Sometimes
there is a certain understanding that changes over time. It happens in many
parts of our life, workspace, love etc. etc. Same is the story about the “Life”
of an electric bulb. With the typical yellow round lamps (GLS) we knew it’s
life is over when the small thread is “cut”. But that is not considered as the
life of a bulb.
Any bulb,
when lit for the first time provides the maximum lumen. And it reduces and
reduces and reduces – so slowly, that we do not understand the change.
Experiments show that in a typical office people will not notice the change in
amount of light till it hits 30%. Means the old lamp is providing 70% of its
initial capacity. And that is majorly considered as the “LIFE” of a bulb – how long
it can provide 70% of its initial brightness.
Let us
start with GLS. A normal incandescent lamp has a life of 750 to 1,000 hours. A
better make can go up to 2,000 hours (maximum). For Halogen incandescent lamps the maximum figure
is doubled – 4,000 hours.
If we
consider CFL, they give a pretty good data. CFLs generally lose not more than
20% of initial brightness over 10,000 hours life. High-quality linear
fluorescent lamps (T8 and T5) using rare earth phosphors will lose only about
5% of initial lumens at 20,000 hours of operation.
In this
context Prakash LED is a monster here. Prakash Group, as a manufacturer of
high-power white LEDs estimate a lifetime of around 50,000 hours to the 70%
lumen maintenance level. And, depending on drive current, operating
temperature, etc. some of Prakash LEDs have a useful life values greater than
100,000 hours.
So,
switch over to Prakash LEDs – it is a lifetime investment.