LED Dome Lights

As a lighting expert I am seriously sad about all the RV fixtures I've ever seen. Incandescent or LED, they glare horribly, and look industrial.

Good residential LED fixtures are indistinguishable from incandescent, unless they use LED's special features like being very small, or a linear strip.

Mine are frosted enough that you can't see the the individual LEDs. They are also warm and soft in color. That much is readily available so don't settle for less!!

My old fixtures were square about 6 inches on a side. I had replaced the standard tungsten automotive bulbs with LEDs. The slide switches do not work consistently and I often have to tap the light to make it work. I still have a few of the old fixtures in use but I have replaced the most used fixtures. The rocker switches are easier to use and work consistently.

The LEDs I added years ago are warm, probably in the range of 3500. As pointed out above the new lights are in the 4500-5000 range; i.e., neutral. I greatly prefer the neutral lighting and it makes the old lighting look yellow and dingy. The neutral color also works well when I am using Photoshop to process photography.

I was wondering what fixtures you had before you bought the offensive ones. I had fluorescent fixtures and converted them to LEDs. Many fixtures similar to the ones you bought can be converted simply by purchasing LED panels to replace the old bulbs. There are a lot of bulbs out there and they have a wide range of temperatures and lumens, color and candlepower if you wish.

Get dome lights with milky covers. Those that look like white paper, when turned off. Without clear "window" or any pattern. Milky cover eliminates all the weird light refraction effects of lens and doesn't create sharp shadows. Most dome lights are transparent like yours, but there are some with milky covers too.

LED color temperature the closest to "old" bulbs is 2700-3000. Called warm white or soft white. Higher numbers are more blue-ish, the higher is the number, the more blue-ish. Some cheesy-chinesy LEDs of higher color temps have pink shade, too.

JimK-NY wrote:

Artum Snowbird wrote:
We got these ones. We really like them.
Mictuning

I guess you do not care about this issue because here are some reviews from the link you provided:

"The only problem is that the dumpling is so heavy on the lens the light comes out as shadowed and uneven."

"Very cheap but they cast an unusual light, you see yellow and blue streaks on the walls when you turn them on."

Well, after checking the review on this product, it has the above negatives, but it also has 83% gave it five out of five. It has a color temperature of 3200 and yours has a CT of 4500 to 5000. That difference is why we bought them, and I would give them five out of five once again.

This is the model I have:

https://www.amazon.com/Gold-Stars-F3528001-Fixture-Natural/dp/B00CZF3YTM/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=gold+star+rv+dome+light&qid=1555521977&s=gateway&sr=8-2

It's kind of hard to make recommendations if we don't know what you already have. Perhaps a picture of the offending light would help. And I take it you bought and installed the ones that you're having issues with?

I spent some time in the camper looking at the issue in detail. It is the lens that causes the issue. There is no issue directly below the lights but at a sharp angle of 45 degrees or more the yellow streaks appear. Even at a sharp angle the streaks are not visible unless there is a nearby wall. The bathroom was horrible because the fixtures were under a cabinet right next to a white wall.

I put a single ply of facial issue in the lens. That stopped the problem without any noticeable decrease in light intensity.

Thanks for the reponses.

I guess the only thing to do is determine if it's the reflector, the lens, or the LED itself.

Artum, thanks. I wonder why the difference. Maybe the lights have been changed or it depends on the distance they illuminate. In my camper if I turn on several dome lights, the streaks and blotches are cancelled out, but very noticeable and annoying with only one light on.