Grumpy:
It wasn't intended to be a commercial (or even a long term) circuit. I was determining if I could get enough light to replace spark gap bulbs for photographing short term events. Using edgerton style air gap sparks on pyrex tubes I can get a few dozen shots from each 'bulb'. If I could get two or three times that from LEDS it would be worth it. That I got 10,000 'exposures' would have been fantastic if I could have gotten enough light for my purposes. Unfortunately measurements indicated I would need more LED's than would have made it cost effective.
That the LED's were being damaged is a certainty, but you seem to be missing my points.
- LEDS (even high power ones) are CHEAP.
- Over powering them has a relatively low probability of harming the experimenter
- Sometimes the design goal allows for much shorter lifespans.
- Experimentation to determine lifespan and feasibility is valid
and finally - Beginner's learn as much or more through failure than they do from following 'rules of thumb' they don't truly understand the basis for.