Why change to LED's...?

[Ramzfan]

Maybe I'm missing something here...or maybe I just don't dry-camp enough. I am trying to understand why the sudden uproar to buy LED lighting and to change out your whole coach? If I'm not mistaken, the cost of a single bulb with LED's inside is about $25.00. The cost of a regular incandescent bulb is about $2.95. That's a $22.00 difference for one bulb!
I can do a whole lot of camping on the cost of changing out my entire coach.

[John Hilley]

The two main reasons are power consumption and heat. For equivalent light they consume about 1/10 the power. Most are cool to the touch. Some may produce a better type of light for a given situation. Prices can be as low as $1.00 or less, especially in quantities of 10 or more.

[336muffin]

Originally Posted by John Hilley

The two main reasons are power consumption and heat. For equivalent light they consume about 1/10 the power. Most are cool to the touch. Some may produce a better type of light for a given situation. Prices can be as low as $1.00 or less, especially in quantities of 10 or more.

He's right!

[FIRE UP]

Well Sir,
You are correct in some of the prices. Some of them can be rather expensive. But, only an individual can determine whether the change over to LEDs is warranted or not. And, I wouldn't say it's an "All of a sudden" idea. LEDs have been around for quite some time and many (such as I) have dabbled in them for years.

And, as has been stated, two primary reasons for changing stock bulbs to LEDs are, heat and consumation of way less energy. Let's take for example, the "Puck" lights over/above the dinette and couch, and, over the stove area of our '04 Itasca Horizon 36GD with the 330 CAT. Those lights, each came with G-4 based, Halogen, 10 watt bulbs. Those bulbs put out some serious heat, even after only a few minutes of being turned on. They'll burn your fingers within about 20-30 seconds of being illuminated.

So, take SIX of them and, now you've got a lot of extra heat in that coach, and, a ton of battery juice being consumed. The LED wafer lights in installed in place of all of them were around $3.50-$4.00 each, and all (6) of them consume less than a watt of power. And, you can go up and touch them after an hour of being on and they're barely luke warm.

Yep, they do cost a bit extra, no doubt about it. I purchase mine from a establishment here in the states so, I pay a higher price. But many get them directly from China on Ebay. I've got a lot of money tied up in LED lights all throughout the coach and all the compartment lighting too. Those lights are incredibly bright and, I can open all the compartments on that rig for hours and it won't even phase the house batts.

Again, you as an individual has determine whether they are of value to your particular situation.
Scott

[dlovitt]

Originally Posted by John Hilley

The two main reasons are power consumption and heat. For equivalent light they consume about 1/10 the power. Most are cool to the touch. Some may produce a better type of light for a given situation. Prices can be as low as $1.00 or less, especially in quantities of 10 or more.

X2! Also, they will outlive me, probably. Halogens,IMHO, burn out much too soon.

[WeatherTodd]

its all about the lumens. my little LED flashlight can illuminate a huge or small area with 3 AAA batteries than my 4 d cell mag light with upgraded bulb.

[tbomn]

Originally Posted by FIRE UP

Well Sir,
You are correct in some of the prices. Some of them can be rather expensive. But, only an individual can determine whether the change over to LEDs is warranted or not. And, I wouldn't say it's an "All of a sudden" idea. LEDs have been around for quite some time and many (such as I) have dabbled in them for years.

And, as has been stated, two primary reasons for changing stock bulbs to LEDs are, heat and consumation of way less energy. Let's take for example, the "Puck" lights over/above the dinette and couch, and, over the stove area of our '04 Itasca Horizon 36GD with the 330 CAT. Those lights, each came with G-4 based, Halogen, 10 watt bulbs. Those bulbs put out some serious heat, even after only a few minutes of being turned on. They'll burn your fingers within about 20-30 seconds of being illuminated.

So, take SIX of them and, now you've got a lot of extra heat in that coach, and, a ton of battery juice being consumed. The LED wafer lights in installed in place of all of them were around $3.50-$4.00 each, and all (6) of them consume less than a watt of power. And, you can go up and touch them after an hour of being on and they're barely luke warm.

Yep, they do cost a bit extra, no doubt about it. I purchase mine from a establishment here in the states so, I pay a higher price. But many get them directly from China on Ebay. I've got a lot of money tied up in LED lights all throughout the coach and all the compartment lighting too. Those lights are incredibly bright and, I can open all the compartments on that rig for hours and it won't even phase the house batts.

Again, you as an individual has determine whether they are of value to your particular situation.
Scott

Scott, where do you buy your lights for under $5.00 each??

[DriVer]

IRV2 has just signed up a new sponsor, RVLEDBulbs.com. Give them a try.

[daveshan]

Originally Posted by tbomn

Scott, where do you buy your lights for under $5.00 each??

Outfitted the entire coach and truck camper with LED bulbs from ebay, ran $2.50-4.50 each. The TC has been using the el-cheepo ebay lights for 3 years with no failures, MH has one season on them with no issues.

That being said some of the online vendors like Superbrightleds.com have bulbs that put out more lumens at a higher price. For most situations the ebay ones have been just fine, one of my reading lights in the living area may get upgraded to a higher output bulb next year however.

[wonderer1]

boondocking or dry camping, it's about power useage and how to best use your batteries. led's allow one to use less power. less heat and longer life are also advantages. one can spend a lot of money on leds but you don't have to. if you plug into house power, in camp grounds, then you can spend your money else where. but to a lot of us camping is getting away from everything. with solar panels, we don't have to hear a generator. leds make sence. along with how to better use our water.

[Tony Lee]

For the "average" RVer used to firing up the generator and the dishwasher and the coffee maker and the microwave and the 65" TV with surround sound, whether or not you change to LEDs or stick with what you have is entirely a matter of whether you want to be seen to be in the in-crowd talking the talk and doing the walk. This is because when you fire up the generator to run all that stuff, your batteries will get recharged at the same time so battery power is rarely going to be an issue.
If you are a minimalist boondocker intent on surviving the rigours of dry camping in fume-free peace and quiet, then fit a couple of solar panels, maybe a couple of extra batteries and spend even more money changing everything to LED lights - and take the chance that you will hate either the colour of the light or the quantity of light.They can be an acquired taste.

In our first 4 months in the US we were on hookups literally a handful of times and used the generator about as often, yet we seemed to have a pretty good time enjoying your great outdoors with the help of a couple of small solar panels, a bit of driving every day or two or three and yet we used all the original hot, power-guzzling fluorescent and incandescent lamps that Mr Airstream was kind enough to fit.

[clyon51]

I LED'd my whole coach last year including the two TVs. I can go days without the genny on just 2 batts. Had to bite the bullet on bath vanity bulbs, but the rest were not expensive. I re-fit 7 floresents with strip lights for $50.

It's not about saving money, it's not listening to the genny. So if you just hang in CGs, they're probably not for you. I would say though in 10 years, incondesents will almost be non existent.

[Kathryn]

Originally Posted by FIRE UP

... two primary reasons for changing stock bulbs to LEDs are, heat and consumation of way less energy...

LOL! I'm all for using less energy for consumation ...

(Sorry, couldn't resist!)

Kathryn

[Tallyrver]

I changed all mine out because of the heat factor,and I like the bright white light look.

Wayne

[FIRE UP]

Originally Posted by tbomn

Scott, where do you buy your lights for under $5.00 each??

tbomn,
Well Sir, I must apologize, I ordered quite a few LED bulbs way back when I did the conversion and, I had quite an array of prices of all the different bulbs and frankly, I thought that's what I paid for those wafer style bulbs. But, I went back to their site and checked and, it sure as he.. wasn't what I claimed. They're at $11.95 EACH!!!

So, to all, my apologies for misrepresenting a price here. Surely not intentional. However, I will say, I've been extremely happy with each and every one of the different LED bulbs I've changed to. And, by far, IT'S NOT TO BE IN THE IN CROWD!!!!

I'm not trying to impress anyone with my changeover, only my batteries. And, while we've primarily camped in dry camps and boon docking situations for decades, based on our slow migration to nicer, cleaner, camping arrangements, we commonly have hookups. But, even if we'd never planned on dry camping, EVER, I'd still have made the changeover to LEDs for the heat factor. Our coach, an '04 Itasca Horizon, 36GD, is a very well insulated coach and, it will hold in the heat quite nicely. Sometimes, we don't want heat, but, we want light, lots of it for various purposes, so, the LEDs are the only way to go.

Now, it doesn't matter to me where anyone buys there LEDs. You can get them off ebay or, your local RV parts supplier or where ever. I purchase mine at www.superbrightleds.com and while I do pay a higher price, the quality of each and every bulb we've purchased, and, their sites ability to educate me on a wise choice of size, lumens, base, color, comparison and more, is well worth it to me. No doubt about it, I got some dollars wrapped up in that change, that's for sure.

But, hook ups or not, it's sure a more pleasurable atmosphere inside the coach with no matter how many lights we're using at any time.
Scott

[bluepill]

I replaced the bulbs in the bathroom and one kitchen fixture with LEDs. I use them as night lites. It was really nice when I was staying at truck stops, WalMart, etc. and had to run only on house batteries.

[WheelingIt]

Heat and power consumption were our reasons too. We do alot of dry-camping & it's great not to have to worry about the power usage from lights. Cut our light usage by ~1/10.

All our coach G4 lights cost less than $9. Still not super-cheap, but worth it for how we use the coach. The only expensive upgrade is the RV vanity light (which I've yet to bite the bullet on).

[emiddleb]

There are some good deals out there, especially for accent lighting versus critical.

I replaced all the puck lights in my Vectra (have about 15 or so all told) with LEDs. More about the heat than power, though you can do the math on 15 10-watt halogens verses LEDs. The new LEDs are a touch brighter than the halogens and put out no discernable heat.

Had to remove the heavy metal heat sink in the puck lights (just pried out) but was able to use these LEDs...

DC12V G4 base Lamp with 6 pcs Tri-chip LED SMD5050 G4 LED 12V - DC12V G4 base Lamp with 6 pcs Tri-chip LED SMD5050 [HK-5050G4-6-X-12] - $3.95 : LEDLIGHTSWORLD.COM

which I got in "warm white" for $3.75 each since I bought 15.

Not affiliated, just happy with them so far.

[sparkydog]

Question to all those with LED,s do they dim on the multiplex systems like the halogens ?

[emiddleb]

Sparky, as far as I know (and others can correct) not all LEDs will work on dimmers due to the electronics on the light. From what I've read, the regular LED lights have electronics to handle voltage ranges and pretty much are on/off as long as the voltage is within the range. Wasn't an issue for me... my puck lights weren't on dimmers.

Dimmable LEDs have extra electronics to respect the dimmer. You can find them easily with Google, but you need to make sure they are listed as being "dimmable" or you can't assume they will work.

Here's just one examle I got from a Google search... NOT a recommendation, just a search hit...

Led G4 Dimmable,Buy Quality Led G4 Dimmable from Manufacturers and Suppliers on Alibaba.com