LED Bulb life

Hyperlitexr50

Hyperlitexr50

Member
I was just wondering what is the longest any one on here or that any one knows of some one running led with success.
I will be needing to change bulbs soon on my 400w halides and was wondering if it is time to make the investment. I have seen people state 50000 hrs but if no one has ran them that long on a reef how do the no. The main reason I ask is that I constantly see very expensive top brand led fixtures for sale. I am experimenting with led's on my nano 6 gu10 bulbs for a whole 22$ or something liked that. I run radium 20k bulbs on my 125 and was also wondering what other 400w bulbs people like. DFS have a few choices on sale right now that are almost 1/2 the price of radiums.
 
Mtbf of LEDs = 50,000 hours. Mtbf of t5s = 20,000 hours. Both figures are totally useless and do not reflect reality, especially for reef use.
 
LED units will last you a safe 5 yrs. After 5 years they are running closer to 60% of power and need replacement, but T5's and halides are replaced every 6-ish months or so, so you make your money back pretty darn quick. And power usage also goes down by quite a bit as well.

I switched from a 4 bulb 48" power compact to two 24" LED units and my electricity costs went down $10 a month. The savings compared to T5s and halides are infinitely greater.

If you're looking for LED, there are awesome options that don't run $800 a unit. Not that there's anything wrong with them, but they're crazy overpowered and overpriced. China LEDs are cheap, cost effective, and durable enough. I have Ecoxotic, and I love the simplicity of modular units, easy to add, move, supplement, etc. without getting whole other units or bulbs, just throw another module on and wammy I'm done. Even getting larger tanks would only require 2-3 more modules instead of whole new units. Makes life simpler :)
 
Personal experience:
I built my first diy led fixture about 3.5yrs ago and that fixture is still up and running minus a few led diodes that have been changed thru-out the years. Corals all doing great and led maintenance has been minimal. 2 drivers and about 17led diodes have been changed. The tank has gone from lps/softie to mainly SPS without any changes.

All in all it's worth the investment,if you see the name-brand led units for sale,there's a very good reason for that!!
 
From my reading online, it takes a lot longer then 5 years before the PAR starts to drop (I forget where I read this, but I have seen it in several places). The major factor on how long your LED's last is heat. If your LED's aren't able to dissipate enough heat they will burn out faster. If you DIY get a large heatsink and also put a fan on it. Mine will get very hot without the fan running, but after a few minutes with the fan on it is cool to the touch. Rapidled has some great solderless kits that are easy to install. That being said I have had 2 drivers go out on my in the last week for no apparent reason and am trying to work with the company on fixing it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top