Is the front of your LED bulb broken? Don’t throw it out — fix it!

Broken LED bulb and super glue

Theo Thimou | October 23rd, 2017

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For years, I’d heard about how LED bulbs have a microchip inside them, but I’d never actually seen one — until now.

How to fix the facade of an otherwise good LED bulb

This weekend, I looked up at a fixture in my home and saw an unusual sight:

LED bulb with broken top

Was that a circuit board with light-emitting diodes (LED) poking out of that bulb?

Yep, the plastic top had broken off and was hanging by a thread like a clam shell opening up!

My first thought was, “Should I throw the bulb away? Do I have another LED around the house that I can replace it with?”

I got this particular LED about two years ago during a shopping trip to Costco Wholesale that money expert Clark Howard takes his staff on each year as a holiday thank you.

With the famously long life spans of LEDs, this bulb was still putting out light just fine — but it looked really unsightly.

A moment later, I realized I might be able to repair the veneer on this bulb. It was just a cheap piece of plastic, after all. How hard could it be to reattach it?

So I set out to do just that. Here are the steps I took:

Step #1: Gather your materials

In this case, I just needed the base of the bulb, the loose cover and some super glue.

Step #2: Get your glue ready

Remove the cap from your glue.

You may want to wear gloves.

I didn’t, and unfortunately had to use some nail polish remover to remove the sticky excess that got on the tips of my fingers!

Step #3: Apply glue to the circumference of the loose top

Make sure the surface of the LED top is clean and dry before gluing.

You’ll want to use a thin layer of super glue around the circumference.

Again, take care not to glue your hands like I did!

Step #3: Press and hold the top on the LED bulb base

Be sure the glue sets by pressing the top onto the base for about 30 seconds and holding it tightly.

You may want to give additional dry time before screwing the bulb back into the socket.

Just follow the directions on your glue to figure out how long to wait for it to set!

And that’s it!

There’s no real magic here; this is just a simple fix that may help you get a little more life out of your LED bulbs if they’re in need of a cosmetic fix.

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