How Much Power Savings using LED's?
Just purchased 4 warm white LED panels with 20 5050 LED's. Wanted to experiment with these on my TT before purchasing more. Anyhow, one 20 5050 LED panel wasn't nearly as bright as the original 92...
Forum Discussion
hershey wrote:
I just bought a couple bulbs last year in Q-site and what a difference. They actually work better than the filament type bulbs. No heat and very very low current draw.
The current draw is of little concern to me as we seldom boondock anymore, but just the better available light makes LED's a no brainier.
Nobody questions a lower power draw of LED per given amount of light, the question was - how much lower. Can be anywhere from 1.5 to 6 times lower, but most often you are lucky to get 3 times lower.
Manufacturers do lie about the amount of light emitted by LED, measured in lumens. Especially today that all LEDs are not only made in China, but designed by God knows who in the same China. Lax quality control, same as most other regulations in that country, need no further comments.
And LEDs are not always "better" available light, it depends on application. In residential use fluorescent tubes and CFL bulbs is an easy, inexpensive and reliable alternative to incandescent bulbs. 120V LEDs are not not as reliable and not cheap either.
In RV, LEDs are more practical than fluorescent tubes or CFL, though hardly any better in energy savings and annual costs. Even if you compare AH energy savings of LED to your old incandescent - it will not be impressive unless you burn it a lot. 2 incandescent bubs 2 hours a day will burn 7 AH, and 2 LED of the same lumens will burn 2-3 AH. 4-5 AH difference is a lot for a minimalist with a single battery, but if you translate this in terms of residential electrical, this is savings of 2 KWH a month. One month total is, more-less, what weekend warriors spend in their RV in a year :)
