Re:Gaming CS Interviews
by mrguyorama on Wednesday September 28, 2022 @05:31PM
(#33013545)
It's also the big reason why low price LEDs barely last longer than incandescent did. The LED itself is not burning out, but the heat it generated cooks the capacitor used to generate the correct power output, which dies pretty quickly under heat stress.
If you leave a LED bulb on for a while next to one that's been off, you can definitely feel the heat difference with your bare hands.
This is especially true at the higher end of lumen output, where you're optimizing for peak brightness instead of max efficiency. The power vs brightness curve isn't linear for a given emitter (and the human perception of brightness isn't linear either).
A LED that's twice as bright will be more than twice as hot. If you have a bright headlight it will typically be in metal housing that also doubles as a heat sink, and probably have internal thermo regulation to turn itself down before overheating.