Advanced
Metal Halide vs LEDs
Lifetime and Reliability
LIFETIME
TECHNICAL
Lighting Technology
Comparison
B R I E F
AND
R E L I A B I L I T Y C O M PA R I S O N S
ith an excess of information available touting LED LED FAILURE
products as immortal, the “Building Technologies According to the DOE report, “the failure of any LED system
Program, Solid-State Lighting Technology Fact Sheet” component, not just the array of LED packages, but also the
is a recent report from the US Department of Energy (DOE) that electronics, thermal management, optics, wires, connectors,
helps separate fact from myth. When compared to other lighting seals, or other weatherproofing, can directly or indirectly lead to
technologies, the main argument in favor
product failure.”1
of LEDs is the long life. This technical
Key Points
As shown in Figure 1, both indoor and
brief illustrates data-driven comparisons
• Replacing the power supply in an LED
outdoor LED applications experience
fixture is exponentially more difficult
of life cycle and reliability for LED and
dramatic increases in failure rates later in
and expensive than simply replacing
advanced metal halide lighting.
the life cycle. While LED technology is
the lamp in a metal halide fixture
often thought of as everlasting, the
Venture Lighting International, a leading
• MTBF of 100,000 hours means that
graphs clearly argue against this myth.
manufacturer of advanced metal halide
over a 10-year (continuous) useful life
Many LED manufacturers offer five or tenlighting systems, strives to share accurate
period, 87.6% of the units will likely
year fixture warranties, but these product
comparisons of competing lighting
fail and need to be replaced1
replacement guarantees do not include
technologies.
• Simply replacing a lamp is not nearly
the high cost of labor. Also, “significant
as costly or difficult as replacing an
depreciation” is usually excluded as a
Product Failure
entire LED fixture
failure mode. Therefore, if an LED fixture
M ETAL H ALIDE FAILURE
loses 70% of its light output during the
Most users of outdoor metal halide lighting are familiar with lamp
warranty period, the end-user is left in the dark.
median life ratings (approximately 20,000 hours or five years)
Figure 1
and occasionally the failure of the magnetic ballast (10%-20%
W
Indoor metal halide applications show similar data, but this is
dependent on the usage specifications. It is not unusual for an
indoor metal halide fixture to last 15 years (approximately
100,000 hours) with possibly 3-4 lamp changes and 10-20% of
ballasts being changed during that time.
Venture’s 100 Series Systems deliver 100 lumens per system watt
and provide superior reliability compared with competing LED
systems.
Outdoor Based on 200 Fixtures
200
Number of Fixture Failed
over ten years), but users seldom experience the failure of the
entire fixture.
MH System
150
100
In Years 9-12
90 Fixtures
Will Fail
(2/Month)
50
10
0
In Years 12-14
100 Fixtures
Will Fail
(4/Month)
LED System
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
Years (4500 Hours/Year)
Indoor Based on 1000 Fixtures
Venture’s SPL product,
with a 40,000 hour rated life
comparable to LED systems
LEDs have a
rated useful life of
30,000 to 50,000 hours2
Number of Fixture Failed
1000
LED System
MH System
750
500
In Years 6-8
450 Fixtures
Will Fail
(18/Month)
250
50
0
In Years 8-10
500 Fixtures
Will Fail
(20/Month)
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Years (6500 Hours/Year)
11
12
13
TECHNICAL BRIEF
Lifetime and Reliability of Lighting Systems
Component Failure Comparisons
Defined in the DOE fact sheet, “reliability is a different statistical
measure of performance that, in principal, describes the ability of
a product to perform its intended functions under a specific set of
conditions for a specific period of time.”1
Figure 2 highlights the differences between failures in the
components of a metal halide fixture and an LED fixture. This
DOE data for LED component failures speaks to the little-known
differences between LED lifetime and LED reliability of
components.
While an LED
Figure 2
package may have long life, the
graph shows that the majority of
LED component failures are the
power supplies, while the
LED
majority of metal halide
Package
10%
component failures are the lamp.
Venture Lighting
Technology Solutions
Venture Lighting offers a large variety of energy
efficient, advanced metal halide lighting
solutions that surpass LED technology in fixture
lifetime, reliability, life cycle cost and ease of
maintenance. With 100 lumens per system watt and up to 90%
mean lumens, the efficiency of the 100 Series Systems is
unparalleled. The 100 Series Systems includes Venture’s Super
Pulse Start Long Life (SPL) lamps with 40,000 hours
rated life and LeafNut™ Wireless Lighting Control
System that increases energy savings and life span
through dimming.
LED Component Failures
Replacing the power supply in an
LED fixture is exponentially more
difficult and expensive than
simply replacing the lamp in a
metal halide fixture.
This often-confused difference is
explained in further detail in the
DOE report. “Note that while
both lifetime and mean time
between failures (MTBF) are
typically reported in hours or
years, the latter is actually an
average failure rate metric
rendering a direct comparison
between
the
two
ratings
meaningless and cause for
misguided conclusions.
For
example, while a lifetime of
100,000 hours might be
considered excellent, a ballast or
driver MTBF of 100,000 hours
means that over a 10-year
(continuous) useful life period,
87.6% of the units will likely fail
and need to be replaced.”1
Driver
(Power Supply)
52%
Housing
31%
Driver
(Control Circuit)
All metal halide lamp manufacturers recommend
group re-lamping at about 75% of rated life to
maintain optimum light levels and achieve economical
replacement. It appears that group
re-fixturing should be recommended
at 7-10 years for LED systems. Simply
replacing a lamp is not nearly as
costly or difficult as replacing an
entire LED fixture.
7%
MH Component Failures
Controls
5%
Housing
5%
Ballast
(Power Supply)
10%
Lamp
80%
MH Outdoor
Lighting Fixture
LED Outdoor
Lighting Fixture
For more information about Venture’s
efficient lighting systems, visit:
VentureLighting.com/Systems
(800) 451-2606
or (440) 248-3510
Fax: (800) 451-2605
7905 Cochran Road
Glenwillow, Ohio 44139 USA
E-mail: venture@adlt.com
Footnotes:
1 U.S. Department of Energy, “Building Technologies Program
Solid-State Lighting Technology Fact Sheet: Lifetime and Reliability”
2 U.S. Department of Energy, “LED Frequently Asked Questions”
VentureLighting.com
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