Whole trailer LED retrofit
All,
For anyone considering doing an LED lamp retrofit in your unit, I will tell you... It can be easy, relatively inexpensive and worthwhile.
We don't do much boondocking or running off our battery, but I did get tired of the heat generated from the typical 12V incandescent lamps in our RVs. I also liked the idea of using less power overall and the long life of LED lamps.
I looked through numerous threads in this and other forums and finally pulled the trigger on a bunch of LED lamps on EBay. I bought 20 each of the pillar type with 25 LED elements and the paddle type with 24 LED elements for about $1.82 each in bulk, shipped directly from the manufacturer/distributor in China.
I just replaced all of my standard lamps this morning (26 total). It was an easy job but remember, as many have said in threads like these, the lamps are polarity sensitive so if the lamp doesn't work when you first plug it in, flip it over and try again. Fortunately, all of the paddle types (which only have the LED elements on one side) worked the first time. If it hadn't worked, I could have just bent each wire to the opposite side of the base to reverse the way you insert the lamp. You may have to wiggle the lamp a bit to engage the wire elements with the terminal. Also, the pillar types went in fairly easily but the paddle types were a little tougher to push in. As someone else recommended grasp the base of the paddle type when inserting otherwise you will bend the plastic.
The LEDs may be just a hair dimmer than the regular ones, but not much. I got the warm white which are 3000-3500K color temperature. Those are the ones that most resemble the normal incandescent in their light quality and what I have been installing thoughout my house. The bluish-white ones (higher color temperature) may be a bit brighter, but I don't like the look as much.
Finally, when I used to enter the trailer and turn on 1 or 2 lights (3-4 bulbs), the inverter fan would come on. I had read someone else that did an LED retrofit say that they turned on ALL of their interior lights after replacing with LEDs and the inverter fan never came on. I had to see for myself and, to my surprise, I had the same experience. 26 or 27 lamps and the inverter fan never came on... Unbelievable!!
I will look up the link to the ones I purchased and post it in this thread. I am afraid to switch to EBay and lose everything I've typed...;).
In short I totally recommend this mod - particularly if you want to reduce your power consumption and/or production of extra heat in the trailer.
Dean
For anyone considering doing an LED lamp retrofit in your unit, I will tell you... It can be easy, relatively inexpensive and worthwhile.
We don't do much boondocking or running off our battery, but I did get tired of the heat generated from the typical 12V incandescent lamps in our RVs. I also liked the idea of using less power overall and the long life of LED lamps.
I looked through numerous threads in this and other forums and finally pulled the trigger on a bunch of LED lamps on EBay. I bought 20 each of the pillar type with 25 LED elements and the paddle type with 24 LED elements for about $1.82 each in bulk, shipped directly from the manufacturer/distributor in China.
I just replaced all of my standard lamps this morning (26 total). It was an easy job but remember, as many have said in threads like these, the lamps are polarity sensitive so if the lamp doesn't work when you first plug it in, flip it over and try again. Fortunately, all of the paddle types (which only have the LED elements on one side) worked the first time. If it hadn't worked, I could have just bent each wire to the opposite side of the base to reverse the way you insert the lamp. You may have to wiggle the lamp a bit to engage the wire elements with the terminal. Also, the pillar types went in fairly easily but the paddle types were a little tougher to push in. As someone else recommended grasp the base of the paddle type when inserting otherwise you will bend the plastic.
The LEDs may be just a hair dimmer than the regular ones, but not much. I got the warm white which are 3000-3500K color temperature. Those are the ones that most resemble the normal incandescent in their light quality and what I have been installing thoughout my house. The bluish-white ones (higher color temperature) may be a bit brighter, but I don't like the look as much.
Finally, when I used to enter the trailer and turn on 1 or 2 lights (3-4 bulbs), the inverter fan would come on. I had read someone else that did an LED retrofit say that they turned on ALL of their interior lights after replacing with LEDs and the inverter fan never came on. I had to see for myself and, to my surprise, I had the same experience. 26 or 27 lamps and the inverter fan never came on... Unbelievable!!
I will look up the link to the ones I purchased and post it in this thread. I am afraid to switch to EBay and lose everything I've typed...;).
In short I totally recommend this mod - particularly if you want to reduce your power consumption and/or production of extra heat in the trailer.
Dean
