LED Bulbs
Getting ready to open and re-seal my clearance lights. I’ve read that it’s a good idea to replace bulbs with LED. 2 questions: I know u usually get what u pay for, does anyone know why there is such a...
Forum Discussion
JimK-NY wrote:
Personally I would not trust cheap internet bulbs. I just replaced the entire fixture for $5 each from Tweety's. That decreases the concern that the old gaskets might leak. The new units are sealed so a little chalk behind the unit assures leak free installation.
The bad thing I discovered going the route of complete new sealed LED fixtures is when they die.
They DO die and it is always at the worst possible moment.
Bought a 18ft flatbed trailer to haul things back in 2010, purposely specified LED fixtures, paid a up charge for the LED fixtures.
So far, I have had to replace 1 Red round marker and both oval stop/turn tail lights and they randomly started failing after only 5 yrs of ownership. That trailer typically gets 2K or a bit less miles per yr.
If you go the sealed route, make sure you buy spares of everything as you will most definitely use the spares.
My TT, was lucky when I bought new LED Oval markers, they were not sealed, the lenses are removable.. Those started randomly failing after 6 yrs of summer use..
I wished I would have just replaced with incadescents.. But I forged on and found commercial signage LEDs that just fit inside.. Added a resistor to reduce brightness to the same level as the original LEDs(which will increase longevity) and this spring finished replacing the other 4 that had not failed yet.
If you think for one second replacing incadescent bulbs with LEDs will reduce replacements think again.. Been around this block multiple times.
I do like the brightness, not impressed with how manufacturers over drive them which drastically shortens their life..
