Replacing Interior light bulbs with LEDs ???

[gallant205]

Hi Mudfrog. I read your comment about going by lumens on buying LED bulbs. Well, that was my first thought, too, but you don't see much on the websites like Amazon that offer lumens. It's like you have to guess OR agree with comments like "these are really bright!" An example below:

Title: iBrightstar Newest 9-30V Super Bright Low Power 1156 1141

URL: https://smile.amazon.com/iBrightstar...-1-spons&psc=1

Long ad, no lumens. Surprise- the first comments people made were just that: "What are the lumens?"

With that in mind, that's why I originally asked people for the number of SMDs they'd recommend, because the little ones put out a certain amount of light each, and the count matters. And I'm not trying to be a smart-aleck. I'm just trying to figure it all out.

Thanks for your comments.

[Mudfrog]

You're right, it's tough finding the specs for the bulbs on Amazon.

Still no specs here but I found the spotlight bulbs I bought and have been happy with. They are about the same brightness as the incandescents but run a lot cooler to the touch. The 3200° is perfect imo.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Wasn't able to find the dual contact bulbs that I ordered. Guess I didn't get them off Amazon. I'll post back if I figure it out..

[R_2ndWind]

Being older I wanted something bright too but mostly I wanted to reduce the heat. I went with these totally based on price.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011E9QXU6...00LEBLI82?th=1

At that price, I figured if 50% were bad or I didn't like them no great loss.
Neither was the case. I did find that two fixtures had the positive and negative wires reversed and none would work in it until I reversed the wires. Been a year now and I am still very pleased with the results. They are brighter and MUCH cooler than the incandescent bulbs. I may look for some that are more bright for directly above where we read but they seem good so far.

Don't be afraid to jump in the LED pool, especially for inside. Good luck!

Bob

[tmw188]

The heat reduction is unbelievable especially on those swivel spot reading lights, I don’t think they even get warm.
I used the stick on adhesive strips to covert my fluorescent lights the kits did two fixtures with two strips each for around $45.

[Ivylog]

Replaced 70 in my “new” MH for less than $70...EBay and one flickers occasionally. For the puck lights I like G4 12 5050 SMD chips in warm white closer to 4000 temp. In my Dynasty before replacing the 32 halogens drew 32 amps...LEDs 4 amps. After 10 years maybe 2 of the cheap EBay China ones stopped working and they were closer to $2.50 each back then.

[Redapple]

Originally Posted by DbleDutch

Waiter21 has it right. The 3000-3500 k match nicely to the warm incandescent color.

Changed out all my lighting in our 2008 Flagstaff 5th and enjoyed more light while boondocking.

Do It!

X3. Just did all mine last weekend. Here is what I got from Amazon...

KAFEEK 20× Super Bright 1156 1141... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073CKVR6T...p_mob_ap_share

Virtually no difference in light.

[Redapple]

Originally Posted by gallant205

Hi Mudfrog. I read your comment about going by lumens on buying LED bulbs. Well, that was my first thought, too, but you don't see much on the websites like Amazon that offer lumens. It's like you have to guess OR agree with comments like "these are really bright!" An example below:

Title: iBrightstar Newest 9-30V Super Bright Low Power 1156 1141

URL: https://smile.amazon.com/iBrightstar...-1-spons&psc=1

Long ad, no lumens. Surprise- the first comments people made were just that: "What are the lumens?"

With that in mind, that's why I originally asked people for the number of SMDs they'd recommend, because the little ones put out a certain amount of light each, and the count matters. And I'm not trying to be a smart-aleck. I'm just trying to figure it all out.

Thanks for your comments.

The ones I got are 50 smd's and 600 lumens each. Very compatible with the original incandescent bulbs.

[Frank Miller]

I'm going to offer a slightly different idea, but not because I don't like LEDs because I do like them very much.

When we bought our 2011 RV two years ago we thought the 40 halogens in the ceiling weren't as bright as I would have expected so we replaced them with LEDs. The LEDs were brighter and are still working today with no dead LEDs or flickering issues (along with most other bulbs we replaced with LEDs).

One day I noticed that the LEDs were't as bright as the previous day and started checking battery voltage - a solid 12.7 Volts across the battery terminals. Then I measured from the plus 12 volt post on the batteries to frame ground and got only 11.4 volts! Eventually I discovered that BOTH battery ground cables were slightly loose where they attached to the frame.

After disconnecting the ground cables, one at a time, cleaning the cables and frame connection points, and reattaching firmly, all of the LED lights were significantly brighter. Had those cables been tight and secure from the get-go I doubt I would have been disappointed with the halogen bulbs light output!

[Easyrider]

Originally Posted by MSHappyCampers

I would talk with M4Products. They have quality products and lots of knowledge!

I agree with M4 being helpful and having a good selection. Just google M4 to see their website.

[Mark_K5LXP]

These were the ones I found perfect:

https://www.amazon.com/1156-1141-100...dp/B074652GB8/

Warm white, not cold blue. When placed in a double bulb fixture alongside an 1141 and the dome put back on, I could not discern a difference. Power reduction was about 65%.

Sacrificed one to see how it was made. Each facet of the cobb is it's own 12V unit with self contained dropping resistors, and the end circular panel using a leaded resistor. So no active electronics or regulator so variation of input voltage will result in current (heat) and brightness differences. The main failure mode of any LED is heat, so in a sealed fixture running higher than typical voltage will probably lead to a greater failure rate. But for most fixtures and nominal voltage these things should do fine. Bought 20 last year and no failures yet.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

[festrvl]

Don't buy cheap bulbs, it's not worth the bother.

These have been a great replacement in my Class B, and the company was very helpful in pointing me to the right bulb after explaining what I wanted.

1141 LED, Warm White, 24 SMD 2835 LEDs, 10-30vdc

As I recall the draw is .288 amps, about 10x the savings.

[Paul R. Haller]

I replaced all my halogen, fluorescent, and conventional tungsten lamps inside my trailer with led. Like others here I’m now retired and need more light to do anything. I am a retired Facilities Manager at U.C Berkeley and we did lots of retrofits on older 8 foot florescents. I know a lot of folks will say warm white or about 3000 degrees kelvin. I completely disagree. We are creatures of our natural environment and evolved through natural selection and our eyes have too. We see better in daylight or about 7000 degrees kelvin. This has been proven to be true. That’s much closer to bright white which is around 6000 degrees kelvin.

When I would retrofit daylight 8 foot t8 lamps away from the old warm white t 12 lamps at the same lumen output, all the students and faculty would report back that they were far brighter then the old lamps and could better see detail. No, not brighter... just what color light we have been selected to see best in. If your aim is to see better go with lamps that produce about 7000 degrees kelvin or as close to that color as possible. If your aim is to keep the warm white color that we have gotten used to in houses that use conventional incandescent, then go with warm white. Many people object to the bright white because they claim it’s very harsh.
Now onto lamps. I agree with others here that almost all led lamps are made in China. That said, you get what you pay for with led technology. Most of the more costly leds lamps are better shielded from RF noise and have better drivers and leds themselves. They are also becoming less money to produce through huge volume, thats good news. Stick with brand names like Cree, they have been very reliable. You already know their benefits. Amazon sold the Florescent replacement led I used for about 45dollars for 8 lamps.they run off the regular 12 volts dc not the power through the ballast. They require you rewiring your lamp housing to take advantage of losing the ballast transformer and thereby reducing energy loss through heat. There are some extremely brigh Cobb lights that fit into a1157 base and I use them outside my trailer to light the world at night. They cost 20 $ a pair but they are really bright. Perhaps too bright for use inside. They are on amazon. I bought the bi pin flat disc leds to replace my halogen lights. They were very inexpensive at like 10$ for 20 lamps and work very well indeed. I got them off amazon as well and have had two fail in 2 years. The 1150 incandescent lamps inside all those cheap RV lights that burned the lenses and bases brown were also replaced with led Cobb lights. So far in two years of use I have had no failures were also off amazon. I would look them up if I could but I closed my account and can’t bring the part numbers up for you.
For those swivel reading lamps I bought cone shaped lamps designed specifically for reading and don’t flickerand have more of a spot shaped beam so neither your vision or your acuity are harmed. All were in bright white.
If I were you, I’d buy 1 cheap lamp of each color just to see if you prefer one color over another before buying fifty lamps you will not like. I am sold on the bright white but I need all the help I can get with my old,cataract removed, bifocal, visual acuity.

[oliverray12]

I have tried several different types of LED bulbs in my RV and Kohree are the best so far. They are much brighter than the original incandescent bulbs, do not get hot, illuminate 360 degrees, and use very little electricity. The bulb's base is also very sturdy and easy to grasp, making it simple to mount and remove.

[evofxdwg]

I converted at least a couple of years ago with these:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I just ordered another batch last month and added 3 (with 2 new sockets) under the cooktop hood. I had given some away and didn't have enough of the old ones.

They are cheap enough to try. Get the warm white. Get the 3rd generation. Note the "GRB store" also has 115x base lamps.

The 2nd generation puts out a little RF interference and I had one fixture which was 1 ft from a TV interfere with it when using antenna.

I think I had one fail out of the box in the first batch. All the rest still work fine. I have noticed a minor weird color/shadow pattern on a white bedspread from one fixture. It may be the combination of the LED and lens/diffuser. Also I don't remember what color temp the first batch was.

Some people also report they are hard to insert. Yes they were on mine, but they stay in and none have gotten loose in the sockets.

The other benefits greatly outweigh the minor issues.