LED Bulbs

This is some good information. Thanks to all, I'll be looking to replace my lights. Currently only have a single coach battery for now, need to cut down on my curent useage as well.

tpi wrote:

ron.dittmer wrote:
My motor home has florescent light bulbs throughout. I had looked into LED replacement bulbs for them, but I lost interest because of cost and wiring changes.

Thats my feeling on the fluorescent also. As long as the fixtures work properly there is not much point in changing them. The F15T8 lamps are far more efficient than incandescents. I did switch out the lamps to tri phosphor lamps which have more pleasing color rendering than the standard thin lite lamps.

I highly recommend RV LEDs though when replacing incandescent. I've used garden variety LEDs from ledtrailerlights.com and all have performed reliably and at brightness near or beyond the incandescents. Those high lumen Samsung lamps look interesting, but all of mine are working properly.

Well I will be testing the waters converting my florescent fixtures to LED. My goal is to do it right and do it cheap. After much research, I ordered a 5 meter reel of adhesive-backed LED lighting that can be cut to length. Here is the reel, I selected the lower soft-white color.


Our rig has 9 two-bulb florescent fixtures. I determined the reel will supply enough for all. I hope to achieve the following.
- reduce power consumption from 16 watts to 5.4 watts per fixture
- change from the florescent blue color to a soft warm white tone
- offer the same light intensity of 800 lumens per fixture
- utilizing the original fixtures means all mountings and screw holes are unchanged with no scars in the ceiling or elsewhere
- total investment for all 9 fixtures will be only $12.05

I removed one of my fixtures and examined it closely. The conversion will involve significant modification but our fixtures are constructed to handle the modification well. Everything florescent including sockets, unclip out making it clean to install the LED light strips and wire them up. The new LED strips are 12v so it will be a simple soldering of 2 red and 2 black wires to the switch, and then from there to the rig's wire tail with wire nuts. I will need to experiment to determine the best surface within the fixture to stick on the 2 LED strips (one per florescent bulb position). Our fixtures provide 3 surface options, straight down, 45 degree outward, and 45 degree inward.

My LED selection HERE was based on THIS information which I summerized below.
- the LED number is the physical size of the LED ex: 5050 = 5mm x 5mm
- older LED technology (5050 and 3528) consume more power
- older LED 5050 chips have 3 leds inside it, 3528 has only one
- newer technology LEDs 3020 and 3014 offer more lumens with less power

After I get the reel and convert one fixture, I'll supply a few pics of the process and the results.

I converted to LEDs and am very happy. The ones I put in the ceiling are indistinguishable from the OE halogens.

Thanks to everyone for their responses. Will have to digest all of them. Then do a little experimenting, as many of you did.

Thanks again.

Replaced everything in my Winnie 31J and 2 friends Outback trailers with Chinese LED's from ebay and we're all happy.

I replaced every bulb in our motorhome except headlights a couple years ago. Could not be happier. There are 13 florescent fixtures in the motorhome. Sat down at my work bench one day and rewired every one. No more heat and pleasant lighting. Here is a link to photos that I took of the mods. I used this thread to help me do the mods. Inexpensive Fluorescent to LED Upgrade

Only LED'd the lights I leave on the most, over the sink and outdoors. Bought from Amazon and they seem ok. Will consider replacing others as they begin to burn out. If I camped without shore power very often would consider doing it sooner.

Another factor with LED lights in RVs is the dispersion of the light. We have primarily flat, downward projecting LED units that don't have side glare. In our kitchen area I just replaced 2 flat units with cylindrical units that have LEDs on all sides. DW didn't like the side glare from the newly projecting row of LEDs, so I added a strip of masking tape to the inside of the lens to cut the glare. I didn't tape the rear side though and this now projects light into the pantry and fridge/freezer that we didn't have before.

While 4x4van and I don't agree on color or the need for more brightness, I fully agree that paying the prices to US venders for the same thing that you can buy on eBay from China doesn't make much sense.

While I have had some failures of the first LEDs I bought, The failures were in the circuit boards, not the LEDs themselves. I believe they have improved the process since then.

It is still wise to buy a few to make sure that the lights are what you want, before buying enough for the whole RV.

ron.dittmer wrote:
I just went through an interior "Bulb Conversion" from standard incandescent to LED on my car. If your motor home uses the same bulbs as my car, then you could benefit from my experience. For my trunk bulb, I was able to find an LED replacement that was a whole lot brighter. CLICK HERE to see my write-up.

My motor home has florescent light bulbs throughout. I had looked into LED replacement bulbs for them, but I lost interest because of cost and wiring changes.

Thats my feeling on the fluorescent also. As long as the fixtures work properly there is not much point in changing them. The F15T8 lamps are far more efficient than incandescents. I did switch out the lamps to tri phosphor lamps which have more pleasing color rendering than the standard thin lite lamps.

I highly recommend RV LEDs though when replacing incandescent. I've used garden variety LEDs from ledtrailerlights.com and all have performed reliably and at brightness near or beyond the incandescents. Those high lumen Samsung lamps look interesting, but all of mine are working properly.