L.E.D Replacement light bulbs

I was referring to your response to 4x4van where you characterized vendors on Amazon as "yo-yo's" and other online merchants selling "junk". What I got from your post is that anyone that buys from anywhere but where you approve, is a "sucker".

I could care less if I meet your definition of "sucker" or not. I used the same purchasing strategy that 4x4van pointed out.

Nope! Many good sources, choices, and places to buy LED's where the actual verifiable specifications are given and met. Simply stating the obvious! An inch is an inch not 3/4 of a real certified inch.

BTW, are you telling me you were a sucker??? haha

Travelnutz,
So you are now saying that anyone that doesn't buy the same "certified" LED's like yours is a sucker?

4x4van,

There is a Bureau of Standards here in the USA. Just because some yo-yo sells something on Amazon or any other online cheapie site and claims a certain description or details/specs dowsn't mean a thing. Amazon nor any other mass selling market site doesn't test and/or certify the product claims given are accurate or even close. The false claims are to get unknowing suckers to buy from them. 3000K is 3000K and 5000k is 5000K no matter what the seller claims.

If the price sounds too cheap for an known certified item to be, it usually is NOT what it's claimed to be. That is why standard specifications were even developed.

There's a new sucker born every day and so many of these online sellers make big money selling them junk while claiming it's the real McCoy. The sucker supply is never ending! The seller win while the sucker loses nearly every time! Some suckers keep coming for more fleecing time after time and what does that say about them? Yup, they walk the streets, drive, and vote too! Scarey!

Sorry, double post.

Yes, those color charts are all over the internet, and while they vary a bit, all of them agree that the higher the number, the "cooler" the light. In layman's terms, "cool" is towards the blue spectrum, warm is towards the yellow spectrum. Since high noon daylight is 5000-5500K and is claimed to be the "whitest" possible light, I would consider that the middle, neither warm nor cool. Many color charts agree, and put daylight (5000K-5500K) in a "nuetral" category, with higher numbers (6000K and up) being cool and lower numbers (below 4000K) being warm. That being the case, 4100K is certainly not "cool" by those charts. In fact, a "cool white flourescent" is actually the "name" of the bulb, not the color, and I suspect that it was called "cool" because of the fact that it was "cooler" than incandescents, which were the only widely available light alternative at the time. I stand by my easy to understand "real world" descriptions regarding color temps: warm is yellow, cool is blue, pure/daylight is neither yellow nor blue (and consequently neither warm nor cool), but rather in the middle.

I have purchased numerous LEDs for my RV as well as for my garage/workshop. 4500K does not look blue in the real world, and even 5500K is just barely on the cusp of blue. Of course if you put it next to 3000K, even 4000K looks blue in comparison. But put that same 4000K next to 5000K-5500K (the whitest white there is) and it looks yellow. If you look at the pics of my RV (in the thread I linked), I think you will agree that my lighting, while not yellow, is certainly not "blue" either. Yet the strips under the cabinets were listed (by the seller) as 6000K and the LEDs in the ceiling fixtures were actually listed as 6000K-6500K! I believe that the actual color of mine are likely closer to 5000K (strips) to 5500K (ceiling), not the 6000K-6500K that the seller claimed.

My 2 points were these:

Point 1. Try a few of different colors and types; simply going by the seller's description or listed K specs is not a guarantee of color. Even the Kelvin temps given by sellers can and do vary from each other and may not be accurate. One seller's "cool" may in fact look pure white, while another's will be nearly purple. "Warm" can be anything from yellow to pure white. As another example, I have a roll (strip) purchased for my garage workbench that the seller called "pure white" but is clearly cool. It looks purple; probably at least 6500K or higher. Another roll (from a different seller) labeled the same "pure white" has no blue tint at all, and is probably about 5000K (that's the one I ended up using).

And Point 2.: Cheap LEDs from Amazon or eBay allow you to accomplish point 1 without overspending.

4x4van,

Glad you are happy with your LED lights.

However!

Don't want to burst your bubble but you might want to google and learn: 4100K cool white

Hundreds of charts on the web alone giving light color as expressed in K (Kelvin scale light temparture)

Cool white is 4100K not 5500K. 5500K has a slight bluish white cast and 6500K is quite bluish light. Direct effective sunlight in the Earth's atmosphere is about 5780K and above the Earth's atmosphere is about 5900K.

Look it up and learn!
4100K is the light tubular flourescent bulbs T-12, T-8, and T-5 for instance give for general commercial office and work place lighting.

Color corrected lighting/coatings are used for indoors lighting where glare and eye straining light is not desirable for longer time periods of esposure when relaxing etc. 4100K is used for work/commercial lighting where relaxing is not desirable or wanted.

2700K has a yellowish-orange cast light and generally used for bedrooms and living rooms etc creating a warm pleasant light atmosphere. 3000K has less of an orange cast and closer to white with a slight tinge of a yellow cast and preferred for rooms/areas where reading and relaxing are done but still white enough for easy reading without causing excessive eye strain or headaches. 4100K is too stark of a white for a relaxing area and why it's used in offices and work areas. 5000K - 5500K is close to daylight bright white light as in being outdoors in direct sunlight and why it's labled "Daylight". Over 5000K lighting causes unprotected naked eye strain and squinting in most humans and why many do or must wear light dimming/filtering protection such as "sunglasses" and is the very reason sunglasses were even invented/developed.

Many swear by the warm white; I (and DW) dislike the dingy yellow color, especially in an older RV; makes everthing look older and dirty. 4500-5500K is a very bright, pure white, which is what worked best for us throughout the RV. "Cool" white is typically over 5500K, and has a blue tint (the higher the number, the bluer it looks). I replaced every single bulb in my RV (more than 25) for less than $130, most from Amazon, some from eBay. Super happy with the color, light output, and (lack of) current draw. No failures in more than 18 months, using both onboard batteries, generator, or hookups. I will never go back to incandescent, and I will never pay inflated prices from an RV place. $8-$20 for a single LED replacement? No way; no reason.

Here's the best argument I can make for purchasing cheap LEDs online: There are a million different LED replacements out there; different bases (T10, BA9, BA15, Wedge, Festoon...), different layouts (flat panel, COB, cylindrical...), different LEDs (1210, 3528, 5050, 5630...), different color temps (anything from 2700K to 6500K and above; warm, pure, daylight, cool, bright...), different lumen outputs... At $8-20 each, you better know exactly what YOU want and what YOU like. Do you? I certainly didn't, and that was even after doing a ton of online reseach. With cheap LEDs, you can purchase 1-2 of each of several different types and try them out. If you don't like them, you haven't lost much (or they can often be used in a different location/appliction). If you do like them, then order more.

Here's my conversion details, with lots of in-depth info. Although it's now a year and a half old, it has alot of info that is quite useful to anyone who is just starting down the LED road. You will learn alot about the different types, temps, bases, sizes, layout, etc., in order to make the decisions that YOU will be happy with. No longer is a light bulb a light bulb; there are numerous variations, and no one else can make those descisions for you, because no one else knows exactly what you like.
Good luck:D

westend,

Totally wrong! My toes weren't stepped on nor would I even care if they were. Re-read your posted words and it should be self-answered. NOBODY in a logical business or selling items repeatedly will give you something for much less than they pay for the item. They wouldn't be selling long whem only to subsidizing you!

I also am not a novice with LED's or their use, function, lumen output, color (kelvin temps), cost to manufacture, markups, incandescents, or CFL's or tube flourescents. Owned and ran a quite well known engineering business doing "design/engineering/protyping/testing and certification" for nearly 40 years before selling and finally retiring. I very clearly understand the process and proceedures associated!

I do try to post with simple to understand plain language/words so most readers can easily understand and grasp the subject discussed. My goal is to help and inform the forum readers etc, not muddy the waters or pollute with snake oil or enter into a derogatory war of words. Fact are facts! LED's are NOT remotely new to the electriomics or lighting world/industries. If that is beneath what you'd expected, so be it.

"If it sounds too cheap or far fetched to be real, it usually tells a learned person something very important" All they have to do is use that gray thing inside their head!

Hint: An entry level RV is very different in price, quality, structure, insulation, attributes, materials used, and expected usable life plus so much more than about any mid or upper level RV. Doesn't that tell you something of "you get what you pay for"

Nuff said! The readers can judge for themselves...

travelnutz wrote:
westend,

Go buy some of them and you'll know why! Maybe better that you buy some from both the cheap online dudes and some from the suggested and proven excellent light quality sources and I simply can't wait to here your report. You get what you pay for and get the best price by shopping smartly from an up to date product source.

Well, I knew before I asked the question that someone would feel that their toes were being stepped on......I was just curious why some would buy the more expensive solution.

Reading between the lines, it seems like TNutz believes that he is buying a more modern solution and that he is getting value by paying a bit more. I don't have any problem with that.

FWIW, before I bought a single LED I did some research on this Forum and at other places. I'm not a novice with LED's or electronics but wanted to see what others were using and the results they got. At that time folks were either buying inexpensive non-regulated LED assemblies from Asian vendors or regulated assemblies from mostly US online vendors at 4-5 times the price. Since I didn't want any on-board regulators to interfere with radio or TV reception, my choice was easy, I bought the Asian LED's. I built all of my light fixtures so didn't have any issues with adaptors or lens/reflection configurations. After two years, all of the installed LED's are operating 100%.