Related to the topic of emitter failure, I've had three lights fail in the pat 11 years. All failed because a spring detached, or a wire detached, or the solder failed. The emitters were in each case just fine.
average life span of a led flashlight?
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wweiss
Enlightened
As stated, it seems the driver's durability is the arbiter of how many duty cycles a light gives. A quality driver, potted and made with the best components will likely last longest.
idleprocess
Flashaholic
There are cars that can be made to last 1 million miles, but the maintenance requirements are immense, with the vehicle potentially becoming the proverbial Ship of Theseus.
On a decade-plus timespan - especially with daily use - durable components start to become wear items.
Since 2009 I've had a Fenix 1x AAA light on my keychain. Simple operation - 2-piece housing, twist the head for on/off and to toggle between its 3 modes. It still works well, but it's well past 50% of its useful life. The finish is gone at all possible wear points, the head falls off occasionally, the lens is kind of hazy, and the O-ring is about to give up life for good. But the failure point is apt to be the hole(s) in the base for the split ring that's key to attaching it to my keyring that's eroding away from the action of the steel ring working against it - it's likely to wear the present hole and the original hole open in another ~5 years at which point a key function of the light will be gone. This is after switching to the second hole once the first got worn down to an alarming point. I could attempt surgery to repair it post-failure - I have a drill press and could possibly fashion a reasonable workholding tool for the job. But when that feature of the body goes it will probably be shelved - I got more than a decade of service out of it, and the odds of success are low enough that I doubt I'll bother. Were I to commit to keeping the light operational, I suspect the next failure component would be the PCB which must survive being pinched with each cycle and the traces which rub against the body regularly.
There are other factors involved in economic lifespan. Occupational hard-use cases - military, first responders, trades - probably need a working light promptly in order to work, thus end-of-life replacement is apt to be the norm; and the definition of end-of-life is apt to be "it no longer works" or "its reliable functionality under work conditions has been unacceptably compromised". Sure a $5 part might fix it, but if that part is hard to source or 2 weeks away the light may well be swiftly replaced - or set aside and a "B" set light cycled in.
There's also the case of investment. I'd probably do almost anything to keep a pricey/all-but-impossible-to-replace signature/custom light - i.e. McGizmo, Barrel, Hanko, Cool Fall - working. I'd go to some lengths to keep a high-end light such as a Surefire working. A sub-$50 light a decade on I might source a simple user-serviceable part for. A ~$20 light that fails out of warranty ... I will probably dispose of.
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Likely heat sinking the main issue. I've seen overdriven LEDs show no difference in 10 years in output. On the converse, if the sink is even a tiny bit unsecure, blue city in about 4 seconds.
Cosmetic condition will of cause suffer with use, but that doesn't affect performance. A keychain light will be exposed to a lot more wear than a handheld light on most days, it's not surprising to hear that it started to give up that quickly. Good point about the seals, that's definitely another part that will need replacing, together with grease for threading and O-rings, I forgot about that. When I mentioned simple, durable, quality lights, what I had in mind was along the lines of Handheld SF, Malkoff or Elzetta. Simple Coated/potted electronics should last a very long time if not abused, the bodys of these lights should never fall apart under any reasonable circumstance and leneses/boots/seals can be easily replaced. Parts for most of these lights should also be available for a long time to come.
idleprocess
Flashaholic
Short of performing an A/B comparison, you're probably not going to notice a 30% reduction in output under most scenarios since our perception of brightness is non-linear.
Thetasigma
Flashlight Enthusiast
Assuming periodic maintenance and good initial build quality, however long the flash lasts on the microprocessor in your light. 20-30 years maybe
I've had LED flashlights that died over the years, but I think it was more the case of non-replaceable rechargeable batteries or other mechanical failure.
Then there's my Nitecore TM06s with it's four LEDs. I've had it since sometime in 2017, and used it almost daily for a few minutes on the second to the lowest level. Then maybe about a year ago, I noticed that on the lower levels, one of the four LEDs wouldn't turn on. On the higher levels, it works, but I don't know about actual output. I charged up the batteries, then tried new Nitecore rechargeable batteries, but same result. So...is this an LED failure or "just" a connection or other failure?
Then there's my Nitecore TM06s with it's four LEDs. I've had it since sometime in 2017, and used it almost daily for a few minutes on the second to the lowest level. Then maybe about a year ago, I noticed that on the lower levels, one of the four LEDs wouldn't turn on. On the higher levels, it works, but I don't know about actual output. I charged up the batteries, then tried new Nitecore rechargeable batteries, but same result. So...is this an LED failure or "just" a connection or other failure?
alpg88
Flashlight Enthusiast
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well it works on higher levels, so the led is ok, and connection is fine too , since it works, It looks like driver issue i had same thing happen with my srk, one led would not turn on when batteries were low, by pure luck i found the issue, it was one of the smd diodes, i replaced it and it works just fine since.
parang
Newly Enlightened
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I have a ten yo headlamp, with a rubber membrane protecting the switch, but it perforated, and shortly it started to flicker. It is irritating so I retired it.
Another cheap one was defective by design - the thread on the end cap is so shallow, when there are batteries in it, the force of the spring just pushes the end-cap off of the light.
)
Yet another cheap light that saw almost no use is so weak, it is barely firefly mode level.
A new led lantern was dead on arrival.
There are many stillborn lights manufactured and sold without any QC whatsoever. Probably most of them.
Another cheap one was defective by design - the thread on the end cap is so shallow, when there are batteries in it, the force of the spring just pushes the end-cap off of the light.
)Yet another cheap light that saw almost no use is so weak, it is barely firefly mode level.
A new led lantern was dead on arrival.
There are many stillborn lights manufactured and sold without any QC whatsoever. Probably most of them.
alpg88, thanks for the reply! I'm not a techie though, so will have to live with the lowered output. Unfortunate, since this is not a cheap throwaway light. I guess I should be happy that the LED still functions at higher levels, where the extra LED is more important.
WalkIntoTheLight
Flashlight Enthusiast
If it's due to higher resistance or something affecting that single LED, the LED might not function at full brightness, even though it looks like it's working at higher levels. So, overall, your light may not be as bright as it should be.
pezdragon
Newly Enlightened
Years ago I had 3 Fenix T-1's that lasted maybe 2 years of infrequent use before the emitters all turned brown with a huge reduction of light output. They became basically battery burners at that point so out they went. I don't remember what the emitters were but the 20,000 hour lifetime claim was definitely shot down.
alpg88
Flashlight Enthusiast
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i had a nebo light that i kept on my windowsill in upright position lens up., after some time i noticed half of led dome became brown, it still worked but not as bright, just like in an example above, but i can't say for sure, it was not the sunlight that the led as exposed to for a long time, maybe it destroyed phosphorous and caused it to turn brown,
in my experience the led no matter how abused from overdrive is not the failure point.
for an example i am still edcing a arc ls .
the failure points are the switch and boot.
it has seen several led upgrades.
the driver is solid after all these years.
the led is driven within specs so theoretically it should not fail/wear out in several lifetimes of typical flashlight usage.
for an example i am still edcing a arc ls .
the failure points are the switch and boot.
it has seen several led upgrades.
the driver is solid after all these years.
the led is driven within specs so theoretically it should not fail/wear out in several lifetimes of typical flashlight usage.
funny you mention this.
i have had several luxeon k2 leds where the dome went dark after sitting a long time unused.
when first lit one was almost magenta and another yellowgreenish.
after several hours they shifted back to normal and the domes lightened up a lot.
i understand this is from the dome absorbing offgassed vapors from plastics,lube,ect.
the nebo is a cheapie so who knows what led it has.
all the higher power ones i have seen were some sort of latticebright or similar cree clone.
if sunlight did this i suspect the led would have a very short life due to the high blue/near uv content of the die causing similar degradation.
run it a while to see if it clears up or gets worse.
i have had several luxeon k2 leds where the dome went dark after sitting a long time unused.
when first lit one was almost magenta and another yellowgreenish.
after several hours they shifted back to normal and the domes lightened up a lot.
i understand this is from the dome absorbing offgassed vapors from plastics,lube,ect.
the nebo is a cheapie so who knows what led it has.
all the higher power ones i have seen were some sort of latticebright or similar cree clone.
if sunlight did this i suspect the led would have a very short life due to the high blue/near uv content of the die causing similar degradation.
run it a while to see if it clears up or gets worse.
idleprocess
Flashaholic
A few months later...
The Fenix LD01 that lives on my keychain has entered EOL. It does not consistently make when the head is rotated and is finnicky on where the contact is sustained.
While I could perhaps tease out what's wrong with it and make it reliable again, I'll take 12 years of service every day of the week for the ~$40 it ran me in 2009 and determine its replacement sooner rather than later.
The Fenix LD01 that lives on my keychain has entered EOL. It does not consistently make when the head is rotated and is finnicky on where the contact is sustained.
While I could perhaps tease out what's wrong with it and make it reliable again, I'll take 12 years of service every day of the week for the ~$40 it ran me in 2009 and determine its replacement sooner rather than later.
fuyume
Enlightened
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- Jun 25, 2021
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- 275
It depends.
I've had incandescent Mini Mags that have lasted decades, and at least one Mini Mag LED whose switch died within a year. I have a first gen CMG Infinity that no longer works right (intermittent connection somewhere), and another that works perfectly. These are over 20 years old, now, I think. My Leatherman Serac S3 is perfectly functional after over a decade of use. My Inova X1 is about 6 years old, I think?
I've had incandescent Mini Mags that have lasted decades, and at least one Mini Mag LED whose switch died within a year. I have a first gen CMG Infinity that no longer works right (intermittent connection somewhere), and another that works perfectly. These are over 20 years old, now, I think. My Leatherman Serac S3 is perfectly functional after over a decade of use. My Inova X1 is about 6 years old, I think?
