Light Bulbs overheating????

Harvey51 wrote:
Higher quality LED lights have built in voltage regulators to prevent damage to the LEDs - but wouldn't the regulator chip dissipate the power reduction as heat?

I don't know a lot about the regulators used in LED lights but I believe they use switching circuits that turn the power to the LED off and on very rapidly. That is what causes radio interference from some regulator LED lights. The switching circuits cause much less heat than using resistive limiting of current.

I switched all my 1141 lights to non regulated LEDs some years ago and while a few have had some LEDs go out, they are still giving off lots of light. I think the problem I had was that when I attached the panels to the light fixture I bent the panels and damaged the connections to the LEDs. The cob style lights are still working perfectly.

No comparison in the heat of an LED and one of the 12 volt bulbs. I could feel the heat off the regular bulb at least a couple inches away. I can put my hand on the plastic cover and can barely feel any heat at all with the LED bulbs. And they're brighter.

Had same problem, went to leds they don't get as hot. Hope you can find lens for your fixtures I couldn't had to replace. Brought all on EBay..

LEDs will overheat when the voltage is too high. The less expensive RV LEDs are designed for 12.6 volts. As the voltage increases from there the same current is drawn, creating the same light power output while the increase in electric power goes to make heat. Check yours when on shore power.

Higher quality LED lights have built in voltage regulators to prevent damage to the LEDs - but wouldn't the regulator chip dissipate the power reduction as heat?

So happy our new one came with all led except the dinette slid out light and by the couch. If possible those will be switched out by our longer August trip too.

Sounds like the wedge type bulbs #921, those get so hot they will remove your finger prints and the turn black inside. I replaced all of mine with LEDs. :)

This is post from another forum I found interesting about RV bulbs and the difference between the 1141, and the 1156.

The author of this post is cva61.

""No, clear or not has little to do with it. Watts (power consumption) is what produces heat and an 1156 uses about 50% more watts (and amps) than an 1141. An incandescent bulb produces light by "burning" electricity, so the watts are converted to heat in order to produce light. More light = more watts = more heat, all in proportion.


Here is a more technical answer
Both the 1156 and the 1141 are Single eliminate bulbs using a BA15s single contact base. The glass envelope is a S8 on both. So they are physical the same size and would use the same electrical socket.

The difference is in the element. The 1156 is a 12v 2.1 amp 26.9 watts unit with 1200 hrs life. While the 1141 is 12v, 1.44amp and 18.4 watts with 500 hrs life. The 1156 produces 32 candle power while the 1141 produces 21.

The 1156 will produce more heat than the 1141 and that will require a slightly different design for a mounting fixture/lens cover/shade. Said a little differently the 1156 in a 1141 housing may melt the lens cover/shade.

As to the use of an LED in a mount designed for either bulb I doubt that any problem from heat would be encountered using either. The LED for the 1156 would have more lumen's than one designed for the 1141.

It comes down to what is the requirements in lumen's for the application.""

All the original bulbs inside our 2014 Coachmen Freedom Express were incandescent 921 bulbs so I replaced them with LED equivalents that are bright ( ~300 lumens apiece), good colour (~3200 degress Kelvin), don't interfere with the radio, and run cool.



However, the exterior light fixture by the entry door had an 1141 incandescent bulb that got so hot it melted the fixture itself ... it was replaced under warranty and I installed an 1141 LED version, no more issues since.

Ok, there are two light bulbs I will use for example

1141 and 1156

These bulbs appear PHYSICALLY identical and both fit the same sockets...

the 1141 is 19 watts, and the 1156 26.. If you replace the smaller (1141) with a 1156 it will cause overheat.

That said, I'm not sure the 1141 won't


Solution: LED replacement.

corvettekent wrote:
Just replace them all with LED lights.

This!