Community Forums

Ryegal · 04-23-2012, 05:07 PM

Has anyone put led lights in a vintage MH? Thank you all this is such a great place and people

Muddypaws · 04-23-2012, 05:21 PM

I bought a bunch of them for our previous RV. The color was bad, the beams were very small (I.e. not diffused at all), and even though it hurt to look directly at them they did not produce enough light. A pinpoint of very bright light doesn't make much light 5 feet away. (that pesky square of the distance thing ya' know)

That being said things have changed since then. They are much better but still expensive. For me it makes more sense to run the generator for an hour or so every other day when we boondock. We boondock fairly often and when we do I am the sound and stage power guy at music festivals. Lots of generators around.

If they ever make ones that are well diffused and have an integrated dimmer I'll buy several.

leadman · 04-26-2012, 01:24 AM

I have installed 5 led lights in my MH. 2 different type of strip lights and one replacement for a regular bulb.
Three of my incandescants drew over 4 amps, 4 of the LEDs draws about .5 amps.
I bought 3 of my LEDs from Cabela's that were designed for marine use and are waterproof. These are a strip style and give a good light.
Another strip I bought was the most expensive and included a switch. This is in the kitchen area.
I replaced the It is about 10" long and puts out a great light.bulb in the bathroom with an led. This is the most disfused lighting of the 3 types.
One of the Cabela's lights is now an outside light by the door. My wife leaves this on for me if I go night fishing.
For ease of installation the replacements for the incandescent bulbs is the easiest. Depending on your bulb it can run from $5 to over $20. There is a overwhelming amount of led lights on E-bay.

ischua · 04-28-2012, 07:52 PM

I go to "Star parties" for telescopes so no white lights allowed. I found this at the parts store Alpena/28 in. red colorful LED light (77016) | LED Exterior Accessories | AutoZone.com
I have them under the cabinets in bath and kitchen you can hardly see them. Also I have some on my scope and they will run for hours on a 9v battery

336muffin · 04-28-2012, 08:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ischua

I go to "Star parties" for telescopes so no white lights allowed. I found this at the parts store Alpena/28 in. red colorful LED light (77016) | LED Exterior Accessories | AutoZone.com
I have them under the cabinets in bath and kitchen you can hardly see them. Also I have some on my scope and they will run for hours on a 9v battery

I have ordered the EXACT lights on ebay for $6. I just ordered two 16ft 2in. led strip lights with the 3M tape on the back for $25 for both!. These use hardly any juice at all I agree. I have changed out my (24) G4 halogens with very good light for $2.08 each delivered from ebay.

Senior Chief · 04-29-2012, 10:02 PM

We changed out almost all our halide and incandescent bulbs for warm white LEDs and put in a motion sensor "StarLight" LED porch light. We kept incandescent bulbs only in fixtures we use rarely, like in the storage bays.

We kept 2 florescent fixtures (we had just replaced the old ones with expensive Thinlines before we started with the LEDs).

Color and lumens are great. Cost is substantial when you're doing the whole coach, but its worth it to us for long bulb life, cooler temps and increased boondocking capability. Florescents are amp-thrifty and more cost effective, but I despise the light.

wa8yxm · 04-30-2012, 10:31 AM

LED lamps should be sold only in Las Vegas, cause in Las Vegas many people are used to the saying" You pays your money and you takes your chances".

Seriously.. I have purchased some LED's I'm very very very happy with, For example when I had a house I had 12 volts to the headboard on the bed for reading lights, they used 1157 (Stop/Turn/Tail) lamps and the LED replacement was great.. The ones I got to replace 1156es in the motor home.. NOt so good.

The LED assemblies I used to replace the stop/turn/tail lights on the motor home, Fantastic.

But you got to try before you buy.

That said MOST major lamp formats (See above as examples) can be replaced with LED's directly, no mofification of any kind needed,,, Just make sure they are good LEDS and not the royal blue jobs. Watch the spec calleds LUMENS and COLOR TEMP.

That 1156 I had had very good clor Temp, and lumens comparable to the 1156 it replaced.

Evpraxia · 05-27-2012, 07:23 PM

We have put LEDs in almost every lamp in our home and are switching our motor home over to LED.

I'm really interested in the motion-sensitive porch light. Only once did I leave the regular 12 volt light on overnight, no more battery usage on that trip.

Manuel B · 05-28-2012, 06:15 PM

I bought an 8' long 12 volt LED warm white flexible strip to go around the underneath edge of my queen bed platform for $6.99 incl shipping, my current bedroom courtesy light is a small round light with a chrome eyelid on the top half,
And I bought a 16' strip that has 600 12 volt white LED bulbs and has a 3M self adhesive backing that I mounted just below my awning, it was $21.99 with free shipping, all the RV stores I checked only had 110 volt strips and were in the $99.00 range and up, if this works ok I might add another strip to the awning roller, but not sure about attracting too many bugs.
I am also going to put two amber strips underneath my folding entry steps and do away with the round normal bulb that's under it now,
Awning rolled up photo, (can't get it to show up in the post)
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...Coach/LED3.jpg

I like it and it will be useful, a friend's son will be racing shifter karts at Barber Motorsports park next month so I might park in the paddock next to them. Now I'm trying to find a source for switch labels, I'm addicted, thinking of doing the basement storage bays, and maybe my closet and kitchen cabinets on automatic switches,
and two 12" strips along the undersides of the supports for the panel that covers the inside steps when not in use, to replace the other small round eyelid light, I don't know what you call that panel, I call it the don't step in the hole in the dark panel.

Awning extended photo, it put's out more light than shows up in the photo but I don't have a quality camera to take night shots without the flash.

rickricca · 05-28-2012, 06:58 PM

v-leds.com
5K WHITE 48 PCB 194 921 1156 3175 211

leadman · 05-28-2012, 11:33 PM

The quality of the LEDs seems to be improving and the price is coming down.
The LED I installed for a porch lite on the MH has 6 LEDs and it really lights up the area at night. I do night fishing for crappies so may come in at midnight or later. The wife will leave the porch lite on and I have no trouble seeing it from almost a mile away. Looks like a star in the sky, except lower on the horizon.