The Truth about LED Lifespan

50,000 hrs? 60,000hrs? 10 years? 20 years? What is the real deal?

Typical incandescent bulbs last 1,000 to 2,000 hours; LED retrofit replacements are quoted to last around 25,000 to 50,000 hours. 

But why 25,000 or 50,000 hours? This is measured by the light emanating from the product to be 70% of the brightness from when it was new. This became the standard because lighting industry engineers believe that at this point, most people can sense the brightness is not what it was brand new. 

There are often different ways to label or market an LED light bulb. There are no standards or restrictions regulating this, and therefore an explanation is due. Many manufacturers label their product to last 60,000 hours and market the product to last 10 years or even more. Most consumers may not understand this, but usually this means the quoted hours or lifespan are rated according to limited hours of usage per day. So for example, if an LED bulb is rated to last 30,000 hours, when used only four hours a day, a marketing technique is to claim the light can span over twenty years. However, the whole LED bulb’s lifespan should consider every single component within. For example, the driver inside may only have a lifespan of two years. Furthermore, the company’s warranty will not cover twenty years. 
 

ALTLED® lights are rated based on 24hr daily usage. Therefore if the lights are labeled 30,000 hours or 50,000 hours, it means the lights still maintain the required 70% lumen maintenance after 30,000 or 50,000 hours when lit on 24hrs a day 7 days per week. ALT is the first Taiwanese manufacturer to be Energy Star certified. Last year, ALT sent ten ALTLED® omni-directional A55s to Energy Star-contracted laboratories to be tested for continuous light-on of 6,000 hours; ALT passed this standard with zero lumen decay. The same ten ALTLED A55 bulbs were then continuously lit on for another 4,000 hours, totaling 10,000 hours for second stage testing. The results showed that ALTLED® products sustained lumen maintenance up to 99.8%. 

Since its establishment in 2007, ALT’s first generation streetlight S01 has been lit on 24/7 in the headquarters of Taipei. After more than 60,000 hours, the streetlight is still shining bright, with less than 20% light decay, welcoming all ALT members every morning and reinforcing our confidence in our quality products. ALT products are marketed exactly as they are meant to be: high-quality, reliable, stable, durable, safe and bright.

source : http://www.openpr.com/news/291031/The-Truth-about-LED-Lifespan.html