What is it?
In order to facilitate a comparison of the long term performance between different LEDs, the LED industry, Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA) developed a standard for measuring lumen maintenance of LED light sources, i.e. IES LM-80-08. It applies to the LED package, array, or module alone, not a complete system, it is testing a component level. The standard does not provide guidance for extrapolation of testing results.
Who can perform testing?
LM-80-08 testing should be performed by EPA recognized Laboratories. Only reports from recognized laboratories are relevant. This standard is used for Department Of Energy (DOE) ENERGY STAR program early qualification in conjunction with other reports. LUMINANCE SYSTEMS products use LED with available LM-80-08 test report from recognized laboratory.
What does it provide?
The testing report issued according to a standard format will provide luminous flux for a given current at least 6,000 hours with data collection at a minimum of every 1000 hours. Testing shall be carried out under well controlled operating conditions (e.g. a constant DC drive current in a thermal chamber where the LED temperature and surrounding air temperature are controlled within specified limits). Luminous flux will be measured for 3 different LED case temperatures: 55ºC, 85ºC and a third temperature to be selected by manufacturer. Besides the lumen maintenance, the chromaticity shifts over the measured period.