Switching to LED lighting

Okay, no surprises here. I blew $35 on "American" LEDs with tried and true quality control.

I got a couple of night lights. One cost $12, the other $15.

Test results:

M4's ALPLATE-16-5050 LED Panel ($11.99) on the left versus eBay's 48 SMD panel ($1.65) on the right:



M4's COB04 Super Bright Plate ($14.99) versus the same 48 SMD panel ($1.65):



M4 products side-by-side:



eBay panel beside M4 panel:



M4's base (right side in the pic)seems a bit better. I had one of my 23 eBay 1156 bases come apart (had to solder it back together):

nayther wrote:

dedmiston wrote:

Strabo wrote:

dedmiston wrote:

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.

Its a Gift Dave, im Blessed.

Question:
When we are sitting around the fire at night, how many lights do you have on in the hauler?

I use one, over the kitchen sink. One light bulb, why use any more than that, were not IN the hauler.

Just the outside "porch" light so I can find my way back and see the step to climb in.

What, no kitchen/bar light Dave? I leave on the porch and the one puck light over the sink so I can see to refill my adult beverage.

Like a true pro!!

dedmiston wrote:

Strabo wrote:

dedmiston wrote:

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.

Its a Gift Dave, im Blessed.

Question:
When we are sitting around the fire at night, how many lights do you have on in the hauler?

I use one, over the kitchen sink. One light bulb, why use any more than that, were not IN the hauler.

Just the outside "porch" light so I can find my way back and see the step to climb in.

What, no kitchen/bar light Dave? I leave on the porch and the one puck light over the sink so I can see to refill my adult beverage.

I'm replacing every bulb in my house with LED's; not only are they MUCH brighter at less than 1/4 the wattage (most of mine are 40w equivalent), I can actually touch them regardless of how long they've been running.

I can only imagine how much better the light in my fiver will be after retrofit; the current bulbs have always sucked for both itensity and color (dirty yellow through the covers).

I replaced mine with the cheap ones off EBay almost two years ago no failures.
The tape they include doesn't hold. I used the red sticky 3M stuff.

As far as heat LEDS put out WAY less heat than the bulbs.

Definitely go with panels rather than "bulbs" and definitely "warm white". Bright white is actually blue and not very bright. eBay is the place to get them, too.

Just finished replacing mine. Bought the paddle type and were too dim for me. Replaced them with the 48smd which are much brighter.

Mine are the "bright white" also referred to as "pure white" which does make a bluish lite but of course that is a personal preference.

My kitchen light over the sink burned out last week(fluorescent)and I used that fixture and wired it for the 48smd.

Regardless of what you use check out pricing everywhere; prices are all over the board.

Strabo wrote:

dedmiston wrote:

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.

Its a Gift Dave, im Blessed.

Question:
When we are sitting around the fire at night, how many lights do you have on in the hauler?

I use one, over the kitchen sink. One light bulb, why use any more than that, were not IN the hauler.

Just the outside "porch" light so I can find my way back and see the step to climb in.

trail-explorer wrote:

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

Since they're not making enough from RV sales, they have to get it from somewhere :R Even on sale, they're still around $10 each; I'll keep checking.

dedmiston wrote:

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.

Its a Gift Dave, im Blessed.

Question:
When we are sitting around the fire at night, how many lights do you have on in the hauler?

I use one, over the kitchen sink. One light bulb, why use any more than that, were not IN the hauler.

trail-explorer wrote:
Here's the write up I did back in 2009: My EASY LED Upgrade

They are having a sale right now: Details are here