Has anyone changed interior lights to LED? How hard is it? Do you like the light it gives off as compared to the incandescant? Where did you get your supplies?
Thanks, Francine
The LED's consume approximately 0.16 amps each while the 1156's consume approximately 1.5 amps each
I recently tested the LED's by leaving them on for 12hours. Five lights (plus my parasitic loads such as stereo clock, gas detector etc) consumed approximately 5% (12amps) of my 240 amp/hour battery capacity in this time period. The same configuration using 1156 bulbs would consume approximately 92.4 amps or 38.5% of the battery capacity.
If you are doing a lot of boondocking then the LED's are the way to go.
Has anyone changed interior lights to LED? How hard is it? Do you like the light it gives off as compared to the incandescant? Where did you get your supplies?
Thanks, Francine
Hi Francine,
I changed to LED's from www.superbrightleds.com recently. I had 1156 bulbs originally and ordered 1156-PCB-WWHP9 as LED replacements. They have 9 surface mount LED bulbs on a 1.5" square board that is connected to an 1156 bulb base. They can be exchanged in 5 minutes per bulb because you just remove the old bulb, insert the new base and double tape the card to the ceiling of the fixture, and then replace the lens. The new bulbs are WW(warm white) which we found to be just slightly whiter than the original 1156 bulbs, and they have a 120 degree beam, which spreads the light throughout the trailer. There are four different bases to choose from so you can match whichever type of bulb your trailer has. There is a picture of the four different types of base and drawings to show the dimensions and shapes. Price was $21.95 ea. You could have difficulty justifying the price, but if you plan on dry camping a lot or want to use solar panels in the future it makes sense. We figured they paid for themselves in the first month because we dry camped(mostly free) without worrying about battery drain. These lights have built in voltage protection which appears to make them long term reliable.
Bill
Has anyone changed interior lights to LED? How hard is it? Do you like the light it gives off as compared to the incandescant? Where did you get your supplies?
Thanks, Francine
Yes, several people -- myself included -- have changed out some or all of their trailer lights for LEDs. LEDs are great for camping because, while two regular "1156" type light bulbs left on for just 24 hours will kill pretty much any single deep-cycle house battery, LED lights use just 1/8th to 1/9th the power of an incandescent to produce the same amount of light. So using LEDs instead of incandescent bulbs allows you to go for days without a recharge or survive comfortably on the power manufactured by a small solar setup without ever needing extra batteries, hookups or a generator.
Our solar-powered Scamp 5er is all-LED-lit. With 15 LED fixtures, we can light the inside of our trailer up like a search light and still use less electricity than just two incandescent bulbs. (To keep our power consumption down we only have all the lights on to show people how well lit a trailer can be on just 30 watts/2.5 amps of power. Most evenings we'll have, at most, seven of the LED fixtures turned on.)
As for LED light color, LED replacement lights have really improved over the two years. Two years ago LED replacement bulbs universally gave off a wretched blue-colored light that was all but guaranteed to turn your stomach. Newer technology LEDs can, however, give off a nice 'warm white" color that is very close to what a regular incandescent bulb produces. As a general rule of thumb, these newer-technology "warm white" LEDs are also more expensive. So beware of LEDs that advertise themselves as being "ultra-white," "super-white," "bright-white" or even just plain "white." Look instead for LED bulb replacements that advertise themselves as being a "warm" white or which state a specific color "temperature," measured in "Kelvins" or "K." LEDs with good color temperatures are in the 3000K to 4200K range; anything with a number over 4200K (the color temperature of a "cool white" fluorescent bulb) will look blue.
Yes, several people -- myself included -- have changed out some or all of their trailer lights for LEDs. LEDs are great for camping because, while two regular "1156" type light bulbs left on for just 24 hours will kill pretty much any single deep-cycle house battery, LED lights use just 1/8th to 1/9th the power of an incandescent to produce the same amount of light. So using LEDs instead of incandescent bulbs allows you to go for days without a recharge or survive comfortably on the power manufactured by a small solar setup without ever needing extra batteries, hookups or a generator.
Our solar-powered Scamp 5er is all-LED-lit. With 15 LED fixtures, we can light the inside of our trailer up like a search light and still use less electricity than just two incandescent bulbs. (To keep our power consumption down we only have all the lights on to show people how well lit a trailer can be on just 30 watts/2.5 amps of power. Most evenings we'll have, at most, seven of the LED fixtures turned on.)
As for LED light color, LED replacement lights have really improved over the two years. Two years ago LED replacement bulbs universally gave off a wretched blue-colored light that was all but guaranteed to turn your stomach. Newer technology LEDs can, however, give off a nice 'warm white" color that is very close to what a regular incandescent bulb produces. As a general rule of thumb, these newer-technology "warm white" LEDs are also more expensive. So beware of LEDs that advertise themselves as being "ultra-white," "super-white," "bright-white" or even just plain "white." Look instead for LED bulb replacements that advertise themselves as being a "warm" white or which state a specific color "temperature," measured in "Kelvins" or "K." LEDs with good color temperatures are in the 3000K to 4200K range; anything with a number over 4200K (the color temperature of a "cool white" fluorescent bulb) will look blue.
Yes, we replaced the factory 10W halogen bulbs in most of the "puck" style lights in our trailer with small circular units with 10 surface-mount LEDs, purchased from ledwholesalers.com. The URL is:
These are MR11, G4 base bulbs, and the product code at ledwholesalers.com is 1109WW. To switch them out, we simply unplugged the halogen bulbs and plugged these in. Took about one minute each. They produce about 100 lumens of warm white light at about 3100 Kelvin color temperature. They use a little over 1 watt of power.
We are about to buy some led bulbs to replace the old 1156's. I saw these on ebay, and wondered if anyone has an opinion about them. Before this, I had only seen the warm whites in the "plug in base and glue on little square of led's" style.
We are about to buy some led bulbs to replace the old 1156's. [b]I saw these on ebay, and wondered if anyone has an opinion about them.
Does your light fixture have a highly polished mirror reflector inside? These could work [b]IF it does.
My slimline fixtures had only a gloss white painted (Plastic?) surface, and it was not reflective enough for LEDs which are highly [b]directional, unlike incandescent. I have a roll of tape which has a mirror finish to make reflectors out of, got it at an industrial hardware store.
Whether this bulb is the right one for your application depends on the light fixture you plan to use it in. The idea is for your LEDs to cast their light in the direction where it will do the most good. When the fixture casts light in all directions, as it does in this "sconce" fixture, a "bulb-like" LED replacement that casts light in a 360-degree arc works well.
Where the light fixture casts light in one direction only, a "panel" style LED works best because you don't loose the portion of its light that is absorbed instead of reflected off the reflector on the backside of the bulb.
Does your light fixture have a highly polished mirror reflector inside? These could work [b]IF it does.
My slimline fixtures had only a gloss white painted (Plastic?) surface, and it was not reflective enough for LEDs which are highly [b]directional, unlike incandescent. I have a roll of tape which has a mirror finish to make reflectors out of, got it at an industrial hardware store.
Hi Frederick,
I agree that the old style LED's were highly directional, but the new square shaped surface mount bulbs from www.superbrightleds.com have a 120 deg beam angle and work just fine without a reflective surface above them. These bulbs are expensive but you don't have to know electronics or be able to solder, just tape the card in place and plug the base in where the original 1156 bulb was.
Bill
Hmm, I'll have to look at the fixtures again, but my recollection is that they are white inside. The one where I will really want a wide angle of light is the one by the stove. Since we have the "bathroom closet" model, the 12V fixture is mounted vertically above the stove, on the wall - not the best location. A solution for better light for the kitchen area would be nice to incorporate while making the switch. Maybe a new fixture is in order.
By the time the snow melts and we can get the Trill out to go camping, we won't need much light until August. Still, there are plenty of cloudy days, so I'll want to be able to really see and enjoy the new seat covers and blackout curtains.
Thanks for all the info in this and the other LED threads!
I just recently replaced the 1156 bulbs with the same warm-white 9-LED panels that Bill used. We are very happy with them. I also replaced the frosted lenses with clear Euro lenses. The combination makes out little egg much brighter than it used to be. Others have used the 36 LED panels listed there and have been happy with them. They use an older,lower output LED and are cheaper. I bought 2 of the 9 LED panels to be sure we liked them first.
2005 Scamp 5th Wheel
"The Eggstacy"
Boomerang
Linear Mode
