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Toasty's Dad · 02-23-2006, 09:39 AM

I've just reduced the lighting load in our 16' Bambi CCD by about half! I tried replacing a couple of the 10W halogen bulbs used in almost all of the CCD's lights.

I was expecting some reduction in apparent brightness, since the actual lumen output of the 5W is somewat less than half that of the 10W. But thanks to the miracle of human visual non-linearity, neither wife nor I could detect _any_ reduced brightnes from any single bulb.

So, we replaced every bulb we could (all 21 of them in the 16'!), and are very happy with the result. We did notice a slight decrease in what I'll call the
"overall impression of brightness" in the coach when ambiently lit, but it's certainly not enough to either impede use nor does it detract from the beautiful look of the interior at night.

Given our energy use patterns, this 50% savings in juice consumed by lights should reduce our overall 12V consumption by 25%. Fantastic for boondocking.

I encourage all CCDers to try the experiment if you camp away from generators or AC hookups.

Also, we now have 24 unneeded G4 12V10W halogen bulbs. 5 are new in box, 19 are of unknown age, since they came with our 2004 Bambi, purchased in Nov 2005. They'd cost about $40 including shipping from bulbs.com, I'll mail 'em to the first Airstreamer who wants 'em for 15 bucks.

Later,
jon

RDM16CCD · 02-23-2006, 07:21 PM

Hello Jon
You are out ahead of me on this - could you post the part number of the 5 W bulbs, and where you got them? I checked my local A/S dealer last fall to see if what you have done was possible, but they didn't have any 5 watt bulbs, nor could they provide a part number.

We also have a 16' CCD, and are doing some other things for 12 V power management. We've got a Honda generator, I just bought a rapid-charge 3 stage charger, and will add a 2nd battery to make our boondock camping easier. Reducing the load like you've done is a great idea.

I was thinking about experimenting with dfifferent combinations of 5 & 10 W bulbs - maybe setting up some switches with all 10s, and others with all 5s. With your comment about it not making a huge difference in the light levels, it would be easier to just switch them all like you have done.

Thanks in advance for any info you can provide -
Bob

Toasty's Dad · 02-23-2006, 08:14 PM

Hi Bob,From bulbs.com:
http://bulbs.com/products/product.as...ucts&class=875

JCD12V5WH20 Light Bulb
Product Number: W-JCD12V5WH20
Specialty Brand 5W, 12V Halogen Capsule Lamp with G4 Base, 2000 Hours Rated Life, (0.36 inch / 9.0 mm diameter, 1.22 inch / 31.0 mm length), 2900K color, Sold Individually.

1.98 a pop currently, 1.78 for 18-26.

I had the same idea about mixing them, but once we saw how little difference they made in light level, I just switched them all out. YMMV.

By my measurements, they consume just a little less than half of the 10W bulbs.

Good luck!
j

frozen chosen · 02-23-2006, 08:22 PM

Thanks for the tip. One thing; can you explain how to get the 4%#*)! things out, and did you have any difficulties re-installing?

lewster · 02-23-2006, 08:25 PM

Speaking of lighting........

I'm currently experimenting with a 1 watt Luxoen LED. This thing is unbelieveably bright and will last virtually forever (100,000 hrs.) and the emitter is about the size of a pencil eraser. I have two that I'm working with:
the first is 40 lumens and is cool white and the other is 25 lumens and is warm white.

I'll keep you posted on the visual satisfaction level and perceived brightness vs. the stock bulbs. The only drawback is the cost $25 each.....ouch

.

RDM16CCD · 02-23-2006, 09:11 PM

Jon
Thanks for the quick reply, I just ordered enough to change out all of my CCD lamps. My dry camping just got better, I won't have to keep after everyone to turn out the lights (at least not so much).

I added a TM500A battery monitor last year, so I can monitor the battery condition. I recorded the amperage readings on each switch, I can hardly wait to change the lamps and compare readings. Those little bulbs in the CCD are a great designer feature, but they sure draw a lot of current if you're trying to conserve, especially with the single Group 24 battery on the 16' trailers.

This is a great website - every good idea I can come up with has already been figured out by someone else first! Saves me so much time....

Thanks again
Bob

JudithT · 02-23-2006, 09:33 PM

Great suggestion, Jon -

After spending last weekend boodocking - and having battery issues
which required bringing out the flashlights for our last night:
we'll certainly be changing out all those bulbs in our CCD.

silverback · 02-23-2006, 10:31 PM

I'm going to give this a try. In my opinion they're a little too bright anyway.
Thanks,
KL

Toasty's Dad · 02-24-2006, 07:46 AM

Hello Frozen -

yeah, they're a pain to remove and an even bigger pain to get back in. i kept a bottle of rubbing alcohol handy for cleaning the bulbs, which are hard to install without bare-skin contact. i also kept a bottle of beer handy to provide the patience to keep cleaning off the bulbs i touched. i have no other suggestions.

Hello Lew -

please keep us updated on your Luxeon experiment! i tried making an array of "high-output" LED's with totally disappointing results. didn't find out about the Luxeons until after i'd changed out all my bubs. enough Luxeons to replace all the lights in a 16' CCD would cost over $500 - ouch!

Hi Bob -

the halogens are indeed killers, but seem as good as ya can do in incandescent technology. IMO the CCD compounds the problem because so much of the lighting provides ambience rather than function, and CCD owners tend to value ambience pretty highly.

jon

Mike Lewis · 02-24-2006, 08:05 AM

Jon--We had the same problem with our 04 Bambie--Small single battery, lots of load ,was a constant problem especially in cold weather when we needed all the battery we had to get us through the night. We've since traded for another but before I was trying to figure a different switching arrangment so as not having so many turned on at once. It seems that with you low wattage bulbs if you could put a few lamps on seperate switches it would help even more.----Pieman

crazylev · 02-24-2006, 10:28 AM

Jon.

Thanks. This is great info. I am going to consider doing this as well. I wonder if cutting the wattage in half actually uses half the power?

Jonathan

Toasty's Dad · 02-24-2006, 10:49 AM

Hiya Jonathan,

It posolutely does. Wattage is power. And Wattage = Volts * Amps, at least in resistive loads like incandescant lites.

In my case, the "10W" halogen uses .91 A @ 12.5 Volts, consuming 11.38 Watts.

The "5W" halogen uses .41 A @ 12.5 Volts, consuming 5.12 Watts.

jon

frozen chosen · 02-24-2006, 12:14 PM

The bulbs on this site sure don't look like what's in the ceiling; are these just covers inside of which these smaller bulbs plug into a socket? Does the cover unscrew or did you lever it out with (a screwdriver?)? Naturally, my manual provides nothing helpful here. Thanks.

Westfalia · 02-24-2006, 12:26 PM

Frozen, I have some pictures or both bulb and housing on my website. Those are the correct bulbs.
http://www.avalonsystems.net/gallery/LED

crazylev · 02-24-2006, 12:28 PM

The more I learn, the more I love you.....

Westfalia · 02-24-2006, 12:29 PM

Toasty, I have LED's in the cabinet over the dinette. I like them, but only use them to provide mood lighting, or to leave on when at the campsite and we don't need a lot of light. The halogens are definitely preferred if you want/need real light. I will probably and another set of LED lights somwhere else in the trailer, but the rest of the lights will get changes to the 5 watts!

crazylev · 02-24-2006, 12:37 PM

Jon and Westfalia

Do you guys know if the "reading" lights (the ones with the bendy arm) use the same bulbs?

You know, one of the things that I was always wondering and wanting to do is find out if there was a way to put dimmers in place of the switches for some of the interior lights. Especially the bathroom lights. In the middle of the night it would be great to great to just be able to see where I am going, and then go where I am seeing.

It is a rude awakening to turn on those lights. I avoid that now by using a small Kryptonite flash light. A sleeping wife makes for a happy husband.

Jonathan

Westfalia · 02-24-2006, 01:17 PM

Jonathan, yes the reading lights use a G4 pin base, and are the same bulb.

As for dimmers for the over head lights, I haven't found a plug and play solution. I was instead thinking a adding surface mount red LED courtesy lamps under the sink at the kick plate and in the shower/toilet area. No idea yet on where I will place a switch for that.

Toasty's Dad · 02-24-2006, 02:19 PM

Hey Westfalia,

Are your cabinet LED lights homebrewed or plug and play? If homebrewed, were you able to use the existing fixtures or did you have to replace them?

They look pretty cool! I might want to emulate what you've done.

Thanks,
jon

Westfalia · 02-24-2006, 02:47 PM

Toasty, I have a thread detailing the discovery process and my thoughts here:
http://www.airforums.com/forum...ens-17392.html

In short, no they are manufactured. I learned a long time ago that I can't solder tiny things onto small circuit boards. You would be able to make your own, but I don't know if you could get them to fit in the housing without modification. I wanted a simple plug and play solution that I could easily remove if I ever sold the trailer.