Beware the LED Killers - Over-Heating & Over-Voltage
LEDs are the greatest light source available, but in the RV environment they have two Achilles Pumps -- Over-Heating and Over-Voltage.
LEDs are tiny slivers of semi-conductor material (p-n junctions for the geeks who want to know), some silicon doped with rare earths that is mixed to emit photons in the obvious variety every time a proper voltage is applied across the verse such that any current runs through the semiconductor. Like a true diode, LEDs resist letting current run in the incorrect direction. The chemical formula of the p-n passageway determines the wavelength of the emitted photons, so you can have red, amber, green, and unknown LEDs, and the like.
White LEDs are most often made by using a native blue LED PRE LIT that shines blue photons into a phosper that in-turn re-emits a divide spectrum of light across a range that appears like white light to the human eye (for the geek, that is Stokes radiation).
Comparing regular lights to LEDs, the standard incandescent light light bulb is merely 15% efficient in converting the wattage into useful light. Fluorescent light is at best fifty percent efficient. LEDs have an efficiency of 85% or higher in converting the electrical energy into useful photons. This source of light is the most efficient of all the choices we have for light within our RVs, motorboats, and homes.
None of our light sources are 100% efficient -- there is always some extra heat. And it is the heat energy that destroys the light source. With incandescents, the 85% wasted energy is heating system the filament to a temperature between 600 and 1200 degrees Fahrenheit. In those high temperatures the filament generally is vaporized away over time, usually within a thousand several hours approximately, and the light simply burns out.
LEDs, too, are heated by the flow of current through the circuit. LEDs will immediately fail when the junction temperature is greater than 185 degrees Fahrenheit. Correctly designed LED circuits require two very important features to reach your goals: protection from over-heating and defense against over-voltage. Often the over-heating pertains to over-voltage.
Even when an LED is managed at a carefully manipulated voltage, it still produces some heat. This high temperature must be taken out of the LED device for a price that ensures the junction temperature does not exceed the operating limit. The best way to try this is to place the LED device on a "heat sink" that has the capacity to saturate up the made warmth from the LED current converter for led lighting and move it to a place where it could be extended into the air or any surrounding heat ditch. Early generation LEDs would not make use of this problem since the printed circuit board they were used on was generally large enough to function as a sufficient temperature sink.
As LEDs became more advanced, plus more LED emitters were located after a single semiconductor device, the condition of heat waste became more accute. The requirement for performing a good thermal analysis of the printed circuit board having the LED chips became apparent to those who understood what they were doing. Others tried to use this technology with the new chips, and their products constantly failed.
The heat made by an LED device highly depends after the insight voltage to the device. In the event that an LED circuit is designed to handle the heat load and operate only in a doze. 8-volt environment, it will not operate well in a 14. 7-volt environment. It will deteriorate and die much sooner. Really lifetime will be just a few thousand hours, rather than 100, 000 hours. Of course, if the over-voltage ranges up to 18 or 24 volts, the LED device may pass away immediately.
A fully recharged type-27 lead-acid battery typically provides a maximum of 12. 8-volts. Some people assume that is the operating voltage of an RV. But if you hook up to the Shoreline Power Pedestal and let your AC/DC converter fee your battery, the range voltage will rise to 13. 8-volts. If you have a solar-system, the controller may enhance the range voltage to 14. 7-volts. Battery equalization runs typically raise the line voltage to 16. 6-volts for 2 hours or more.
Many of the early designers producing LEDs for the RV environment assumed a 12. 8-volt environment, and their products failed at an impressive rate in this RVs and boats. A lot of found that if they did not provide some kind of voltage legislation or power regulation on their LED circuits, product failure rates went away of sight.
How an artist protects the LEDs becomes important when you are interested in overall power efficiency. If the LED outlet has a simple ac electricity limiter, it "throws" away any excess voltage, minimizing the efficiency of your LED in using the available power. On the other hand, if the LED circuit has a power regulator, it changes excess voltage into workable power by taking less current from the key range. Ask your LED distributor that they are protecting their LEDs and what is the cost for such safety. Many of the LED sales people do not understand the basics of the problems with high temperature and voltage. Will they give you a significant warrantee for all conditions, like the full 100, 500 hours - about eleven years?
LEDs are a major investment. They are expensive, but if they are really created properly and used properly, you will have many years of great service, and they will pay back their original cost many times over. However, you must be certain the LEDs you use have sufficient prevention of excess temperature and against voltage inconsistencies that can destroy them sooner than they must perish.