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Topic ClosedReplacing interior lights with LED's
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TIDALWAVE View Drop Down
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Joined: 21 Nov 2009
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Posts: 315 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: Replacing interior lights with LED's
    Posted: 23 Oct 2010 at 7:45am
I bought the 'brightest' LED replacement bulbs (had the most LEDs per bulb) from Superbrightleds.com. The power used may be very low compared to non-LEDs, but the illumination is so low that even with ALL of the Pod lights on...they were equivalent to maybe one or two of the incandescents.  I switched back most of the bulbs...
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Posts: 672 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Oct 2010 at 2:30pm
  As I travel around I have been checking at the bigger truck stops to see what is out there. At the Iowa-80 (Worlds Largest Truck Stop) at the 284 mile marker on I-80 in Iowa I found an assortment of LED bulbs that I thought would work, the ones that I used have 5 LED's and placed one in one light above the dinet and 2 in the light above the bed in the back. We really like the one in the back above the bed because it is dimmer then regular bulbs and the one above the dinet is great for just a little light when watching TV at night. Other than that it is disapointing that they are not as bright. I used a single LED bulb to replace the marker lights on the side of the POD, they are also some what dimmer but were plenty bright enough when traveling at night.
  None of the bulbs are cheap. They had a 9 LED bulb that could be used in the out side light by the door but at $35 I thought that I would wait and see how these do before I spend the money on it.
  The bulbs used in the over head light just use the standard #912 bulb but anything out there that is LED and has that type of base does not seem to be as bright as the 912 bulb. That is sad.  Cry
         Goose
Mother Goose's Caboose..2011 RP171..07 Grand Cherokee
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Posts: 35 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Oct 2010 at 7:09pm
Amazing difference!  Just think if everyone in the world switched all lights to LED, how much energy we could save.  Thanks for sharing!
Beth and Joe
2011 Prime Time Tracer 195M
2010 Toyota Tacoma
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Posts: 466 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Oct 2010 at 2:09pm
Thanks.  I'll just look at getting some dimmer #912 type bulbs.
"Ray & Connie"

- 2017 R-Pod RP-180
- 2007 Toyota Tacoma TRD-Off Road
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Posts: 767 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Oct 2010 at 2:30pm
The power used may be very low compared to non-LEDs, but the illumination is so low that even with ALL of the Pod lights on...they were equivalent to maybe one or two of the incandescents.

Yeah... this sounds similar to my experience.  I had outfitted our tent trailer with solar panels, charge controller and LED lights 4-5 years ago.  The superbright bulbs available at that time were arranged in an array of 36 bulbs and the specifications looked pretty good.  In reality, they gave off a very cold light and weren't bright enough to read by.  I ended up swapping half of the bulbs in the trailer back to incandescents.

When we bought the r-pod, I didn't even try.  Instead, I replaced the 7w bulbs with 4w ones in two of the fixtures - one over the bed and the other in one of the two fixtures over the table.

But, most importantly, is how/when we use them.  When we're off grid, lights are only turned on when they're needed, and they're turned off when they're not.  Instead of leaving on the porch light while we're outside, I light our naptha lantern.


I'll just look at getting some dimmer #912 type bulbs.

On the advice of another camper on a different forum, I bought replacement 4w bulbs for Noma Moon Rays at Home Depot.
Craig :: 2009 RP171 towed by a 2017 F150
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Posts: 9 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Jan 2011 at 8:46pm
I successfully installed the WLED-xHP10-DAC over the sink. They are very bright compared with the 6-LED arrays. I would guess that 2 of these are about equivalent to the incandescent bulbs they replaced.
===========================
'10 RP177 towed with '10 Tundra
D and T, and sometimes Nala the cat
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 Mar 2012 at 3:42am
The above post (regarding Calvin Klein underwear) was hidden by me.  It seems to be spam and not at all related to the forum.
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Posts: 315 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 Mar 2012 at 1:02pm
I am not sure how brightness is really measured when comparing LEDs and Incandescents.
I bought some LEDs with supposedly the same lumins.  However, the color temperature (K-Kelvins) seems to make a great difference.  The lights did not 'give' me the same amount of illumination, especially for reading.  I had to install much 'brighter' LEDs to provide the same lighting as the OEM Pod bulbs, they were also more than ten times as expensive. 
But their power requirements were very small compared to the incandescents.
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Posts: 767 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 Mar 2012 at 7:19pm
I'm a glutton for punishment (and its been a couple of years), so I tried again. I just replaced all of my interior lights with warm white LEDs. I bought them off of eBay for $36 for a pack of 10:




Using a light meter app on my Android phone (which seems to give a fairly accurate reading - 1 candle from 12" away gives the correct reading of 11 lux), the original 7w incandescents were 260 lux. The new 1.32w LEDs were 150 lux.

This is my first weekend camping with them, and I've found them to be perfectly fine. Although they are a bit dimmer than the originals, its barely noticable and the lights work well and give ample light in the trailer in both bright daylight and at night. Obviously, I can't comment on their longevity yet.

Here's the eBay listing: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/180703173324
Craig :: 2009 RP171 towed by a 2017 F150
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Posts: 9062 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 Mar 2012 at 7:45pm
Interesting.  Do they have a heat sink on the back?
Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ Pod instruction manual
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