When you’re spending a good chunk of money on a smart lighting system, you want to know it’s going to last. We’re here to break down the expected timelines for a smart lighting system and find out which components are likely to fail first.
How long do smart lights last?
Smart lights use LEDs, which reports show last much, much longer than incandescent bulbs. LEDs can withstand 30,000 to 50,000 hours of operation until the brightness is reduced to 70% of the initial brightness. Meanwhile, CFL bulbs will last 8,000 to 10,000 hours, while traditional incandescent bulbs last only 1,000 hours. Applying a bit of math shows that you could turn on an LED bulb for eight hours a day for 17 years, and even then you’d face a slight diminution of the bulb’s brightness. If you’re really worried about your smart lights lasting long enough, you can always set a schedule so they only turn on when they need to.
Do smart bulbs burn out?
The LED will emit less light over time. Rather than burning out from overuse, they are much more likely to become unusable sooner rather than later due to a wiring error or gradual decline in paint quality.
The reason LEDs last so much longer than incandescent bulbs is that they don’t rely on generating heat to create light. Incandescent bulbs send their voltage through a filament that heats up until it begins to emit light, but more than 90% of that energy is lost as heat. So there’s a lot less stress on the materials at play in an LED, but that doesn’t mean they don’t produce heat at all. Improper materials that do not take into account the small amount of heat they produce can lead to burns. In this sense, LEDs that are made with a bad heatsink are likely to burn out. Household wiring that runs at too high a voltage could just as easily fry a smart light bulb. However, there are exceptions, and in general you shouldn’t expect your smart lights to burn out the same way as incandescent bulbs.
Do smart bulbs last longer than regular bulbs?
Smart bulbs last longer than non-LED bulbs. One potential pitfall with smart lights versus “dumb” LED lights is software support. For example, Philips Hue bulbs require a wireless hub to communicate with your phone. After a while, the mobile app stopped supporting voice commands for all Hue bulbs that were connected to the first generation hub, requiring users to upgrade to the next generation. In these cases, the smart bulbs themselves worked just fine, but the software backbone they needed partially failed. Basic functions were still supported, but smart lights should be expected to lose some of their functions as software platforms evolve.
Do smart bulbs break?
At worst, smart bulbs become less useful over time. Degradation of light quality is likely to occur with any LED bulb, and manufacturers are unlikely to provide software support for any product indefinitely.
With all that in mind, we hope you can choose a set of smart light bulbs with a clear conscience. These bulbs last a long time and should serve your home well by providing convenient, colorful lighting. However, there is much more to it than LED lighting. We have a comprehensive guide to smart lights that should provide some additional background on these products.
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Source: newstars.edu.vn