LED Lights

[jimmied]

There are so many LED lights out there, some inexpensive, some not. I have looked through some threads but still need more advice.

What I am looking for are bright reading lights. They can be be DC, or battey operated, either will do but battey would be my choice if bright enough as I will be using a small inverter to operate the battery charger. I already have purchased indirect background battery operated ights from Costco which are battery operated for general lighting, but need something brighter for reading. Would appreciate your input for a supplier.

Question 2, is there a LED light which could replace the 1141 double light for over the counter, which is just as bright.

Question 3, is there a LED light which could replace the standard twin 1141 lights in the ceiling.

Thanks, Jim

[Carol H]

Jim the answer to both questions is yes. If you do a google for LED 1141 replacement bulbs you will see you have lots of different options. I replaced all my bulbs and put in the replacement type with the flat square multi light one and its more than enough to read by. I picked mine up on RV row in Langley but you can get them way cheaper on line.

Here is a thread called LED Replacement LIghts that has some photos as well.

[jimmied]

Hi Carol H. Thanks for the message. For a reading light, I would like to have an actual fixture that I can move, say when I am reading in bed, that swivels.

I would also like to replace the ceiling and over the counter fixture with new up to date fixtures with LED bulbs, but not just the bulbs, themselves, as the fixtures are 31 years old.

There are so many different fixtures/bulbs available, and do not want to purchase just anything that has not been recommended.
Thanks, Jim

[Carol H]

Jim, one of our members here runs a little shop called Fiberglass Travel Trailers RV & sells a number of popular LED light fixtures. I have obtain my exterior LED lights from him. Good prices by BC standards. He also as you will see has a number of parts that are Bigfoot specific as well. Take a look you may find what you need.

[cpaharley2008]

Camping world has 14 types here
Search - lamps - Camping World

[Borden]

Originally Posted by Carol H

Jim the answer to both questions is yes. If you do a google for LED 1141 replacement bulbs you will see you have lots of different options. I replaced all my bulbs and put in the replacement type with the flat square multi light one and its more than enough to read by. I picked mine up on RV row in Langley but you can get them way cheaper on line.

Here is a thread called LED Replacement LIghts that has some photos as well.

Purchased some LED light bulb replacements but they are not very bright how many Lumens do we need to match our existing old lights?

[cpaharley2008]

I have maybe 1/2 dozen led bulbs left over that were what I thought was what I was looking for, sometimes you do not get what you want on the first try. Perhaps try a different distributor with different bulbs. Warm and blue light are the predominant choices with warm being the better light to read by.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by Borden

Purchased some LED light bulb replacements but they are not very bright how many Lumens do we need to match our existing old lights?

One of the things is that being a different type of light its hard to say. I believe some of mine in the main area of the trailer are in the 90 to 120 range and the ones I put in the overhead rear bins for reading are 200. It important to note that the more little lights doesnt add up to more lumens. I have some with 36 little lights that are less lumens that some with only 16 little lights.

[Jon Vermilye]

Probably far more than you want to know about light, but when choosing LED replacement lamps there are lots of variables. Most modern LED lamps are made of collections of SMDs attached to different lamp bases.

One of the difficulties is there are many different SMDs. SMD stands for Surface Mounted Device. There are many different electronic components that are SMDs, one type is a LED. They are usually identified by a number, and different SMDs produce different amounts of light, different color temperatures, etc. The only way you can compare how much light a lamp will produce by the number of SMDs is if they are the same model. Otherwise, a 9 SMD lamp may produce more light than a 24 or 36. Since many suppliers do not include the model # of the SMD they use, it's tough to compare.

The best method of comparing light output is by looking for the Lumen specification. That is the total light produced by the lamp. Look up the Lumen output of the incandescent lamp you want to replace & find an LED that is close.

If you are purchasing a fixture that includes the lamp you may find the specification of light output is Lux. Lux describes the amount of light on a surface. The important point when comparing fixtures by Lux is distance & coverage area. Two fixtures with the same Lumen lamp may produce very different Lux because one spreads the light over a wider area. This is why a reading light (with a narrow beam) seems much brighter than a general area fixture with the same Lumen lamp.

If you are concerned about color, Warm White is the description most often used to compare to an incandescent lamp. The technical description for the color attributes of a lamp are complex, but an incandescent lamp produces a color temperature of somewhere between 2800°K and 3200°K and a CRI of 100.

Color Temperature is given in degrees Kelvin (a scale that starts at absolute zero as 0°K and shifts from infrared to red through the visible spectrum to violet and beyond (a clear blue sky without the sun is around 20,000°K). A cool white fluorescent lamp produces light with a color temperature around 6000°K.

Basically, Color Temperature is a method of describing the color an object will radiate if it is heated until it glows. It is more technical than that, but a tungsten filament will actually be at the same physical temperature as the color temperature it produces, while other types of light sources "manufacture" the color without actually being at that temperature.

CRI (Color Rendering Index) is a number between 1 & 100 with 100 being the equivalent of an incandescent lamp. As the number drops, the source produces light that does not render colored objects correctly. For example a Sodium Vapor lamp has a CRI of around 24. That is why your red vehicle and lips look black in the parking lot.

CRI specifications are rarely given for LED lamps, but most of them are pretty good. CFLs sometimes have very poor CRIs which is why there are complaints about "green" colors.

One last consideration - many LED replacement lamps have voltage regulators built into the electronics. The good - they produce the same amount of light over a wide range of voltages & are less likely to be damaged by high voltage such as when your converter goes into the equalization stage. The bad - many voltage regulators create RFI (Radio Frequency Interference). They may cause lines in your TV picture or even block weak signals, and produce buzzing noise particularly on AM radio.

One solution is to purchase inexpensive non regulated LEDs & toss them if the burn out. I've used flat panel replacement lamps from Hong Kong, and I haven't lost one yet, although others have. They are are inexpensive enough that losing one or two isn't a problem. Since the suppliers constantly change, do a search on eBay & pick one.

I'll stop rambling now - I'm a retired teacher & once I get started it is difficult to stop!

[Spanke]

Originally Posted by Borden

Purchased some LED light bulb replacements but they are not very bright how many Lumens do we need to match our existing old lights?

Check out this these threads

http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...son-52355.html

http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...ing-49741.html

Spanke

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by Jon Vermilye

One solution is to purchase inexpensive non regulated LEDs & toss them if the burn out. I've used flat panel replacement lamps from Hong Kong, and I haven't lost one yet, although others have. They are are inexpensive enough that losing one or two isn't a problem. Since the suppliers constantly change, do a search on eBay & pick one.

I did just this, Jon. Even though the specs looked good, and price certainly was right (I bought 10 for $30, plus he threw few in a couple others for free), but the light output was not near what the incandescent was. They were definitely not very good to read by, or do task work.

After seeing some of THESE my friends had purchased from superbrightleds.com, I sucked it up and bought a few. The light level of the cool white ones is at least that of the incandescent, and the warm white nearly as good. I did use the eBay ones for the bath, and put a couple together to use under my hood fan.

[jimmied]

2X 12V Warm White LED Bed Side Light Reading Wall Bedside Lamp Switch Caravan | eBay

These are the lights I received from China. The brightness is more than I expected and they are something like 230 lumens. I had to do some modifications to mount then, but for $15 each, the price was right. Most of the wiring is complete, so will post some pics soon. Jim

[Steve Hammel]

I just bought 4 of these from Panther and I'm very pleased. Just changing the bulbs in my old lights were going to be $12 each not counting shipping.



LED Reading Lamp Satin Chrome Sconce


Panther LED Reading Lamp L26-0067 20 Diode Light Camper Trailer RV

• Price: $36.19
• Sale Price: $19.76

[Cat futrell]

Jim,

I am following this thread closely and will look at the others referenced. I do understand your dilema. As you know we are at about the same place in the process of this ligting thing. I have been investigating LEDs as well. I need bright light to read or do tasks by and that seems to be a little bit of a problem for me. I believe that the lumens of a 100 watt incandescent bulb are about 1500 Lumens. Not certain, it has been several days since that part of my research.

I just don't want to spend the money on lights that are too dim. For overhead lighting there is not a real concern, but to prepare food or read, or get out a splinter I need the light. I have run wires for task lighting on the shell and am planning to leave the fixtures till I can see the light production for myself, in person. Maybe at a lighting store or somebody elses camper.

Untill I find the right lights Im planning to use my LED headlamp for task lighting. It worked well for me when I tent camped. I look forward to hearing what you finally decide and if you are happy with your outcome. Hope you will follow up and post.

Thanks,

Cathy

[jimmied]

Originally Posted by Cat futrell

Jim,

I am following this thread closely and will look at the others referenced. I do understand your dilema. As you know we are at about the same place in the process of this ligting thing. I have been investigating LEDs as well. I need bright light to read or do tasks by and that seems to be a little bit of a problem for me. I believe that the lumens of a 100 watt incandescent bulb are about 1500 Lumens. Not certain, it has been several days since that part of my research.

I just don't want to spend the money on lights that are too dim. For overhead lighting there is not a real concern, but to prepare food or read, or get out a splinter I need the light. I have run wires for task lighting on the shell and am planning to leave the fixtures till I can see the light production for myself, in person. Maybe at a lighting store or somebody elses camper.

Untill I find the right lights Im planning to use my LED headlamp for task lighting. It worked well for me when I tent camped. I look forward to hearing what you finally decide and if you are happy with your outcome. Hope you will follow up and post.

Thanks,

Cathy

Cathy, I understand that you need some good reading lights, and I am sure if I aimed one of my new LED lights out the window, pointed southeast from Vancouver Island to Florida, you will be able to see the light...LOL
Seriously, I am very pleased with the lights I ordered and cannot believe how bright they are. They swivel as well. Great for reading. I have placed 4 in the ceiling and the other 2 are mounted on the wall. Like I mentioned before, you have to do some modifications on the bracket and I just drilled a few small holes for the wires to go to the ceiling. Once mounted, the screws holding the fixture to the bracket do not line up, so I just slipped a piece of 16 gauge wire under the bracket...works good now.
I have one mounted under the kitchen cabinet, and it gives great light to one part of the counter, but I have ordered another one for directly light onto the stove area. I was originally going to buy a 500 Lumen LED double fixture for under the kitchen cabinet at a cost of $70 including shipping, but have since changed my mind as these $15 reading lights give off enough bright light for me. They are not blueish in colour .
Here is the link:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2x-12v-Warm-White-LED-Bed-Side-Light-Bright-Reading-Wall-Bedside-Lamp-Switch-/170932895900?pt=UK_Home_Garden_Night_Lights_Fairy_ Lights&hash=item27cc65009c
Price 2 for $21: Shows up on a UK web site I just ordered two more and believe they are the same as what I originally received from Hong Kong below


http://www.ebay.com/itm/2X-12V-Warm-White-LED-Bed-Side-Light-Reading-Wall-Bedside-Lamp-Switch-Caravan-/170932908544?pt=Boat_Parts_Accessories_Gear&vxp=mt r&hash=item27cc653200

These are the original 3 pairs I ordered and received and have installed Price 2 for $30
Delivery can take several weeks, but I ordered direct from the shipper by paypal and told them I wanted them ASAP. They arrived 3 days later by DHL courier. Shipping was free but DHL charged a processing fee and I had to pay provincial & federal sales tax so the total cost that I paid DHL was only $14.79 for the 6 fixtures.
I did a lot of research on LED lights and cannot stress how pleased I am with them.
Let me know if you need further info...Jim

[ImbyRick]

I read with clip on battery LED lights from Costco. The basic disposable batteries have lasted through a few books already.

I have been playing with a Schumacher XP400 and wrote an article about it. Funny thing is it doesn't even come with a cord to plug it in.

[Donna D.]

Jim, where can you buy the replacement bulbs? Or, do you think these are cheap enough that the whole unit is disposable if the bulbs burn out?

[jimmied]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

Jim, where can you buy the replacement bulbs? Or, do you think these are cheap enough that the whole unit is disposable if the bulbs burn out?

Donna, I think they claim 50000 hrs of life...I really did not even think of replacements, but perhaps the same supplier have them..just e mail them.
BTW, last night I had two of the lights on over the counter and they were bright enough that I did not need any more lights.
The link I gave you are two different lights, however they have the same output. Jim