How Long Do LEDs Last?
Our LED Lighting has a 50,000 hour average life
LED lights are not only highly efficient compared to other lighting technology, they also last a lot longer. For instance; the average life of a halogen 50 watt bulb is between 1,000 and 2,000 hours, approx. 1-2 years on average. The average life of most of our LED lighting is 50,000 hours, approx 50 years (of average usage).
Although LED lighting is relatively expensive initially compared to traditional lighting, the savings in just replacement bulbs alone usually covers the cost of the LED bulb itself. Then there's the convenience of not changing a bulb for at least 30 years. Considering our LED bulbs will then use around 10% of the energy consumed by halogen/filament bulbs the savings soon add up over the bulbs lifetime.
How is the life of an LED defined
You might assume that once an LED bulb approaches 50,000 hours of use it simply burns out like incandescent bulbs. However this is not the case.
There is no set way to define the lifespan of an LED just yet. That's because LEDs do not burn out like incandescent bulbs (although sudden failure can occur, its extremely rare). Instead their brightness slowly fades. So, if the lifespan of an LED is 50,000 hours, that is the point when the bulb will most likely be shining at around 70% (the industry assumes people notice a decrease in brightness at that point).
Important factors effecting the life of LEDs
Operating at a high temperature, usually above 60°C can shorten the lifespan of LEDs while also decreasing efficiency. In fact the colder an LED operates the more efficient and longer lasting it becomes (down to -30°C). Therefore when choosing an LED bulb an important consideration is how well the bulb dissipates heat away from the LEDs. Aluminium bulb housings with fins usually help. The larger the housing, the more fins, the better the heat dissipates. That's why as the power/wattage of an LED bulb increases, the bulb housing generally becomes larger.
Fluctuation in the supply current can damage LEDs, shortening their lifespan. Fortunately most of our bulbs have built-in constant current chips safeguarding against this. In fact all our 240V LED bulbs/fittings have a constant current chip. Most of our 12V bulbs/fittings have constant current chips; those that don't can be powered by one of our 12V LED drivers instead of a standard 12V transformer.