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Ranger_Tim's avatar
Ranger_Tim
Explorer
Aug 03, 2016

LED's Are Too White and Bright: Replacements?

Our Four month old Wolf Creek is getting a lot of use. We love the thing but want to tone down the lighting inside. We prefer a softer, more yellow light and less lumens than what we have. Some of them have two cards and others have a single. All use a card with nine LED's on them.

I found this one on Amazon: LED light bulb/card

Is this what I might be looking for? We don't want to take an x-ray every time we turn on a light. Most of the time lights are just for mood, meals, or navigation around the cabin. I also want to turn one into a red astronomy friendly light for star parties so I don't blast the observers outside with whiteness. I can use a red tape or gel for that, but would like a light with less output.

We will still retain the white blasters we have now over the kitchen sink and under the dinette bunk for those times when we need to burn our retinas out.

Am I on the right track? I know nothing about these new devices and haven't even figured out how to open the diffusers!
  • RangerTim:

    If the fixtures are the same as mine, Optronics, it's simply a matter of sliding the lens (diffuser, as you call it) away from the switch.It will only slide about a 1/2" til it falls away from the fixture. There is one screw holding each circuit board in. At that point, grab the light and pull it from the socket. Very easy.

    Don't go cheap. If I was you, I'd just spend the money on direct replacements in the respective color warmth range you desire. All LED's are not created equal. The lesser expensive (cheaply made) ones have been known to overheat and die an early death or burst into flames in some cases. I'd stick with high quality, replacements.
  • I had really bright lights for either side of our bathroom mirror at home and put black tape over every other led. Result? less light but one can see the individual led's instead of them all blending together.
    Might work as a temporary measure.

    My original idea was to put those aforementioned lights on a dimmer and have the best of all worlds; long lasting led's but dimmable for ambience. However, the dimmer that worked on the incandescent ceiling light did nothing to dim the led's. The best way for a novice to buy dimmable led's is to get a kit that the manufacturer put together. That way you know the led's and the dimmer are compatible. That's what my Son bought and they work just fine.
  • You want something with a color temperature of 3000 or lower, preferably 2700. It also needs a base that fits your current fixtures, unless you want to change the fixtures too. Take the cover off a fixture and see what type of base you have. I think a flat blade-type is more common in newer trailers, but there are also round bases that twist in.

    You should be able to find a lumen (brightness) rating for your current bulbs somewhere. Look for something lower, LOL.

    The above source looks good.

    We got ours (several years ago) at LEDtrailerlights.com.