I just converted 80% of my camper lighting to LED. Bought a sack of 24-diodes LED panels, each with 3 adapters for different bulb sockets and I paid $1.05 a piece with free shipping from China. Anyway, like the panel idea as not only I could multiply the panels inside my old fluorescent housing, or stick it higher inside refrigerator what not only save energy, but give much better light. With 12V it is easy as you don't have to worry about exposed wires.Now I took a look inside my household refrigerator and it has 2 powerful bulbs in freezer part + 3 in refrigerator part. The freezer light, being on the side of top shelf sucks as well as taller food package covers most of it. My worry about bulb energy use is secondary as they come only for few seconds with door opening, but they look like 40 W incandescent bulbs, so they also generate quite a heat, what freezer has to absorb. Meaning puting LED there would gain pretty good energy saving and would extend compressor life as well. The problem is that those are 120V, so you can't have wires exposed and the original bulbs are pretty small in diameter with weird sockets. It is smaller than regural bulb socket, but bigger than my chandelier sockets. I think for this application to use LED I would need smaller power converter and than I could use the leftovers in the sack of LED I already have. But nobody makes converters that just screw into light bulb socket, so did anybody figure out easy way to do it?I would not worry too much about cosmetics, but want it to be safe. How LED take 0F anyway?

I'm not sure I understand the question. There have been LED bulbs for home for a long time. They are available at most building stores. I haven't replaced my freezer/refrigerator bulbs, but otherwise, almost all of our bulbs are LED at home.

jimh425 wrote:I'm not sure I understand the question. There have been LED bulbs for home for a long time. They are available at most building stores. I haven't replaced my freezer/refrigerator bulbs, but otherwise, almost all of our bulbs are LED at home.Yeah, I have them in my chandeliers, but they are bigger bulbs that will not fit into freezer light housing and even for dining room chandelier I had to buy socket adapters as the US size was not available. Than having converter I could put small LED panel at each shelf, what would give me superior lighting. I am also thinking about possibility of using LED strip. Have one of those over my cooktop and with color change it makes nice impression, although light output is smaller.Main problem is finding converter that would easy connect to old light.

Well, if you really want to go for, all of those products already exist. Costco sells all sorts of LEDs, even ones that look like florescent shop light. And of course, just use mr. google to find just the replacement bulbs themselves for just about anything.Going green is commendable, but...There is a common term called ROI - Return on Investment. How long will it take to get your money back on the money spent. Here in PNW, we pay roughly 10 cents a KW hour. You run an appliance that draws 1000 watts for 1 hour, you pay 10 cents.Lets say your new bulb for the inside of your fridge draws 30 watts now, about what those little bulbs draw. You put in an LED that draws 5. You saved 25 watts every time you open the door. We'll say that single LED bulb ran you $5.Now--It saved you 25watt-hours.Each Kilowatt hour costs $0.10You paid $5At $0.10/KWH, you need to save 50,000 watt-hours to break even.At a draw savings rate of 25 watts per hour, you need to run that bulb (with the fridge door open) for 2,000 hours to get your ROI.Hopefully you won't leave the door open on your fridge for 2,000 hours....Now if you REALLY want to save money on your power bill, focus on things that produce heat-- I just bought a brand new heat-pump hybrid water heater for my house. An average water heater uses a pair of 5,000 watt heating elements. This draws 2/3s less to heat the same amount of water because it uses a heat pump. Regular $1,399.00***IT WAS FREE!!!***

I just check the converter my LED strip has. It is 2x4x1.5" and black. Worse come to worse I could hardwire it inside freezer light housing, but it is not going to be good looking. Than I would have to do some low temperature testing.

Boatycall good points about options for energy savings going endless. I know a guy in CA, who has 6 tons concrete heat accumulator buried in his backyard. Solar water panels (cheap) heat it up in the afternoon and he draws the heat for water and house warming at night. All he pays is for very small energy the electric pump draw. But those are pretty expensive and complicated ideas, while light bulb exchange was plug&play in my camper. I am trying to make it as easy in household freezer. Than I would add some to your energy calculation. When you have poor light in the freezer, you keep the door open longer. The energy useage can multiply very fast.

Using camper energy savings ideas (LED) in your house?

Kayteg1
Explorer II
May 10, 2016
jimh425 wrote:
Kayteg1 wrote:
Imagine making a party, load the fridge full of beer and tell your friends to serve themselves.

You should add them to your RV and try it at an TC Rally. :)

See, told ya the idea will catch ;)
But my RV fridge is way too small for TC rally.
jimh406
Explorer III
May 10, 2016
Kayteg1 wrote:
Imagine making a party, load the fridge full of beer and tell your friends to serve themselves.

You should add them to your RV and try it at an TC Rally. :)
Kayteg1
Explorer II
May 09, 2016
jimh425 wrote:
That's funny, but I don't know how cool it is other than being in the fridge. :)

The lights also have strobe and fade mode.
Imagine making a party, load the fridge full of beer and tell your friends to serve themselves.
JimBollman
Explorer
May 09, 2016
The problem I had with CFLs that last as long as they were suppose to, is they kept getting dimmer. I have moved a lot of CFLs to places that didn't need as much light.
jimh406
Explorer III
May 09, 2016
That's funny, but I don't know how cool it is other than being in the fridge. :)
Kayteg1
Explorer II
May 09, 2016
I think I will find enough benefits to do it.
As I start the topic, I expect energy savings on 3 points
1. lower light bulbs consumption
2. less heat that fridge will have to work on
3. shorter door opening time with better light.
I did some testing and came with 2 more points
4. my fridge is using E17 bulbs that are not used anywhere else. Once they burn, it will take me long time to find replacement for $$$$
5. COOL FACTOR :)
I already had LED light strip as I bought them in bulk when needed in the past. The LED work at 0F what was main concern.
Now pictures are not giving full justice, but will show what I am talking about.
Here is the freezer with original bulbs. Look at shelfs with no light.

Here is freezer with LED strip at full power

Feeling green?

How about red?
dewey02
Explorer II
May 09, 2016
My personal opinion is that trying to wire your home refrigerator for LEDs is false economy. As others have said, energy savings are greatest for those lights that you have on for extended periods of time. Your refrigerator really shouldn't be opened for more than 30 seconds or so at a time. (Unless you have a teenaged boy :) ) Even with incandescent bulbs, they aren't going to throw off that much heat in such a short period.

You'll save far more money by ensuring that you don't put any warm leftovers in the fridge - let them cool to room temp. first. And keep your freezer relatively full. Be sure your door gaskets are tight (use the dollar bill trick). Vacuum the coils frequently. And I'm sure you could step down the wattage of an incandescent bulb 10 watts or so and still be able to see the food in your freezer and fridge. But I'd only do that if or when your current incandescent fails. Of course I don't see why you couldn't just also use a standard base LED once your incandescent fails. Link to LED appliance bulbs
time2roll
Nomad
May 09, 2016
I have a few LED because they are better a dimming. Mostly CFL that keep working after ten years now.
If the CFLs quit I go LED in all positions.
MiPaJacks
Explorer
May 09, 2016
First I don't pay 5 bucks for LED, second I'm replacing CFL as they fail with LED. I think it makes 'cents'
JimBollman
Explorer
May 09, 2016
When I add new lights I go with LED fixtures because they are not that much more expensive anymore when you include the bulbs you have to buy for the non LED fixtures and then you have the operating savings over their whole life. I also have replaced bulbs in fixtures I use all the time and for long periods to LED. The rest I will replace as needed. Obviously bulbs that don't get used much, unless hard to get to, will stay with cheap tungsten. I will not buy any more CFLs but I will repurpose ones that I have replaced with LED. I did this with some can fixtures in the ceiling of our porch, the CFLs took too long to reach full light output in cold weather and they tended to be left on long hours when we are coming back after dark. I have also converted about half the outside floods that get left on when we are out for the evening or expecting company. I have lots of 4 ft fluorescent fixtures in my shop that will be replaced with LED as the ballast fail because a new LED fixtures are only slightly more than a ballast.