LED Lighting

[Big Air]

Hi. We are out on the road with our brand new Airstream. Ours comes with reg bulbs in all the lights ( except the door step light) we have a 16 Bambi Sport. What does it take to change the bulbs to LED and where do you get them. Is it even possible to switch out the old style bulbs for LED?? Thanks

[A W Warn]

LEDs 4, Recreational Vehicles

[leedav]

I just did this in my 16 Bambi sport. I used the warm white bulbs from M4 Products. work great, color is acceptable. there were about 15 bulbs I think. way too many fixtures for the trailer. if you want to economize you can probably get away with just the ones you actually use

http://www.m4products.com/1156-24-50...lb-round-base/

[remphoto]

We did the upgrade to our Bambi 16 using the ones below. Don't remember how many it needed, but had to buy two 10 paks and had a few left over.
Installation was really easy -- just snap off the light housing cover and change the bulbs. For some reason, the rear outside storage compartment and step light were already LED.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ilpage_o05_s00

[StreamRollin]

Remphoto, your right on the amount of lights. We have a 27 ft with way to many fixtures. Changed mine out a few years ago to warm white and bought about 27 led's .
Jim

[HiJoeSilver]

Go with the best ones you can from m4products as leedav recommends. They're the best I've been able to find. Swapping is very easy and straight forward, just takes a little time.

[MACINRIC]

Hey, how many come in a pack that LeedAV is recommending? I'm hoping it's not just one. I'm ready to replace all of my lights.

-Mac

[RamblinManGa]

Hi from AZ. . . I replaced 31 bulbs in my FC28, and am very happy with Mr M4. They have a deal for buying in quantity as I recall, maybe 10 at a time. . .I used some warm & some daylight depending on where it was. No appreciable heat & far less battery used. . . I love them. . . regards, Craig

[MACINRIC]

just got word from M4
"All LEDs are sold as individuals. There is a price break for 10+ of the same sku, but they do not need to be purchased in groups of 10, just 10 or more."
9.99 a bulb? Say it aint't so. Must think abt other options like Remphoto's for now.

[NWGetaways]

Originally Posted by leedav

I just did this in my 16 Bambi sport. I used the warm white bulbs from M4 Products. work great, color is acceptable. there were about 15 bulbs I think. way too many fixtures for the trailer. if you want to economize you can probably get away with just the ones you actually use

Quality RV LED Retrofit Light Bulb

I did the same thing for our 22 Sport. The original LED lights were very cool, and with the aluminum walls and grey decor they made the interior look harsh to my eyes.

The warm white LED bulbs are about the same color temperature as incandescent, a nice warm yellowish light.

I converted my older Bambi from incandescent to LED using the cheap eBay ten packs. They are also a bright blue white, not nearly as pleasant.

[NWGetaways]

^Also the cheapies had several bad bulbs in the package.

[BoldAdventure]

Originally Posted by MACINRIC

just got word from M4
"All LEDs are sold as individuals. There is a price break for 10+ of the same sku, but they do not need to be purchased in groups of 10, just 10 or more."
9.99 a bulb? Say it aint't so. Must think abt other options like Remphoto's for now.

I have mentioned this before, and I'll mention it again, $9.99 per puck is over priced 10 fold. Do not tell me the LED's are magically better. I have purchased and inspected them.

I posted here: http://www.airforums.com/forums/f483...ml#post1591761 a long time ago about these are LED's G4 Puck style 24SMD

I upgraded our whole trailer a year ago, with no problems, and sourced several types of LED's from a few sources. Cost sourcing indicates that these are about $1 from China. No one is making these in the US folks, they're lying if they are claiming otherwise.

So paying $9.99 each or $14.99 is a ripoff, IMO.

I spent about $30 to buy over 50 LED pucks to test.

[NWGetaways]

The problem I had searching eBay et al for cheapies was - first they rarely mentioned the color temperature, and second, the bad bulbs I got. Granted the 7 or so out of 10 that worked were far cheaper than the M4 bulbs.

Like this one on Amazon:
Amazon.com: YITAMOTOR 20 X 1156 BA15S 18-SMD RV Camper Warm White LED Light Bulbs Tail Backup 1141 1003: Automotive

20 "warm" bulbs for $21.99. Reading through the comments, it appears the temperature is 4000, which isn't really "warm".

So I went with the pricey ones for the main cabin area. Left the bright white in the bathroom and over the sink.

[BoldAdventure]

Originally Posted by NWGetaways

The problem I had searching eBay et al for cheapies was - first they rarely mentioned the color temperature, and second, the bad bulbs I got. Granted the 7 or so out of 10 that worked were far cheaper than the M4 bulbs.

Like this one on Amazon:
Amazon.com: YITAMOTOR 20 X 1156 BA15S 18-SMD RV Camper Warm White LED Light Bulbs Tail Backup 1141 1003: Automotive

20 "warm" bulbs for $21.99. Reading through the comments, it appears the temperature is 4000, which isn't really "warm".

So I went with the pricey ones for the main cabin area. Left the bright white in the bathroom and over the sink.

I never said ebay. That's annoyingly common, I mentioned that here:
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f483...ml#post1592643

Higher color temperatures (4600K or more) are called daylight colors which appear blue-white. Mid-range color temperatures (3100K–4600K) look cool white. Lower color temperatures (up to 3000K) are called warm white colors and range from red to yellowish-white in tone.

Seems different vendors call things by different names instead of just sticking to a proper temperature spectrum.

Also M4's are pretty common and there are good distributors, if you look.

The most interesting thing is that the LED's used on actual pucks are all different. And if you look at my above photo, you might think my 24 LED puck is the brightest, but it's actually not the brightest one.

Sure you can pay $9 to make sure every LED works, but was 10 for 10 with 7 working a better deal or not? That was a $1.42 per LED.

At that price you can bulk order and have leftovers. At $9 you are not bulk ordering.

There are 21 G4 pucks in my Airstream. Comparatively 12 LED Bright White Reading Spot at 4-4500 kTemp SKU123 [15751W-22] - $10.95 : LEDs 4, Recreational Vehicles

$229.95 plus shipping. Ouch.

vs

Let's say $1.50 x 21 = $31.50

I don't think I'm being unfair, dismissive or unreasonable in my assessment here.

To each there own though.

[NWGetaways]

Looks like you did a lot of research!

Maybe the pucks are different, but the 1156 replacements that the Sports use - LED4RV doesn't list the color temperature. I'm lazy and just wanted to get something that I knew would be what I wanted. I didn't want to experiment.

[BoldAdventure]

For a brief amount of time, I considered hooking up with a supplier and putting together kits for Airstreams. But I just don't have the time to start a side business that complicated. This was before we went full time and I was working on our Airstream looking for ways to support us on the road.

You start ordering these in quantities of 1000 and they're insanely cheap. But then there is the issue of QA and making sure they're all the color they are suppose to be.

[MACINRIC]

I'm looking for a LED replacements for a pair of reading spotlights I have above my gaucho. Any idea what size bulbs that they might be?

-Mac