Brightness Degradation
Outdoor LED advertising screens degrade in brightness at an average of 10-12% after two years of use. An advertising company in Beijing reported that, after 24 months of use, the brightness of their LED display decreased by about 12%, from 4000 nits to 3500 nits. In summer, because of high temperatures and strong UV exposure, the brightness degradation rate of outdoor LED screens can be close to 15%.
Indoor LED screens have an average brightness degradation of 8%-10% in five years. If the initial brightness is 2000 nits, it may decrease to around 1800 nits after five years.
In Guangzhou, the outdoor LED advertising screens show a brightness degradation rate of 12% per year due to high temperatures and humidity in the region.
After three years of usage, a global advertising giant had its huge LED screen in New York attenuate in brightness by about 15%. If its initial investment is 1 million yuan, it directly hit 30% of the advertising revenue.
The rate of degradation can be as low as 5-7% yearly with quarterly cleaning and inspection, while a screen that is not maintained might degrade by more than 10% each year. It can increase the life of the LED screen for almost two years through regular maintenance.
Energy efficiency in LED displays decreases by 3-5% annually. Assuming that a single high-brightness LED screen uses 600 watts of electricity, it will have a 15% to 20% reduction in its effectiveness after five years of use and therefore can cost big companies an additional 30,000 to 50,000 yuan in annual electrical consumption.
The average LED screen life is between 5 and 10 years. But in fact, some of the newest LED screens on the market have started showing over a 20% loss in brightness after only five years. Indeed, a first-quality LED display might start out at 5000 nits, then fall below 3500 nits within four years with daily usage.
In big stadiums or concert stages, it’s good to have over 8000-nit brightness.
For those companies that need to replace LED screens every year, the cost of their replacement and maintenance reaches 15% to 20% of the total investment. An initial investment of 5 million yuan would translate into an extra cost of 750,000 to 1 million yuan for replacement and repairs after five years.
Some new LED screens use low-degradation LED chips and effective cooling systems, which ensure a low rate of brightness degradation within 3%-5% per year. If you’re planning a stage LED setup, here’s a guide to to help with budgeting and planning.
Color Shift
About 15%-20% of LED screens have different degrees of color shift after 2 to 3 years of use.
According to an outdoor LED advertising company, after three years of screen use, the average color shift is about 15%. Blue LED chips are most susceptible to aging.
In indoor LED displays, the color shift within five years of use is 5%-8%. The color shift of LED screens should not be more than 5%.
The color shift rate of high-quality LED screens is more than 50% lower than that of poor-quality screens. After running for three continuous years, the color shift rate of a premium LED display was only 4%, while that of the same kind of product from some other brand reached as high as 10%.
The color shift rate of the automatic color calibration function is 30%-40% slower than that without this function.
A commercial LED screen can maintain a stable current for one year, while high-brightness screens experience a 5%-7% color shift in one year.
For LED screens with serious color shifts, the cost of re-calibration or replacement of some LED modules is between 500 to 1000 yuan per square meter. If you’re looking into 3D billboards for your project, you can read more in this . A company that invested in a 50-square-meter LED display may have to pay as much as 25,000 yuan for repair after three years.
Pixel Failure
About 5%-10% of the lifetime of LED screens suffers from pixel failure.
The failure rate for outdoor LED displays is about 3-5%, while that for indoor LED screens is about 2-3%.
Pixels fail either as dead pixels or bright pixel spots. High-contrast content increases the possibility of pixel failure by about 20%-30%.
Some high-class LED screens have kept the rate of pixel failure to 1%-2% even after five years of use, while mediocre ones may present a failure rate of 6%-8% in that time.
Outdoors, especially in high-temperature conditions, the rate of pixel failure in an LED screen may rise by 40%, while good ventilation could substantially reduce that rate.
The LED screen with current fluctuation tends to have more possibilities of having failed pixels, increased by 15%-20% than those without fluctuation.
The cost for one dot may be about 50-200 yuan. For those comparing transparent LED film technologies, see this . For more than one pixel, the replacement may be around 1000 to 5000 yuan. For ultra-large screens, repairs are up to 10%-15% higher.
Heat and Overuse
The key factor in over 80% of the failures of LED screens is overheating.
The temperature of an LED screen working at high brightness could be as high as 20°C-30°C in comparison with the surroundings. If there is no heat dissipation arrangement, then the temperature an operating LED display may reach or even surpass 60°C, and in the meantime, the rate of failure is three times higher than in normal conditions.
Some LED screens are even said to decrease in brightness by 30%-40% after running in high temperatures for more than four hours.
Under continuous operation of 24 hours, the degradation rate in brightness of LED screens is around 50% faster compared to those used under normal conditions. While most LED screens are designed to have a lifespan of 5-10 years, overuse could cut this by as much as two years.
Some LED screens will degrade more than 20% of their brightness in 1000 hours of continuous use, while the screens which are rested adequately demonstrate the degradation rates of 10%-15% only. For more insights into outdoor LED signs, visit this . The advertising screens in malls and station displays operate for an average of 16-18 hours every day, which raises screen temperatures during peak loads in excess of 50°C.
In case of failure in temperature control, the brightness degradation rate increases to 50%-70%. Some LED screens can maintain a temperature below 50°C with their cooling systems.
Backlight Wear
The backlight degradation of the LED screens starts to be noticeable after 2000 to 3000 hours.
A running six-month LED backlight can incur a brightness loss of up to 30-40% while operating under high temperatures compared to normal conditions, which stand at 10-15%.
Outdoor LED advertising screens operating at high brightness levels, for example, above 1000 nits, can degrade the backlight’s lifetime by as much as 20%. A backlight system that is supposed to last five years may degrade to an unacceptable level in about four years.
Edge-lit LED backlights degrade faster than direct-lit backlights at high brightness levels.
Some high-quality display devices also have backlight systems that degrade by 3 to 5 percent annually, although for low-quality products, this rate may be higher, up to 10-12%.
About 75% of LED displays will degrade in backlight by up to 20-30% after 3-4 years of use, whereas in public transport information systems, some displays degrade substantially within as little as two years, with up to a 40% probability of noticeable wear.
The dynamic brightness adjustment technology of high-end displays can prolong their lives while greatly reducing energy consumption.
By frequently maintaining temperature, the rate of backlight degradation could be as low as 10-15%; on the contrary, it will reach 30%-40% without any maintenance. To explore LED display rental costs, check out this .
Contrast Loss
Over time, the contrast in these LED screens starts to degrade with age.
Within three years of use, the contrast in LED screens degrades by 15%-30%. For many high-end LED displays, a drop in contrast of up to 40% is possible within two to three years.
In some outdoor LED advertising screens, after three years of high-brightness use, the backlight brightness can drop by more than 25%. The lifespan of the LED backlight is generally between 30,000 to 50,000 hours, while its annual attenuation rate usually is over 5%-10%.
The color temperature for LED screens should be about 6500K. This drifts to cooler or warmer after some time, and after five years of use, the color temperature drift can be as high as 5-10%.
When screen contrast drops by 20%, image detail clarity can be reduced by over 15%, and text readability can decrease by up to 25%.
Above 40°C, the degradation rate of LED backlights could be more than twice that at normal temperature. The contrast losses of LED screens could go over 30% after long operation. To ensure the best viewing distance for optimal contrast, you can refer to this .
Power Consumption Increase
As the performance of LED screens worsens over time, power consumption increases bit by bit accordingly.
Most commercial LED displays increase in power consumption by about 10-20% after 3 to 5 years of usage. The brightness of the screen, backlight system, and power management components are related to this increase.
In the case of LED screens, after five years of use, power consumption can increase by over 30%. For instance, if the initial power consumption of an outdoor LED advertising screen is 600 watts, it will increase to 800 watts or even higher after a period of time. Long-term use may result in annual electricity costs amounting to tens of thousands of yuan.
In high-temperature environments, the power consumption of LED screens can be as high as 15%-20% more than in a normal environment. In the outdoor advertising industry, power consumption increases by an average of 8%-12% annually. LED displays operating in full brightness mode consume 40%-50% more power compared to the standard mode.
Some power adapters operate with efficiencies below 90%, meaning 10% of the power is wasted.
If an enterprise has multiple screens with an average increase in power consumption of 15% over five years, at an overall consumption of 1000 kWh/month, the additional cost for electricity per year can easily exceed 18,000 yuan. To learn where LED screens are typically manufactured, you can check out this . Optimized LED screens reduce energy consumption by 30-40% under low ambient light conditions.
