I’ve been a big fan of new tech stuff, so I have followed and supported diode lighting and its introduction for a lot of years. That is, until I started using the bulbs for the RV, home and flashlights. These things were supposed to last long, provide acceptable lighting, low heat, and savings on energy.From my experience, none of these things are true although I’m not sure about the energy savings part because the home bulbs go bad so fast. Acceptable lighting: Look for yourself compared to others.Run cool: Check the base of 110 bulb assembly. It will burn your hand and stay hot for a long time after it is turned off. Long lasting: I’ve had some $25 home light bulbs fail within 10 days and 6 months. I can’t trust them for safety lighting. I bought them from Home Depot. They claim you will save $85 sometime in the future. Flashlights: I have some for my RV, cars, and home. Unless you check and clean all contacts regularly, they will be dead when you need them most. Anyhow, I’ll keep using fluorescent and regular RV bulbs when I can. Joe

We have switched to diode lighting for our outside driveway and outside house lights turned on and off via a photo cell. They are on whenever it is dark. They run several 100 hours a year. Have not had one fail yet. We must be lucky.

I was going to jump on the LED bandwagon for the RV then one day I realized: "I don't care"... We turn the lights on when needed then off.If it's dark we're normally sleeping or viewing TV or sometimes outside by one of those horribly irritating (to many people) campfires.Besides we have a few LED nitelite candles that are pretty cool for use in the trailer, they last forever.As far as home use LED's or LED flashlights no failures yet.Sorry about yer bad experiences there Joe.

My LED Maglight is the best flashlight ever. DD bought some low price small LED flashlights from HF and they have worked great. Relamped entire RV with LED, no failures. No worries about draining the battery, very pleased.Home is mostly R40 flood CFL and a dozen ceiling fixtures with CFLs. A couple failed but most have been going ten years. Front lights are on 5 hours every evening and only 1 has given up in 10 years.Replaced the final 8 PAR16 incandescent with LED as CFL does not fit right. Time will tell on these LED but 4w vs 50w will allow me to actually use them now ;) Home electric bill is minimum $100 per month less than my neighbors for the past 10 years. $12,000 savings :E

Try using a quality flashlight such as a Fenix. I've had mine for 2 years with no problems and have thrown away all my Maglites.

Diode lighting disappointing | Good Sam Community

29 Replies

Harvey51
Explorer
Oct 13, 2013
I replaced our RV incandescents with low cost eBay warm white 36 and 48 led panels. I noticed right away that they got hot on shore power, 13.5 volts. Not at 12.5 volts from the batteries. No doubt they would not last long running over voltage. We never plug in while camping so it isn't a problem for us. If we did, I would have to find panels with built in voltage regulation or add a voltage regulator to each light. Our 36 panels seem to be exactly the same brightness and color as the old bulbs.

I have only two LED lights at home, both in places where they are on a lot. MIL can leave her bed reading light on continuously for about $5 a year. Same for the porch light. Others are all four foot fluorescents - I really like the large emission area compared to small incandescents. Compact fluorescents were just not bright enough.
Jarlaxle
Explorer II
Oct 13, 2013
bob_b wrote:
My first experience with the LED lights wasn't good. I bought 5 LED candelabra bulbs from EBay. They all burnt out within two weeks. The seller sent me some more for free, but the same thing happened. I see LED marker lights on trucks and it seems some are having problems. I've heard that some of Chinese manufacturers market low-voltage lights in higher voltage applications and they fail prematurely. Quality control still seems to be an issue.

At home I have the CFL lights. For the motorhome, I'll stick with the regular lights. I'll wait a few years for the LED lights to get reliable.

All the trucks & most of the trailers at work have LED lights...we have not replaced one for any reason other than actual physical DAMAGE in eight years! Of its eighteen LED marker lights, my truck has 17 original.
Jarlaxle
Explorer II
Oct 13, 2013
I have a few LED lights in my bus...no complaints. I don't use them at home...I have no reason to replace my CFL's.
Tom_M1
Explorer
Oct 13, 2013
Here's a link to a test I did when I upgraded some of my fixtures: LED comparison

I haven't used my motorhome since the upgrade so I have no track record on how long they will last. I'll find out this winter when I head for Florida.
tenbear
Explorer
Oct 10, 2013
belfert wrote:
I replaced some halogen bulbs in puck lights in my RV with LED bulbs. The main reason for the replacement was heat. The LED bulbs I chose have 28 LEDs and they still get plenty warm. Not nearly as hot as the halogen, but not cool either.

I would guess that you used 28-5050 LED lights. I would also guess that the 28-5050 LEDs are brighter than the halogens.
belfert
Explorer
Oct 10, 2013
I replaced some halogen bulbs in puck lights in my RV with LED bulbs. The main reason for the replacement was heat. The LED bulbs I chose have 28 LEDs and they still get plenty warm. Not nearly as hot as the halogen, but not cool either.
tenbear
Explorer
Oct 08, 2013
I replaced my interior RV lighting with LEDs and am very happy with the results. I did it to extend battery life while camping off the grid. The lights are a similar brightness and color, the current drain is about 15% of the incandescent bulbs.

A string of 3 LEDs have failed in some of the first LEDs I bought resulting in a small loss of light, but newer ones have been good. Recently I bought some spares and bought from a different vendor who was much cheaper. The panels were very much inferior to the other LEDs, I probably will never use them. I bought all my LEDs on eBay.

I have one LED bulb in the sticks and bricks house. We have had it about a year and it has performed flawlessly. Its on a dimmer and is on 1-2 hours a day. I'll buy more when the CFLs die or when the price comes down.
bob_b1
Explorer
Oct 08, 2013
My first experience with the LED lights wasn't good. I bought 5 LED candelabra bulbs from EBay. They all burnt out within two weeks. The seller sent me some more for free, but the same thing happened. I see LED marker lights on trucks and it seems some are having problems. I've heard that some of Chinese manufacturers market low-voltage lights in higher voltage applications and they fail prematurely. Quality control still seems to be an issue.

At home I have the CFL lights. For the motorhome, I'll stick with the regular lights. I'll wait a few years for the LED lights to get reliable.
mlts22
Explorer II
Oct 08, 2013
smkettner wrote:
I agree that if you do not run the battery low with incandescent lamps there is no need to spend money on LED.

Saving energy from the battery is why I buy LED bulbs. If I were going from hookups to hookups, I'd not bother upgrading until bulbs went out.

They make a world of difference when boondocking. To further save on battery power, I use AAA-battery powered stick-on LED lights, since I can recharge the smaller batteries either in the car or at home, or at worst, use the 20 amp-hour external battery meant for charging my iPad with charger.
filthy_beast
Explorer
Oct 08, 2013
This is the second RV we have changed to LED lighting because we often RV without hookups. I have never had an issue with excessive heat or bulbs going bad. The last RV had them in for 5 years. I also have had no issues with radio interference. I spend a little more for the bulbs through Superbrightleds but have had real good results. I am also aware of the color temp we like.

Aside from the fact that we do boondocks, and I am sure some will give me guff, it does lower your carbon footprint. Yes I know I am dragging a house behind me and that leaves a pretty good carbon footprint too.

Just my 2 cents worth.

I have recently changed some of the more used bulbs in my home to LED. I bought LED under cabinet lights in the kitchen and did some up lighting also. The xenon bulbs I had left scorched marks where they were mounted.