Fulltiming without Solar ?

[DavidSo]

Originally Posted by Jon Vermilye

Minor point - there are 12V compact fluorescent lamps - check AB Lamps for example. That said, I'd stick with LEDs

Thanks Jon

[Jool]

Thanks! Looks like I don't have to live in a green tinted light after all.

[John McDonald]

Originally Posted by DavidSo

John,
there are all types, but the 1156 bulb is the common replacement for most of these RV lights. The next question is how many SMDs you want. there are also warm lights and cool lights, depending on what you want. I like the bright white. If you do a search on Ebay for "1156 120 smd led" or similar, you will get all the results. I bought mine from this guy and they were here in about a week from Hong Kong. I'll use him again.

Car 120 LED 3528 SMD 1156 White Fog Light Lamp Bulb 12V | eBay

Basically, you want to buy Hong Kong direct to get the good prices. The other places buy the same bulbs and mark them up. The 120s throw a very nice light for working or reading. You might want some softer ones for mood lighting . Also, be sure and check the shipping. Mine were shipped free, some others charge extra for shipping.

David

I know I want the soft or warm light, similar to the color of an incandescent bulb. What is the difference between leds with say 9 SMDs versus say 36 SMDs, other than the number? Do more SMDs mean more lumens?

Cheers John

[DavidSo]

Originally Posted by John McDonald

I know I want the soft or warm light, similar to the color of an incandescent bulb. What is the difference between leds with say 9 SMDs versus say 36 SMDs, other than the number? Do more SMDs mean more lumens?

Cheers John

More SMDs = more light.....sort of.....usually. It seems to not be very linear. Part of it is the way the light is focused. More focus will make it appear brighter. I'm not sure the eye really detects the light linearly either. It could also be the quality of manufacture. I don't know for sure. I have three types of lighting basically. Task lighting is bright. I want to see what I'm reading, or how much salt is going on my eggs. Then I have a couple of softer lights for when I'm using the computer or talking on the phone. I have one very dim night light just to keep me from stepping on a dog in the middle of the night. It's personal and you will acquire your own preferences with a little experimenting.

David

[honda03842]

I agree with the need for different lighting for different fixtures.

Ginny frequently reads sitting on the front couch so I doubled the output at this one fixture. The LEDs in the six LED module are of similar brightness to the 104 LED lamp.

[Jon Vermilye]

Originally Posted by John McDonald

I know I want the soft or warm light, similar to the color of an incandescent bulb. What is the difference between leds with say 9 SMDs versus say 36 SMDs, other than the number? Do more SMDs mean more lumens?

Cheers John

Probably far more than you want to know about light, but ...

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. 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 color temperature 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.

Again, far more than you asked for, but I'm a retired teacher & once I get started it is difficult to stop!

[Jool]

Jon, totally illuminating! Thanks!

[SherryNPaul]

Originally Posted by Jon Vermilye

Probably far more than you want to know about light, but ...\ ..........

Jon, great descriptions of lumens, lux, CRI and other items to consider. Thank you. Excellent post.

Sherry

(I abbreviated the post quote in consideration of our new short "bandwidth", and scrolling issues. Anyone interested can go back and read his full post.
S.

[Larry,C]

My wife has infinitely wise judgement. She is a lover of nature and a proponent of energy conservation. She has recently decided to start a company that promotes her values and solar power. We installed a solar system that meets our need in our Casita and she was impressed to the point of offering it to everyone. We specialize in installations in RVs and cabins in remote locations where electricity is not available. If you need help in deciding if solar is for you please contact Cindy or myself and we will help you decide what will work for you and if that solution is solar we can do the installation.

Larry Clift
Bluegrass Solar Solutions
larryclift@gmail.com

[Cabs in ohio]

Yeh, for small business men and women!! See a need, start a business. Hope to use your services someday. Your neighbor from the buckeye state.

Ann

[honda03842]

Today's a totally overcast day in FL yet our solar panels have fully charged our batteries. RVers are small consumers of electricity.