Incandescent bulbs work, LED do NOT work
Hi. I've searched to the best of my ability folks mentioning why incandescent bulbs work and LED do not work, but I've been fruitless in my endeavor. I have a 2003 Fleetwood Tioga and only 1 dual ...
Forum Discussion
I've had LED lights in our motorhome since around 2008 - but not always the same LED lights.
All LED lights ARE NOT the same, so you have to shop for them after doing your homework so as to know as much as possible before you buy. You CANNOT merely "price shop" if you want great LED service in your RV.
I've gradually migrated to higher priced LED lights in several receptecles in our RV to get better performance. The latest one I just recently bought and installed was designed in the U.S. (but built overseas), and is not affected by the polarity of the RV's receptacle and is specially vented so that it will never fail from it's own internal heat.
Here's what to watch for in an LED bulb:
1. Does it have the right socket on it to match your RV receptacle?
2. Is it insensitive to polarity so that is doesn't matter how your RV receptcles are wired polarity-wise?
3. Are it's electronics designed so as to not create static noise in radios, TV's, etc..
4. Is it bright enough ... in other words, does it have a high enough lumen rating? (To duplicate a 40 watt incandescent bulb's brightness takes about a 430 lumen LED.)
5. How is it's light radiated so that you can aim it if necessary to better distribute it's light where you want it ... or does it's light merely shine in all directions - which makes it less bright where you want it.
6. What is the "temperature" of it's light? To duplicate the warm ambience of an incandescent bulb takes a WARM WHITE LED bulb. LED bulbs come in different types (temperatures) of the colors of their light, so you have to be careful to check this when you buy. We dislike the white/bluish or "natural daylight" type of light inside our RV, so all receptacles have warm white LED bulbs in them.
For what it's worth, our RV's outside light by the door that lights up the entire area under the awning for awhile had a natural daylight LED bulb in it. I eventually grew to really dislike this sterile hospital-room type of light when outside doing things in the evening. I replaced it with a high power, aim-able, cool running, polarity indifferent, no static noise, 60,000 hour warm white color LED bulb and wow ... how nice!
All LED lights ARE NOT the same, so you have to shop for them after doing your homework so as to know as much as possible before you buy. You CANNOT merely "price shop" if you want great LED service in your RV.
I've gradually migrated to higher priced LED lights in several receptecles in our RV to get better performance. The latest one I just recently bought and installed was designed in the U.S. (but built overseas), and is not affected by the polarity of the RV's receptacle and is specially vented so that it will never fail from it's own internal heat.
Here's what to watch for in an LED bulb:
1. Does it have the right socket on it to match your RV receptacle?
2. Is it insensitive to polarity so that is doesn't matter how your RV receptcles are wired polarity-wise?
3. Are it's electronics designed so as to not create static noise in radios, TV's, etc..
4. Is it bright enough ... in other words, does it have a high enough lumen rating? (To duplicate a 40 watt incandescent bulb's brightness takes about a 430 lumen LED.)
5. How is it's light radiated so that you can aim it if necessary to better distribute it's light where you want it ... or does it's light merely shine in all directions - which makes it less bright where you want it.
6. What is the "temperature" of it's light? To duplicate the warm ambience of an incandescent bulb takes a WARM WHITE LED bulb. LED bulbs come in different types (temperatures) of the colors of their light, so you have to be careful to check this when you buy. We dislike the white/bluish or "natural daylight" type of light inside our RV, so all receptacles have warm white LED bulbs in them.
For what it's worth, our RV's outside light by the door that lights up the entire area under the awning for awhile had a natural daylight LED bulb in it. I eventually grew to really dislike this sterile hospital-room type of light when outside doing things in the evening. I replaced it with a high power, aim-able, cool running, polarity indifferent, no static noise, 60,000 hour warm white color LED bulb and wow ... how nice!
