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Jul 27, 2023

Have Recessed Lights? Here's How to Avoid LED Bulb Burnouts

Do this with your recessed lights to avoid LED bulb burnouts. Call then can lights, pot lights, recessed lights, or high hats. Whatever you call them, they can eat LED bulbs for lunch if you don't

Do this with your recessed lights to avoid LED bulb burnouts.

Call then can lights, pot lights, recessed lights, or high hats. Whatever you call them, they can eat LED bulbs for lunch if you don't shop carefully. Here's what you need to know.

LED bulbs don't generally burn out; they simply become less efficient over time. The big exception is when the internal circuitry of the bulb fails. And just like with other electronics such as computers, game consoles, and even your smartphone, the enemy of electronics is heat.

Related: Do LED Bulbs Burn Out?

When you put a typical off-the-shelf LED bulb in a table lamp, there is sufficient space around the bulb for the bulb to adequately dissipate heat. But when you put the same bulb up in a recessed ceiling light canister, the heat is trapped in the fixture with the bulb.

It likely won't burn out immediately, but you're certainly not going to get the 50,000 hours promised on the box. So if you put a bunch of LED bulbs in your can lights and then were dismayed to see a few of them burned out a few months later, there's a good chance they were cooked to death.

To avoid wasting money on LED bulbs and ensure you get as much life out of them as you can, there are a few simple things you can do.

First, skip putting "standard" A19 bulbs in can fixtures---especially pricey smart bulbs. Save those bulbs for table lamps and other fixtures with adequate ventilation to allow the heat to dissipate entirely.

Second, if you really want to use a particular LED or even smart bulb line, check for bulbs intended for can light use. Philips, for example, recommends against putting Hue A19 bulbs in can light fixtures and encourages you to use the Hue BR30 bulbs designed for the purpose.

Third, and this is the best solution for most people, use a retrofit kit to retrofit your existing recessed lighting with an LED "puck" instead of a bulb. The pucks are much better at dissipating heat and much longer lasting in the recessed fixture than a traditional bulb ever could be.

You can find them in smart lighting formats, like the Hue White and Color Ambiance retrofit kits, but they are expensive. Depending on the smart lighting system you use, your cost per fixture will be $30-55.

Fortunately, plain old LED retrofits are cheaper. For around $5-6 per fixture, you can pick up popular after-market retrofit bulbs like these ones from Sunco Lighting.

These LED retrofits give you the benefits of LED lighting with a sleek custom-fit look.

They're not smart, but they include selectable lighting so that you can switch between five different white color temperatures ranging from very warm white to pure white.

If you're not sure what color temperature you'd like in your kitchen, rec room, or anywhere else in your home, it's a great way to experiment without wasting money on multiple sets.

When shopping for retrofits for your recessed lighting, there are only a few crucial things to keep in mind. Make sure you get a retrofit kit that matches both the diameter of your existing fixtures---typically 4 or 6 inches---and the bulb connection style. If your recessed lights accept bulbs with an E26 base (the traditional screw-in light bulb base), then you want a kit that includes a power cord tail that ends in an E26 base.

With the right retrofit kit, upgrading your recessed lights is a breeze. You just have to remove the bulb and the baffle (the white or black plastic trim around the opening). Then screw in the E26 connector and clip the new LED assembly (which includes an integrated baffle) into place. And you're done! No tools, wire stripping, or drywall patching are required. And better yet, your new retrofitted fixtures will last much longer than A19 bulbs jammed into the same fixture.

Jason Fitzpatrick is the Editor-in-Chief of How-To Geek. He oversees the day-to-day operations of the site to ensure readers have the most up-to-date information on everything from operating systems to gadgets.Prior to his current role, Jason spent several years as Editor-in-Chief of LifeSavvy, How-To Geek's sister site focused on tips, tricks, and advice on everything from kitchen gadgets to home improvement. Prior to that, he was the Founding Editor of Review Geek. Jason has over a decade of experience in publishing and has penned thousands of articles during his time at LifeSavvy, Review Geek, How-To Geek, and Lifehacker.He's been in love with technology since his earliest memories of writing simple computer programs with his grandfather, but his tech writing career took shape back in 2007 when he joined the Lifehacker team as their very first intern. After cutting his teeth on tech writing at Lifehacker and working his way up, he left as Weekend Editor and transferred over to How-To Geek in 2010.With years of awesome fun, writing, and hardware-modding antics at How-To Geek under his belt, Jason helped launch How-To Geek's sister site Review Geek in 2017. In 2019, he stepped back from his role at Review Geek to focus all his energy on LifeSavvy. In 2022, he returned to How-To Geek to focus on one of his biggest tech passions: smart home and home automation. In 2023, he assumed the role of Editor-in-Chief.In addition to the long run as a tech writer and editor, Jason spent over a decade as a college instructor doing his best to teach a generation of English students that there's more to success than putting your pants on one leg at a time and writing five-paragraph essays. While his days of steering students toward greatness are behind him, his lifelong desire to delight, entertain, and inform lives on in his work at How-To Geek.If you're looking for him after hours, he's probably four search queries and twenty obscenities deep in a DIY project or entranced by the limitless exploration possibilities of some open-world game or another. He loves long walks on virtual beaches, playing worker placement board games with inconsequential themes, and spending time with his family and menagerie of pets and plants.