Led lighting

There's really no reason to spend alot of money on LEDs. Many of us are using cheap LEDs with no issues.

I spent about $125, to replace every single bulb in my RV (over 25 bulbs, various sizes, styles, and configurations, and the addition of a 16.4' long strip on my awning) with LEDs. Here's my conversion.

All were cheap units from Amazon and eBay. That was more than 2 years ago, used both while dry camping as well as with full hook-ups (14+vdc). 2-3X the light output, 1/5 the current draw, no heat issues, no RFI issues, not a single failure... Never, ever, would I consider spending $10-15 for a single bulb.

These are by far the best bulbs out there. Buy lots of 10 for a 10% discount. And type rvgeeks5 in the discount line for an additional 5% off..

I have these in my camper and it matches the color of the incondesents exactly. This is the soft white versions...

http://www.m4products.com/



I have 1157's and use these.. Warm white..

http://www.m4products.com/1157-24-5050-ww-warm-white-bay15d-high-low-1157-replacement-with-24-5050-leds/


And over the stove I use a lower amp one as a night light. when boondocking I leave it on all night for the kids to see thier way to the toilet... Thats my only t10 base in my camper...

http://www.m4products.com/t10-5-5050-cw-cool-white-small-led-light-bulb-194-with-wedge-base/

Some LED lights do not have readily replaceable bulbs as such, but are all built together as a single unit. Short of doing electronic surgery with a soldering iron (or perhaps a heat gun and an old toaster oven, in the case of surface mount things), you must replace the whole fixture to change the "bulb" style.

Harvey51 wrote:
I used the panels with 36 or 48 LEDs on a little circuit board. They came with connectors for two or three sockets, none of which fit. So I just soldered the wires onto the power wires.

Warm white ones provided light indistinguishable from incandescent bulbs. The 36 LED panels are nicer than the incandescent almost point source.

Careful, the cheaper LEDs don't like voltages over 12.6 such as you get when charging from AC. They get hot, wasting energy and it shortens their lifetime.

I also used some of the LED panel lights, and some have failed. I did some failure analysis and found the problem was the contact between the panel and the LED, not the LED itself. I attribute the panel failures to trying to stick flat panels to a slightly curved light surface.

I have used all "cheaper LEDs" from eBay. AFAIK none of the LEDs failed, only the connections on the panel LEDs. I also used "cheaper LEDs" of the COB style, none of which have failed.

Be aware that some of the more expensive LED lights use voltage regulators that have been reported to cause radio frequency interference (RFI).

Thank you for all your input and suggestions.

Sorry. 2015 Outback 326RL. Ceiling fixtures are all led, but they are very similar to the old school double sided "one on or both on" fixtures. I just never pulled a cover to see what style of mounting base the leds have on them.

I used the panels with 36 or 48 LEDs on a little circuit board. They came with connectors for two or three sockets, none of which fit. So I just soldered the wires onto the power wires.

Warm white ones provided light indistinguishable from incandescent bulbs. The 36 LED panels are nicer than the incandescent almost point source.

Careful, the cheaper LEDs don't like voltages over 12.6 such as you get when charging from AC. They get hot, wasting energy and it shortens their lifetime.

No one can tell you what kind of LED lights your RV uses, especially since you don't say what your RV is. There are many many LED light types.

If you say what RV you have, MAYBE some one with the same RV could help?????

Over the last five years I've tried various LED's. If your ceiling lights are round puck lights they probably have a two pin G4 base. The oval shaped under counter usually use 1156 tail light bulbs. The best deals are on Ebay from China for less than $2... often less than $1. Once you know which bulbs you have, buy several different types and see which you like the best.

I have found G4 12led 5050 to be the best for my puck lights in warm white...3000K I've tried 5730, 3528 chips and they run much hotter than the 5050 and do not put out any more light.

Instead of buying 1156 bulbs, buy 36 or 48 5050 led panels. You can try a........bright white... 6000K

I did that with mine, but had 3 different bases located throughout the camper.