> Will dimming a LED light possibly increase it's lifetime?

Will dimming a LED light possibly increase it's lifetime?

Posted at: 2015-01-07 
Generally no. For the most part for an LED what is happening is that you supplying enough power such that it goes through an atomic energy state change which creates the emission of light, which then causes that atom or molecule to drop back down to a lower state and then build back up. Essentially, if you over drive an LED it will reduce it's life, but for the most part the manufacturers regulate the voltage coming into the LED to prevent that.

Once an LED starts to go, what's happening is that again at a molecular level some aspect of the material is breaking down, that changes the voltage characteristics of the overall circuit, but not for the remaining good material, which now gets overdriven. So you end up in a cascade effect. Running the LED at all creates this breakdown eventually it doesn't really matter whether at full or lower capacity.

Thinkingblade

Yes. Running a LED at lower than it's rated current means less heat at the device's junction, and should mean a longer life.

Conversely running at over it's rated value will drastically shorten it's live

Hi they are not like the standard light bulb they are a semiconductor which draws a small current to give out light. so reducing the current is not going to make any difference what so ever to it's life.

It cost a lot and no matter what you do they burn out fast . Led light = waste of money !