LED ceiling lights short lifespan?

[dcluvtohunt]

We have a 2018 Georgetown with LED ceiling lights. We have probably spent 50-60 nights in it for the almost 2 years we have owned it. Recently some of the LED ceiling lights have started blinking and sometimes would make Vegas happy. I have now ordered a total of 8 replacement fixtures and have replaced 4. We are mostly connected to shore power or using the generator. Anyone else having this issue or have suggestions? Thanks.

DCW & KLW

[Hclarkx]

Yup. The "puck" ceiling lights in my 2015 Rockwood Ultra Light started failing at about 18 months. Each has 9 LEDs which failed one by one. Must have been a bad batch. Rockwood sent me a full replacement set. None have failed since.

[TimVWulp]

local dealer was selling this after market light. I have replaced several in my 2015 V-Lite with this light fixture. Need to buy several more to replace more burned out fixtures. New light fixture covers the hole of the old fixture in the ceiling and looks like old fixture when installed.

https://www.ebay.com/i/272627480463?chn=ps

Hope this helps Tim

[dcluvtohunt]

Thanks for the thoughts friends. I bought my replacements on Amazon. Almost exactly like the original ones, $10 each. At least my problem is known about.
Happy camping.

[Unclebuck1956]

Don’t buy leds from your RV dealer, they charge too much.
Go to the website Wish, you can get 50 lights for less than $30.00
No matter how much you pay, leds are cheap and eventually flicker.

[dcluvtohunt]

Thank you. I’ll have to remember that site.

[Photo Lab]

A tad off OP's issue, but I found plug in LED replacements for the wedge base incandescent lamps on eBay, in several configurations. My favorites are the ones shaped roughly like the 920 bulb, and some shaped more like a ping pong paddle. None of them are very expensive, and saved the work of replacing the fixtures. That was two years ago, and so far, we're loving it! When they start to flicker, it is generally the little regulator chip that is included in the LED "bulb". The lamps themselves are generally in series, and want to see 2 to 3 volts each.

[Delco Bobby]

Originally Posted by dcluvtohunt

We have a 2018 Georgetown with LED ceiling lights. We have probably spent 50-60 nights in it for the almost 2 years we have owned it. Recently some of the LED ceiling lights have started blinking and sometimes would make Vegas happy. I have now ordered a total of 8 replacement fixtures and have replaced 4. We are mostly connected to shore power or using the generator. Anyone else having this issue or have suggestions? Thanks.

DCW & KLW

Yup, this is an industry wide problem. Same with household LEDs.
Due to cheap and sloppy manufacturing at offshore factories.

[rk06382]

Originally Posted by dcluvtohunt

We have a 2018 Georgetown with LED ceiling lights. We have probably spent 50-60 nights in it for the almost 2 years we have owned it. Recently some of the LED ceiling lights have started blinking and sometimes would make Vegas happy. I have now ordered a total of 8 replacement fixtures and have replaced 4. We are mostly connected to shore power or using the generator. Anyone else having this issue or have suggestions? Thanks.

DCW & KLW

I replaced my original ceiling lights with two-mode lights. I bought the two mode LED lamps from Amazon:
AutoEC LED Dome Light, 2 Color Mode 12V LED RV Ceiling Dome Light Fixture, Interior Replacement Light for RV, Trailer, Camper, Motorhome, Boat
2 Mode Fashionable Design --- The Dome Light with on-off-on switch, can change the color from pure white to warm white, give you different feel. Warm white light output provides a cozy illuminated environment just like home. I have six installed & control the color mode with a wall switch. It only draws 5 Watts and provides total 1000 lumens of brightness.



Now Amazon is also selling 3-mode LED lamps:
Leisure LED 2 Pack RV Ceiling Double Dome Light Fixture 3 Color Mode Switch Interior Lighting Car/RV/Trailer/Camper/Boat DC 12V Warm/Natural/Cool White
Leisure LED Multi-Color Double Dome LED Light Fixture has 72, 2835 SMD. 11-18V Super Bright - 3 Mode Switch Warm White 3500K, Natural White 4500K, Cool White 6500K (36 SMD, per panel, one panel each dome)
Innovative Tri-Color Changeable Lamp. Choose and change the mood with the flip of a switch! Switch on, it is Warm White, Switch on and off again, it is bright Cool White, switch again and it is Natural (Neutral) White, switch off again and it is OFF. Warm White gives the space a homey atmosphere. Natural White is closest to day light. Cool White is for the High Tech Office look, with an Intense White Light. It only draws 6 Watts and provides total 2 X 275 lumens of brightness

[Tundra 2014]

I have not had a failure on any of mine. House, flatbed, TT or exterior. Some are over 10 years old. The ones on the flatbed have paid for themselves several times over, VS replacing 1 bulb every other use.

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by Photo Lab

A tad off OP's issue, but I found plug in LED replacements for the wedge base incandescent lamps on eBay, in several configurations. My favorites are the ones shaped roughly like the 920 bulb, and some shaped more like a ping pong paddle. None of them are very expensive, and saved the work of replacing the fixtures. That was two years ago, and so far, we're loving it! When they start to flicker, it is generally the little regulator chip that is included in the LED "bulb". The lamps themselves are generally in series, and want to see 2 to 3 volts each.

I tried a couple of 920 LED replacements (different shapes including the ping-pong paddle) and none were bright enough for these old eyes. I wound up using ones as pictured below. They come with several different adapters as pictured including 920 wedge base, Bay15S 15mm bayonet with single contact on the bottom, one that looks like a huge cartridge fuse with pointed ends, and a smaller bayonet.

I put four of these in place of two 920s to get the brightness I wanted.

I also put four in the scare light and light up the street when it's on.

I wish they really put in a current regulator IC. I'm pretty sure they are just cheap surface mount resistors which dissipate more watts in heat than the LED uses for light. I'll measure the devices one of these days.

Larry

[Columbus340RK]

Originally Posted by dcluvtohunt

We have a 2018 Georgetown with LED ceiling lights. We have probably spent 50-60 nights in it for the almost 2 years we have owned it. Recently some of the LED ceiling lights have started blinking and sometimes would make Vegas happy. I have now ordered a total of 8 replacement fixtures and have replaced 4. We are mostly connected to shore power or using the generator. Anyone else having this issue or have suggestions? Thanks.

DCW & KLW

knock on wood we haven’t had any LED issues but thought I’d share something you might want to check. A friend but a trailer from one of the other companies and have had an issue with lights flickering and killing batteries even though it was on shore power from day one. Remember even though you are on shore power everything goes threw your inverter. We checked and the inverter/charger was sending power wavering between 9V to 18.5V. This ended up blowing lights then the stereo and then the inverter and fuse panel, as well as creating heat in the fridge between the fridge and freezer that started to melt the plastic. It is now at the dealership for what will probably be a good part of camping season. Trailer is two seasons old and like most sales
Place Blamed the first to batteries on owner error . Could
Have save a lot of problems had they actually listen to the owners issues.

[PenJoe]

LED lights are not as advertised. It has been determined that the industry has been grossly overstating the life span of LED bulbs. Think about this. China has pretty much cornered the market. So, if everybody switches over to LEDs in the next few years and bulbs lasted 50,000 hrs. These factories would eventually sit idle. Consequently, they are intentionally building LEDs to fail.

With incandescent bulbs, manufacturers were able to build in an approximate life span. The bulb goes out and the customer buys a new one. Well, the same goes with LEDs. We bought a five bulb ceiling fixture for our home a couple of years ago. It came with 5 LED medium socket bulbs and was priced accordingly. Great, at least we don't have to replace those bulbs in our lifetime. Wrong again, one bulb went dead, then another and another, all in a matter of two weeks. The odds were against the remaining two. To avoid matching color intensity, we replaced all five bulbs.

The moral of the story is to expect an LED to go south like the old bulbs. Knowing that, if the fixtures have LEDs that can not be replaced, replace the fixtures with sockets to replace bulbs rather than the entire fixture. There is a ton of light fixtures with non-replaceable LEDs, so one has to be a cautious shopper.

One other interesting point. Though LED supposedly cause less heat, there is a warning that some LED bulbs can not be used in an enclosed fixture. Dimmers are another challenge.

That' not to say LEDs are bad. We have a 5-globe light fixture in our bathroom. The incandescent bulbs were original in year 16 of use. We have a simple toggle dimmer switch controlling the five bulbs. One of the bulbs finally took a dump. After researching, we purchased a ten pack of LED globe bulb replacements. Research indicated that these LED bulbs worked better on the old style dimmers. We installed five new bulbs and sure enough, the old dimmer works perfectly. These bulbs can be dimmed to a dim moon glow without pulsing or humming. In daylight, you can not tell they are on. The light switch has an element that lights when the switch is off. We will be changing the other bath out and have a couple of spares. Time will tell how they hold up.

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by PenJoe

One other interesting point. Though LED supposedly cause less heat, there is a warning that some LED bulbs can not be used in an enclosed fixture.

LEDs need to be driven by a current-limited source, not a voltage source. If you were to connect an LED directly to a voltage source (e.g., 12v battery or 5v USB port), the current would be limited only by the internal series resistance (milliohms) of the battery, wiring, and the LED itself and it would promptly burn out. There are efficient current-limiting electronic sources but many suppliers simply include a series resistor and (as you note) dissipate more power in the resistor than in the LED.

Let's take a simple example, a single white LED driven from a 12-volt source. A 330-ohm series resistor limits the current. The LED will drop 1.5 volts when illuminated.
Voltage across the LED = Vled = 1.5v
Voltage across the resistor = Vr = 10.5V
Current = V/R = I = 10.5/330 = .032 = 32 milliamps (mA)
Power used to produce light in LED = Vled x I = 1.5 x .032 = 48 milliwatts
Power used to produce heat in resistor = Vr x I - 10.5 x .032 = 336 milliwatts.

Power consumed by 1141 lamp: 18.4 watts
Power consumed by 1156 lamp: 26.9 watts

LESSON: Inexpensive LEDs last longer than incandescents and they consume less power. But there is a lot more power to be saved (e.g., if you are a fanatic boondocker) by using a product with an efficient current-limiting chip.

Larry

[Joy_road]

I have 5 sets of SunLink flashing LED lights in my 2018 Georgetown. I'm an Electrical Engineer, so I opened it up to see why. The design is VERY sensitive to over-voltage. The failure is that one of the individual LED's blows (opens), causing a voltage jump on the other LED's, which tends to burn them out permanently. It is a poor design with no protection whatsoever. I'm looking for a USA-made replacement...

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Po...qocZNdDY1SaWXd

https://drive.google.com/open?id=17d...X0jxHcBLaDPCZC

[pgandw]

Please keep in mind that the voltage in our RVs varies from 11V to 14.5V, depending on battery state and charger settings. Computers, on the other hand, have power supplies that strictly regulate the output voltage to 12V +/- 0.1V or better.

LEDs that are made for use with computer power supplies can have much simpler regulation circuitry (a resistor of approximately right value will work). These simple regulators DO NOT work in RVs, boats, and cars/trucks where the input voltage has a much wider range. You need an LED array with a regulator specifically designed for the wide range of input voltages.

My 2014 A-frame came with LEDs throughout the interior. But FR had not learned to spec automotive-quality LEDs, and many of them suffered premature deaths. If I did not get automotive-grade LED replacements for the external lights, I found they did not last either. You have to be careful on Amazon or eBay to make sure your LEDs come with automotive grade regulators.

My 2019 A-frame has LEDs throughout - both interior and exterior. But these have held up a lot better - no problems in 15 months. FR actually does make improvements in some of their problem areas - even though it takes a few model years to get there.

just my experiences
Fred W
2019 Flagstaff T21TBHW A-frame
camping Colorado and adjacent states one weekend at a time

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by Larry-NC

LESSON: Inexpensive LEDs last longer than incandescents and they consume less power. But there is a lot more power to be saved (e.g., if you are a fanatic boondocker) by using a product with an efficient current-limiting chip.

Larry

My "current-limiting chip" is the off switch. I only turn on lights I need, when and where I need them.