I installed 6 battery-powered 1Watt LEDS in my dad's home to help when he has power outages. They worked as intended for some time, but recently begun to fail in an odd way. They no longer turn on immediately, instead seem to slowly warm up. At their brightest they are still incredibly dim. One seems to flicker dimly, while another does not turn on at all. I've never seen LEDs fail in this way (if it even is the LEDs at all)
Here is the schematic:
If I remember correctly, the LEDs where 1W ±3V. Something like this: Datasheet
My dad says over time the lights began to act erratically. Eventually half the lights stopped working, then a few weeks later they all stopped working (which makes sense considering I've got two strings of three). I suspect one dud LED failed leading to a cascade of the rest failing, or mice chewing the wires in the ceiling.
The battery is measuring 13.7V
One of the LEDs measured 2.36V. This was after it had eventually "warmed up" and was shining very dimly. It was not warm to the touch like they were when they shone at full brightness. (Didn't measure the rest because its high up in the ceiling. I'm assuming they're all reading ±2.36V)
R1 = 8ohm (To limit current to ±660 mA)
R2 is a few ohms. Shouldn't effect the circuit.
What do you think the issue is? Has anyone experienced LEDs slowly failing over time in this manner? Will it be worthwhile replacing the LEDs, or do you thing they will fail in time again?
Any insight would be much appreciated.
