Replacing all my bulbs with LEDs

[solismaris]

I've decided to replace all my trailer inside bulbs with efficient LEDs. Between living room, kitchen, bedside, and bath there are a lot of different styles (perhaps 7!). I'd like to find a one-stop shop to find plug-in replacements for all of these with a minimum of hassle and reasonable cost. Do you all have any recommendations?

[camperdave]

yeah, it's hard to justify $10/bulb when they are available at $1/bulb on ebay and amazon. I just replaced my exterior porch light with an LED fixture (due to the bulb overheating and melting the wire off the socket! :E ). Now that I've seen it in person, I'd like to convert them all. Seeing the Trimetric go up .2a with the light on is awesome.

I'm currently (get it? ha) debating retrofitting with the panels from M4, or just replacing the entire housing. The pricing is not far off between the two. I may just do the three main lights that we use for now and see how it goes. Maybe I'll pick up a few of each, and a bucket of cheapo's for the lights we rarely use.

[TravelinDog]

I just replaced all the bulbs in my TT with cheapo LED's from Amazon. Got a 10pk for just over $10. They are the bright bluish lights but once I put the opaque covers back on the light fixtures you can't tell the difference.
Being that we only use the trailer about 3-4 weeks out of the year I'm sure they will outlive the trailer.
Saving my batteries when we are out in the boonies was my primary goal. I try to run the gen as little as possible.

[CharlesinGA]

To expand somewhat. I bought the plate type LED lights from M4.

http://www.m4products.com/plate-style-led-lights/

And removed the existing sockets in the ceiling fixtures, and cut off the socket adapter ends on the wires and spliced in the wires in the place of the original sockets. I removed the heat shield/reflectors and stuck the flat plates in their place. I used both 24 and 48 element lights depending on the area I was lighting. I used the natural white, not the cool white (bluish) or the warm white (yellowish). having the LEDs mounted on an aluminum plate spaced from the circuit board with the driver, makes it operate very cool and they last forever.

For the bi-pin (G4) reading lights with halogen bulbs, I used the Elite series and had one fail in the motorhome, M4 promptly replaced it. Only failure of any kind I've had with their products.

I started out with cheaper LED lights to replace the original bulbs and the LED elements failed very quickly, no heat sinks.

Charles

[dcmac214]

I did that in the 5er a few years ago. Big difference in the light given off. Having finally done it, wish I'd done it the day after we got it home.

Had a terrible time with a lot of the LEDs because of the rough (ceramic?) base that wouldn't easily slip into the fixtures. A miniscule dab of dielectric grease solved that.

[CharlesinGA]

PFitt wrote:
Yeah I went with M4 Products pricey but much better quality and the Elite series in the natural white 4500k are awesome!!

M4, nuff said.

Charles

[Lynnmor]

The voltage regulator in the higher priced lamps is what causes TV interference, the real cheap ones may not have a regulator. I bought the cheap lamps on eBay for that reason and they are working well. Look for the voltage range that is specified and if it is wide, there is a regulator.

[C_Schomer]

I also found its very helpful to buy from vendors that show a picture of their actual lights and that avoids the problems with vendors that say they are bright white and they are actually yellow and vice versa. I've had good luck with cheap bulbs and if I can find a picture showing the actual light color, I don't have to throw any of them away anymore! Craig

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

I noticed a difference in interior temps on our pop-up truck camper (no A/C) when I switched to LED bulbs - it was much cooler when they were on!

[JimK-NY]

Just a few points to consider:

There are a lot of cheap LED bulbs available. Spend a bit more and buy bulbs that are rated for up to 15 volts or so. LED trailer lights, and Superbright are two websites that carry quality bulbs.

Any LED bulb can interfere with radio reception. I have not figured out why or any pattern that explains this. I have changed bulbs of the same brand and seen the issue come and go.

Buy only a few bulbs at first and decide the temperature range you like. A bulb with an output of around 3000K will duplicate old incandescent bulbs and will give a yellow tint to everything. I liked that for a while because I was used to it. Now I have changed over to bulbs that are around 5000K. That is closer to sunlight and a cleaner look. Now everything just seems to look dingy with the warm bulbs.

Consider replacing the fixtures instead of just changing to LED bulbs. The fixtures are inexpensive and have easier to use switches than my old fixtures.

[time2roll]

craig7h wrote:
Can I ask a question, did you find the leds put off more heat than the standard bulbs.

The energy savings of LED is primarily from the reduction of waste heat.

Incandescent is basically a heater that puts out a bit of light.
LED is primarily a light source with a small bit of heat.

[aftermath]

I was also concerned about the blue/white of some LED bulbs. Never liked the gymnasium look. I also heard about some electronic interference issues with some bulbs. I went to LED4RV and got great advice and products. Get dollar bulbs and take your chances. I suppose you can buy cheap and if you like them you will save a ton of money. Even when they burn out you can replace them and still be ahead. I just don't like all the fuss.

[colliehauler]

Rather then put in new led bulbs I upgraded to led fixtures (bulbs included) not much more.

[JimBollman]

Over the years I have fully converted 3 campers and the majority of the LEDs came from https://www.superbrightleds.com/

They tend to be a bit more expensive but they stand behind what they sell. I have had two premature failures and they were replaced free very quickly.

Go with the warm bulbs and don't be afraid to add a few low intensity LEDs as add ons or in fixtures that tend not to be used for mood lighting when your just sitting around in the evening. We read on Kindles or iPads or do stuff on the laptop so we don't need much light after supper and the low lumen LEDs draw almost no power for off grid. I especially like lights mounted low, below counter level so you get mostly indirect lighting when not actually doing things in the camper.

[Lwiddis]

The elimination of most heat in LEDs creates the “saving.”