LED Lights

[Tom and Patty]

Just added these lights. They are either blue or white, and replace our halogens. No switches are required. The first time the switch is turned on, blue. Turn the switch off and back on, white. They are over the TV lift. We'll try them out tonight.

[Refuse1]

Tom,

Are they dimmable?

Where'd you get them?

[Midniteoyl]

Wait.. you can have them come on either blue or white? Thats cool! Where'd ya get'em??

[Batman_777]

I'm starting to replace all of my halogens with LED's.

Halogens are expensive, burn hot, eat up a lot of electricity and don't last long.

LED's are somewhat expensive (shop Amazon: Much cheaper), uses very little electicity, burn cool and last 60,000 hrs.

If the USA went on a campaign to replace all incandescents with LED's, we would save millions and millions of power watts.

http://eartheasy.com/live_energyeff_lighting.htm

http://www.ledstarlight.com/led-comparison-chart.php

The cost of LED lighting will come down as they become more and more mass produced.


Life Span (How long will the light bulb last?)
(LED) (FLUORESCENT) (INCANDESCENT)
60,000 hours 10,000 hours 1,200 hours

Watts Per Bulb (Wattage Equiv. at 60w)
(LED) (FLUORESCENT) (INCANDESCENT)
6w 14w 60w

Cost Per Bulb
(LED) (FLUORESCENT) (INCANDESCENT)
$15.98 $2.98 $1.25

KWh of electricity used over 60k hours
(LED) (FLUORESCENT) (INCANDESCENT)
360 840 3,600

Electricity Cost ( @$0.20 per KWh )
(LED) (FLUORESCENT) (INCANDESCENT)
$72.00 $168.00 $720.00

Bulbs needed for 60k of usage
(LED) (FLUORESCENT) (INCANDESCENT)
(1 bulb) (6 bulbs) (50 bulbs)

Equivalent 60k hour Bulb expense
(LED) (FLUORESCENT) (INCANDESCENT)
$15.98 $17.88 $62.50

Total cost for 60k hours
(LED) (FLUORESCENT) (INCANDESCENT)
$87.98 $185.88 $782.50

Calculate Your Energy Savings per 60,000 hours and assume #30 bulbs per Household

Total cost for 30 bulbs
(LED) (FLUORESCENT) (INCANDESCENT)
$2,639.40 $5,576.40 $23,475.00

Savings by Switching from Incandescent
(LED) (FLUORESCENT) (INCANDESCENT)
$20,835.60 $17,898.60 0

[RobRV]

Ya But ..................Turning off some of the Lights will save $ as well! We find that We only use one or two lights at any given time so running out to spend money replacing unused bulbs still seems like a waste of Money to Me.

If on the other hand I replace bulbs, as they burn out with LED's I will not only save spending My hard earned Money, but at some point the retail price of those New technology Light sources should have dropped to an even lower price.

Without Hi Jacking this thread I use the same "Common sense" to justify running My Vehicles until They Die or get too expensive to repair. It is still cheaper to burn Gas and Diesel in My Old Vehicles than to Rush out and Buy a new Electric Car or Bus!

I suppose if we were to start all over at square one.....but that's another Story!

[Tom and Patty]

http://store.marinebeam.com/

The LED's are a tight fit in our fixture, but the do fit. As far as I know they are not dimmable.

The two colors work with a capacitor. IIUC the lights come on blue then switching the light off for about one-two seconds causes the capacitor to discharge, turning it back on switches to white. I think that's right. Help electrical wizards.

They have red/white for night vision.

We use these lights over the lift whenever we are watching the tube..... Wait it is LED too. The halogens get hot and the blue is not as harsh as the white.

Mood lighting!!

[sdennislee]

Thanks for the link. I see they have a 2 year warranty as well. I am going to try the same bulbs.

I noticed on the page shown in your link the offer a dimmer switch. Says the dimmer works with all their bulbs including their LED fluorescent tubes.

[Jim A]

Prudentrver.com sells a variety of LED lamps to replace halogens, and even fluorescent bulbs in the Thinlite fixtures. His G4 replacement lamps are apparently brighter than those Tom used, rated at 200 lumens versus 100 lumens. Not the cool blue color, but if you are looking to use the under cabinet lights for reading instead of mood lighting, these might be worth looking at. Mine are an earlier model no longer available, but they were dimmable with the existing dimmer, but only down to a point, maybe down to 25% or so.

http://www.prudentrver.com/ledlamps.html#G4-3NF

I used his MyT.fLED-custom lights in my vanity area fixture that originally had 3 1141 incandescent bulbs, and the light output is far superior! I used two 12" strips. Not cheap, but great light. I also used them to replace some of the fluorescent bulbs in the 12 volt fixtures. Again superior light output with less power consumption.

http://www.prudentrver.com/ledfleds.html

These LED's don't have the bluish cast that lots of the lower priced LED are noted for.

[Jeff and Cheryl]

Earlier this year I replaced the under cabinet light with the LED lights that Jim reffers to from Prudent RV'er. The light is superior to the halogen bulbs, they do not generate near the heat and use about 30% of the electricity.

[Stevegd007]

Yikes....did you see the cost per LED bulb...$25 + shipping! I really like the idea, colors, and coolness for these LEDs....BUT I am going to hold off cause of the cost per blub. EEK...I could fill up my gas tank on the MH for the cost to replace existing bulbs with LED lights. Sorry if I sound cheap...I could bite for like $5/LED and at that price it still way more than the replacement bulb.

[takepride]

There are a couple earlier discussions of LED dimming. The newer style LEDs require a pulse-width-dimmer (PWD). They turn the lights on and off so fast the human eye can only register a lower light level. Prudent RVer sells them, using a momentary on switch or button. On the 2012 Airstreams, they now have a sliding PWD that is much easier to use. Hopefully this means more will be available soon.

[Midniteoyl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom and Patty Replacement LED bulbs for your existing boat fixtures The LED's are a tight fit in our fixture, but the do fit. As far as I know they are not dimmable. The two colors work with a capacitor. IIUC the lights come on blue then switching the light off for about one-two seconds causes the capacitor to discharge, turning it back on switches to white. I think that's right. Help electrical wizards. They have red/white for night vision. We use these lights over the lift whenever we are watching the tube..... Wait it is LED too. The halogens get hot and the blue is not as harsh as the white. Mood lighting!!

Those lights look sick! Thanks Tom and Patty!

[Old Rv'er]

I changed all the halogens bulbs in the coach to LED's, why, no i'm not rich. Because those lights get wayyyyy tooooo hooottttttt, and I don't need a fire. I can leave the LED's on for hours at a time and then never even get warm. It costs about 300 dollars to make the switch. The BH does not like the color of the light, and I have not found a dimmer/switch for the reading lights on both sides of the living room, but with the link provided, I might have one now. I don't want a seperate switch and dimmer, I want one contained unit which does both.

[toadswife]

We ordered an Evergreen Everlite fiver a few weeks ago and the 2012's come with LED lighting throughout. Guess we may see others following suit? Anxious to see how the lighting is at night as it was hard to tell during the day at the dealership.