UnCursing the Darkness.

It's a week after the solstice. It's dark. Light candles. Pack-Rat tip: I got some of those Christmas exterior 'rope lights'. They have 360 small bulbs in a 30' armored plastic tube. Seems a cheap alternative for lighting your storage space. Question...: I recently bought 2 each of all the white LED's that Jameco sells. While *white*s are OT, they are nonetheless impressive. The light density, efficiency, color, and longevity they have is pretty amazing, to me anyway. Jameco rated them at 4 foot candles at 20ma, which seemed a little 'opto'mistic. I tried them out, and they reach near peak light at more like 180ma, getting just noticeaby warm. At 250ma they are 'uncomfortably' warm, hence question: Did they really mean 20ma? at that proportion they're putting out <10% peak, but 180ma is WAY above spec, Jameco's spec anyway. So I guess Jameco's wrong? Could I be loosing lifespan at this current? Maybe the not-too-warm test is good enough? John A. remember, I'm a software guy.