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LED lightbulb life

Hi All,

I never cared for the CFL bulbs with the slow starting, and I much preferred the LED lights which were "intstant on".

The life of of LED bulbs is sometimes quoted on packaging as 50,000 hours, which in domestic use ought be "forever".

However, I've found while the LED bulbs don't actually ever fail, they just get dimmer and dimmer, until they are useless for purpose.

The LEDS are working fine, but the fluorescent coating, which actually emits the visible light, wears out much sooner than "forever". :)

What I'm doing is that once the bulbs get too dim to (say) read the newspaper by then I put them in (say) a toilet or other non-crtical area where the lack of brightness isn't a problem.

Btw initially I thought either my eyes were failing, or my reading glasses prescription was now wrong, before discovering it was actually dim LED bulbs. I put in new LED bulbs and my eyes were working fine again! The difference in brighness from new to old LED light bulbs was actually quite startling!

Ross

Reply to
RMD
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Yes, the same applies to CFL bulbs as well (I've got a very dim one above me right now).

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Reply to
Computer Nerd Kev

On Thu, 09 May 2019 23:17:12 GMT, snipped-for-privacy@invalid.invalid (RMD) wrote as underneath :

Yep, I reckon on about 3 years as average replacement time for daily used led bulbs in the 8W-15W range, they run too hot to last well without dimming with use. So if you buy expensive bulbs then the economics begin to sag a bit! C+

Reply to
Charlie+

formatting link

Reply to
Lucifer

In my experience the LEDs themselves don't fail. The power supply is what fails. You can reuse a failed LED globe by connecting a suitable low voltage DC power supply directly to the LEDs.

Reply to
Lucifer

in my experience it is the power supplies not the fluorescent coating that wears out (same with CFL) Imagine if LED TV's faded because of "fluorescent coating" there'd be riots in the streets, people wanting their money back .

I've pulled apart a few of them, and the LED is practically new but the switching power supply is gone.

Understandable since they're totally sealed with silicone, & running hot thus destined to burn up & fail.

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They should be better designed to run cooler, perhaps with heat sink fins, ventilation holes?

Reply to
#BoycottEurovision2019

That's true for when they stop working altogether, but the LEDs themselves do loose brightness over time. White ones also become more yellow.

Of course it could probably be compensated for by running higher brightness LEDs at lower current to start with, then having the current limiter slowly allow more current through as the LEDs get older. There would be a corresponding cost increase for that feature though.

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Reply to
Computer Nerd Kev

I've had el cheapo Aldi LEDs for the last 5 years. In that time one has died and I can't see any change in the rest of them, they seem just as bright as when new.

Reply to
keithr0

Lucifer, what did you mean by quoting the link, above, about Usenet_quoting??

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Daniel
Reply to
Daniel60

On Thu, 13 Jun 2019 23:34:26 +1000, Daniel60 wrote as underneath :

snip

Probably because I top posted (as per email replies) in usenet by mistake! There is often some pedant police with too much time on hand who will pick up on that sort of thing, dont even waste a second on it! C+

Reply to
Charlie+

Doesn't help that they're built using capacitors that are barely adequate when new.

Sylvia.

Reply to
Sylvia Else

Charlie+ wrote on 14/06/2019 4:06 PM:

Me, Myself and I prefer EVERYBODY would BOTTOM post at all times and all modes, i.e e-mail and UseNet!!

Well, O.K., at times I can see that INTERSPERSED posting might make more sense .... but only very rarely!! ;-)

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Daniel
Reply to
Daniel60

And blind people often top post.

Reply to
FMurtz

Who said that?

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Shaun. 

"Humans will have advanced a long, long way when religious belief has a cozy little classification  
in the DSM" 
David Melville 

This is not an email and hasn't been checked for viruses by any half-arsed self-promoting software.
Reply to
~misfit~

I did as I have found that on many occasions.

Reply to
FMurtz

Wooosh. ;)

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Shaun. 

"Humans will have advanced a long, long way when religious belief has a cozy little classification  
in the DSM" 
David Melville 

This is not an email and hasn't been checked for viruses by any half-arsed self-promoting software.
Reply to
~misfit~

You are the Whooshey one as it is a fact

Reply to
FMurtz

LOL, I know it's a fact. I post in groups where there are blind people.

--
Shaun. 

"Humans will have advanced a long, long way when religious belief has a cozy little classification  
in the DSM" 
David Melville 

This is not an email and hasn't been checked for viruses by any half-arsed self-promoting software.
Reply to
~misfit~

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