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Old 05-05-2014, 04:21 PM   #1
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Replacing to LCD lights

Any tips on replacing interior lights in my trailer to LCD lights? Does it save battery life? Is this common with interior and or exterior lights?
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Old 05-05-2014, 04:45 PM   #2
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Welcome to the forum,I have not done that yet but would like to, do a search up at the top and you should find some threads on that.
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Old 05-05-2014, 04:48 PM   #3
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Try it with led light, looked like alot
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Old 05-05-2014, 07:45 PM   #4
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Standard 921 incandescent bulb will draw approx. 1.4 amps, equivalent LED will draw approx. 0.4 amp.
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Old 05-18-2014, 09:15 AM   #5
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Led Light

I have replaced all my incandescent lights ( 921 T10 wedge type ) with the 36SMD LED panel lights ( All interior ) and the porch light with the Star duel motion sensor LED. They are a little brighter than the old 921. No yellowish tent and the LED does not get hot.
I wish I had done this years ago, it's a great investment that pays you back in brighter lights that do not build up heat or drain the battery. Win Win in my book.
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Old 05-19-2014, 10:20 AM   #6
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Just a thought - try EBay and use the Chinese vendors. You can get 10 lights for 10 bucks instead of $10 per light, and it's the same exact bulb. They ship fast, typically you'll get them in 10 days. All these LED bulbs are made in China anyway.
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Old 05-19-2014, 11:55 AM   #7
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I did a bunch of research on this, so I'll share what I found. I replaced all interior lights with LED because we will almost never be at a campground with electricity.

I started with the wedge lights. I used one of those kill-a-watt meters to figure out how much power was being used. In the case of the stock bulbs, they were using 25 watts each. With the LED bulbs I put in there, they use 1.5 watts each. 25 / 1.5 = 16.6667. This means the incandescent bulbs use almost 17 times as much power. These are the bulbs I bought: 20x T10 194 921 W5W 12 SMD 5050 LED Warm White RV Landscaping Light Lamp Bulb US | eBay

Then I replaced the other lights which use the larger BA15S connector, with these: 2X BA15S 1141 48 5050SMD LED Bulb Lamp Super Bright Car Interior Dome Warm White | eBay I've ordered from that guy (bmled) like 6 times now, and in a couple cases, I actually received his stuff from China faster than some items I ordered from a domestic seller. Usually 6-8 mail days, which is absurd for China shipments. I used smaller versions of those lights (24LED) for the bathroom and fridge light.

I measused actual light output of the wedge LEDs with a light meter. They put out about 85% luminous flux of what the incandescent puts out. I'm more concerned with power savings than I am light output, but I have considered ordering a set of these just to have for a couple locations where I might need more light:

Pack of 10: 10x T10 921 194 RV Trailer Interior 12V LED Light Bulbs 9 High Power 5630 Chip | eBay
Pack of 4: 4X T10 921 194 RV Trailer Interior 12V LED Light Bulbs 9 SMD w Free Shipping | eBay

The light output of these is 660 lumens. Your standard 60w incandescent bulb at home puts out about 800 lumens. These would likely provide WAY more light than what the stock incandescent bulbs use. I just haven't seen what their wattage is.

For outside, I used a 48 LED panel and a 24 LED panel and wired them together to get a nice bright light outside. One thing most people don't know about LED lights is that they do not put out UV light. Fluorescent and incandescent bulbs put out UV light. Bugs are attracted to UV light. So if your outside lights are all LED, you won't attract bugs. I actually swapped out all the lights at my house with LEDs near the back door where our deck is. I can leave the door open with all the lights on, and we never see any moths. It's awesome. Can't wait to use the LEDs in the trailer while camping.
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Old 05-22-2014, 06:39 PM   #8
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I replaced all my lights with the chinese leds. Wish I would have done it to my previous rvs. Just get the brightest available.

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Old 05-22-2014, 07:25 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bitNine View Post
I did a bunch of research on this, so I'll share what I found. I replaced all interior lights with LED because we will almost never be at a campground with electricity.

I started with the wedge lights. I used one of those kill-a-watt meters to figure out how much power was being used. In the case of the stock bulbs, they were using 25 watts each. With the LED bulbs I put in there, they use 1.5 watts each. 25 / 1.5 = 16.6667. This means the incandescent bulbs use almost 17 times as much power. These are the bulbs I bought: 20x T10 194 921 W5W 12 SMD 5050 LED Warm White RV Landscaping Light Lamp Bulb US | eBay

Then I replaced the other lights which use the larger BA15S connector, with these: 2X BA15S 1141 48 5050SMD LED Bulb Lamp Super Bright Car Interior Dome Warm White | eBay I've ordered from that guy (bmled) like 6 times now, and in a couple cases, I actually received his stuff from China faster than some items I ordered from a domestic seller. Usually 6-8 mail days, which is absurd for China shipments. I used smaller versions of those lights (24LED) for the bathroom and fridge light.



I measused actual light output of the wedge LEDs with a light meter. They put out about 85% luminous flux of what the incandescent puts out. I'm more concerned with power savings than I am light output, but I have considered ordering a set of these just to have for a couple locations where I might need more light:

Pack of 10: 10x T10 921 194 RV Trailer Interior 12V LED Light Bulbs 9 High Power 5630 Chip | eBay
Pack of 4: 4X T10 921 194 RV Trailer Interior 12V LED Light Bulbs 9 SMD w Free Shipping | eBay

The light output of these is 660 lumens. Your standard 60w incandescent bulb at home puts out about 800 lumens. These would likely provide WAY more light than what the stock incandescent bulbs use. I just haven't seen what their wattage is.

For outside, I used a 48 LED panel and a 24 LED panel and wired them together to get a nice bright light outside. One thing most people don't know about LED lights is that they do not put out UV light. Fluorescent and incandescent bulbs put out UV light. Bugs are attracted to UV light. So if your outside lights are all LED, you won't attract bugs. I actually swapped out all the lights at my house with LEDs near the back door where our deck is. I can leave the door open with all the lights on, and we never see any moths. It's awesome. Can't wait to use the LEDs in the trailer while camping.
Excellent review. I have used led's for over a year and the detailed analysis you presented here, is one of the most comprehensive I have read. I just ordered g4 base 15 5630smd's (flat disc type) that have the highest lumen output to date, given my bulb configuration. Was just wondering what your analysis of the 5630smd disclosed.
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Old 05-23-2014, 12:15 PM   #10
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Excellent review. I have used led's for over a year and the detailed analysis you presented here, is one of the most comprehensive I have read. I just ordered g4 base 15 5630smd's (flat disc type) that have the highest lumen output to date, given my bulb configuration. Was just wondering what your analysis of the 5630smd disclosed.
Hey, thanks!! I was looking for this type of detail when I was researching LED stuff for RV. Had to basically just guess and look up specs for individual LEDs. Power usage was almost nonexistent.

As for the 5630 LEDs, I have not actually purchased any of those. I started cheap, but will probably order that set of 4 to replace the ones over the counters in the kitchen. Looking at the specs, one auction says the 5630 is 400% (4x) brighter than a 5050. That means it's about equivalent to a 36 5050 LED board. Brighter than even the 24 5050 LED boards. I put one of the 24 LED boards in the bathroom as well as in the outside stairwell. They are plenty bright. The 48 LED boards are extremely bright on the inside. So I'm guessing the 5630s will be great for many areas. But, again, I'm more concerned about power usage, and since watts don't even linearly match up to lumen output, it's hard to tell what the usage of the 5630 is. I would guess that the power usage is actually less with fewer LEDs.
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Old 05-23-2014, 12:38 PM   #11
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I was lucky enough to buy a trailer with LED interior lighting, but would have switched to LED if I hadn't been so lucky. The LEDs look expensive, and not worth it if you do a simple cost/kilowatt calc. But they DO make sense if you figure that you could maybe own/maintain one less deep-cycle battery, and maybe even avoid draining and wrecking a deep-cycle battery. My $0.02
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Old 05-23-2014, 12:55 PM   #12
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I was lucky enough to buy a trailer with LED interior lighting, but would have switched to LED if I hadn't been so lucky. The LEDs look expensive, and not worth it if you do a simple cost/kilowatt calc. But they DO make sense if you figure that you could maybe own/maintain one less deep-cycle battery, and maybe even avoid draining and wrecking a deep-cycle battery. My $0.02
Depending on the cost of the LED, they pay for themselves in very little time. I changed 3 bulbs at home in the front of our house from 60W incandescent to 11w LED bulbs. I figured that the bulbs would pay for themselves in about 7 months, and at their usage rate they will last about 17 years. Each bulb was $7. I figured that these 60w incandescent bulbs running from dusk to midnight (controlled by home automation system) is 8.5 hours on Dec 21 and 3.5 hours on June 21, averaging 6 hours per day throughout the year. 6 hours * 180 watts = 1080 watts, or just over 1kwh. Multiply that over an average of 30 days per month and it's 32.4 kwh per month. Same math, but using 33 watts instead of 180, and that's 5.94 kwh per month. Our cost per kwh is about 11 cents. $3.56 per month for incandescent, and $0.65 per month for LED. A savings of $2.91/mo. 3 bulbs were about $20 with tax, so about 7 months for them to pay for themselves. If they actually last 17 years, that means they will save me $558 over the next 16 years.

Those same bulbs are now $4.98 at Home Depot, meaning they will pay for themselves even faster.
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