Switching to LED lighting
We would like to switch all the lights out on our Raptor and wondering if anyone had any suggestions as which ones to go with and how hard it is to do?
Forum Discussion
norfla71 wrote:
I checked out my local RV supplier a couple of days ago and HOLY CROW those things are expensive; nearly as much as household bulbs. If I see somthing is USA made I will spend more for it; however, as stated, they all seem to be made in the same place.
Very true, they are all mad in China, but some are better than the others. I buy from US sources since my purchases are helping to support the US economy too.
The problem with RV dealers is that they buy through a distributor, who gets them from the "company that imports them", so there's multiple levels of price markup.
I was appalled when I went to a dealer recently and asked about a weight distribution hitch. He looked it up in the catalog from the distributor and quoted me the "retail (MSRP) price" from the catalog. Having a background in the automotive business, It boggles my mind how the RV parts distribution and selling network for said parts is so screwed (and overpriced) up compared to the automotive parts distribution business.
The dealer tried to charge me freight on it too, even though the warehouse distributor he orders from doesn't charge freight - they use their own trucks to deliver and build the cost of that in to their markup to the dealer, so the dealer was basically double screwing me on the price of the hitch. Needless to say, I didn't buy the hitch from the dealer.
I've been running lights from www.ledtrailerlights.com
They've been around quite a while - since 2002/2003.
Here's the write up I did back in 2009: My EASY LED Upgrade- I checked out my local RV supplier a couple of days ago and HOLY CROW those things are expensive; nearly as much as household bulbs. If I see somthing is USA made I will spend more for it; however, as stated, they all seem to be made in the same place, anyway, so why not just get them as cheap as possible? My coach requires around 30 bulbs; a pack of 6 was something like $80 at the camping store.
derwud wrote:
Quality Control. It sounds simple, but the stuff you buy off E-bay is copied******that has no engineering or quality control. M4 buys lights, tries them, test them till failure and then fixes them. I like M4's way better, I am tired of being a Guinea pig!
But if they work (and they do) I'm not too concerned about quality control. I understand being cautious about buying cheap, counterfeit merchandise from China. However, we're just talking about LEDs strung together on a circuit board. I see that M4 put a little more thought into theirs with an aluminum body and heat sink "to keep heat away from your fixture", which might be useful for some people or applications but not for my old RV's lights. The panels don't get hot enough to damage the lenses that they are resting on. At $1.65 each, I can replace my eBay lights 7 times before I get to the cost of a single M4 light. And the M4s are 16 LEDs; the eBay ones are 48 LEDs.
That being said, I've had 4 out of 23 eBay panels "fail". In these "failed" units, groups of LEDs will flicker until they're warmed up. It's annoying, but they still work and stop flickering after a minute or two. 3 of the 4 that failed in this manner were the outside porch lights. I leave them on 24x7 (the RV is plugged in). It's no excuse for failure, but it might have something to do with it. I will be replacing them, however. Even with this 17% failure rate, I'm way ahead of the game cost-wise ($45 including replacements for the failed panels versus $276 for 23 M4s).
Just for fun I ordered an $11.99 M4 1156 replacement panel as well as their $14.99 COB panel (both in warm white) to see how they stack up brightness- and reliability-wise to the $1.65 eBay units. According to M4, the COB uses nearly twice as much power as the LED panel, but still 1/6 of an incandescent 1156 bulb.Strabo wrote:
My way...
Point
Push
Prime
Click
Start
Run
....Silent Power
Got a bag full of new bulbs, insert as needed.
Mix drink, sit by fire. Women Happy.
Job complete.... :)
Thank heavens we have Jim to please all the women.- My way...
Point
Push
Prime
Click
Start
Run
....Silent Power
Got a bag full of new bulbs, insert as needed.
Mix drink, sit by fire. Women Happy.
Job complete.... :) turbojimmy wrote:
jackxclan wrote:
I've bought plenty of cheap chinese led's been buying them since they first came out. My lights came from a guy HERE that runs a business Here an off-roader and camper like us. His lights are not the same light that comes from ebay china. One of the best upgrades yet.
How are his lights different or better than the China lights? I may be replacing some faulty eBay lights....
Quality Control. It sounds simple, but the stuff you buy off E-bay is copied******that has no engineering or quality control. M4 buys lights, tries them, test them till failure and then fixes them. I like M4's way better, I am tired of being a Guinea pig!jackxclan wrote:
I've bought plenty of cheap chinese led's been buying them since they first came out. My lights came from a guy HERE that runs a business Here an off-roader and camper like us. His lights are not the same light that comes from ebay china. One of the best upgrades yet.
How are his lights different or better than the China lights? I may be replacing some faulty eBay lights....- I've bought plenty of cheap chinese led's been buying them since they first came out. My lights came from a guy HERE that runs a business Here an off-roader and camper like us. His lights are not the same light that comes from ebay china. One of the best upgrades yet.
- We boondocks quite a bit and changed ours out. We went with the bright white and not sure that was the best choice. there is plenty of light but it is just a different light.Makes a big difference in power consumption. We don't worry about leaving the lights on too much at all.I bought all of ours off ebay for less than 2 dollars each total cost was around 50-60 dollars to do every light inside and out. i'll probably buy a few of the warm white and try them out to see if I like them better.
- Lifetime warranty here: www.ledtrailerlights.com
I've been running their stuff since 2009. I've never had any failures.
Free shipping through the end of the year too, on the RV style LEDs.
