End of Life LED's

Review & Testing Lab
,
1

I have been at it with LED’s now for nearly 5 years, my original LED’s, Mars Hydro SP 6500 are getting long in the tooth and I am realizing that the lighting industry has not given much thought to “practical” replacement or for that matter light degradation with age. At this point I am looking to see what others are experiencing and what they are doing about it.

First, I am curious what people have experienced with regard to output vs. age. I had not given much thought to this issue until I downloaded a ppfd lightmeter app, PHOTONE, and found that my 4 yr old lights had dropped to 40% of newer 1 year old models. While I might question how the free meter might compare to a $600+ stand alone unit, I felt that the percentage change i saw should be representative. This was rather dismaying to say the least. When I got into LED’s I had the impression that after 5 yrs, ie. 20,000 hrs, they would be around 80%.

The question now is what to do? And coupled with that is the question of why does the industry not sell replacement light bars instead of the entire inverter and light bar? Does the inverter/power supply wear out? Based on an Ebay search I see folks selling the inverter/power supply that came with my lights for 50% of the cost of the entire fixture. It would be a much easier decision if I just had to buy a new light bar or bars in the case of some other designs as opposed to the entire assembly. Seems that buying a new light bar would be akin to just buying a new bulb for a HPS system. Anyone had any experience with this?

As a point of reference the phone app light meter measured a ppfd of 1,400 for a new unit and 550 for a 4 year old light. The 1400 # is comparable to online reviews of the Mars SP6500.

1 Like
2

As someone who works for a lighting manufacturer, my inclination would be to say that the cheaper the upfront fixture cost is, there is a higher likelihood of degradation. This is not the rule, or always the case, but a trend. Most LEDs will degrade over time, which is why they typically have a 5 year warranty. It is a bit silly to have to replace entire fixtures every 5 years, especially at the price point for a new light being around 1K. There are companies that will replace light bars for you, but they are not typical - especially in single bar high bay LEDs. The reason for some is detaching the bar from the fixture, if done incorrectly, can cause issues depending on the engineering. Many manufacturers make this difficult to do intentionally, unfortunately. Some lights, after 20K hours, don’t lose much efficacy.
The short answer is, get a new light, and a better one if you can. If you can find a replacement driver off of an alternative site, try that if you don’t want to spend the money, but it might not pan out. Scynce does an upgrade program for people with older models as they go out, and replace them for fractions of the cost.

2 Likes
3

I used EB gen 3 Bridgelux strips in my build they are rated for 50,000 hours

or so they say

5 Likes