LED lighting

[kellertx5er]

OK, I'm really gonna stir some of you up because I'm having a hard time understanding the LED craze. Being a professional EE, I understand those of you who dry camp gain additional battery capacity through the reduced wattage. Does EVERYONE who writes in about LEDs dry camp regularly? We never do.

Is it about lamp life? In my seven years of camping in two different trailers I have yet to replace even one conventional lamp which had burned out.

I really would like to get some honest feedback to find out if there is any benefit I can get from installing LED lighting.

[owenssailor]

I had several incandescents fail during 2 years. as well you could see heat damage inside the fixtures. The LED's are better for both those issues. The reduced power load is also well worth it.

[JiminDenver]

I know of at lest one person that changed them because of the heat the incandescent bulbs produced in the bunk areas. Both comfort and the possibility of the kids burning themselves by touching the fixture.

For us the closest thing we see as a hook up is when I plug the solar into the battery and LEDs have made a huge difference.

[aslakson]

We converted all our interior lights to LED to cut down on the heat load. Not having to change bulbs was a bonus. Getting additional battery time when we do dry camp (at best 2-3 times a year) was another. But the primary reason was all the heat those old bulbs generated was really annoying on a hot summer night.

al

[mthockeydad]

Mostly dry camping and battery life.

Heat (besides burning your fingers) is another consideration. 18W = 61Btu. 10 lamps burning is 610BtU. Not huge, but it does add up!

[Steeljag]

I also only camp in SPs which all have had hookups. Going on four years and have not had a original bulb blow out. When they do i may replace with LEDs. The reason only would be for interior heating, standard bulbs do get hot.

I do however have a small lamp with a compact fluorescent buld which I prefer to leave on.

[bdpreece]

The main lighting in my coach was 8 large and 4 smaller neon lights with two bulbs each. I had never take a trip that I did not burn out at least two to four bulbs. I stripped the old fixtures of bulbs and ballasts and installed led strips. So far we have been out over three months and have not lost even one led. Time will tell but I am sold on them. I also changed out the bulbs in all the puck lights; less heat and less power draw.

[valhalla360]

If you don't dry camp there is less benefit obviously.

One area you may want to consider is your brake lights.

Once power is applied, an LED usually takes around 0.1 sec to produce light. An incandesant usually is closer to 0.5 seconds. That means the guy is tailgating has a little better chance of stopping or even if he doesn't, he hits you going a little slower.

[TucsonJim]

There are other aspects you may not have considered. Incandescent bulbs can get very hot to the touch. We have reading lights over our sofa, recliners and bed. These have 1383 incandescent bulbs that get very hot to the touch. If you reach up to adjust the beam of light, you can easily burn your fingers. I replaced all the 1382 bulbs with LEDs, and you can touch them without getting burned. Hot incandescent bulbs can also melt and disfigure plastic light fixtures.

Even if you're staying in a commercial RV park with shore power, some of them require you to pay for electricity. I've never done a cost/benefit analysis of purchasing and running LED bulbs vs. paying for electric, but if you are in your RV enough days of the year, I'll bet it comes close.

Then, there is the "green" effect. Why consume more electricity than necessary?

[Almot]

You have answered your own question. Since you never drycamp, there is no immediate benefit in spending money on buying LED (and possibly - more often replacing) over your conventional bulbs. Not at today's electricity rates.

There is a benefit of going "green", saving the planet with those few saved KWH a month etc etc, but I would rather not open a debate on this subject since this is not what you were asking about.