PWM and led life?

[Gunner12]

Does PWM shorten an LED's life span. Beause pretty much every other lighting source will die (relatively) quickly if flick on and off constantly.

Thanks in advance

 

[evan9162]

PWM is actually used to dim incandescent light sources without reducing their lifespan.

PWM also is used to dim fluorescent lamps:

Because of this, major dimming requires impedance-varying means, current-varying means, or something similarly fancy such as pulse-width-modulation.

From: http://members.misty.com/don/f-dim.html

As long as parameters are kept within the LED's specs (maximum pulse current, maximum average current, thermal management), then PWM has no effect on LED lifespan.

 

[chris_m]

You're confusing high frequency PWM where system inertia (ie the filament heat capacity for incan) smooths out the pulses with lower frequency visible flashing, which can damage lighting.

 

[Gunner12]

Thanks for the info,