LEDs burning out suddenly after several months of use

[Turtlurbo]

Sounds like the fixtures do not have either proper heat management to take heat away from th eLED drivers allowing them to get too hot, or you simple do not have a ballast and the lights are passing too much current and over heating.

I think my problem is probably the latter because I do not have a ballast/driver of any kind. I quickly looked on eBay for 12v LED drivers, there are many...
I have one question about those. Do I need to find drivers that match my wattage exactly? or is there any leeway? For example the fixtures I've been using are 4w MR16's and are composed of 4 - 1w LEDs... I didn't see any drivers that matched this configuration. There are other alternatives I can buy to replace what I have of course also.
Anyway, thank you for your advice on this. I am still getting a handle on all of this and I appreciate your help.
,Derek

[Sunking]

The fixtures are MR16s wired directly to the battery. LEDs are 12v 4w for DC in the style of halogen track lighting, fairly generic purchased on eBay. The voltage from the battery is 12 but as the solar controller indicates in ranges from about 12.5 - 13.1 or so when not receiving solar charge.

Sounds like the fixtures do not have either proper heat management to take heat away from th eLED drivers allowing them to get too hot, or you simple do not have a ballast and the lights are passing too much current and over heating.

[Turtlurbo]

Let me rephrase the question. What kind of fixture and voltage are you using?

The fixtures are MR16s wired directly to the battery. LEDs are 12v 4w for DC in the style of halogen track lighting, fairly generic purchased on eBay. The voltage from the battery is 12 but as the solar controller indicates in ranges from about 12.5 - 13.1 or so when not receiving solar charge.

[Sunking]

I have not been using a ballast driver. Is it necessary for a DC only system?

Let me rephrase the question. What kind of fixture and voltage are you using?

[Turtlurbo]

What kind of ballast driver are you using?

I have not been using a ballast driver. Is it necessary for a DC only system?

[Sunking]

What kind of ballast driver are you using?

[Turtlurbo]

Hello,
I have a very simple solar setup in my cabin where I power 5 4w mr16 LED lights as well as my laptop and phone charger directly off a 12v battery. There are two 185 w panels so the battery is pretty much always charged fully.
Anyway, I've had this setup since December and everything has worked wonderfully up until the last two weeks. My LEDs have been more or less burning out. They flicker a bit between normal brightness and being dim and eventually they stay dim and continue to flicker a little. They are now just about as bright as a birthday cake candle or so. All thar I can think of is that the demise if these bulbs has coincided with longer days and brighter sunshine as winter here in Massachusettts is quickly giving way to spring. I need to replace these bulbs but I'm trying to understand and correct what is wrong with my system first. I'm pretty new to off grid solar and DIY electrical work in general but like I said, it seemed to be just fine for months.
Any insight that anyone has would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you! -Derek