Cheap 12 volt LEDs

[cpaharley2008]

There are several reasons to switch to LED exterior lights for tail,brake,marker. First is safety, a LED set up will be brighter and more importantly will ignite or turn on quicker. There are no bulbs that need to turn on and although it is only a millisecond, sometimes that millisecond can mean avoiding an accident. In addition with LED's, your alternator in your tow will not have to work as hard and you will have more juice available for charging your batteries. Finally, remember you should use LED's that are the same color of the lens in the light. Red for red, yellow for yellow. You should not use white led's in these lights.

[Tim Wood]

Originally Posted by Byron Kinnaman

I seen people doing and never asked. Would you mind answering what the reason is for changing taillights and marker lights to LEDs?

Byron, Just so I don't have to go around every now and then , pulling the lens off and moving the bulb around to get a good contact. To me its worth it not having to tweak these things, and to know that they are working while driving and not off or flickering . I had led's on a truck camper I had and I loved them for those reasons.

[Andy B]

Originally Posted by Byron Kinnaman

FYI.. Not all diodes are created equal. If they're not ruggedized they won't last as long as incandescent. Look as some of the older truck trailers with dead LEDs.

Maybe you could explain how a LED is "ruggedized". They make incandescent light bulbs more rugged by increasing the strength or thickness of the filament or supporting the filament better or using a filament rated for higher voltage at a slightly lower voltage. This works because the filament is supported in a cavity and can move when bumped or shaken. LED's are not made that way, they do not have parts that can be shaken around, and do not have a filament to burn out. They work by movement of electrons within a solid semiconductor material. Short of cracking or breaking the plastic semiconductor material from impact, shaking will not break anything in the LED. Vibration could affect the connection of the LED to the trailer wiring, the same as with an incandescent bulb, but that would not have anything to do with the LED being "ruggedized".

I see lots of LED traffic signal lights at intersections with some of the LED's not working and they do not go over bumps and get shaken like truck tail lights.

Interior LED lights are attached to the trailer just like exterior LED lights and would be subject to the same vibrations, why do they not need to be "ruggedized"?

[honda03842]

I just bought 8 1156s.

One question, do you know how much current the bulbs draw?

Norm

[cpaharley2008]

Norm,
this info is from SuperbrightLEds website, current draw is in milliamps
24-LED 1156/1157 Bulb
SPECIFICATIONS

Part NO Emitting Color Operating Voltage Range
Unit: VDC Current Draw @ 12 Volts
Unit: mA Luminous Flux
Unit: lumens Dominant Wavelength / CCT*
UNIT: nm / K Beam Pattern
Unit: degrees Price Each**
Unit: USD
1156-W24 Cool White 9~14.8 75 30 8500 18/100 12.99
1157-W24 Cool White 9~14.8 24/ 61 15 / 45 8500 18/100 12.99
1156-R24 Red 9~14.8 120 40 628 18/100 7.49
1157-R24 Red 9~14.8 28/82 20 / 60 628 18/100 7.49
1156-A24 Amber 9~14.8 90 50 593 18/100 7.49
1157-A24 Amber 9~14.8 24/82 22 / 66 593 18/100 7.49
Operating Temperature Range: -30°Cto+85°C --- Storage Temperature Range: -40°C to +100°C --- Up to 10,000 hour life span

[Darwin Maring]

The complete units are sealed moisture tight and don't corrode.
The above may not apply to retro fit bulbs. When retrofitting, clean the vehicle electrical connection then apply a dielectric grease to the connection and bulb contacts to prevent corrosion.

They R Especially perfect for boat trailers.

Harbor freight has inexpensive units.

[Francesca Knowles]

Well my thanks to you, James, for the heads up to a really good deal on the bulbs.
You've pulled me back from the brink of discarding the perfectly sound fixtures in my trailer!
Since lights are the only electricals in my trailer, I don't worry much about current draw. But the heat put out by incandescents is sure hard on the plastic covers on my lights.I thought cooler lights would be better.
I'd just "missed out" on an E-bay listing for whole replacement fixtures that were "cheap" at $15.00 apiece.
First time I ever won by losing!


Francesca

[rabbit]

Hi Norm and Ginny:

I got the other two 1156s. Sold out on that critter. I also purchased (4) 36 smd LEDs from another epeddler for 36.99. Those are for the hooded swivels in the back (PO was running 1156 incandescents rather than the 1141s called out on the shield; lot of heat). The other two are for dome lights up front. Not fiddling with shower dome as PO sealed it shut; likewise exterior "porch" light. I hope real longevity is close to "theoretical"!

Not replacing running lights for the major reason cited by Byron K.--no draw on house battery. As for bayonet bulbs jiggling loose, it's the base and not filament vs. diode that causes this so a retrofit with just bulbs won't cure the off with the lens and check routine. I don't feel I can afford dedicated fixtures and bulbs for a few milliseconds of early warning on brake lights which won't do a thing to fend off the inebriate, over-the-limit sumbitch ready to punch my ticket.

jack

[cpaharley2008]

"Not replacing running lights for the major reason cited by Bryan K.--no draw on house battery"
There is some flawed logic here, yes the exterior lights are not affected while camping. But how many times has someone here pulled their camper, stopped for the night and had a dead trailer/starting battery next day. Some tow vehicles, particularly cars do not have high capacity alternators. While towing with your lights on there is a large drain from your trailer for the exterior lights, charging the battery, running your refer as wells your tow vehicle light demands. By eliminating a substantial draw with LED's there is more juice left to handle the other demands. With 4 tail lights and 4 running lights you may save 10 a/h which will be put back into your battery.

[rabbit]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

"Not replacing running lights for the major reason cited by Bryan K.--no draw on house battery"
There is some flawed logic here, yes the exterior lights are not affected while camping. But how many times has someone here pulled their camper, stopped for the night and had a dead battery next day. Some tow vehicles, particularly cars do not have high capacity alternators. While towing with your lights on there is a large drain from your trailer for the exterior lights, charging the battery, running your refer as wells your tow vehicle light demands. By eliminating a substantial draw with LED's there is more juice left to handle the other demands. With 4 tail lights and 4 running lights you may save 10 a/h which will be put back into your battery.

Jim, while you may be right about the total draw at nite, it's not my habit (I actually don't have habits as haven't trailed long enuf to have) to run with lights in bright sunlight and I haven't had occasion to run for extended periods at nite, so I'd say it's a special case of mute flawed logic for me. There could be other possible reasons for dead towmotor battery in the light of morn--for instance dome lights turned on to enable getting something out of tug and left on. Even a neophyte like myself is aware of the draw on vehicle battery if left connected to trailer system when not running. Is it only neophytes who forget to unplug? Do all old pros always run with a starter battery in tiptop condition? Almost any continuous draw is enuf to kill a weak starter battery so all occurences of dead batt wouldn't be automatically attributable to combination of refer and running light load. It could be bad sleeping habits that broke the camel's back. Logic generally leads to most probable cause and a number of additional bugs can take shelter under that cabbage leaf.


jack

[cpaharley2008]

Actually I meant the trailer battery being low since the t/v did not charge it enough, sorry about the vagueness, I'll correct it now. Actually on second thought, you brought up a valid point, if the draw is too high, you may not be charging the starter battery either. Without a battery isolator installed this could be also happening. I wonder how many of us have one of those?
Either way, either battery, if you reduce the draw, you are better off. JMHO...

[kdhanso]

Originally Posted by rabbit

I got the other two 1156s. Sold out on that critter. I also purchased (4) 36 smd LEDs from another epeddler for 36.99. Those are for the hooded swivels in the back (PO was running 1156 incandescents rather than the 1141s called out on the shield; lot of heat). The other two are for dome lights up front. Not fiddling with shower dome as PO sealed it shut; likewise exterior "porch" light. I hope real longevity is close to "theoretical"!
jack

I just checked my Scamp and the light fixtures have 1141s. Are these the same base as the 1156? You mention heat. Does one generate more heat than the other?

[Tim Wood]

Ken, yes they go into the same fixture, I actually had 1141's in my Scamp also.

[kdhanso]

Thanks Tim.

I'm considering LEDs for interior lights and yard light (not for running lights) and see some 1156 LEDs with 102 SMD, some with 68 SMD. I'm assuming that 102, 68, etc. are the number of diodes. Any thoughts on these options? Should one get 102 or are 68s (or less) doing the trick?

[honda03842]

We regularly charge the trailer battery from the tow vehicle though it is not our primary battery charging method, that's the role of our converter.

Our toad charging process is simple. I put a lighted dashboard switch in series with the wire going to charge the trailer's battery.

I only turn the switch to on after we're traveling down the road and turn it off before we stop. The switch, when on, is not easy to overlook because it has a bright BLUE LED. We have never left it on when stopped.

Even though we always use the switch, we always unplug the trailer from the tow vehicle at night, just a good habit.

We do not run the fridge on 12 VDC when driving; powering the fridge from 12VDC requires way too much current.

A battery killer when camping are the lights. Traditional incandescent trailer lights require a different philosophy than home lights. I've seen RVers who at night always have all their lights on. Our trailer contains 6 single bulb lights, that represents a 12 amp draw on a battery, sufficient to significantly drain your batteries. Definitely the reason incandescents are being replaced by LEDs.

Norm

[Francesca Knowles]

Originally Posted by kdhanso

Thanks Tim.

I'm considering LEDs for interior lights and yard light (not for running lights) and see some 1156 LEDs with 102 SMD, some with 68 SMD. I'm assuming that 102, 68, etc. are the number of diodes. Any thoughts on these options? Should one get 102 or are 68s (or less) doing the trick?

The pics James posted are 68's- they look pretty bright to me!
Brighter than my incandescents, anyway

[Panoz77]

Originally Posted by kdhanso

Thanks Tim.

I'm considering LEDs for interior lights and yard light (not for running lights) and see some 1156 LEDs with 102 SMD, some with 68 SMD. I'm assuming that 102, 68, etc. are the number of diodes. Any thoughts on these options? Should one get 102 or are 68s (or less) doing the trick?

The ones I bought were the 68, that refers to the # of LEDs on the bulb, and yes the 68 are plenty bright. I just posted some other alternatives. It's funny the shipping on the 1157s was $2.59 but the shipping on the virtually identical 1156s is like $3.79, there is no weight difference, maybe the seller would be willing to reduce shipping if contacted prior to a purchase.

I might also take a shot on these bulbs which I though might distribute/diffuse the light better, they have the lenses over the diodes.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1156-...d=251707611552

[Francesca Knowles]

Hi, James
Thanks again!

Re. shipping and handling...
One bulb probably costs the seller more to buy than the other, and his total charges reflect that.
I think it's a bit of e-bay semantics, really- not that it matters to me!
They're still the best and cheapest option out there.
This "explanation" of charges is at the very bottom of the seller's pages.

As there are weight and cubage restrictions on international order, we are unable to offer you any discount or combined shipping for multiple items. All items are shipped separately. There is no local pickup service, no third party shipping carrier will be used.

Francesca

[kdhanso]

Originally Posted by Panoz77

The ones I bought were the 68, that refers to the # of LEDs on the bulb, and yes the 68 are plenty bright.

Thanks. I just ordered some 68s.

[Tim Wood]

Ken, I would think that the 68's will do you just fine. In fact I have some with less, so I would think 68 should be nice and bright. Let us know when you get them.