation (to figure out how to remove):

https://images.homedepot-static.com/catalog/pdfImages/8a/8a79adb6-3abd-4654-89f9-a2e7fa845f92.pdf

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