How long do LED lamps and luminaires last?

LED lamps, appeared since the beginning of 2010 when organic materials were developed. Organic diodes, we used to call them LEDs, with the properties of emitting light when electric current is applied to them. They marked the beginning of the era of new lighting systems. Thanks to their ability to save electrical energy, they are environmentally friendly. LED lamps and luminaires are available in various enclosures, household light bulbs, LED tapes, luminaires, etc., which we are used to. But many people have a legitimate question, if the life of an ordinary incandescent lamp was 10,000 hours, then what is the life of LED lamps.

LED bulbs aging with time

One of the features of LED lamps is aging over time. Organic materials age, because of the constant process of light radiation, there are chemical processes that destroy the organic material. Of course we understand that LED lamps have a limited lifetime, but how long can an LED lamp last?

LED bulb’s lifetime according to the manufacturer’s information

The manufacturers proudly declare that the life of the LED lamp is about 30,000 to 50,000 hours. By consuming 10 times less electricity, they save the budget significantly.
But few people are aware of the rather unpleasant moments in the use of LED lamps, reducing the luminous flux over time. Below is a graph of the change in luminous flux of an LED lamp over time (provided that 5 hours per day are used) for convenience, shown in watts of incandescent bulbs.

Graph of changes in LED lamp luminous flux intensity, by time of use

The technology of LEDs is that they age quickly, especially at high temperatures, the longest time, the LED bulb will work in the refrigerator. On average, after 500-1000 hours of operation the brightness of an LED lamp will decrease by 10-20%, and after 1000-2000 hours approximately 20-30% after 5000-10000 hours the lamp may lose up to 40-50% of its luminous flux. The LED will light up but with a lower brightness and to get the same light output you already need 2 bulbs.

Why organic LEDs get older

The ageing of organic LEDs is a normal process. In order for the LED to light up, you have to apply voltage to it. And in the LED, chemical processes begin to occur, the longer the LED will work, the more it wears out.
It is very difficult to notice the aging process, because it happens gradually and people get used to the light, he does not remember what the light was when the lamp was new. Of course, in different manufacturers, the decrease in light flux of LED lamps is different, affects the quality of materials and production technology.

As an example, the real situation is shown in the diagram above: a room of 12 square meters installed ceiling chandelier for two lamps, designed for two incandescent bulbs of 40W. When the incandescent bulbs were standing, the lighting was sufficient. The decision was made to replace the incandescent bulbs with LED bulbs. We bought two 5W LED bulbs, according to the package, one bulb shines like a 50W incandescent light bulb. The total luminous intensity should become as from 100W incandescent bulbs. Initially it was really so, the room became much lighter. But a year later the luminous flux became less and it became darker in the room, two LED bulbs were not enough. On average, the bulbs were on for about 5 hours a day. So after 1800 hours of operation, the luminous flux from the LED bulbs was reduced by 40%. And that’s real in a domestic environment.

So let’s conclude: the LED light bulb is really more economical, its lifetime meets the declared but the light flux decreases with time. For comfortable use of LED bulbs you should buy more powerful LED bulbs, so that over time not to feel discomfort.

The last couple of years, manufacturers have made quite a big breakthrough in the development of organic materials. And the loss of light flux, not so much noticeable. It is quite possible that in a couple of years, LED lamps will be produced of such quality that the loss of luminous flux will be minimized.