incandescent lighting to LED

Easy to replace the incandescent lamps with LED versions but I left the 12v fluorescent fixtures in place. We use them as little as possible and rely 95% of the time on the ones with the .1 Watt LED lamps.

Lots of color variation with the different LED lamps. The ones that are referred to as being "warm" I found produced a light with a yellow cast that I do not like at all. The others produce a whiter light.

Here are some links that will tell you all you wanted to know about LEDs in RVs. I have changed over all my interior lights to LEDs with no problems.

MyLEDs

How to convert to LEDs

Low priced LEDs, fast shipping

yes, they are both 12V... and this is the only common feature.

Color aka "color temperature" is often different. In theory, if it says "warm white", it should be same color as incandescent bulb, but in reality it can be whiter or yellow-er.

Wattage/brightness is different from regular 12V, and again, the range is wild, in the LED case. The measure of brightness is lumen. On the average, incandescent emits 13 lumens per watt, LED - 40 lumens per watt. So if you have 12W bulbs in your rig, this is 156 lumens per bulb. If you want to replace it with same brightness, you need to look for LED with ~ 100 lumens per " flat board", not 156, because the "board" emits all the light down, while your regular bulb emits about half of those 156 lumens upwards to the ceiling. So the flat board" with array of LEDs is more efficient than the LED array made in a bulb shape, though the latter also exist and cost more. Boards come with arrays of 9, 24, 36 and 48 LEDs. The more LEDs - the more watts drawn and lumens emitted. Chinese makers are not very accurate in providing the lumens numbers, so the result might be brighter or dimmer than you want.

To confuse you more, the brightness also depends on the color temperature, i.e. of two LED arrays with same shape and same amount of lumens the one that is whiter, will feel brighter. Despite same amount of lumens. Again, Chinese makers are not accurate in providing color temperature numbers (i.e. whitish or yellowish). So the result you might like better than your old 12V bulbs, or not at all.

PS: all the above is true for LEDs installed by RV shop. It will be made in China, only sold through US retailer. It can be brighter than you like, or dimmer, or color not to your taste.

pinkflydxx, can you post a picture of the burnt lights? I am curious which ones they were.

pinkflydxx wrote:
I recently purchased various LED's from Ebay (via China). I tried to match up the brightness ratings (lumens) to my current incandescent bulbs. Two problems:

1. The LED's SMDs (surface mounted devices) worked in all of the sockets, however, in many of the light fixtures, they would get excessively hot (even for an LED bulb). Two of them became so hot, they began to smoke from the heat generated! I took them out and shortly thereafter replaced them all with the original incandescent bulbs. Many of the non-smokers were brown and probably on the verge of smoking. I realize they may get hot, but something was wrong if they get so hot they smoke. I'm not sure if they were defective or this would have been expected with the high lumen ratings. Buyer beware.

2. After putting LED's in all my fixtures, I felt that the light seemed very "unnatural" - almost too white, and a creepy "washed-out" feeling to the color of objects under the LED lights.

Too each their own, but beware of the Chinese made LED's.

10 to 1 odds you were on shore power when they fried.(?) This is the problem with unregulated LEDs in RVs with aggressive battery chargers. Additionally, as some chargers age, their control also becomes worse. Number one reason to buy reputable lights and not random sourced ones. Also, even some regulated bulbs do not have robust enough circuits to handle the power. You will find some forum posters that strongly disagree with this information, but I have personally seen it many times.

mbopp wrote:
I replaced most of my lights with these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10pcs-12V-Dome-Bulb-36-1210SMD-LED-Warm-White-Adapter-BA9S-T10-Festoon-31-44mm-/170721842426?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27bfd094fa

So far, so good.

Me Too used the same vendor 3 times no problems at all. Just spent 6 days dry camping and used them all the time and hardly used any of my battery power, they are great and the light from them is as good or better than the incandescent that they replaced.

In your situation, you could do a quick analysis to see if their add on is financially beneficial. Divide $290 by the number of lights in the trailer and that will give you a price per lamp. Sometimes the retailer can get the lamps less expensively than you could. Just need to know the type of base the fixtures have.

A second thought, if you don't plan on dry camping but will always have electrical hookups, LED's aren't necessary.

I replaced most of my lights with these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10pcs-12V-Dome-Bulb-36-1210SMD-LED-Warm-White-Adapter-BA9S-T10-Festoon-31-44mm-/170721842426?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27bfd094fa

So far, so good. I zip tied them in place along with the tape.

You will hear from both sides and many will try to justify the over the top prices they paid for LEDs that were manufactured in China but sold by US based retailers. After some research, I did a full LED conversion on our rig 3 seasons ago and purchased from forum recommended US and China sellers. Other than the major difference in price, all LEDs were of good quality and have performed their jobs well for 3 years. So many of today's consumer electronics are made from Asian sources (like the HP laptop I'm using) and like anything else, there are some great products and there is some******out there. LED lighting is an important mod for those of us who camp off the grid often and is worth $290, but I wouldn't opt for it as I have found that it can be done for much less. So many of the options offered by RV manufacturers are overpriced, and in many cases use inferior products. I have performed these mods myself utilizing high-grade equipment ultimately delivering superior results and proving to cost much less in the long run.

I recently purchased various LED's from Ebay (via China). I tried to match up the brightness ratings (lumens) to my current incandescent bulbs. Two problems:

1. The LED's SMDs (surface mounted devices) worked in all of the sockets, however, in many of the light fixtures, they would get excessively hot (even for an LED bulb). Two of them became so hot, they began to smoke from the heat generated! I took them out and shortly thereafter replaced them all with the original incandescent bulbs. Many of the non-smokers were brown and probably on the verge of smoking. I realize they may get hot, but something was wrong if they get so hot they smoke. I'm not sure if they were defective or this would have been expected with the high lumen ratings. Buyer beware.

2. After putting LED's in all my fixtures, I felt that the light seemed very "unnatural" - almost too white, and a creepy "washed-out" feeling to the color of objects under the LED lights.

Too each their own, but beware of the Chinese made LED's.