LED lighting retrofit for interior lights

[Al - K4GLU]

May have missed it but here is another source for 1156 replacement LEDs:

Interior/ Porch LED lighting - Star Lights, Inc.

A bit more expensive but don't think I've seen any 1156 replacements with exactly this configuration. So if money is no object............

I've never ordered from these people and know nothing about them - picked this up from Casita Club.

[4RXLA]

I replaced all the incandescent interior lights with warm white LEDs from LED4RV.com. The 1156's work fine on the ceiling and overbed reading lights. I also bought some 1156 spotlights for the recessed lights over the sink and bathroom and for the 2 magnetic reading lights in the front lounge. For some reason one of my front lounge light fixtures won't light the LED. I tried multiple bulbs with no luck, yet the same LED bulbs work in the other light fixture?? I ended up leaving the incandescent bulbs in them. I'm happy with the light output and even more happy with the lack of heat being generated. It certainly will help the A/C keep the coach cool. It is amazing how much heat those incandescent bulbs generate.

I thought I had 3-1003 bulb light fixtures in the bathroom like Mexray and was surprised to find that they are standard base 40 watt light bulbs instead...although I'm assuming they are 12V and not 120V since they do work on battery power.

[ESCAPE POD]

Just installed the last group of LED's on the Bambi's interior, plus a great new LED porch light, all from Dan Brown at LED4RV.com. Dan is very prompt and provides great customer support! I strongly recommend this website if you're planning an LED retrofit.

-Jerry

[Mexray]

Here's an updated link to LED Trailer Lights...

LEDTrailerLights.com - RV LED interior ceiling light 1141 1156 1003 warm white

They now have a 380 lumen LED bulb replacement unit, the other referenced units in thread above can also be accessed on this link...

I've had 10 of their 1141 replacement units (252 lumen) in service for several months and am quite happy with the bright warm light output...

Ray

[rogerthat]

Here's a new one I just got a few weeks ago:

11391F (flood style) for the little swivel lights:

RV-LED.com - 1139 Flood LED BA15s single contact base LED light

Now I can change the aim without burning my fingers!

[funkill]

Happened upon this blog... he's using self-adhesive LED light strips to convert a regular sconce light. And, in another one that he made one from scratch. Here's pics of the hightlights - and the blog at The Ultimate Roving Home

Laura

[Foiled Again]

I've got about 3 burned out bulbs in my puck lights - those little suckers are a pain in the butt to change, HOT and not cheap.

I'd LIKE to go to LED's.... but with the replacements costing between $12 & $16 EACH I'm conflicted (cheap). I have 12 ceiling pucks - side prongs needed and 5 spotlights, back prongs needed

Does anyone offer a volume discount if I buy them all at once?

Paula

[nangoff]

LED's continue to be non reliable, expensive and dim. Go to 5 watt halogen, G4 base bulbs...... The brightness is about the same and you can buy them for 10 cents each on ebay.

[Foiled Again]

Thanks for the hint, but they're still about $2 per bulb on ebay. Certainly much cheaper than at the Home Depot or local lighting store but...

The 2011 CCD's come with warm white LED's - and the nice thing is that they don't heat up to the temp of the sun within a nanosecond of putting them in!

[nangoff]

You can buy 20 of them for $3.19.

20X Halogen JC Type Light Bulbs/G4 Base 12V 5W 5 Watt - eBay (item 320619074693 end time Dec-17-10 19:11:04 PST)

[Foiled Again]

Originally Posted by nangoff

You can buy 20 of them for $3.19.

20X Halogen JC Type Light Bulbs/G4 Base 12V 5W 5 Watt - eBay (item 320619074693 end time Dec-17-10 19:11:04 PST)

you are right I was looking at Xenon bulbs

Gracias, Gracias

[Msmoto]

I will take exception to the reliability issue of LEDs. If one purchases these from a reliable provider, LED4RV, being the one I use, you get good LEDs. However, the issues from the manufacturers must be carefully screened by each retailer and that is why some will just ship what they have while the source I use actually tests each unit to make certain it is up to standards.
My experience is converting my 2009 27FB INternational Ocean Breeze to 100% LED. No failures in 25,000 miles. Also converting a Tiffin Allegro Bus 43 QGP. No failures in the chips, but in some of the newer T10 base lights the tip LED Failed and these were replaced immediately with no charge. Incidentally, there are 67 pucks in the Bus. Ask suppliers for a discount if you are purchasing a large quantity. The wonderful advantage in LEDs is the cool operating temperature. As far as brightness, they are about equal to the 12v halogens they replaced. Most folks who visit say they are brighter. One can also buy LED strips and pot them in epoxy, then stick them up under cabinets. Super lights. Very bright.
The BIG downside... you will never get your money out of the LED. It is about the convenience, comfort, and low current draw. Not economy.

[dznf0g]

Originally Posted by Msmoto

I will take exception to the reliability issue of LEDs. If one purchases these from a reliable provider, LED4RV, being the one I use, you get good LEDs. However, the issues from the manufacturers must be carefully screened by each retailer and that is why some will just ship what they have while the source I use actually tests each unit to make certain it is up to standards.
My experience is converting my 2009 27FB INternational Ocean Breeze to 100% LED. No failures in 25,000 miles. Also converting a Tiffin Allegro Bus 43 QGP. No failures in the chips, but in some of the newer T10 base lights the tip LED Failed and these were replaced immediately with no charge. Incidentally, there are 67 pucks in the Bus. Ask suppliers for a discount if you are purchasing a large quantity. The wonderful advantage in LEDs is the cool operating temperature. As far as brightness, they are about equal to the 12v halogens they replaced. Most folks who visit say they are brighter. One can also buy LED strips and pot them in epoxy, then stick them up under cabinets. Super lights. Very bright.
The BIG downside... you will never get your money out of the LED. It is about the convenience, comfort, and low current draw. Not economy.

I guess I'll jump on this wagon. I have been using LEDs in vehicles and my old SOB for about 8 years. The newer technology bulbs are brighter than they were just a few years ago. Also the varying temperatures of light output has gotten more diverse in tha past few years.

You do have to either do some research or order a "sample" to make sure the bulbs you select meet your needs and expectations. I have had better luck ordering "blindly" with Dan at LED4RV, because I know he personally test his products for RV application suitability before stocking them.

In 8 years, 3 vehicles, 1 SOB, and 1 AS, I have had 1 bulb failure. A vehicle tail lamp which started flickering last month....8 years old.

[2airishuman]

Originally Posted by Msmoto

I will take exception to the reliability issue of LEDs. If one purchases these from a reliable provider...

does buying FROM a/s count?

converted about 60% of the the stream while in j/c in june...

a mix of strips, bayonet, puck (side and rear prong) and rectangular grids...

3 failures to date or about 50$ worth.

a/s will replace those, IF i go back or mail them.
__________

while bulb qualities have improved, many of these fixtures were NOT designed for using ledz.

so heat and juice quality and attachments/vibration do matter

and even the better bulbs fail much too often in THIS application.

cheers
2air'

[dznf0g]

Originally Posted by 2airishuman

does buying FROM a/s count?

converted about 60% of the the stream while in j/c in june...

a mix of strips, bayonet, puck (side and rear prong) and rectangular grids...

3 failures to date or about 50$ worth.

a/s will replace those, IF i go back or mail them.
__________

while bulb qualities have improved, many of these fixtures were NOT designed for using ledz.

so heat and juice quality and attachments/vibration do matter

and even the better bulbs fail much too often in THIS application.

cheers
2air'

Hmmmm, I wonder who their supplier is? The bulk of my purchases were from Superbright LEDs, until I became aware of LEDS4RV. Am happy with Superbright and their quality, but it's hard to "guess" brightness and temperature when ordering.

[2airishuman]

well it's like this...

the bulb manufacturers are the same, same specs, same packaging ...

(realizing that NEW bulbs/designs continue to appear every few months)

your vendor/guy used 2 be the a/s service/parts guy at a well known a/s dealer/service shop in the carolinas.
________

heat management/fixtures and current control are still issues...

which led design for EACH application is still not clear and regularly changes.

bench testing isn't durability testing and unless the exact fixtures (and location) are used,

testing may not reveal longer term issues...

most folks (especially boondocking) switch ON/off the lights frequently and avoid simply leaving them ON...

but try leaving ONE rectangular grid on for 50 hours, or 100 hours or longer...

signs of heat related changes will be obvious and dimming or failure will happen.

we've discussed the heat issue in other threads and even dan concedes there are still problems...

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f206...ght-66969.html

and new/oem fixtures have failed right off the line too...

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f447...ver-70591.html

this is not to discourage others from trying ledz but the point is they are not a panacea.

it's still expensive to convert and failures do happen

and per unit pricing makes carrying spare led bulbs an issue.

like so many things IN/on these trailers...

what looks good and seems OK when used 5 times a year,

may look a bit less rosy when used regularly or 100s of times a year.

cheers
2air'

[dznf0g]

2air,
I wasn't speaking to durability testing in my previous post. I was refering to COLOR temperature and overall brightness for a particular lamp. ie. reading lamp vs. overhead. It was always disppointing to get my order from a "big box" general use site and find the output to not be what I expected.

Yeah, I'm the turn on/turn off sort....at most a few hours at a time. On the vehicles, even the tail lights, markers etc. as well as the old SOB running lights, it would be 8-10 hours max IF I ran through the night.

[Ahab]

Originally Posted by nangoff

LED's continue to be non reliable, expensive and dim. Go to 5 watt halogen, G4 base bulbs...... The brightness is about the same and you can buy them for 10 cents each on ebay.

That might have been true in the past but I mine have been in service going on three years with no problems and are not dim.

[Msmoto]

OK, I love these discussions. The LEDs are for me an engineering exercise and not a total solution to any specific problem. Quite clearly, if one boondocks with minimal generator power the low current draw may be an advantage.

My experience has shown that the color temperature of LEDs is extremely dependent on the voltage applied. I have taken a bluish appearing "warm white" unit and a nice warm appearing unit, switched the sockets they were in and had the color change dramatically.

Apparently manufacturers have tolerances on specific issues but on the color they are not able to maintain a constant in the "low price" LEDs. If one wants to purchase the scientific quality LEDs, in the big dollar category, then one gets a complete system with a uniform power supply and brightness beyond one's imagination.

If I were into pure economy, I suspect I would be traveling with an old pickup and a plastic trailer.

[tkasten]

We updated to all LED's in our 65 Safari. Very little current draw, no heat and we like the light. No problems to date. Running 1 year.