Salem-mod

 

Like David and Danette with their Vibe, I've started doing mods to my Salem.  I bought LED replacements for every light fixture, 28 bulbs total (29 after I add an additional work light outside).  With all of those lights on at one time that is a heck of a load when dry camping - probably around 35 amps with all of them on!  We were dry camping when we did a test camp a week ago and you could see the lights dim more and more as each new light was turned on.  Obviously I never would turn all the lights on when dry camping, but I would like to be able to turn on more than 2 or 3.  Now with all the lights converted to LEDs even with all lights on, the load should only be around 3.5 amps.  BIG difference.  While I haven't done actual amperage measurements, I could hear the difference in the big 55 amp converter.  With just a quarter of the old lights on the temperature-controlled fan in the converter would cycle on and off every minute or two, and with all the lights on the fan would stay on.  Now with all the LED lights on the fan doesn't cycle on at all.

 

I'm pleased with the results.  I made a minor mistake when I ordered.  While I made sure to order "warm white" lights (I did not want "cool white") they ended up being 4000k in color and not the 3000k that you normally associate with incandescent lights.  So they are a bit whiter than the old lights, but not as stark white as the "cool white" of 6000-7000k that you can get with some CFLs.  I actually like the change so I'll chalk the mistake up as a happy ending.  The lights appear to have the same brightness as before, although I know human eyes are easily fooled over wide ranges of brightness.  Still, in a side-by-side comparison it "felt" the same to me.  Good enough for me.  The replacement for the outside light also appears to be about the same brightness, I checked after dark.  I didn't do a side-by-side there.

 

The replacement 921 lights (overhead lights on the older pods and most campers) came as mini ping-pong paddle looking things.  They were tricky to get seated in the sockets since you could only press on the base and not the "paddle" part or it would snap off.  Then there are several 1141 bulbs in the outside lights (I believe the same outside light used on the pods), and those came as large flat panels that need to be set in place with double-sided foam tape (that they come with).  They have a pigtail to plug into the original socket.  For those I bent the original socket out of the way so it didn't block as much light.   Finally I have one wall lamp with a shade which uses another type of bulb (1076?), so I had to find LED replacements that emitted light all the way around and had the same basic shape as the original bulb.  Those haven't come in yet.

 

I have pics on my phone of the installation of 2 of the types of bulbs I replaced so far, but that will have to wait until tonight.

 

I have extras that will fit the 921 bulb, and the 1141 bulb.  If anyone is interested I'll offer them up here for their unit cost plus shipping cost, no profit for me.  I'll test each one before I ship.  I think I have 6 of the 921s and 2 of the 1141s.  I'm not going to keep any "spares" since if they work properly they'll never burn out - going 24/7 for 5+ years.  As much as I'd like to, I won't get to camp that much.