New LED tailights??

Sport45 wrote:

CavemanCharlie wrote:
I wanted to change out the lights on my TT for LED lights to make them brighter. But, I was told that if my present lights were dim do to a low voltage condition that the LED lights would not work. They are susceptible to low voltage.

Actually, LED lights could solve that issue. Less current draw means less voltage drop. You can drive LEDs with smaller wiring than incandescents.

If you have a low voltage condition on your trailer then you most likely need to clean the grounds in your wiring, Check the connections on all the wires and clean the bulb sockets with some emery paper. Your low voltage can be easily corrected with some simple changes and cleaning.

To keep this from happening in the future use Marine electrical connections (Butt, Ring or other wire terminations)that use heat shrink on the wire surround. And then a bit of heat shrink over that and the wire where it enters the connector barrel. This makes the connections virtually water proof and the connection wont corrode.

I have four 7" tail lights on the fiberglass rear cap of my trailer. This week I replaced them with Optronics GLOLight STL190RB LED 7" lights. Lights were a direct replacement. Just removed four screws, clipped the wires and installed new connectors. Took all of 15-20 minutes. Etrailer has a video for the lights. What a difference. Very satisfied.

falconman wrote:
I know everyone says LED's last longer but that's not always the case so you need to be prepared for a failure should one occur. One of my new Bargman replacements failed in less tha a year.

Bargman does have a warranty. One of my LED modules failed and Bargman sent me a set of two modules since that is how I bought it originally. I ended up with an extra module that way.

I've been reading that the Bargman LED modules are failure prone. I wish I would have known that before I retrofitted my RV with them.

wintersun wrote:
If only changing out the bulbs do a check that they work before replacing the lens covers. They are polarity dependent so they will only work in one orientation. If they do not light then take the lamp out and rotate it 180 degrees and reinsert it.

Some LED assemblies are polarity independent. Just depends on the details. Yes, the individual LED is polarity sensitive but the proper application of several diodes on a multi-LED assembly can make the assembly independent of polarity.

RLS7201 wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:
I did the Bargman swap on our last RV. You won't believe how people will notice you wanting to move over when you signal a lane change. Worth every penny!

X2

Richard
95 Bounder

X3 And if one thinks it is a gimmick just look around at new vehicles. Many now use LEDs in many of the lights.

Cummins12V98 wrote:
I did the Bargman swap on our last RV. You won't believe how people will notice you wanting to move over when you signal a lane change. Worth every penny!

X2

Richard
95 Bounder

If only changing out the bulbs do a check that they work before replacing the lens covers. They are polarity dependent so they will only work in one orientation. If they do not light then take the lamp out and rotate it 180 degrees and reinsert it.

For me the advantage of the LED lamps is that with their extended run time I can completely weather seal the housing. Most of my lamp failures have been the result of corrosion at the base of the lamp and not the filament burning out.

Water-Bug wrote:
You can buy a ton of 12 volt incondescent bulbs for the cost of a LED replacement. It's a gimick. :)

That's not always true. I got a 10 pack of LED bulbs for $12.87 through Amazon. A box of 10 Camco incandescent bulbs is $7.68. (I have more than 10 sockets inside but I only bought 10 to swap some and fill one empty socket. I will keep the ones I pulled in a drawer in the RV as a spare.)

For a difference of $5.19 I get a longer life that may pay for itself. If I go boondocking I can pull the incandescents and run on only the LEDs. Reduced light yes, but it is light. I consider that worth the extra five bucks. You can save even more through eBay but I prefer Amazon's customer service.

CavemanCharlie wrote:
I wanted to change out the lights on my TT for LED lights to make them brighter. But, I was told that if my present lights were dim do to a low voltage condition that the LED lights would not work. They are susceptible to low voltage.

Actually, LED lights could solve that issue. Less current draw means less voltage drop. You can drive LEDs with smaller wiring than incandescents.

I replaced my tail lights with led and they blink normally. I eventually plan on replacing everything else with led as they burn out over time.