How come LED Light Bulbs only last for about 2-3 Years?
I’ve bought and replaced a lot of light bulbs, and I noticed that all of them said “up to 20,000 hours” which would be about 5 years given 12 hours of daily use (which we definitely don’t).
They never last that long, as they easily get away with it.
In one of the gulf states, though (Dubai?), they actually have only longer lasting LED lights for sale, as the minister responsible for regulation is something like an EE and forced the LED bulb providers to make a special version of those bulbs that basically last for ever. Those are only sold in that country, and hard to come by elsewhere.
Planned obsolescence
Since people are just giving snarky douchebag replies, I’ll actually attempt to answer the question since that’s what this community is for?
The estimate given on the packages of these bulbs are absolute best case scenario, using an optimal temperature range and pattern of use that won’t really match up with the average household because:
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You may go on vacation and let your house get cold or hot. This could affect the life of thr bulb
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The manufacturer is likely leaving the bulbs on 24/7 when measuring. Most people turn lights on and off multiple times throughout the day. This can decrease the life of thr bulb, just like with any other electronic device.
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Humidity in the house can change dramatically year round. Manufacturing tests probably keep a constant humidity level.
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If you’re buying cheap random LED bulbs off Amazon from dogshit brands (i do thid too so not knocking you), the manufacturer estimates might just straight up be a lie.
I’m sure there are other reasons but that’s a good start.
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Stop buying the cheap ones. :-)
? What are you talking about?
No stupid questions
Maybe stop buying the seizure-brand ones from Amazon?
I think I’ve had to replace one bulb in my entire house in the last 6 years or so.
Lights like this:
Have PCBs with LEDs surface mounted to them. This means that the on-off cycle of the bulb causes heat deformation cycles of the PCB. This stresses the foils in the PCB and can eventually cause them to lose connection. That’s why they’ll often start flickering or lose the ability to be cool white, warm white, or specific colors (the different kinds of LEDs in them).
But lights like this:
Use LEDs that aren’t mounted to the PCBs, and will probably last much longer.
Only buy Philips (not the Hue stuff) or Osram
The rest are shite
I’ve got several full color Hue bulbs that are the most used lights in my house. I haven’t had a single failure in a decade.
I was more than a little annoyed when they decided to stop supporting my original controller for them though.
+1 for philips.
The problem is most of what the big box hardware stores in the US are selling are junk brands. And they won’t even offer basics like a philips 75-watt-equivalent soft-white led in their stores.
The junk brand bulbs will fail in my kitchen light fixture after a year (they start flickering). The philips bulbs have never failed for me.
A properly designed and produced led bulb should last like 20 years.
Ikea’s are nice too
Osram literally means “I’ll shit on it” in polish, they are the definition of a shit brand
Millions of electricians would disagree, but I can’t speak for Polish sparkies
It’s a joke in Poland - what shines and actively threatens you? A lightbulb made by Osram
Ha ha brilliant, I’ll remember that one 😊
They don’t? What are you talking about?
Is Lemmy worse than Reddit to answer no stupid questions?
Yes Lemmy is just as dogshit, if not more than Reddit in terms of smug bullshit replies. I’ll be downvoted to oblivion by saying this so hopefully someone sees my comment before it goes to the bottom…
Edit: yep. Already downvoted lol. God forbid i criticize Lemmy. I guess ya’ll ain’t interested in making it a better place?
Cheap ones do.
I have still to have a led light break. They just never do, I buy mine at aliexpress or IKEA or wherever.
I have never had that happen and I buy my bulbs from the grocery store
I’ve had brand new ones that were duds before.
I’m no scientist, but I think it has something to do with actually turning the light off and on that’s actually stressful to most light bulbs. I mean check out the Centennial Light (wiki link). I know it’s an entirely different type of lightbulb, but they have run that light almost continuously since 1901, and it’s largely believed that continuous operation has kept it going for so long (though it has dimmed quite significantly).
I suspect that 20,000 hours operation is likely expected under continuous illumination, not ever turning the light off.
LEDs literally work by flickering constantly, they are always turning off/on. The answer is planned obsolescence. Technology connections video on the topic. There is also veritasium one.
I think he thinks about heat generation. A PWM signal (the ‘flicker’) won’t do anything bad, but it will still generate heat, or not when it’s turned off.
Not everything is planned obsolescence, some is just badly engineered cheap stuff.
What lasted forever for me…CFLs. downside is they just don’t seem to put out as much light. But I had some in my house 10+ years old. They lasted so long that when one finally burned out and I didn’t have a replacement of the intensity…I was pissed to learn they don’t even make them anymore. I’m not a fan of LEDs because some of the cheaper ones are like mini strobe lights and really big my eyes. I had to go through like $60 work of LEDs to find a set I actually liked
I’ve had the best experience with the Philips LED lights, and secondly, the GE lights. I’ve seen some here say IKEA as well are good. Others just are too cheaply made and fail quickly.
I replaced my mom’s can lights with LEDs and I was an early adopter. I believe it was ~2012-15 ish. Not a single one has died. The only reason any of them fail now is poor quality and / or planned obsolescence. The tech itself is solid AF. I had some bulbs I got from IKEA for $1. Those have failed countless times.
Mine work for I think over 10 years now. Some of the actual LEDs inside died but you don’t really notice 1-2 of 200 inside the bulb being dark.
I have been dumpster-diving for LED bulbs for 5 years. None of them had 200 chips, they usually have about 5-30 packages with 1-6 diodes each for a total of around 30-60 so that they total some 90-180 V in series (I live in a 230V mains region, and the 330V rectified mains can be efficiently transformed to that voltage by an SMPS). Because they are in series, if one in the series chain fails open circuit (the most common way), the entire chain goes out. Yes, fixtures (not bulbs) with 100+ LED chips exist and if they are designed to operate at a low voltage with all chips in parallel, the failure of one will not affect the others.
This sounds like an interesting hobby? Care to share more about how/why you are into dumpster diving for lightbulbs?
I saw Big Clive and DiodeGoneWild take some apart, and we had been using halogen or fluorescent ones at home because LED bulbs were over $10 back then. I thought I would learn something about electronics but not really, the failure modes are always the same: about 50% of the time, an LED burns out. 25% of the time, it’s the smoothing inductor gone open circuit. 10% of the time, a bad contact somewhere (usually solder joints on linearly-regulated ones). 5 % work out of the box for some reason. I remain adamant about not paying for LEDs even if dumpster diving is objectively not worth the trouble anymore.
FWIW, I’ve killed a bunch of Phillips hue bulbs through normal use
My smart LED bulbs don’t even say how long they last, but my experience with LEDs in general tells me they will last practically forever. Out of all the LED things I have, the only ones with any burnt out lights are a couple of cheap LED strips I have and I can’t even be sure the ones that are dead weren’t because of where I cut the strip. I’ve had those things for over 12 years now and they’re in my PC which is always on.
Afaik, the biggest threat to killing the LED is heat, and some cheaper LED bulbs have really poor heat dissipation. Technology Connections has a video about them, which may be more informative.
