How long do RGB LED backlights really last?

[typo]

This is best fot candlepowerforums but many of you are good at math.
In switch SMD LED's now. 9 levels of light. Kept on first level 24/7. Full forward voltage is 2.33V. Level 1 is .18V. on level 1 they claim to last 50,000 hours. very conservatively at .18v they should last 400,000 hours. so lets just be even more conservative and just say 50 years at 24/7 on level 1 24/7. That is realistically a "lifetime" keyboard. Or at least matches  the 50-80 Million keystrokes. Of course in realty something, be it the LED, switch or solder should fail much sooner than that on at least some keys. However some other keys just very well may make it there. Nothing is perfect. Some Toyota's go 400,000 miles and the exact same model goes only 65,000 for someone else. I just found of this of interest and thought someone else may as well. the big lesson is do not crank up your LED's. On level 9 their lifespan plummets to just 9 years. If that long. Of course this will be of no interest to touch typists. I am in fact a touch typist. I just enjoy RGB. I intend to continue to enjoy it as well. So I leave it on level 1. Partly due in fact to being a touch typist. Realistically in 10+ years, replacing a switch is not a big deal to me. Nonetheless it shall be interesting to see how long they do in fact last. I have never had an LED fail. My only failures on a keyboard have been due to solder.

[Riverman]

Solder failures are typically what do in LEDs, too.  Like you've figured out, LEDs have an extremely long lifespan, but if they're not soldered well, they'll fail prematurely.  At least on a keyboard, fixing the soldering job is much easier than on something like an automotive LED assembly.

[typo]

Yes, but as you too know over heating an smd LED cooks it. Which is actually also much easier to do on a keyboard! I have started out "here we go" and ended up "darn" more times than I can count. I do know how to solder and have a state of the art smd rig. It is difficult without automation. Hardly any of these were initially soldered by hand.  You get a blinking LED it is almost always still just fine. Until we go mess with it. Just replace the switch now that they are encapsulated finally. The 3mm through hole were even worse, They have consistently improved like everything else but it seems much slower. I guess switches is just not a huge market, even though we are the smallest segment of it. I have high hopes one day a board full of switches And LED's lasts 50 years. Well, Topre already mostly does! It is all the solder with MX. Exactly.