What to do after they burn out?

For the most part, few in this hobby keep their lighting that long anyway. Most that last in this hobby keep their lighting for less than 5 years before they want to try something else. At the rate this tech is advancing, the prices will be realy low in the future so these may more likely end up as disposable products.

 

AI fixtures have groups of 3 LEDs on pucks, and you can replace the pucks if you want to upgrade or replace the LEDs.

Sent from a phone.

 

Yes, I know Aqua Illumination fixtures have this nice feature. I think Maxspect might as well?

LEDs over your aquarium, or in the power button of your computer monitor, or over your kitchen island. They all work the same way. LEDs do not degrade over time in the way that metal halides, T5s and compact florescents do. LEDs are on full until their death(not all led chips are the same - meaning one brand will last longer than another) at which they stop completely. Some may see this as being worse, which in a way I guess it is. You have full light then none. But when you have light, quality does not decrease.

As of now, I would assume you have to pay a sum of money to buy a new fixture. Some other companies offer interchangeable parts(mentioned above) to keep up with time as technology progresses.

 

That is actually not true at all. THEY DO get dimmer with use.

But what I'm talking about is the plastic epoxy resin that is used in the LED part itself. Has anyone ever checked to see how long this plastic will stand up to intense light and heat?

I haven't heard of a plastic yet that does NOT degrade over time, especially when exposed to extreme temps and ESPECIALLY light.

The epoxy resin used in LED's is known to break down and discolor with shorter wavelength light... That means that half of your LED's will break down faster (the blue ones) and the other half, which still contain short-wavelength length (violet and blue) spectrum will break down this epoxy soon enough as well...

So, you can think that your shiny new LED fixture is going to last more than 5 years, but until they do, we have no proof.

I believe that High Power LED's are one of the biggest hyped products right now, but since the market has only seen these TRULY come to be in the past 2-3 years, I don't think we've had long enough to fully test their longevity.

I agree with the poster above who said that these will become disposable products in 5 or more years... I believe that by the time most of the LED fixtures run their course, we'll be replacing them with cheaper, hopefully better, more cost effective ones anyway.