LED Interior Bulb Comparison

[Lindan n Jim]

I will be swapping out all my incnadescent bulbs for LED in the next few weeks. However, I have read many things about price, color, Lumens, longevity, and any number of other things. I don't know who or what to believe anymore.

For instance, I have seen prices ranging anywhere between ~$4.00 each to as low as ~$1.25 each (Amazon, where else). I have no local source of supply that I know of. I have also seen "do/don't select cool white" do/don't select warm white" and so forth. I have also seen "Incandescent emits 200 lumens, LED, much less". Or, "Incandescents produce 2000K to 3200K, but LEDs produce less/more. I am so confuse...............

I don't want to re invent the wheel, and was hoping to tap into the collective knowledge and experience here. I also want to spend the money once, and not experiment.

Please tell me your experiences. I'll be looking for good as well as bad ones. I'm also interested in your endorsement of any certain brands. suppliers, and so forth. Help me put this to bed once and for all!

[cruzbill]

well, I don't know what kind of fixtures you have, but I've replaced the bulbs in my tt with these: K-900UPG: WARM WHITE LED UPGRADE KITS FOR COMMAND OMEGA LIGHTS — Command Electronics



I'd go with warm white.
Some vendors: Cabinbright, M4 products, Superbright LEDs, or ebay.

I've got 3 dozen fixtures in my MH that take small G-4 bulbs, haven't tried replacing them yet.......

[Mr_D]

I put over 60 of the daylight LED's in my puck lights. Got most from Amazon but the lights in the bedroom weren't as bright as I wanted so I got some high output warm whits ones from M-4. Now I wonder if I should have gotten daylight there too. The M-4 LEDS were about $10 each and are much better constructed than the chinese ones from Amazon. Don't know if that means much in life though.
Every one of the puck lights had to be modified by removing the heavy metal reflector/heat sink and gluing the base back in.
I didn't buy any of the LED's that were dimmable but they work anyway. I think mine dim by pulsing the power and not lowering the voltage. But, what ever they do work like they should.

[SpaceNorman]

We swapped out all the interior lights in our coach about a year ago. The vast majority of the lights were 15 and 20 watt halogen bulbs with the G4 (2 pin) base.

We considered several sources - including M4, Hero-LED and the "no-names" found on eBay and Amazon. The M4 products were the most expensive - but did include detailed information regarding the quantity and type SMD light segments were on each bulb. Their mid-priced bulbs were made of SMD5050 segments (9, 12 or 15 segments - depending on bulb output). The Hero-LED products provided the same information - but were priced significantly cheaper than the M4 products (M4's were in the $7 per bulb range ... Hero-LED's were closer to the $3.50 per bulb range).

We purchased a 5 pack (roughly $18) of the Hero-LED's to try them. We went with what they called Cool White (6,000K). After installing the new bulbs in the a couple lights around the coach - we ordered enough to replace all the halogen bulbs.

The "cool white" bulbs definitely emit a white light - when compared to the decidedly "yellow" light that the halogen bulbs provided. Our old eyes noticed and liked the difference immediately. The old yellow bulbs made for "nice ambiance" ... but we're old, the heck with ambiance! - we're liking the fact that we can read and actually see stuff now!

We've had the Hero-LED bulbs on board for almost a year now. We didn't have any bulbs that were "DOA (dead on arrival)" - and have not had a single bulb fail in the year that we've been using them. We haven't noticed any sort of electrical interference with TV's, cell phones or other appliances (some folks have complained about those sorts of issues).

All in all - we're very happy with our choices (both in terms of supplier as well as in terms of "color").

[Isaac-1]

If you want the really short answer, LED lights are getting better every year

[Waiter21]

I like warm white. Its about the same color as an incandescent bulb. Cool white is more of a blueish color.

Here is a short writeup when I replaced all my incandescent with LEDs. Cost was about $1.25 each.

LED Conversion – 1999 Southwind 35S

Photo one and two show the difference in the bulbd.

Photo three and four are of a two bulb fixture, with the left part of the fixture is a 1141 bulb, the right side of the fixture is one of the LEDs.

The third photo show the color, almost identical. The forth photo shows brightness, the LED is just a little brighter than the 1141 bulb..

[Steverado]

Try Bangoods.com I have purchased the natural white and they very bright.

[BarryG20]

If you go by the k rating or (kelvin temperature color rating) the higher the number the whiter the light. I think incandescent lights are in the 3200 range outside sunlight is in the 5500 ish+ range. The higher the number the whiter the light
this link helps
Color Temperature (Kelvin)

It has nothing to do with the quality of the bulb just the color spectrum of light it emits

Nor does it have to do with lumens the higher the k the brighter it may seem due to the whiteness of the light but the lumens can be the same. However it may very well look brighter. The higher the lumens the brighter the light actually is, it is hard to go by watts anymore since the advent of energy conserving bulbs so lumens is the only consistent way to know how bright it will really be, a 100 watt incandescent light will produce approx 1500 lumens while an 18 watt led will do the same. There are charts on the web to give you an idea of incandescent, halogen, florescent and led wattage to lumens.

[baphenatem]

I replaced my halogen lamps with some warm white LED units from Amazon. The light output is virtually identical, 25.5 vs. 26 footcandles on the countertop below the fixture, but with about one-tenth the wattage.

GRV T10 921 194 24-5050 SMD LED Bulb lamp Super Bright Warm White AC/DC 12V -28V Pack of 10 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EDFM3B2..._XWv9yb09T2MW9

[RAAMaudio]

I replaced around 150 bulbs on our last RV, it had that many which is nuts of course...to LED, Ebay, modded some to work, spent around $300, exterior was fine but after living full time with them inside we decided we just never like the light from them, just not comfortable. I did some research, my wife even more, looking for full spectrum options now to see if more comfortable and more healthy as single wavelength light is not always best to be subject to.

This is a very important issue for us as making the Teton off the grid capable but not at a risk to our health or comfort.

Rick

[Curtis in TX]

I have been using these in my Fleetwood Coach. They are the closest equivalent to a 1156 filament bulb I have found. The light is very bright white. Same base too.

http://pages.ebay.com/motors/link/?nav=item.view&id=201542174428&alt=web

Extremely happy with these.

There is a 1157 - 2 contact version too. Used in reading lamps. I have 4 of those on my reading lamps in the bedroom.

It has taken me several tries to find the brightest 1156 LED replacement bulbs. And wasted a lot of money. These are shipped from the USA but are the same ones you can get from China a hair cheaper. If waiting is not an issue. I usually got mine from the WA guy in 4 days as opposed to 3 to 4 weeks from China.

And shipping is free from the WA seller.

[Dave0559]

I found all of my bulbs on ebay. I even did the inside 100 percent.