These were installed about 6 montha ago as a trial, 7 total and 2 of them had 1 LED that was out so I went out to change out the board with the bad LED
No one knows how long LED street lights really last! Current LED street lghts have only been around since 2008. Driver failures seem to be a problem tho.
I agree, it seems to be a bit of a leap of faith for utilities to do mass changeouts to lighting with technology we don't know the true longevity of. There were government stimulus grants for power companies to change to LED streetlights, but I wonder if HPS fixtures will start showing up as spot replacements for failed LED fixtures once the power companies find they don't have money to replace the costly LED fixtures.
I know a lot of cases they are trying several different styles of fixtures to see how they work! Also keep in mind that a lot of utilities have recently done mass change outs to HPS so your most likley not going to see mass change overs to LED for a while to come! Though I could be wrong but just saying!
Gov't grants mean YOU paid for it. That's how we got HPS, politician who got greased by manufacturers that make them and labor unions that install them.
I'd much rather CMH and - think about this, if we have LED or Induction then many linemen will loose their jobs because there will be no more relamping work (just a few fixture replacements) that's one reason I am in favour or CMH; it still needs relamping plus it's more efficent and can replace 400 watt HPS fixtures.