LED bulbs vs fixtures?

[Kenpilot]

I'm wanting to start upgrading my TT with LED lights to conserve precious battery power when dry camping. Is there much of a difference between just replacing the old bulbs with LEDs vs replacing the entire fixture? Obviously I'd love to save money and just replace the bulbs but if it's more beneficial to replace the entire fixture to save on battery draw, then I'd rather do that. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

[trail-explorer]

I bought LEDs back in 2009 and have never had a failure. I got them from http://www.ledtrailerlights.com/

Here's my write up:

http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/22909073.cfm



THe only good reason to replace the entire fixture is if the old one is damaged, or if you just want a newer style fixture.

[wintersun]

The only time a fixture may need to be replaced is when the fixture you have uses CFL tubes. There are kits to adapt these but they are a bit of a klduge and don't save that much when compared to a new LED fixture of this type.

[StreetGlo]

Kenpilot wrote:
I'm wanting to start upgrading my TT with LED lights to conserve precious battery power when dry camping.

I replaced all my interior bulbs with a high output led model from Amazon. I believe there were about 22 bulbs I had to replace. The problem with LED's (and I've been a pioneer in buying them) is that many have heat related issues and the longer than life bulb capacity is moot for many because they overheat and dim so low many are useless. Well this brand I bought has been going strong since November of 2012 and this includes one used in the porch light fixture which I have intentionally left ON 24/7 and for every hot hot day as well. The bulbs are well protected from heat/light loss and I paid around $4.00 each for them off Amazon.

I can run these dry camping all day long for many many days and not notice hardly any battery usage. I did update my batteries with two of Walmart's best of the larger deep cycle cells. I recall reading these batteries were made by one of the big cell companies (the name escapes me at the moment) and they happen to be, according to the tech at the manufacturing plant, that companies best and most duty driven model. I've been 1000% pleased with both the bulbs and the Walmart batteries. (no anti-walmart comments please, I don't believe any of them)

[tenbear]

I have replaced all my interior incandescent bulbs with LEDs. Buy 1 or 2 to try them out before buying a whole lot. I have found a big difference between what was apparently the same thing from different sellers on eBay.

I have been very pleased with the warm white 36-1210 panels from this seller.

[mbopp]

The first mod to the new TT was to replace the 921 bulbs with Flea-bay 36-1210 warm white LED panels. I'm happy with the light output and the 6-fold reduction in power consumption.

[Tom_M1]

I changed to LED recently using some purchased from China. I used the warm white and liked the results. They were $25.99 for 10 including shipping. I did a test comparing the incandescent to LED. You can check my results here: LED test

[Stefonius]

Kenpilot wrote:

harley-dave wrote:
Good morning

It doesn't matter if you just replace the bulb with an LED or the entire fixture. The power savings is strictly in the LED portion. The LED lights come with the required base to just plug in so we didn't replace any fixtures. We have changed all the bulbs in our class c to LED and it saves a significant amount of power. We went with the White LED because we don't like the yellowish color of the warm white. Also greatly reduces the amount of heat given off by each light. Required when you live in AZ..

Dave

Excellent, thanks Dave. Nice to know I'll save a few bucks on just replacing the bulbs. When you say you went with the white LED, were they Natural white or Cool white? Thanks!

I replaced about half of mine with Chinese LED panels (from eBay) last year. They have a high color temperature (somewhere in the 4-5k range), which I absolutely hate. The whiter light is very bad for your night vision, which is why I plan to move those lights to the ceiling fixtures and use warmer LEDs for my task lighting.

[Campfire_Time]

Also compare all your options. There are places that you can buy LED bulbs ranging in price from $3 ea. to $15 each. The good part about that is many of them come with lifetime warranties and you sometimes have a wider choice of color temperatures. The drawbacks is that they are expensive and most have built in regulators that can interfere with your TV.

Many choose to try out cheap Chinese LED bulbs. For $21 I got 15 of these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/400492854370, in the drop down, 48 SMD 3528 Warm White. They are a bit "whiter" than the incandescent bulbs but not as bright and WAY cooler to the touch. No voltage regulators either to interfere with the TV. No lifetime warranty, but for this price, they are throw-aways. And we like them a lot.

[Kenpilot]

harley-dave wrote:
Good morning

It doesn't matter if you just replace the bulb with an LED or the entire fixture. The power savings is strictly in the LED portion. The LED lights come with the required base to just plug in so we didn't replace any fixtures. We have changed all the bulbs in our class c to LED and it saves a significant amount of power. We went with the White LED because we don't like the yellowish color of the warm white. Also greatly reduces the amount of heat given off by each light. Required when you live in AZ..

Dave

Excellent, thanks Dave. Nice to know I'll save a few bucks on just replacing the bulbs. When you say you went with the white LED, were they Natural white or Cool white? Thanks!

[harley-dave]

Good morning

It doesn't matter if you just replace the bulb with an LED or the entire fixture. The power savings is strictly in the LED portion. The LED lights come with the required base to just plug in so we didn't replace any fixtures. We have changed all the bulbs in our class c to LED and it saves a significant amount of power. We went with the White LED because we don't like the yellowish color of the warm white. Also greatly reduces the amount of heat given off by each light. Required when you live in AZ..

Dave