One fitting or the whole house?
When the same light keeps failing, look at that fitting. Enclosed oyster lights, glass shades and lights buried in insulation trap heat, and heat shortens the life of both filament globes and LED electronics. Many LED globes aren't rated for fully enclosed fittings, and the packet says if they are. A lampholder that has gone loose, brittle or brown makes a poor contact that heats up and arcs.
Vibration matters too. Globes in a ceiling fan light, under a timber floor upstairs or near a door that slams take a beating that filament globes in particular don't like. If globes fail all over the house, a dimmer type used in several rooms, a batch of poor-quality globes or a supply problem is more likely than one bad fitting.
Dimmers, transformers and cheap globes
An LED globe on a dimmer built for halogens, or on an old halogen transformer, can flicker and fail far sooner than its packet suggests. Budget globes often have small, hot-running drivers that give out early, especially in a warm fitting. Switching lights on and off many times a day also wears them, which is why hallway and toilet lights often go first.
When it points to a fault
A globe that blows with a bang, a lampholder that is blackened or melted, a light that trips the safety switch when it goes, or lights dimming and flickering across several rooms at once need a licensed electrician. These can point to a loose connection, a damaged fitting or a problem with the supply. Replacing the fitting, rather than the globe yet again, is often the fix.
What you can safely do now
- Switch off at the wall and let the fitting cool before changing a globe.
- Use the globe type and wattage marked on the fitting, and check LED packets say they suit enclosed fittings where that applies.
- Check whether the light is on a dimmer, and whether the globe is marked dimmable.
- Stop using a fitting with a scorched, cracked or loose lampholder.
- If lights across the house dim or flicker together, note when it happens and tell us.
Services that can help
Read more in our guides
Related questions
- One downlight has stopped working. Is it the globe or the fitting?Check whether it has a removable globe.
- Why has the ceiling around my light gone brown?A brown ring hugging the edge of a light is usually heat or dust.
- Why do my LED lights buzz or hum?Most buzzing LEDs come from a mismatch rather than a fault: a dimmer built for old halogen globes, an LED driver that doesn't suit the dimmer, an old transformer left in…
- Why does my two-way light switch only work from one end?A light switched from two places relies on two switches joined by a pair of wires, so either switch can redirect the power.
General information for homes in Victoria. Every installation is different, so treat this as a starting point. Where this answer refers to Victorian safety or rental rules, the sources above have the current requirements.