OLED Lifespan

[metrologist]

I read that OLEDs have a short lifespan. Unfortunately, I've incorporated one of the ebay 0.96" OLEDs into a solar monitoring project that would have the display on all the time.

I think I found a site that listed the MTBF for my display as 80k hours (http://www.trulyamerica.com/products/oled-modules/), or about 9 years. I know that could be more or less, or failures could happen in just specific areas, and that typically does not mean dead, but ~50% brightness.

That doesn't really have a qualitative meaning to me, however. What am I likely to expect over the next 10 years?

[sokoloff]

I have a whole house audio system with OLED touchpads for controls and I made the poor choice to leave the "time display" enabled on the one in the master bath.

After about 5-6 years, the display in the time area had faded to (estimated) 33% of initial brightness and I ended up having to replace the touchpad to get a usable control again. (And of course, I turned off the time display on it this time.)

If it's for your own use and is a one-off, buy 5 extra OLEDs and change them out twice a decade in the worst case.
Alternately, use a touch sensor (if your micro is so equipped) or a PIR to turn the display on when someone is touching/nearby.
Alternately, run it 10 seconds on, 50 seconds off, or 10 seconds bright and 50 seconds dim.
Alternately, use half the display area and alternate between L/R or top/bottom.

For a one-off, I'd be inclined to just make it work and replace the displays as/if needed.

[ebastler]

I think I found a site that listed the MTBF for my display as 80k hours (http://www.trulyamerica.com/products/oled-modules/), or about 9 years.

That is probably on the optimistic side. Here's a datasheet for a white 0.96" display specifying 30,000 hours:
http://www.pixel-sol.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/OEL9M0083-W-E-REV1.2.pdf (page 13).

The lifetime is indeed specified as the time by which the brightness has been reduced to 50%. And it is probably relevant that they have specified "odd and even chess board alternately displayed". So each pixel is assumed to be on for only half the time. If your application has static display elements which are always on, these pixels may fade to half the brightness in just 15,000 hours, i.e. a good 1.5 years.

[metrologist]

Gasp! 1.5 years will not do, despite having ordered six of these units. I can use them in more appropriate applications and move to regular LCD for perpetual display.

I think I will change the code and add a 15 second display button to this project.

[ebastler]

I think I will change the code and add a 15 second display button to this project.

If it's not too late and you can still fit a button onto your panel or PCB, that's an easy way out. Should make the display last "forever", unless you are very interested in your solar output. 

[dmills]

Got burned HARD on a broadcast industry product using AMOLED for a small video display screen, damn things lasted less then 6 months before coming back for new screens (24/7 application in sometimes rather hot racks)....

A screensaver (crank the brightness way down) fixed that, but the colourimetry was still not wonderful if you had more then one box.

We swore off oled!

Regards, Dan.

[james_s]

Got burned HARD on a broadcast industry product using AMOLED for a small video display screen, damn things lasted less then 6 months before coming back for new screens (24/7 application in sometimes rather hot racks)....

A screensaver (crank the brightness way down) fixed that, but the colourimetry was still not wonderful if you had more then one box.

We swore off oled!

Regards, Dan.

A friend of mine was a broadcast engineer and a number of years ago they got some kind of consoles that had small OLED displays on the buttons. They started failing in large numbers after a few months also, turned into a big hassle and the replacement units eventually changed to LCD.

[dmills]

I know the buttons in question, the LCD versions are also generally junk by the way, nasty things but RCP manufacturers being what they are....

NKK make a version that is supposed to not totally suck, I remain to be convinced.

Regards, Dan.

[james_s]

Seems like the sort of thing that wouldn't be hard to make work well. I mean I have cheap TFT displays that have run 24/7 for years and still look ok. OLED looks fantastic, but it's definitely not the best choice for something that's always on.

[thm_w]

Its actually 10,000hrs, or ~416 days: http://www.buydisplay.com/download/manual/ER-OLED0.96-1_Series_Datasheet.pdf
Maybe triple that if you are using reduced brightness.

There is a lot of good information here: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/projects/oled-storage-lifetime/

One thing which I don't see noted is blue OLED should last much shorter than the other colors, and usually blue, yellow, and white monochrome OLEDs are the ones available. So would be interesting to see those compared.

[Kjelt]

What is not mentioned is that if there is a small leak in the display (through mechanical stress for instance) the oled will oxydize, you get a kind of blackish spots that are growing over time.
Small displays are not that vulnerable but larger display like tv displays it is notorious.

[ebastler]

Its actually 10,000hrs, or ~416 days: http://www.buydisplay.com/download/manual/ER-OLED0.96-1_Series_Datasheet.pdf

Well, hard to say which of the various datasheets is more "actual" than the others.
But it is probably wise to go with the most pessimistic number.

What I find even more concerning is the stated "20,000 hour storage life time", which according to the table is also defined by an intensity drop to 50%. So this thing will degrade within 2.5 years even if I don't use it?! Or is this misleading information and refers only to storage before soldering, and the oxidization of contacts? But that is not what the table and its headline say. (Section 5.2 of the datasheet.)

[thm_w]

Well, hard to say which of the various datasheets is more "actual" than the others.
But it is probably wise to go with the most pessimistic number.

What I find even more concerning is the stated "20,000 hour storage life time", which according to the table is also defined by an intensity drop to 50%. So this thing will degrade within 2.5 years even if I don't use it?! Or is this misleading information and refers only to storage before soldering, and the oxidization of contacts? But that is not what the table and its headline say. (Section 5.2 of the datasheet.)

The site I found that datasheet with 10k hours was selling the "generic" modules, so I would be more inclined to go with that number. You are right though.

BTW the truly america site lists MTBFs for each color, so if you want the longest life, go with yellow or red.

Color:    Blue    Green    Red    Yellow    White    Full Color
MTBF:    80K hr    80K hr    150K hr    150K hr    80K hr    50K hr

[dmills]

The storage life is a thing, basically water ingress messing with the chemistry.

Blue does have a clearly shorter operational life, to the point that we have to change out both of the RGB displays on products fitted with two at the same time to maintain a reasonable colour match.

As I say we have now sworn off oled for anything new, I look every year or so but have not been convinced to change that position.

Regards, Dan.

[sokoloff]

I installed some NOS replacement NuVo keypads with a 2007 build date and they’re perfectly fine, so it’s clearly not that all OLEDs will die from calendar time.

[daslolo]

What a shame they last so little, I love the look.
How do cell manufacturers like Samsung handle AMOLED short lifespan?

[Brumby]

They bring out a new model.

[Rerouter]

my Samsung SG5 with an original screen has had significant OLED burn in due to static bright elements on a mapping application, so even the OEM's cant say they last forever.