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whats the life expectancy of led lighting?
Just a query ….. how long would you expect an led strip to last once fitted, average use during shop opening hours, not 24×7, not fitted externally so not open to the elements?
If a strip blew within approx 8 months of fitting and to replace the strip was going to cost a fair bit to you in travel expenses and labour time would you try and claim something back off the supplier who originally stated they last thousands of hours or would you swallow the cost yourself and only expect the supplier to replace the strip only?
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8 Replies
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Carrie,
life span should be a lot more than 8 months, are you sure its the LEDs or could it be power supply. I know you said that it is indoors & not exposed to the elements but heat can also come into the equation. Problem with suppliers are they warrant the goods for replacement onlyand not for any associated costs, but you never know until you try.Kev
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Carrie,
If the LED strip only lasted 8 months something was definately wrong. Ive used Industrial LEDs which lifespans are rated from 50,000hrs to 100,000hrs depending on how much resistance is being used. This sounds like a an issue @ the chip level. There are many factors that could have attributed to them burning out too soon but the 2 most common being thermal management and resistance being used. Moisture also can play a big role, not so much on the LEDs themselves, but on the rest of the circuitry.
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Hello thanks for the replies all. We are going over to the job on Wednesday to have a look and replace the strip so will let you all know then. The leds were from Ashby and we paid per strip … what ever length a strip is … not sure without checking with Steve to be honest? 😳
I officially dislike led lighting :lol1:
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I think the Ashby ones are about 12 inches holding 24 leds and cost about £10-£18 per strip depending on the colour you use.
Carrie… it maybe just the jumper cable connecting a strip has come loose?
This happened to me but happened when I had just installed, so I saw it happened and fixed it before leaving.
I had bent the strip into the shape of an "s" held in place with vhb tape.
When all was installed one strip went out… I took the letter off and looked at the rear. The strip had pinged out of place due to tension. (The vhb tape came away) when the strip pinged back it pulled the short jumper wires fork connecting out from the strip and the leds went out.anyway… just a thought :lol1:
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Im sure it is just something really simple, its a good client so no probs us going back out .. just awkward with times as its in a shopping centre … can only go between 9pm and 8am.
I was concerned with the thought of …. what if the strip has blown, ok we replace no worries… but then what if the others start to go too over a short period of time … in long run would work out that the trips going beck to replace would in the end make the labour on the job non existent , so to speak … I guess Im talking sort of hypothetical in a way with this, as you said Rob could get there and its just come loose?
Im babbling a bit tonight … do you ever get when your talking and realise that the words/sentences you are using just dont seem to make much sense 😮 😕 :lol1: I must be tired 😛
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It sounds to me like the problem may not be the LEDs, but the power supply.
An LED circuit board can be powered in 2 ways:
1) On board current regulation, regardless of incoming voltage
2) Circuit design for regulated incoming voltageMost of the lower cost LED strips will use the latter method, relying on simple current limiting resisitors to deliver the right current thru the LEDs – assuming an input voltage of say 12V DC.
Now – here’s the thing that many companies overlook…
Most plug-in adapters are not regulated. They may say something like 12V DC 800mA. This does not mean they have a maximum load of 800mA. It means that you get an even 12V DC when the load is 800 mA. If you had a single LED strip with a load of say, 200 mA connected to an 800 mA adapter – it’s very likely that the adapter itself is cranking out something closer to 15V or 16V. If this is the case, then the resistors are no longer adequate and the LEDs are being over driven, possibly by double their rated amperage.
The LEDs would be real bright, of course, but would suffer premature degradation and fail far sooner than expected.
It’s important to use either a regulated power supply, or one rated closer to the actual load. For this reason, we stock adapters in 200mA, 350mA, 500mA, etc… sizes.
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I’ve just learnt something Marko, thanks for the input 🙂
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