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Old 02-23-2016, 11:17 AM   #1
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I'm looking to change all my interior lights to LED. Not sure if anyone has done that thought I would ask before I start looking what size, brightness, manufac, and where to buy them at. Also have you notice a different of temp when you change in the coach the old light give off a lot of heat.
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Old 02-23-2016, 11:49 AM   #2
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I swapped the incandescent bulbs over the dinette for LED's. Changed out the center line overhead halogens with LED's. I changed out the dinette light on/off switch with a direct replacement on/off dimmer control for LED dimming. Changed the on/off over couch light switch with a combination on/off dimmer. This worked much better than running wiring for LED dimming. Purchased everything (lights/dimmer etc.) off EBAY. All LED's are warm white. The delivered light bulb configuration (all incandescent/halogen) did, as you say, introduce to much heat for our liking.
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Old 02-24-2016, 04:33 PM   #3
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I changed out the halogen interior lights to LED. As Bubbles mentioned, the best deals are on Ebay.

Note that LEDs are polarity dependent. On some types of modules, simply reversing the pins will fix the problem if they don't illuminate when first plugged in. Other times, you may need to reverse the wiring on the light fixture, as some LED modules have all the LED chips mounted on one side of the circuit board which must face in the direction you want. There are also LED modules that have a bridge rectifier circuit installed on the back side of the circuit board that will automatically correct the polarity. These tend to cost about a $1 or so more than the cheapest LEDs at Ebay.

The Chinese LEDs on Ebay don't usually have any brand names, they are just generic. You can buy the same $3 LED in a name brand package at Camping World for $19.95 though...

As for brightness, check to see what model bulbs you presently have installed. Then do a search for the bulb number to find its brightness in lumens. You can then shop LED modules for lumens. You can go brighter or dimmer as you wish, but at least you'll have an idea of where to start. Note that some sellers may exaggerate the brightness.

Another consideration is color temperature. This is measured in degrees Kelvin. It has nothing to do with how hot the LED gets, but rather the color of the light emitted. A warm white LED will be around 3500 degrees, which is a yellowish color similar to a filament light bulb. A bright white LED will be around 6000 degrees, which is more bluish like a fluorescent light. The choice here is yours.

As for power consumption and heat, LEDs typically use about 1/8 the power of a comparable light bulb. Most of that energy savings is from avoiding the wasted heat of a light bulb.

The LEDs on Ebay are cheap enough, so try a few different ones to see what you like.
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Old 02-25-2016, 09:03 AM   #4
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I want to thank everyone input and also learned a lot about LED, now to just put it to work. Thanks
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Old 02-25-2016, 09:56 AM   #5
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By the way, the LCD replacements for the centerline Halogens are wafers with the chips on one side and like the Halogens have two pins. because they have the chips on one side they must install in only one configuration (chips down) but this is not a problem because those type of LED's are not polarity sensitive (at least the one's I got off EBAY were not). The other type (901's) are, so reverse plugin if not illuminated.
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Old 02-25-2016, 02:57 PM   #6
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I believe the halogen in my rig are a G4 pin. Does anyone have the replacement LED replacement number for that or should I just go to Ebay and punch in that number?
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Old 02-25-2016, 10:13 PM   #7
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The halogen LED's I got from EBAY is item 351057032191, and the 5050's are what I ordered. They are the soft white.
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Old 02-26-2016, 08:42 AM   #8
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Thanks bubbles. Went to Ebay yesterday and ordered both bright white and warm light bulbs for different places in my rig. The Chinese bulbs are cheap! 15 bulbs for $20. This is quite a bit less than the last time I looked into this about 2 years ago where I think they were around $5 per bulb.
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Old 02-26-2016, 08:57 AM   #9
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Sorry a little late as I see you have ordered. Some of the very cheap Chinese LED lights use cheap components and generate significant RF noise. This will impact Radio and TV reception.
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Old 02-26-2016, 05:50 PM   #10
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Thanks Flybob, but I figured at $20 for 15 bulbs I'd give it a shot. Weren't sure at first wattage etc. but looked up after the fact and the 3watt bulbs I bought generate about 160 lumens vs 200 lumens for the 20 halogen I'm replacing. Bottom line was little risk at the $20 investment even if I bought the wrong bulbs altogether.
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