LED Headlamps

[Egads]

Does anyone know if LED headlamps have a service life? I have one that is about 3 years old that seems to be growing dimmer.

Please do not suggest it is the batteries as I have put in 3 different sets to check.

[Panzer1]

I was under the impression that you would get tired of the head light and throw it away before the light failed.

Panzer

[Marta]

Interesting question. My headlamp seems dimmer than it used to be, even after putting in lithium batteries. I thought maybe it was an operator problem, such as that it isn't supposed to have lithium batteries, or that I have failing eyesight.

[Egads]

I was under the impression that you would get tired of the head light and throw it away before the light failed.

Panzer

I am about to, I can't see my feet with it.

[Wise Old Owl]

No they don't they are ultra reliable. Some models have a chip inside to regulate the power to exstend the life from the batteries, if the connections are clean, not rusty and the circuit has not gotten wet it should be ok. If it got wet, corrosion inside the package would be a clear culprit. Or inside the switch. Honest it isn't worth farting around with, these are now cheap enough that a three led unit is easy to replace.


If you can't see your feet, its not the light that is the problem...

[Alligator]

Been to the eye doctor:D?

OK, how about the battery contacts?

[Panzer1]

I found this:

Please note: Petzl products can only be shipped to US addresses. Petzl warns against the use of lithium batteries with this headlamp as doing so might cause the lamp to overheat and damage the LED bulbs.

Have you used lithium batteries?

Panzer

[Egads]

Been to the eye doctor:D?

OK, how about the battery contacts?

Battery contacts are good, and my eyes are good enough to notice that you are about to hit 7,000 posts

[Wise Old Owl]

*&^*&%^%$#

[Rain Man]

Please do not suggest it is the batteries as I have put in 3 different sets to check.

Scratched or dirty lens cover or reflector dish? Or, the diffuser cover is in place and you're looking for the spotlight? Mine has a diffuser that slides out of the way for the spotlight.

Rain:sunMan

.

[Wise Old Owl]

First lift the cover and remove the flux capacitor becareful not to touch the leads as it containt 1.2 gigawatts of power it looks like this...

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg275/MarkSwarbrick/flux_capacitor.jpg

[Alligator]

Battery contacts are good, and my eyes are good enough to notice that you are about to hit 7,000 postsAaachh, I only have one post left to plan with:datz. The big 7000, I'll have to go read the Wargy thread for inspiration. I should have this figured out in a couple of days.

[Wise Old Owl]

Wargy's arnt real - they are imagined - Congrats on 7000!

[Wise Old Owl]

Oh I discovered why your headlamp is getting dim!

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg275/MarkSwarbrick/Hooters2.jpg

[The Old Fhart]

Egads-"Does anyone know if LED headlamps have a service life?"Most LEDs have a life expectancy of 10,000 to 100,000 hours of on life. On source I found talks about the light output of LEDs this way:
"Lumen depreciation in LEDs varies depending on package and system design. The primary cause of lumen depreciation is heat generated at the LED junction. LEDs do not emit heat as infrared radiation (IR) like other light sources, so the heat must be removed from the device by conduction or convection. If the LED system design has inadequate heat sinking or other means of removing the heat, the device temperature will rise, resulting in lower light output. Clouding of the epoxy encapsulant used to cover some LED chips also results in decreased lumens making it out of the device. Newer high-power LED devices use silicone as an encapsulant, which prevents this problem. LEDs continue to operate even after their light output has decreased to very low levels. This becomes the important factor in determining the effective useful life of the LED." Note that after about 7500 hours the light output will probably be over 90% of the original light output so if you left it on solid for 1 year (8760 hours), it might lose 15%.

[Wise Old Owl]

OMG he looked it up! thats 1 to 11 years of constant use. I hear crickets....everyone went to bed again... Why do Owls stay up all night? I going to make a small furry sandwich....M I C K EY MOUUU S EEEE! good night. WOO

[slow]

Does anyone know if LED headlamps have a service life? I have one that is about 3 years old that seems to be growing dimmer.

Please do not suggest it is the batteries as I have put in 3 different sets to check.

Most have a 10,000 hr factor per bulb.

[Panzer1]

I think you should just get a new one..

Panzer

[Wise Old Owl]

So do I!