LIFE EXPECTANCY

IT WASN’T all that long ago when traditional HID or halogen lights were guiding four-wheelers to their hidden overnight digs on dark, secluded tracks, but the progression of LEDS is due to many reasons, none more critical than longer life expectancy.

“Premium LEDS have an operating life of up 50,000 hours, so they may well outlast the rest of the lamp!” Narva’s Jo Banks explained. “(But) it is important to note that an LED will only achieve this impressive life if driven by quality electronics and its heat is correctly managed. With the cost of LEDS coming down, the driver and heat management are becoming a bigger factor, with some cheap lights taking a few shortcuts that can effect the life of the lamp.”

Mark Gamtcheff backed-up that figure: “The predicted life of an LED chip is 50,000 MBTF hours (Mean Time Between Failures), versus 2000 MBTF for a HID, or up to 1000 MTBF for a halogen globe.”