If you're thinking LED and not sure

[Almot]

Just go for it.

My trailer had regular 18W wedge bulbs (T9 socket). After much procrastinating went to Ebay and got it.

24 5050 SMD

Brightness - identical to old ones.
Color - identical.
Amps - 5 times less (0.3A per bulb VS 1.5A of the old ones).
Installation - what installation? Pull out old bulb and plug this one in.

No photos, but trust me, they are really identical to old bulbs in color and brightness.

Also got smaller 12 5050 SMD for kitchen hood - didn't fit well, the cutout in the hood is fraction of inch smaller than that LED disc. No big deal, I plugged it in, laying loose inside of the lamp cover.

You do want 300 lumen brightness and "Warm White" color temperature if the goal is an exact equivalent of an old 18W bulb. There are LEDs with higher and lower lumens and whiter-bluer color out there.

My reason for procrastinating was - I'm a light user, under 40 AH a day. Batteries are full every day on solar, cycling from 90% in the morning, 95% Absorb at noon and 100% Full by sunset. Don't even know why I needed LED, just did what everybody did. Maybe will need it later in short winter days.

Here is a catch - now I'm spoiled and find that an exact equivalent of an old 18W bulb is dim and yellowish (just like the original 18W was), and want more brightness and white-ness.

Also - want more diffused light. Bulbs few inches above my head with stupid clear lens in the middle of frosted dome cover make for sharp shadows. Nothing beats a shore cabin with normal light fixtures, tall ceilings and 110V grid.

[icanon]

Almot wrote:
Icanon - you asked about whiter LED. They are measured in "color temperature". Equivalent of old bulb is color temperature 2700K. Sellers call it "warm white" or "soft white" or just "white", don't read too much into this because they may call it anything, ex. "bright white" or even "superbright". They are not very scrupulous, all they want is to sell. Just look into color temps. Temps 3500-4000 will be whiter but they will also be blu-er. Go to Home Depot, they have LED and CFL bulbs of different color temperature shining next to one another for comparison.

Sometimes it may have slight pink shade. There is a filter layer on the LED, and there can be variations in filter color. The seller in my link is where many members have bought from, he seems to have better QC than some other ebay sources. Interesting detail for Canadians - small envelope from Hong Kong arrived with no declared value, so there was no sales tax on mail-order. Usually our govt is charging tax on import over $20.

I'm OK with these LEDs color, changing to different color is not too important but I might try whiter color when will have time. In my shore home all lights are either CFL or long fluorescent tubes, very few regular old bulbs, so I've got used to whiter colors.

Yes, there is some heat but way less than from old bulbs, a good thing in hot summer.

Thanks for the info. 🙂

[adkwoods]

Contact 'Cabin Bright'! The owner walked me through the process of installing LED bulbs in my original fixtures.

[Stefonius]

Almot wrote:
Here is a catch - now I'm spoiled and find that an exact equivalent of an old 18W bulb is dim and yellowish (just like the original 18W was), and want more brightness and white-ness.

The first set of LEDs I used were far too white for my eyes. I still have 25 of them that I'll never use again since replacing them with "warm white" LED bulbs. Free if you want 'em. I found that they messed up my night vision. If I stepped outside of the RV at night (while using the older "cool white" LEDs), I couldn't see a darn thing for about 5 minutes.

[Almot]

Icanon - you asked about whiter LED. They are measured in "color temperature". Equivalent of old bulb is color temperature 2700K. Sellers call it "warm white" or "soft white" or just "white", don't read too much into this because they may call it anything, ex. "bright white" or even "superbright". They are not very scrupulous, all they want is to sell. Just look into color temps. Temps 3500-4000 will be whiter but they will also be blu-er. Go to Home Depot, they have LED and CFL bulbs of different color temperature shining next to one another for comparison.

Sometimes it may have slight pink shade. There is a filter layer on the LED, and there can be variations in filter color. The seller in my link is where many members have bought from, he seems to have better QC than some other ebay sources. Interesting detail for Canadians - small envelope from Hong Kong arrived with no declared value, so there was no sales tax on mail-order. Usually our govt is charging tax on import over $20.

I'm OK with these LEDs color, changing to different color is not too important but I might try whiter color when will have time. In my shore home all lights are either CFL or long fluorescent tubes, very few regular old bulbs, so I've got used to whiter colors.

Yes, there is some heat but way less than from old bulbs, a good thing in hot summer.

[icanon]

Thanks RoyB

[mlh]

One of the best mods I ever did. I bought mine on eBay from China. No problems no interference. Cuts way down on the heat. I don't remember what I paid when I originally ordered them. After 4 years, I had one bulb start losing a couple of LEDs. It wasn't dimmer, it just aggravated me knowing that some of them were out. I didn't realize I had spares from last time, so I ordered 10 more bulbs. Cost me less than $6.00 including shipping.

[RoyB]

ICANNON - Keep in mind I got mine back in 2009 and there has been many different manufacturers since then...

I changed mine out in 2009 using the cheap $4.99 ebay-china "36-1210 SMD LED Light board, Warm White DC12V" LED boards that stick-up inside the assembly. Haven't had any issues with them except the double sided sticky tape had to be replaced on one of them... Electrical wise they have worked just fine. Also keep in mind my on-board smart mode converter/charger never gets higher than 14.4VDC. Some converter/chargers may get as high as 15VDC doing the DESULF runs on the batteries.

The spec on these boards was 12VDC to 14VDC. Like said before I have lost a a complete board yet. I do have have one board with a couple of three leds in a roll not working. They were so checp I bout 5 extra boards so i could just change them out when they quit work working and still have my spare boards...



Looks like this when installed in the ceiling lights


Just look at the specs and if they have a regulator chip set on the boards to allow them to work with a DC VOLTAGE range of 9V to 30V then you might want to order just one and see if it works ok with your HDTV set being on using the OTA BATWING antenna arrangement.

If you search the forum for LED LIGHTS you should be able to see a whole lot of info on this subject...

Roy ken

[4x4van]

Most of the reports of TV interference have come from the more expensive boards with the regulator built in. I understand the point and the desire for that, but there are tons of people who have gone with the cheap boards from China with no failures, no RFI issues, and no problems.

I replaced over 25 bulbs in my RV, all from eBay & Amazon, averaging about $4 each. It's been more than 2 years now. Easily double the light output. 1/5 the current drain. No RFI. No failures. No overheating. No regrets. Here's my story and pics


Everyone has different likes/dislikes as far as color temp & lumens, so it is important to find what YOU like before buying all of them. Try 1 or 2 of a couple different styles and color temps. When you find what you like, buy enough to do your full conversion.

[rockhillmanor]

I tried it 'once'. It interfered with the TV.

[icanon]

icanon wrote:

RoyB wrote:
One bit of caution. I jumped in there and bought about $150 worth of LED boards etc for the whole trailer only to find out that I was very pleased with how they looked compared to the incandescent automotive bulbs but emitted RF signals that blanked out my HDTV and several of my VHF radio equipment including my ham radio.

This was really a problem when using the OTA HDTV antenna setup.

I finally fell back to just ordering ONE board that did not have any BUCK REGULATOR chips on it to make the LED BOARD operate in a wide range of DC VOLTAGES.

After I found what worked best for me and not blank me out with RFI then I bought more of them.

Just passing on to maybe save you some headaches and maybe some monies...

The $4.99 boards from EBAY/CHINA was what I ended up with.. All still running great since 2009...

Roy Ken

Could you link the models you bought? Thanks.

[icanon]

Almot wrote:


Here is a catch - now I'm spoiled and find that an exact equivalent of an old 18W bulb is dim and yellowish (just like the original 18W was), and want more brightness and white-ness.

Then which model with the brightness and whiteness you want? I'm interested in replacing mine but I hear and read people complaining not being bright enough or too blue, thanks for posting and I appreciate your input.

[RoyB]

One bit of caution. I jumped in there and bought about $150 worth of LED boards etc for the whole trailer only to find out that I was very pleased with how they looked compared to the incandescent automotive bulbs but emitted RF signals that blanked out my HDTV and several of my VHF radio equipment including my ham radio.

This was really a problem when using the OTA HDTV antenna setup.

I finally fell back to just ordering ONE board that did not have any BUCK REGULATOR chips on it to make the LED BOARD operate in a wide range of DC VOLTAGES.

After I found what worked best for me and not blank me out with RFI then I bought more of them.

Just passing on to maybe save you some headaches and maybe some monies...

The $4.99 boards from EBAY/CHINA was what I ended up with.. All still running great since 2009...

Roy Ken

[willi4nd]

My plan is to replace everything with LED so I started with one fixture..not sure why I didnt think of just replacing the bulbs. Thanks for the link!

[mbopp]

Our TT got LED's before its maiden voyage.