Today I took the first step toward replacing my RV lights with LEDs.I bought two LEDs to replace the lights nearest the kitchen living room area. I plugged them in and my first observation is that they are brighter than the old yellowish lights. Good light.I'm replacing them one fixture at a time. Pricey at $31.00 for two bulbs. (Bought at Dandy RV.)I bought two to see how bright they are...Work fantastic. No heat generated, not like the old incandescent bulbs.This came about after camping at a campground that lost power for 18 hrs. during a tornado. I cut back to one light on and got by...Motivation was to have at least one fixture with LEDs to use in emergencies. Should last a long time.I may buy two a month till I change out all my lights. (Retired)

Check out Ebay or Amazon.com I have been looking for led's for my boat and have seen lots of 1156 base replacement led's for alot let than that. good luck

That's how we did it also, little at a time but each bulb was $29.00 And I hope they last a long, long time. We can really tell the difference when boondocking and using only battery power. They really do help.

Hi,I have answered many questions on Rv.Net, and one that I wanted to tell a lot of people about is not spending to much on LED lights. For the cost of changing 20 fixtures with $15 bulbs, you could have installed a large solar panel that can run the whole RV as well as supply power to the old lights.Then I ran across the 24 LED panels. They have 5050 LED emmitters that put out a lot of light per small square (5.0X5.0mm). Each panel puts out about what one of the old 1156 bulbs did before conversion. They are only about 0.1 amps each. Cost is only about $2 each if you buy about 10 at a time. I recently bought 50 of them for $60, or $1.20 each. I installed some one a friend's house, all around the parameter, powered by a 26 amp hour wheelchair battery, and a pair of 45 watt solar panels that I removed from my motorhome. So it can be less expensive to start replacing the bulbs with the LED panels. I installed two panels in each side of my bathroom light, so I run 4 of the panels, using 0.4 amps, and it lights up the bathroom really well. The small indicator 12 volt lamp on my pump switch went out, so I could not tell if I had left the pump on or not. I used 12 LED panels on each pump switch to replace the 17 year old factory lights, and they light up the bathroom and living room (kitchen) where the switches are located, giving plenty of light to move around the RV at night, without being so bright to not wake anyone. AliExpress.com Do a search for 5050 LED panels. THen look for 24 LED panels, and 12 LEDpanels if you like. The 5050 panels are 5.0X5.0 mm LED emitters. The 3512 is 3.5X 1.2 mm. They are smaller and less bright. They are a little more blue than the incandescent light that is being replaced, I have gotten used to that color. My friend is showing off his LED lights that run for free to all his neighbors, and loves the look of his house now. You can also search for LED flashlights, solar charge controllers, and many other products. Almost anything you can think of. My new favorite flashlight has a LED CREE T6 light, with a pair of rechargeable 18650 LiOn battery. It is 1600 lumens, and can shine brightly on the cement, in the sunlight. LED flashlightAlways remember that saving power is one way to extend your battery life. The other way is to install some solar panels. SunElec.com You can buy a 100 - 120 watt solar panels for around $150, and that will provide more power to the battery. Good luck with your LED conversion. Fred.

When our trailer was being custom built I supplied the marine lighting fixtures designed to take a G4 bulb. I have found G4 LED arrays from Ebay that work well and so far have not had any failures. I do have a couple of replacement arrays and for about $9 for 10 of them... You DO need to watch lumen's. We spent 8 days on the north shore of Lake Superior relying entirely on solar, we love quiet.

You gotta look around more. I bought a pack of 20 941 style bulbs on e bay new for $75. At $3 a bulb it's not so bad. I have a friend who gets them even cheaper. You can PM me for more info.

Led Lights... | Good Sam Community

wopachop
Explorer
Dec 17, 2013
Hi there everyone!!! Like others who posted i too have been playing around with LED lights for years. I put those suckers everywhere!!! Inside the house, on ATVs, on RC airplanes, and of course inside our Toy Hauler.
We are avid campers and go out once or twice a month. Starting the generator because we ran the batteries down gets expensive. So i started building my own LEDs for the Toy Hauler.
I have made many versions of lights over the years. Finally have what i consider the most badass RV retrofit light you can buy in DEC of 2013. (you guys see how fast technology progresses)
Using CREE leds matched with components designed for the fluctuating voltage of RV/Auto charging systems.
danojeno
Explorer
Dec 16, 2013
I'm a slow learner. Despite reading posts on here giving me great advice about LEDs found on e-bay, I waited until the last minute before our summer trip to buy them. That left me paying a disgusting amount for 4 panels from my local RV dealer. The panels, packaged or manufactured by Next Wave, were bright and "warm" . Three of the panels have experienced partial failures. Last week I wanted to upgrade the rest of trailer to LEDs so I went to Amazon and ordered several different types. The ones I like best were 48 SMD panels which appear similar or the same as the ones referenced in the 2011_led link...but were about 7 bucks each. Don't make the same mistakes I did. These all seem very cheap, so you might as well buy them at the cheapest price.
trail-explorer
Explorer
Dec 11, 2013
My LED write-up My EASY LED Upgrade
4x4van
Explorer III
Nov 26, 2013
Unlike many here, I (and my wife) do not like the yellow color of "warm white". In an older MH, it just makes everything look old and dingy. Of course, the blue tint of "cool white" is bad as well. "Bright white, or Daylight white" is what we ended up with and like, although everyone has their own preferences.

But I shudder when I read of those who are paying $15-20 each for LED replacements! I replaced every bulb in my MH, over 20 bulbs, for about $100 total, using Amazon & eBay. I've got at least twice the light output, at 1/5 the current.Here's my experience.
westend
Explorer
Nov 24, 2013
tenbear wrote:
D.E.Bishop wrote:
I have to agree with all who suggest 2011_led as a great source. I bought a couple different types from him to test and they are as posted on eBay. The problem I have is the color, we just spent two weeks at the beach, this is the longest we have camped at one campground, ever and my DW had plenty of time to evaluate the LEDs. She is a quilter and uses OTT lights for that and I thought the bright white lights would make her happy. NOT! We have a lot of fixtures with two lamps in each fixture, If I have one LED and one incandescent or if both are incandescent the color is good for her, but just the leds, no. She has asked me to stop using the bright white LEDs both in the MH and the S&B.

So does anyone have a source as cheap as 2011_led with something in the 2800K to 3200K range.

I bought the warm white LEDs and to my eyes they are a very close match to the 1141 incandescent lamps I replaced. As I said before, buy a couple and try them before buying many.

Edit: I used the same panels that Ron3rd posted a link to.

X2 The 3200K range may even be more yellow than the original incandescent. I have these same panels mounted under clear glass and the illumination is very good.
tenbear
Explorer
Nov 24, 2013
D.E.Bishop wrote:
I have to agree with all who suggest 2011_led as a great source. I bought a couple different types from him to test and they are as posted on eBay. The problem I have is the color, we just spent two weeks at the beach, this is the longest we have camped at one campground, ever and my DW had plenty of time to evaluate the LEDs. She is a quilter and uses OTT lights for that and I thought the bright white lights would make her happy. NOT! We have a lot of fixtures with two lamps in each fixture, If I have one LED and one incandescent or if both are incandescent the color is good for her, but just the leds, no. She has asked me to stop using the bright white LEDs both in the MH and the S&B.

So does anyone have a source as cheap as 2011_led with something in the 2800K to 3200K range.

I bought the warm white LEDs and to my eyes they are a very close match to the 1141 incandescent lamps I replaced. As I said before, buy a couple and try them before buying many.

Edit: I used the same panels that Ron3rd posted a link to.
hershey
Explorer
Nov 24, 2013
LED's are a great improvement to the lighting system in an RV. But there isn't any reason to replace all the existing lamps with LED's. If your intent is to save energy when boondocking by replacing the lights with LED's, then only replace the lights you actually use 90% of the time. I replaced one floresent in the main area of the MH, another light over the couch where my wife reads and one in the bathroom. Any other lights are only used now and then especially when boondocking. Keeps the cost down to a manageable level.
Ron3rd
Explorer III
Nov 24, 2013
tenbear wrote:
I have replaced all my coach light bulbs with LEDs I bought on eBay. Most cost between $3 and $5.

If you buy on eBay, buy 1 or 2 and try them before buying several. Not all venders are selling good stuff and their claims are sometimes not very accurate. I bought many of mine from 2011_LED and am happy with them.

What tenbear said; That's the ebay seller I went with. I got a 10 pack for $25. This seller is in China and ships from there. Takes about 10-14 days to get them. They carry all the popular sizes at low prices. Good seller with good feedback.

These are the panels I ordered:
LEDs on Ebay

Looks like they've gone up about 5 bucks for the 10 pack, but still a good deal.
tvman44
Explorer
Nov 24, 2013
I replaced every light in our 5er with the SMD LED panels from E_Bay at about $2.00 to $3.00 each. In the kitchen area I put 2 panels for each bulb and also over the sofa & dining table. Talk about a lot more light and much lower temperature. Everyone who comes into our 5er is amazed and several have done the same. :)
Ivylog
Explorer III
Nov 24, 2013
Other than buying 1-2 leds to experiment with in your RV, I'd wait until closer to summer to buy in bulk as the price will be even lower then.
While you are at HD buying the $10 Cree led lights for your home, buy the two cree led flashlights like these for $10 (with batteries) and put one in every vehicle you own.

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