Does anyone have their trailer lighting (inside lights) wired primarily for 12V LED lights? Seems like this would be the way to go since they put out a good amount of light with minimal power draw, especially when boondocking to save the batteries.
Tom Donaldson said
07:57 AM Mar 18, 2009
I tried some LED lighting a couple of years ago, but the only 12VDC LED lighting I could find (a) was not as bright as the incandescent lights they replaced, and (b) gave very "cold" lighting (i.e., the light was purplish instead of yellowish).
Things may have changed since then. A lot of LED lighting coming on the market for housing has a warm color temperature, which is much more pleasant than the harsh cold LED lighting I had. I don't know if these warmer lights have made their way into 12VDC packages yet; I cannot find any via Google.
Regards,
Tom
thebearII said
09:06 AM Mar 18, 2009
I saw a string on the escapees forum regarding inside LED lights a few months ago.
Several of the RVers indicated the lights were not as reliable as the buzz about LED lights indicate. Several complained about the light quality and not as bright as the lights they replaced.
One person indicated that out of 10 lights he changed over to LED, 6 failed early and of the replacements for those 6, 3 failed early (My numbers may be wrong but the failures were that dramatic 50% or greater).
Like all technologies, the bugs get worked out, things get better and pretty soon all you can buy is LED lights.
I've had no personal experience with the lights other than LiteFlares which are roadside flare replacements. www.liteflare.com
The two LED lights in those can be seen for over 1 mile away and run on two AA batteries. I've had them on continously for two weeks without having to replace the batteries.
Sushidog said
04:44 PM Mar 18, 2009
LED lights are voltage sensitive. This is why many burn out prematurely in RVs. When the converter/charger kicks in to recharge the battery it can easily fry a LED. The solution is to find LEDs with a "buck driver" attached. This is a small electronic device for limiting voltage.
The best source that I've found for RV compatible LEDS is superbriteleds.com. Yes they are a little more than the E-bay LEDS, but the new ones which have buck drivers wired in won't burn out. One caution however is do not cut off the socket and wire them without it, as the buck driver is usually located in the socket.
The 1142-PCB-xWHP9 White LED Lamp is the kind my Aliner takes. It is available in warm white (3100 degrees K) which is incandescent color, as opposed to "fluorescent white." Note that the working voltage for these is 8-30v DC.
WheelDweller said
05:37 PM Aug 21, 2009
dgorila1 wrote:
Does anyone have their trailer lighting (inside lights) wired primarily for 12V LED lights? Seems like this would be the way to go since they put out a good amount of light with minimal power draw, especially when boondocking to save the batteries.
Yeah; I've done this: be careful.
The lighting I got was at a decent price, 30,000CP, I bought it on eBay and it came right from Hong Kong. There are a number of things to keep in mind with these, that I didn't see from the start.
1. They get hot. LED, I know, but they're producing a lot of heat just the same. Not quite enough to burn you, but it's close.
2. The loghts are actually dangerously bright at 30,000CP: they'll blind you. At the same time, they tend to be SO focused, they only produce the light in a tight cone. For a typical overhead situation, 6 feet from the floor, plan on at least one LED every 8 inches. It's an eery, beautiful glow at this distribution, but you can run 10 of these lights for the cost of a single, old fashioned bulb.
3. The units that come with multiples AND a lighting fixture are better for general lighting. Someone's already done the math on the available light; the LEDs I had were individual. I had to make mounting devices for them, and there were not enough per foot in my case.
4. Over a computer table, it's a FABULOUS WAY to produce a light that bright enough for reading a paper, yet causing no glare from the screen, when they point down onto the keyboard. I HIGHLY SUGGEST this, if you're a gamer or guy who likes typing in the dark.
WheelDweller said
08:00 PM Sep 4, 2009
Sushidog wrote:Here's a link: http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?product=OTHER
The 1142-PCB-xWHP9 White LED Lamp is the kind my Aliner takes. It is available in warm white (3100 degrees K) which is incandescent color, as opposed to "fluorescent white." Note that the working voltage for these is 8-30v DC.
Wow! What a great lineup of products. Low-end to high, bright to blinding...all sorts of strange arrangements. Fabulous! Thank you!
Ranger guy said
05:35 PM Jul 27, 2012
i got some cheap led lights off ebay and put them in my trailer , they pluged in to the original sockets. they only have one led in each light so they are not really bright but we camp with no power hook ups most times, they give off good light to see when dark. i left the factory light in bathroom and one in the main area of trailer, they really save the battery life over night.
LarryW21 said
01:17 PM Sep 29, 2017
All my lights are LED....I switched two that were not LED. Work great and save electricity. Important since I dry/boonbock 95% of the time.
Second Chance said
09:12 PM Sep 29, 2017
Most new units are coming off the line with 100% 12 volt LED lighting. I converted our previous TT with LED panels ordered from China off eBay... good lighting and nary a problem nor failure. Our fiver came with OEM LED lights throughout. No problems with any of them, either, after more than two years of full-time use.
Rob
-- Edited by Second Chance on Friday 29th of September 2017 09:12:55 PM
RonC said
09:27 PM Sep 29, 2017
Our experience is similar to Second Chance ... our 2017 5er came with all interior and exterior lights LED and no problems to date with 19 months service.
MAYBE2021 said
06:32 PM Sep 30, 2017
Same as Ron. Our 2017 TT came with all LED running on 12 volts and after almost a year, no problems. The color seems to be daylight so I guess that puts it in the 5000K to 6000K color range. It's almost eerie when we have the outside lights on at night and it looks like it's daylight.
Terry and Jo said
07:35 PM Oct 3, 2017
This thread is over 7 years old and will be closed.
Forum participants shouldn't post on threads that are that old due to the fact that some of the older information can be out of date or products no longer available.
LED lights are voltage sensitive. This is why many burn out prematurely in RVs. When the converter/charger kicks in to recharge the battery it can easily fry a LED. The solution is to find LEDs with a "buck driver" attached. This is a small electronic device for limiting voltage.
The best source that I've found for RV compatible LEDS is superbriteleds.com. Yes they are a little more than the E-bay LEDS, but the new ones which have buck drivers wired in won't burn out. One caution however is do not cut off the socket and wire them without it, as the buck driver is usually located in the socket.
Here's a link: http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?product=OTHER
The 1142-PCB-xWHP9 White LED Lamp is the kind my Aliner takes. It is available in warm white (3100 degrees K) which is incandescent color, as opposed to "fluorescent white." Note that the working voltage for these is 8-30v DC.
Yeah; I've done this: be careful.
The lighting I got was at a decent price, 30,000CP, I bought it on eBay and it came right from Hong Kong. There are a number of things to keep in mind with these, that I didn't see from the start.
1. They get hot. LED, I know, but they're producing a lot of heat just the same. Not quite enough to burn you, but it's close.
2. The loghts are actually dangerously bright at 30,000CP: they'll blind you. At the same time, they tend to be SO focused, they only produce the light in a tight cone. For a typical overhead situation, 6 feet from the floor, plan on at least one LED every 8 inches. It's an eery, beautiful glow at this distribution, but you can run 10 of these lights for the cost of a single, old fashioned bulb.
3. The units that come with multiples AND a lighting fixture are better for general lighting. Someone's already done the math on the available light; the LEDs I had were individual. I had to make mounting devices for them, and there were not enough per foot in my case.
4. Over a computer table, it's a FABULOUS WAY to produce a light that bright enough for reading a paper, yet causing no glare from the screen, when they point down onto the keyboard. I HIGHLY SUGGEST this, if you're a gamer or guy who likes typing in the dark.
Wow! What a great lineup of products. Low-end to high, bright to blinding...all sorts of strange arrangements. Fabulous! Thank you!
Most new units are coming off the line with 100% 12 volt LED lighting. I converted our previous TT with LED panels ordered from China off eBay... good lighting and nary a problem nor failure. Our fiver came with OEM LED lights throughout. No problems with any of them, either, after more than two years of full-time use.
Rob
-- Edited by Second Chance on Friday 29th of September 2017 09:12:55 PM
Same as Ron. Our 2017 TT came with all LED running on 12 volts and after almost a year, no problems. The color seems to be daylight so I guess that puts it in the 5000K to 6000K color range. It's almost eerie when we have the outside lights on at night and it looks like it's daylight.
This thread is over 7 years old and will be closed.
Forum participants shouldn't post on threads that are that old due to the fact that some of the older information can be out of date or products no longer available.
Terry