LED replacement Lighting

[Governor Bud]

Does anyone have experience with replacing the EXTERIOR ligts from 12vt stock to the newer LED's? Efficiency and long life are the goals.


A part number and where you bought the replacement. I know Walmart and most auto parts stores will have the replacement.



I only want to replace the EXT above the door and the front Propane lights. This is for our Bigfoot 21 as well as the Trillium 13. I prefer to have warm light inside and will keep the stock bulbs.

[Jim Bennett]

Amazon, Super Bright LEDs, most RV suppliers and many others all carry LED lights as well as bulbs.

And don't hesitate to replace the bulbs inside as well, as you can get LEDs in warm light too.

[AC0GV]

Originally Posted by Governor Bud

I only want to replace the EXT above the door and the front Propane lights. This is for our Bigfoot 21 as well as the Trillium 13. I prefer to have warm light inside and will keep the stock bulbs.

... it has no switch AND it is so bright that I covered it with black tape.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HCV73EA...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[gordon2]

Originally Posted by Governor Bud

... I prefer to have warm light inside and will keep the stock bulbs.

I like Superbrightleds.com because they provide so much technical info.
So check them or a similar source that will tell you the color temp.

I failed to pay attention to my last order from them and got bulbs for the house that are "ultra warm." They are so low in color temp I would actually call them orange.. they are too "warm" for me. So dont be afraid of LEDs just because you want warm light... the technology has improved greatly in the last few years. Yes, you can get light that looks the same as incandescents, at a fraction of the power usage.

[Governor Bud]

2700 degrees is candlelight
4300 is a good all around color temperature and not too warm

5600 is sunlight outside
6300 is overcast

[Glenn Baglo]

This site gives a good overview:
https://www.batteriesplus.com/blog/l...ifferent-light

[AC0GV]

Originally Posted by Governor Bud

2700 degrees is candlelight
4300 is a good all around color temperature and not too warm

5600 is sunlight outside
6300 is overcast

I have 3500 temp in mine.
Ham radio people also look for Quiet lights. Many (but not all) make a lot of noise on the radio. Much like the old fluorescent lights did.

[Larry Singer]

Here's what I did. Bear in mind I'm not an electrical engineer, but I did this many years ago, and the lights still work fine.

-Get an 1157 bulb, working or not. (This is the original bulb in the trailer)
-Break away the glass (Be careful not to cut yourself)
-Go on E-bay and choose whatever LEDs you want. ie 3500 degrees warm yellow up to 5000 bright blue) You'll see all kinds of arrays. ie quantity/number of actual LED lights. These are VERY inexpensive.
-Since LEDs are 12 volt to begin with, you can solder the 2 terminals of the bulb wires to the 2 wires from the LED lights.
-Fill the void in the bulb socket with either RTV silicone caulk or "Goop" or equivalent to keep things together and not short out.
-Put this homemade LED light back in the fixture.

I did this to all the inside lights, and the outside porch light, in my 2010 Scamp.
I also put 5 LED lights over the sink to use instead of/or in addition to the 110 Volt standard light. Much better light plus the ONLY light if 110 V is not available.

I seem to remember some VERY technical (to me) explanation of some other electrical gizmos that one needed to add to properly do this. But this is obviously not very necessary, except if you're a real connoisseur of this stuff.

Can one of you electrical experts out there comment on the competency of what I did ?
I don't want to steer anyone in the wrong (or dangerous) direction.
I can provide pictures, but it's COLD out here in Michigan.

[AC0GV]

Originally Posted by Larry Singer

-Get an 1157 bulb, working or not. (This is the original bulb in the trailer)
-Break away the glass (Be careful not to cut yourself)

Can one of you electrical experts out there comment on the competency of what I did ?
I don't want to steer anyone in the wrong (or dangerous) direction.
I can provide pictures, but it's COLD out here in Michigan.

And the wrong lamp. 1157 is the stop/tail lamp. Some scamps use 1156 inside, others do not. Look at the number on the stock lamps and search that number with LED after it. Such as 1156 LED and you will get many choices.

https://smile.amazon.com/s?k=1156led&ref=nb_sb_noss

[Larry Singer]

Thanks for correction. (1156, not 1157). I was going from memory. I did these homemade LED lights many years ago BEFORE these were available. A lot has changed in the last several years. You're right. Just buy these !!!

[Jane P.]

Originally Posted by Governor Bud

2700 degrees is candlelight
4300 is a good all around color temperature and not too warm

5600 is sunlight outside
6300 is overcast

Thanks Jeff, these are timely “bullet points” for me.

[Governor Bud]

From the expertise of Charles, fellow Bigfoot 21 owner, I ordered a dozen leds from MP4. Majority are natural white for dining table, galley and outside. Warm white above bed. Will shoot pix after i install.

[Mike_L]

Larry, anyone can buy a bulb but you made one!

[John in Santa Cruz]

bright white LEDs use a current regulator circuit, the actual LED is a current device, up to around 1 amp for a '3 watt' single LED, they tend to be very directional, and the forward voltage is usually *around* 3 volts, so that current regulator is designed to maintain the 1 amp (or whatever) by dropping the voltage sufficiently to keep it steady.

naked single LEDs are usually MUCH dimmer than this, and draw maybe 0.01 or 0.015 amps, and often use a simple resistor as a current limiter.

so, no, I do NOT recommend trying to make your own 12V LEDs from old tail light bulbs.

[John in Santa Cruz]

btw, I disagree about 2700k being candlelight.... its about the color temp of the typical 60W incandescent household lamp... I far prefer 2700-3000 K interior lighting at night, the bright white stuff has too much blue in it for me except maybe for use as work lights.

[ZachO]

It seems like on some of these topics we should create a sticky, since a lot of good info is handed out, over and over again, then lost to history.

It's important to understand the spectrum of lights, natural and artificial. You can do this research, no need to trust me. Blue light is what tells our body to wake up. It kicks in our circadian rhythm. You can search for the spectrum of light put out by cool white LED vs halogen vs fluorescent vs incandescent vs sunlight. Sunlight has different amounts of the light spectrum at different times during the day.

In the morning, blue light is high. The sun gets more and more toward the red spectrum closer to night. Your body is tuned to this (millions of years of evolution). Cool white LEDs have very high levels of blue light, higher than natural sunlight. Exposing your eyes to blue light at night sends competing signals, and often causes sleep issues (along with eye health issues). It says "wake up!"

Here's just one link, but feel free to google something like "research on blue light led and sleep", or however you want to phrase it, since phrasing definitely "begs the question" on internet search engines and affects the results. One reason we're all currently living in our own reality, choosing our own "alternative facts"...

Older eyes seem to prefer cooler light, since it does make things more clear. But it's also damaging to your eyes and sleep. It's all a balance. I've gotten really into this stuff recently and when friends decide "they don't need more things to worry about" and this stuff seems like too much, I say - hey, if you don't have a problem, you don't have a problem. But if you're having eyesight problems (even "age-related"), or sleep problems, you're doing yourself no favors if you're hanging out under LED lights, especially ones on the cooler white spectrum, all evening. Screens included.

For us in campers running off batteries, LEDs are an acceptable compromise for me, but I absolutely only use bulbs on the warm spectrum, and even use full red bulbs at the end of the night, since red (red light, not a red painted bulb) actually helps sleep.

I go out of my way to get sunlight first thing in the morning, and throughout the day. I go out of my way to avoid light on the blue spectrum after the sun goes down, especially starting about 2 hours before bed. It makes a huge difference in my sleep, though I'll admit modern society is set up in a way that makes this very inconvenient, unless you spend all your time at home or camping where you can control your own environment.