Replaced Lamps with LED's

[TomK]

For all the usual reasons I decided to replace the porch lamps and all the interior lights in the trailer. No heat, much less amperage, long life and better color light were all part of my rationale. I know this is no big deal to all of you that completely rebuild and mod your trailers, but if there are any fence sitters thinking about doing this, I wanted to share my research results, possibly saving you some time.

As you probably know; the choices for replacement bulbs are endless. These were what I found, tried, and am very happy with. I changed out all my interior lights and the two porch lights so far. LED technology is changing rapidly, and I wanted to take advantage of the most recent designs. All the lights are in the 4,000 to 4,500 Kelvin temp range, which translates to a natural white light. They were all dramatically brighter than the bulbs they replaced.

I replaced the 4 overhead area lamps (#921)with these lights. One advantage of this design is that they swivel to put the light where you want it, although they do have a broad beam pattern. They are 250 lumens each.
Amazon.com: Gold Stars 92111805 LED Replacement Bulb 921 Base 250 LUM 12 or 24v Natural White: Automotive

The other 2 lamps I replaced were the overhead reading swivel lights (#1141). These are only 120 lumens, but plenty bright for reading without keeping your partner awake.
Robot Check

Finally I replaced the porch lights (2 ea.) with these bulbs. They are 250 lumens each, and also swivel to direct the light if desired. Amazon.com: Gold Stars 11568305 LED Replacement Bulb 1156 Base 250 LUM 12 or 24v Natural White (1): Automotive

Total cost was about $76. I am very happy with the quality of the bulbs and just as happy with the results. This company makes many more styles to fit whatever fixtures you might have. I'm definitely looking for them when I change out the tail and marker lights. I don't work for them, and don't own their stock, just wanted to pass on this info to anyone considering doing this.

Tom

[theresa p]

hi tom--thanks for the info. we have long wanted to trade out our bulbs for led ones but i have been chicken to choose from the overwhelming number of choices online! knowing now that you have been happy with these helps alot.
thanks!

[TomK]

One reason I selected this particular brand is because they are not supposed to be polarity sensitive. If you did have a problem with that, all you would have to do is swivel the base around and plug it back in, as opposed to re-wiring the fixture. I didn't have to do either. They were simply plug-n-play. The color of the light is perfect for us too. Not blue, or yellow, just clean, warm, bright light.

Tom

[floyd]

Tom, You have made it easy and it looks like great choices! Thanks.
One nice thing... these bulbs won't melt the fixtures on the porch lights, I have lost one fixture that way already!

[TomK]

Thx Floyd. Somewhere, rattling around in my head, I think I read that LED lights don't attract bugs like incandescant bulbs do. Similar to amber bulbs. Has anyone else heard that, or am I dreaming?

Tom

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by TomK

Thx Floyd. Somewhere, rattling around in my head, I think I read that LED lights don't attract bugs like incandescant bulbs do. Similar to amber bulbs. Has anyone else heard that, or am I dreaming?

Tom

Just wishful thinking Tom. there has been a lot of miss info posted on the topic.

White LEDs produce a significant amount of blue light, which attracts bugs. Having left a small gap in a window screen one night last week while camping by a lake I can confirm this to be a fact.

[TomK]

Originally Posted by Carol H

Just wishful thinking Tom. there has been a lot of miss info posted on the topic.

White LEDs produce a significant amount of blue light, which attracts bugs. Having left a small gap in a window screen one night last week while camping by a lake I can confirm this to be a fact.

Thank you. Nothing like real world experience to debunk rumors or myths. I'm wiping that notion from my hard drive as I write...

Tom

[rdickens]

I too replaced my interior lights and "porch lights" with LED bulbs.

My trailer came with a clear lens on the "porch light" and also on the "front porch" light that illuminates the hitch. I left the "front porch" light with the clear lens because it won't often be on and I wanted all of the light and clarity that I could get.

However, for $3.99, I did get a yellow/amber replacement lens from Camping World for the "porch light on the side of the trailer.
$3.99
http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/universal-porch-utility-light-replacement-lens/75233

I think that Wal-Mart or various trailer supply houses probably have something similar.

Ray
$3.99

[Glenn Baglo]

I found that the amber porch light provided sufficient light to determine where the lamp was, and little else. Insects could find it but I couldn't see the step or surroundings. I switched back to white.

[TomK]

Originally Posted by rdickens

I too replaced my interior lights and "porch lights" with LED bulbs.

My trailer came with a clear lens on the "porch light" and also on the "front porch" light that illuminates the hitch. I left the "front porch" light with the clear lens because it won't often be on and I wanted all of the light and clarity that I could get.

However, for $3.99, I did get a yellow/amber replacement lens from Camping World for the "porch light on the side of the trailer.
$3.99
http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/universal-porch-utility-light-replacement-lens/75233

I think that Wal-Mart or various trailer supply houses probably have something similar.

Ray
$3.99

That's what I want to do. The porch light is now plenty bright. We don't need a bug magnet inches from the door! Good job Ray!

Tom

[rdickens]

No problem.

The LED bulbs and moderate use of the Fantastic Fan recently allowed us to "dry camp" for nearly a week using only our Group 27 battery.

Glenn - I guess it might depend on what bulbs you are using behind that amber lens.
My trailer came with a 1003 incandescent bulb for the porch lights. As I understand it, the light output on incandescents starts out brighter and diminishes over time. The 1003 incandescent starts out at ~ 189 lumens and deteriorates over time to somewhere around 75 lumens. The 1056 LED bulb that Tom used has the same base as a 1003 bulb and produces 280 lumens of "natural white" light. LEDs don't seem to deteriorate much over time.

In the last couple of years, I have learned a bit more than I ever knew before about both lumens of output and color temperature for LED and CF bulbs. When I switched the landing light on my airplane to LED a while back, I found out that the brighter white/daylight color allowed me to see more detail with less actual lumens of output.

The standard "soft white" (2700 Kelvin) color, that we have all become used to with incandescent bulbs, now seems yellowish and dinghy(sp?) to me. The 7000K "bright white" bulbs look just a tiny bit harsh and bluish to me. The 5500 Kelvin "daylight"/"natural white" bulbs seem to provide good detail and fairly acceptable appearance. As usual - YMMV.

Good luck to all with your conversions.

Ray

[Glenn Baglo]

The lens itself was clear. The bulb was yellow ( not LED ).
Since I only use the porch light to find the key-hole, I've not converted to LED. I have a couple inside to convert first.
The cold white LEDs I've used over the kitchen counter and stove. I've used the warm LEDs elsewhere, especially for reading.

[TomK]

LED technology is advancing as rapidly as anything hi-tech these days. The recommendations I made will be obsolete in a couple years. I first learned about the advantages in the military. You'll hardly see incandescent flashlights any more, either hand held or weapon-mounted. Drop an old school flashlight and there's a good chance it's bulb is toast. You can use a tactical LED flashlight as a weapon and it will still work. The recoil from automatic fire doesn't faze them. As Ray pointed out the quality and output of light has increased dramatically, now surpassing incandescent lamps in most applications. Try them; you'll like them. If you don't want to commit that much money, just replace 1 or 2 bulbs.

Tom