LED's - how many to use??? Options

[Barry Konkin]

I am going to order some Superbright 9 light LED's for my Trillium.

these will repalce the incandescent bulbs at the end of the cabinets.

Each exisitng fixture has 2 bulbs. Do I used 2 9-light boards in each, or is one 9-light sufficient in each fixture?

thanks

[John Hussey]

I am going to order some Superbright 9 light LED's for my Trillium.

these will repalce the incandescent bulbs at the end of the cabinets.

Each exisitng fixture has 2 bulbs. Do I used 2 9-light boards in each, or is one 9-light sufficient in each fixture?

thanks

without knowing the wattage of your two bulbs or the wattage of the single bulbs I removed from my Casita, it is hard to say. That being said, I replaced some incandescent bulbs in my single bulb light fixtures with either a 1156-PCB-WWHP9 ot 1156-PCB-CWHP9. WW=warm white; CW=cool white. The CW have more lumen, brighter, look like fluorescent and are what I prefer. Many prefer the WW or warm white, as they appear closer to incandescent. I suspect one each of either is enough for each fixture of yours. They were for me.

[Bill F.]

I am going to order some Superbright 9 light LED's for my Trillium.

these will repalce the incandescent bulbs at the end of the cabinets.

Each exisitng fixture has 2 bulbs. Do I used 2 9-light boards in each, or is one 9-light sufficient in each fixture?

thanks

Hi Barry,
I replaced all the bulbs in my trailer last fall with the warm white superbrights. I found they were just slightly brighter than the originals. The double fixtures wouldn't look right with only one bulb and one superbright would give less light than 2 incandescant bulbs. I figured if I left some incandescants they would end up killing the battery. Bite the bullet and replace them all and based on my experience I don't think you will regret it. Installing the LED's was the first step towards adding a solar system. Now that our consumption is reduced I'm in the process of installing a 115 watt panel.
Bill

[shane n]

If you have a two way switch in your two bulb fixture, off, one bulb, two bulb then one LED per fixture might make sense but keep in mind even with two LED's you wont have the brightness of the regular bulbs. Also on my application I left two fixtures with the regular bulbs for brightness when needed. I use those for shaving. I used the V-leds 48 boards. Great mod and is fun to turn on five fixtures and your volt meter only drops 1/10 of a volt.

[Dean & Mary]

I use the 48 V-leds and set my two bulb fixtures with one led and the second incandescent.

Dean

[peterh]

Most modern LED bulb replacements -- including yours -- produce slightly less light than the incandescent bulbs they were meant to replace. A few, like my V-LEDS panels, produce just slightly more usable light. So it's a one-for-one replacement.


We have fourteen lights in our 5th wheel trailer . . . all of them LEDs. They cost a bundle, but having them allows us to dry camp with our solar panels and not worry about power consumption. Of those fourteen lights, however, we've found there are just seven that get regular use: The one by the door, the one in the washroom, two in the kitchen (one over each side), the light over the dinette and the two "reading lights" over the dinette. You probably have most- and least-used lights in your trailer, too; if you're trying to keep costs down, you might stop and think which lights you turn on most often, and replace those bulbs first. That way you get the biggest energy-saving-bang for your buck.

This post has been edited by peterh: Jun 10 2009, 07:14 AM

[Francine P]

I am going to order some Superbright 9 light LED's for my Trillium.

these will repalce the incandescent bulbs at the end of the cabinets.

Each exisitng fixture has 2 bulbs. Do I used 2 9-light boards in each, or is one 9-light sufficient in each fixture?

thanks

When I contacted superbright they led me to this bulb by my giving them the number of the current incandescant bulb I was currently using in my Bigfoot. I am currently using: 1156-PCB-xWHP9 White LED Lamp Warm White-3100K and I find it every bit as bright as my old bulb and now I have no worries of using up battery power. We have gone camping, used the lights significantly more and the battery after 3 days was still on "good", so I am very happy!

[Per Walthinsen]

I'd like to suggest that you measure the intensity of your current lights to establish a baseline for replacement LEDs,

When I replaced the two incandescent lamps over our kitchen counter space I borrowed a Lux meter (light intensity) from my son and measured how much light I already had. The lights were to be replaced with some LED puck lights from IKEA so I was able to duplicate the intensity (not necessarily quite the same because of the difference in color temperature of the lights, but close enough).

I turned out that I needed 10 of the IKEA lights to duplicate the intensity. They ended up quite a bit more spread out and that was a plus. You could do the same with a light meter or a camera just as well, but I'd suggest aiming a reflective meter at a light surface such as a piece of paper or using an incident light meter if you have it. Aiming directly at the lights may produce some unintended results.