Keep in mind that the ideal design may have little meaning for the
application intended. 100,000 hour life of leds for use in flashlights
for example. How many sets of batteries would you need before you
approached the 100,000 hours of the bulb?

Likewise in a Westy. Even if you wired them up such that the lifespan
was reduced to only 1/10th of device spec, down to 10,000 hours, it
would be more than enough life. If you lived in a Westy full time and
used the light 5 hours every night for 5 years you would still not reach
10,000 hours. Who cares if the Westy lighting could have been made to
last for 50 years of living in the Westy with a costlier and more
cumbersome implementation? Even the 5 year design would be overkill for
99% of owners.

Keep it practical and affordable. It is a Westy, not a manned mission to
Mars.

Mark