A while ago I bought a couple of packs of red and amber LED side markers. I was going to use them but had second thoughts based upon the lousy reliability of LED anything. Thus far my experience of LED lighting has been utterly dismal. To recap my experiences...
Out of a dozen or so LED household bulbs from many different suppliers and manufacturers one one is still in service. Just one. That's utterly terrible reliability from bulbs whose manufactuers slap such unbelievable and farcical claims as "lasts 15,000 hours" on the packets.
Inside the bus I had LED lighting running 12v LEDs. Those would last maybe 10 - 12 hours before they burned out and blew the fuse as they went out. That got exensive fast. Not only was I having to replace a bulb but also a fuse. The bulbs weren't cheap either. In the end I fixed that by replacing all my lighting units with units that were rated for halogen bulbs and installed halogen bulbs. Problem solved. Subsequently I tried some LED bulbs with a BA12 mount (same as the turn signal and brake light bulbs) and found they made the light units as hot as the halogen bulbs. No saving there! Needless to say I can get halogen bulbs cheaply and easily. The LED things are just horribly expensive.
The LED remained lit for 60 days but was not illuminated at night as the sun, curiously, doesn't shine at night. Thus it was lit for approximately 720 hours. That is a far cry from the thousands of hours it's supposed to remain lit! In driving terms, as I drive with the lights on for safety, that's 720 hours of driving or at an average of 40mph that's just 28,800 miles. Not very long and not very worthwhile, particularly on commercial vehicles. A school bus I drove one year covered 240 miles a day. That's less than a school year.
Looking at the side of the LED it's possible to see a small circular heat mark beside the resistor. No wonder the thing went out. As the LED was now pure junk I dismantled it for investigation.
One of the LEDs turned out to be totally dead. The other surprised me. Putting current through it directly it turned red. Putting current through the resistor it turned amber. The other LED did not work at all. I would have put photographs of the changing colors but the LED fried itself before I had the opportunity to take a photograph.
The board is marked 7986 and LM10884. A google search came up with an out-of-stock product (imagine that!).
The only place I am using these lights is as a stairwell light. There, it will be on for a few minutes at a time so 720 hours should last a good few years. On the stairwell I have one and it's red. It gives enough illumination to see the stairs on the blackest night but doesn't produce enough light to be really visible and won't destroy night vision.
Having investigated that light, it's now in the household rubbish, waiting to go to the dump. The other LED lights left over are just stored in a box, awaiting a good idea. They will not, of course, be used on anything as mission critical as vehicle lighting. Incandescent bulbs just last longer. As an example of that, on my car which I have had for the past 16 years, I have had to replace two headlamp bulbs and three number plate lights. The third brake light desperately needs replacing but it's one of those ridiculous LED things and they quit making them. There is apparently a halogen replacement but I have yet to find that myth as a reality.
So, the takeaway from this is that I was dead right to be skeptical. It will be a dark day in Hell if they quit making incandescent bulbs.
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