Things You Must Know About Life Rating of an LED
LED light bulbs have emerged as one of the leading lighting options over the years. This is because these lights assure 80% to 90% higher energy efficiency than many traditional lights and have a lifespan of 50,000 hours. This indicates that if you are using these lights for 10 hours continuously each day, then they may last for 13.7 years. In 2017, the Department of Energy (DoE) reported that many LED products failed to match their lifetime claims. This report also highlighted how people are believed to buy products that actually didn’t work. In real, these claims are largely misunderstood or sometimes inaccurately portrayed by manufacturers. In addition to these the LEDs may fail due to other reasons. This post explores all important terms that you need to know regarding LED bulbs and also analyze the reasons for their failure.
How is Life Rating of an LED Measured?
Before getting into the details of the measurement of LED life ratings, you must know the important terms associated with them.
- Average Rated Life: Calculated in hours, this indicates the time taken by 50% of the large group of test lamps to fail completely. This testing is usually conducted on HIDs and fluorescent lights. The life expectancy of LED luminaires is measured using Lumen Maintenance. It is because these lights do not fail like traditional light sources and their luminosity gradually diminishes with time.
- Lumen Maintenance: The luminosity of a new LED light is measured on its first use and its luminosity is measured again when it attains 70% of its initial output. The lumen maintenance is usually indicated by the term B50-L70. Every LED light has a B50-L70 rating that is indicated in hours. It shows the number of hours when 50% of LED lights operated in normal conditions will attain 70% of their output value.
Why Do LED Lights Fail
Although LED lights may have high lumen maintenance values, they may fail due to various reasons. The following are a few reasons why your LED light may fail.
- Operational Environment: Today, LED lights are used in all types of indoor and outdoor applications. The only requisite is to use them in a cool place with a good ventilation and avoid installing them near heat sources.
- Quality and Installation of Components: Like any other light source, heatsinks and capacitors used in LED lights contribute to the functioning of LED lights.
- Generally metal heatsinks are used in LED lights, and they drive away heat from LED chips. The heatsink design requires immense consideration. If it is not designed with an adequate surface area or is poorly connected then your LED may fail due to overheating. Sometimes these heat sinks may have horizontal fins which are placed vertically, and this causes overheating. The heat from the lower fin may heat the upper fin causing damage.
- Electronic capacitors used in these LED bulbs are made of plastic and when used regularly they may fail. To avoid this, nowadays LED manufacturers use capacitors made of ceramics.
To avoid the chances of failure, it is important that you source your LED light bulbs from a trusted manufacturer who has immense designing and manufacturing experience. E2 Lighting USA has been delivering indoor and outdoor LED lighting solutions for several years now. The company provides these lights in different configurations to meet your application requirements. Their selection features energy-saving LED solutions, which are RoHS compliant, Energy Star rated, and offered with Design Lights Consortium (DLC) listing.
