LED modules ever wear out

Can LED modules ever wear out? I have a surefire 952 and several led conversion heads for other surefire lights from TNVC and they don't seem as bright as when new. Could it be the battery junction brand 123 batteries I am running?

Yes, they do 'wear out' in a way, and losing brightness or changing colour are possible as the LED ages. However, unless you drive them very hard (which effectively means letting them get very hot) then it takes a very long time. Ageing might not be your issue...

Have you tried cleaning all the electrical contacts inside the flashlights, including the threads on the bodies/tailcaps/heads if they are used for conduction? If not, that's where I would start.

Get some Deoxit contact cleaner (red, not gold) and use it on all the contact areas, following the instructions. It cleans off the accumulated oxide and can make a big difference. Perhaps clean the surfaces with a little IPA before the deoxit, to remove excess grease if there is any.

Deoxit Gold, by the way, is great for using when you have cleaned the contacts or on new equipment. It does not clean so much, but it leaves a protective and conduction-enhancing layer.

Search here for more info about Dexoit - there are lots of informative posts.

I bought batterystation batteries at one time and found them to be unacceptable quality wise. Things ,ay have changed since then as it was a few years but I wouldn't rule out the batteries being the problem.

WilsonCQB1911 said:

I bought batterystation batteries at one time and found them to be unacceptable quality wise. Things ,ay have changed since then as it was a few years but I wouldn't rule out the batteries being the problem.

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Except the OP said Battery Junction and not Battery Station...probably Titanium brand.

Back in the day, I think Battery Station made a huge emphasis to improving product control after there were some initial problems with their CR123s.

That said, a (VERY) few LEDs are known to wear out rather quickly. Some of the early Surefire LEDs had some problem-Luxeon chips in them, and I cannot recall which ones it was. These would overheat in even perfect installation and fail early.

It is possible for parts of the light to go bad, dimming output. Batteries are one, switches another. The other electronic components tend to be all or nothing.

Are your eyes okay? Some people first notice eye problems after flashlight incidents. It could be that some recent injury you didn't notice during the day only shows in low light levels that we use flashlights in.

And it could be that just plain old relativity, where today's thumb-sized flashlights match the top output of the best from five or ten years ago.

WilsonCQB1911 said:

I bought batterystation batteries at one time and found them to be unacceptable quality wise. Things ,ay have changed since then as it was a few years but I wouldn't rule out the batteries being the problem.

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I can't get anywhere near the life out of them that I can energizer lithiums or surefires. Too bad, the price was nice.

LowFlux said:

Except the OP said Battery Junction and not Battery Station...probably Titanium brand.

Back in the day, I think Battery Station made a huge emphasis to improving product control after there were some initial problems with their CR123s.

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Apologies Flux, I did mean Battery station. I have yet to try battery junction, not sure why I typed their name

glock63 said:

I can't get anywhere near the life out of them that I can energizer lithiums or surefires. Too bad, the price was nice.

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When they came with charge I found the same. I also found quite a few new duds. I only buy SF now.