After replacing the gas / humidity sensor in the Samsung microwave, replacing the pair of 40 W (!) halogen bulbs with G8 LED bulbs didn’t pose much of a challenge:
Those are not the best bulbs for the application, as they’re allegedly equivalent to 20-25 W halogens, but I had some on hand from a previous relamping project and they seemed promising.
G8 halogens have a flattened section just above the pins that these G8 LED bulbs lack:
It’s more obvious from the side:
The curvature of the soft silicone LED body magnifies the components to look like they fill all the available space, but a little deft X-acto knife work flensed the body down to fit the microwave’s ceramic socket without exposing any of the electrical innards.
Because the LEDs dissipate only 3 W and barely get warm, I replaced the original translucent glass diffuser panels with (yes, laser-cut) clear 3 mm acrylic, then tucked a strip of aluminized mylar above the bulb to bounce some of the light from the upper chips down where it would do more good. I think it’s possible to melt the acrylic with a stovetop mishap, but we don’t make those kinds of recipes.
They’re not daylight shining on the stove, but they’re much brighter than the halogens at maybe 10% of the power.
The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning 
Comments
2 responses to “Samsung Microwave Light Improvements”
Just had to replace a microwave bulb myself. Couldn’t figure out why a US microwave had a bulb labeled “250V”.
Too bright (and not yellow enough) for a 250V bulb running on 120V. And didn’t poke around long enough to figure it out. And while curious, it won’t get opened again, till it needs to be opened.
You know better than that! If it ain’t broke, fix it until it is!