those look like sla batts.
when they die a conversion to li-ion would be easy seeing they are 4.xx volts.
that is if the rest of the unit holds up……
That’s what I was thinking. The LED’s are the only part I would have trouble replacing.
If they last, the rest is a piece of cake.
I admit I am concerned however, because LED sdon’t like to be run at low voltage AFAIK, and I don’t plan to use mine down past 1 or 2 hours 99.9% of the time (only in emergencies.)
But when they advertise 12 hours of run time, most of that is with the LEDs underpowered I would think which might damage them earlier than if they were only run at close to full voltage.
Still, I’m finding these lights very handy in many situations. Still glad I bought them.
underdriving them extends their life.
heat is the real enemy of leds.
That’s EXACTLY what I thought too.
Somewhere on here are at another major LED light forum I read a long discussion that I thought said LED’s are more affected by running at low power than at rated power.
Now I’m not sure again.
I’ve never heard of running leds at low currents hurts them only helps extend their life as well. Like with most things in life. Take engines for example run them hard things break early. Take it easy 200 to 300k miles. Same with people. Doing manual labor, for a living by the time your 40 or 50 you have all kinds of problems. Go to college and let other people do the hard work… You get the picture. Just like with special forces by the time your in your 30s your a instructor if you stay in. You’ve destroyed your body and can’t keep up anymore.
Also leds are rated for what 50,000 to 100,000 hours to what 70 or 80 percent of original brightness. So you have a long time before worrying hurting the leds even if you leave it on 24 hours a day.
@Zebretta- just thought I’d let you know that you’re not crazy. I read the same piece about “under driving” LEDs shorting their lifespan. Can’t remember where I saw it either. I do remember being more confused after reading it. Perhaps it was more about using lower than rated voltage, or PWM or something?
That only applies to low low low currents, and only constant-current, not PWMed.
Some German research paper went into that, and the mechanism behind it.
So if you have a firefly nightlight taking only 1mA into an XM-L, going 24/7, yeah, you might shorten its life somewhat. Otherwise, don’t worry about it.
Zebretta did you get to keep the broken one?
if so it can be put away and used as a control.
keep its battery charged so it does not degrade.
Maybe if an LED is run at low power using PWM, something called thermal fatigue can cause an early failure. The constant, rapid heating and cooling of the die during PWM can cause mechanical fatigue due to expansion and contraction.
I know that sounds bizarre, but it is something that has been witnessed in power transistors back in the day.
Some night photos of me out replacing fence posts using the Light Bar(s)…… 2 of them
I finally got my refund from AliExpress. Took about a month.