LED lights - Do they ever need replacement?

[jingwei3344]

I have two track light strips in the kitchen and, because I keep them on most of the day, those halogen bulbs are costing me a fortune! I read about LED track heads that fit into the existing strips - it seems that they never need replacement bulbs. I have two questions: is that true about no replacements and how much light can LED bulbs give off - would it be enough, with six track heads, to light up a small room?

[TinselKoala]

The first question is about reliability, and the second question is about efficiency.

In general, LEDs are both more reliable and more efficient than filament bulbs. Of course, LEDs can fail, and of course the brightness depends on various factors which you haven't specified. Usually, LED bulb ratings will give a brightness value in lumens, and/or an "equivalent wattage" which tells you that the LED is as bright as a filament bulb of that wattage. For example I have here an A19 style LED bulb of "60 Watts equivalent", 800 Lumens. This means the bulb is as bright as a typical 60 Watt filament bulb. But the LED bulb only uses 9.5 Watts to produce that light output. It is rated by the manufacturer for 25,000 hours of operation and guaranteed for 10 years of lifetime.  I think you would have to replace a typical halogen/filament bulb several times in those ten years.

[pomodoro]

Of course they will need replacing. Things are built to fail these days, otherwise they will go broke!

But in theory they should last an incredibly long time, they are semiconductors after all, like transistors, they don't wear out unless the circuit is designed to burn them out, and you can bet your life the LED lights are made to burn out eventually.  Just look at the compact fluoros , all the BS that they said about them outlasting filament lamps, I got conned with those and won't repeat the same mistake with LEDs.

[e2matrix]

Of course they will need replacing. Things are built to fail these days, otherwise they will go broke!

But in theory they should last an incredibly long time, they are semiconductors after all, like transistors, they don't wear out unless the circuit is designed to burn them out, and you can bet your life the LED lights are made to burn out eventually.  Just look at the compact fluoros , all the BS that they said about them outlasting filament lamps, I got conned with those and won't repeat the same mistake with LEDs.

You can't compare CFL's to LED's.   At this time there is a big push to save energy in simple ways with the global demand for energy increasing rapidly.   LED's will not burn out unless there is a poor power supply design or a serious power surge.  After 25 years most will be slightly dimmer (maybe 15%) but they don't burn out like a filament bulb and don't need the HV circuits like CFL's that are more prone to failure.  I'Ve replaced nearly every light in my home with them.   As LED household use is just getting big and affordable in the last year or two I don't believe they are building them to fail - rather building them for a reputation of reliability.   Prices for good quality 60 watt equivalent LED bulbs with good color temperature have dropped into the $2.50 range (Walmart).   It's s no-brainer to buy them now.   I've seen those sell for close to $50.00 in the past (True Value - LOL - store had them around that price just a couple years ago ).   After all they are diode's - a solid state component.  I've got radio's with diodes working that were made over 50 years ago.  While LED's do generate heat and have other properties different from a standard rectifier diode they only tend to lose their light emitting ability very very slowly over decades.