LED Flo light bulbs?

[cdl2]

I just put LED flo light bulbs in my garage.......WOW!!!!!!
Do they make them for my 12 volt RV lights too?

[D_E_Bishop]

The replacement tubes are readily available in most RV stores or on line. They are spendy. Here is what I did instead.

Link

I saw today that COSTCO has two tube four foot fixtures on sale for $19.00. Usually happens twice a year.

[deltabravo]

cdl2 wrote:
Do they make them for my 12 volt RV lights too?

yep

LEDs for RVs

[RAS43]

jfkmk wrote:

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
The 120vac 4' tubes require eliminating the ballast? Is there a preferred source of 4 tube fixtures?

Yes, the 4’ tubes require that you bypass the ballast, at least all the ones that I’ve seen. When I retrofitted my shop lights, I also had to replace the tombstones with non-shunted versions. Not sure of a freferred source, they’re pretty universally available.

I purchased replacement LED 4' tubes at Costco and didn't have to do anything but change out the tubes. It has been 2 years now and they still work fine.

[jfkmk]

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
The 120vac 4' tubes require eliminating the ballast? Is there a preferred source of 4 tube fixtures?

Yes, the 4’ tubes require that you bypass the ballast, at least all the ones that I’ve seen. When I retrofitted my shop lights, I also had to replace the tombstones with non-shunted versions. Not sure of a freferred source, they’re pretty universally available.

[fj12ryder]

I've seen them at Walmart, I would imagine they're pretty common. Not sure of the preferred source though.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

The 120vac 4' tubes require eliminating the ballast? Is there a preferred source of 4 tube fixtures?

[JimBollman]

I only had two fixtures so it hurt less. I also had free shipping.

[Puddles]

JimBollman wrote:
If your RV has the small T5 Florescent tubes here is what I put in mine and they are great. You do have to disassemble the fixture and remove the ballast and do some simple rewiring, easy to do.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0795NLGS2/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

$16 per bulb + shipping... have 6 fixtures, 2 bulbs per... I would like to switch, but, ... how did you justify the cost?

[JimBollman]

If your RV has the small T5 Florescent tubes here is what I put in mine and they are great. You do have to disassemble the fixture and remove the ballast and do some simple rewiring, easy to do.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0795NLGS2/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Almot]

Most RV owners know better than to buy from RV dealers :).

12V LED ropes start from $3 on Ebay, shipping included. Soldering isn't always required, some ropes come with cig lighter plug already. Or cut the adapter off and twist/tap into the nearest 12V light wire, if this is more convenient.

Didn't realize there existed prices $150/hour, but people with deep pockets might pay that much. It's a matter of personal choice - though, when chosen by somebody without really deep pockets, I would rather attribute this to laziness or stupidity (often same thing, one leads to another). Whatever makes "them" happy.

[wa8yxm]

Well it depends on where you buy 'em too
EcoLed brand (A very very good brand by the way) at most RV dealers. about 20 bucks a pop.

An almost as good LED on Amazon. 2.00 a pop.

The 5 Meter strips I sliced and diced to do the light over my head (and others) were I think 7.95 a pop that's 7.95 plus about a bucks worth of other stuff (Wire and solder) and an hour or two of my time (zero if its for me cup of coffee if it's for you 150/hr if it's professional) and WOW.

[Almot]

Bill.Satellite wrote:

Most every light in an RV can be replaced with LED. You just have to have the deep pockets and willingness to make the change.

$2 per bulb, for usual dome/pancake lights. For somebody who is always on hook-up this is not necessary, for somebody who is mostly off-grid - pretty much mandatory, and so is some solar (at the very least, for battery maintenance).

It "sounds" like the OP has bulbs in his RV different than domes, those cost a little more.

As noted, there is no such thing as fluorescent LED bulb. It's a LED string placed inside the long plastic tube.

[wa8yxm]

First the LED's are not FLO's but fit the same place.

RV-LED strips are made that fit in the fluorescent fixtures. But usually they require you to re-wire since they do not use the "12 volt ballast" (Really an inverter) but are powered direct by the 12 volts. I mean why waste power converting up and down when you can run it direct.

I've converted all muy Flo's to LED but I did it differently. I got some LED strips from Amazon (5 meter long strip less than 10 bucks) sliced it up to the proper length and soldered on jumpers and feeders. Gutted the Flo fixture (no need for the electronics) more light less amps.

[jfkmk]

SidecarFlip wrote:
I just refitted my entire fabrication and machine shop with LED lights. Amazing difference and much cheaper to run plus no cold start issues.

Bought mine at Menards. 23 bucks for 2 32 watt 4500K shop lights. Cheaper than Amazon and no shipping wait either.

My 4 tube T8's drew 32 watts per tube x 4 for each fixture 8 did the entire shop

Did my TC and truck last summer, 100% LED including the headlights on the pickup.

Not a wallet breaker either. Got them all at SuperbrightLED.Com.

I did the same. Maybe my old fluorescent fixtures had bad ballasts, but I kept replacing the lights. So a couple of years ago I retrofitted the bulbs with the tube leds. Amazing difference!

I then bought led tube fixtures for the entire basement to replace the incandescent fixtures. Now almost every bulb in my house is led. I’m not sure how much I’m saving on my electric bill, but the led bulbs are superior to fluorescent and incandescent.