MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
I just LOVE IT to see folks buying a forty grand fifth wheel haul it all the way down here, park it on a boondock beach and then find out the hardest possible way that all that glitter and formaldehyde based luxury has to remain dark after sundown.
I wish they remained dark. Unfortunately they become very bright - and loud. You are forgetting about generators. People are congregating around microwaves and TV sets, fire up their furnaces, and turn on all the lights they have in a rig, which are naturally all incandescent because it's "cheaper". Most of them still believe that solar panels cost $10 per watt.
As to the LEDs 9 seconds a day - not quite. In Southern states, not to mention Mexico, there is a problem with (relatively) warm winter and short daylight at the same time. Sun goes down at 6pm and it's getting cold soon, but you don't go to bed until 9 or 10 pm. 2 LED lights in 2 hours will save you at least 6 AH a day, maybe 9, compared to regular incandescent bulbs
of the same brightness. For somebody with a limited battery bank and a small solar this is worth considering.
I personally still on the fence about LED conversion, because when it's not too cold, same 9 Ah that I lose, keep me warm without having to use a furnace. Incandescent bulb coverts only 5% of power into light and 95% into heat. Eventually I'll convert, because placement of those small "heaters" at the ceiling is not optimal.
A few notes on "heaters" like kitchen stove, Mr. Buddy and propane lanterns. They burn too much oxygen. Maybe in a tent rig this is not an issue, but in a rigid trailer I feel lack of oxygen immediately. Mr. Buddy can also poison you with CO, given a chance. This is on my "long" bucket list, but vented catalytic heater I will get.
