By the Never-Bored RVers
First, “the unmentionable,” which is our RV toilet. While some RV toilets apparently come equipped with a flushing mechanism that cleans the bowl, ours does not. My solution, as pictured, is a high-pressure spray bottle, which is available in the garden section of hardware and general merchandise retailers.
Instead of taking a chance on damaging the toilet using a brush, we use the sprayer. Routine cleaning is still needed from time to time, but the daily odious task of cleaning “the unmentionable” after use is almost satisfying.
And, secondly, replacing original interior RV lights with LEDs.
We were perfectly satisfied with our inside RV lights until a new-found friend, Alan Wolfe, an engineer by profession, showed off the replacement LEDs in his Born Free. Wow, what a difference!
I went online to check out the brand he has and others, but decided to wait until we visited the RVIA show in Pomona a couple of weeks ago to talk to vendors, if there were any. There was … and we bought a total of 11 LED replacement lights. At $240, it was costly by our standards, but we think we can justify the expense.
As for justifying that kind of financial outlay, “This better be good,” you’re saying. “The main selling point,” according company owner Tom Long, “is battery savings.” They use 10 times less battery power than incandescents.
And that was our main interest. We are planning to spend this winter boondocking for weeks at a time, not only for the RVing experience but also to keep expenses down. When we’re dry-camping, we don’t like our nightly battle of trying to get by with minimal lighting, so we’re hoping the conversion to LED will give us greater piece of mind.
According to Tom, there are other benefits, like longer “bulb” life. While an incandescent light costs about a third to a fifth of each LED replacement, the LED has an expected lifespan of 50,000 hours.
And another benefit: LEDs burn much cooler, reducing the need for the air conditioning.
After about three days of using our new lights, we aren’t totally satisfied with our decision, primarily because it reduces the brightness of our interior. It’s a daylight white, which is taking us time to get used to, as opposed to the yellowish look for incandescent. I expect that to pass in a few days or so.
We chose the yellow LED effect, which doesn’t look as sterile as the blue alternative. The blue gives off more light (Tom describes it as a midday sun effect), but it’s a harsher light, probably most suitable for a workspace (in my opinion).
Ya’ know those blinding blue headlights you see in your rearview mirror on the road? That’s the blue LED. It takes getting used to.
Swivel Reading Light
A few more personal observations. Mainly to minimize our outlay, we bought replacements for our “Grand Salon,” a.k.a., living room, the hallway, four of the swivel reading fixtures, and our over-the-sink fluorescent lights. We don’t use the other lights as often.
There is definitely less illumination from our ceiling lights; however, part of the problem may be the frosted glass fixture covers. We don’t know if there is a solution to that, so at this point we’ll just try to adapt.
In last May’s edition of “Motorhome” magazine there is an article by Dave Riggs that echoes our observations about illumination, including the thought that it’s something you need to learn to live with in order to reduce energy usage when dry camping.
Size of the LED unit must be taken into consideration, but if it fits in your lighting fixture, installation will probably not be a problem. The “bulbs” are strange shapes, but I had no problem installing them in the original fixtures – except the fluorescents, which I gave up on and took to an electrician, who spent five minutes getting it rigged up, including undoing the damage I almost did.
For the record, I purchased our lights from Jirah Company [http://www.jirahled.com]. It is among the companies listed in Joel Donaldson’s article in the September 2010 issue of “Highways” magazine about LED flashlights: http://www.goodsamclub.com/RVCentral/HighwaysDetails.aspx?articleid=1770193&issueID=905
A few days of living under the influence of the yellow LEDs is inconclusive, but I am sure that the battery-saving benefit will make our “testing” worth the effort. I’ll revisit this again once we are out in the desert relying on the LEDs to bring nighttime sunshine into our lives.
From the “Never-Bored RVers,” We’ll see you on down the road.
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Lighting Design
Thank you for the very helpful information. When dealing with the amount of LED’s that are company does, knowing as much as possible about the product we are using is extremely valuable.
Ken Long
I went to the “Jirah” brand, with a total change out. The blue-ish light light takes some getting used to, but much less battery draw, well worth it.
Carl
I purchased my halogen led replacements from this website : http://www.hero-ledstore.com . You may have a try. I purchased 2 mr16 led bulbs and led strips six month ago, so far so good. nice products.
B. Bad Wolf
Barry and Monique, great article (as always!).
We have replaced almost all of our Born Free RV lighting with LED lighting. I chose the brightest (highest Lumens) bulbs that I could find and am completely satisfied with the results. This includes the bulb inside of the refrigerator and the vent light above the stove. There are special LED bulbs for those light fixtures that can dim as well as ones that blink.
I’ve gone as far as replaced our house garage external lights with LED bulbs, and internal night-light bulbs.
The two types of light they provide, cool vs. warm light seems to be the biggest choice folks need to make. The cool light is brighter, but is a “blue” type of light and most of us are not used to it. The warm light is more “yellow” and not quite a bright, but it simulates the lighting most of us have grown up with.
As others have said, the three major benefits I have found are the reduced energy consumption (a big one!), the longer life of the bulbs and the coolness of the actual bulb (unlike standard bulbs).
Personally, I don’t think a cost comparison of LED bulbs vs. standard bulbs will really tell the correct story. The value in boondocking power consumption was enough to convince me it was a better choice for us.
Neil
I’ve replace almost all my interior lights with LEDs. The type of replacement bulb shown in the article will typically render less light (i.e., less lumens). You need to check carefully what type of LEDs are employed, what the overall wattage is, and most importantly, how many lumens. For MR16 type bulbs, I use 6w LEDs. For 1157 type bayonet mounts inside the coach, I use either a 1W bayonet bulb (looks like a mini MR16), or I put in an adapter that allows me to run MR16s in the 1157 socket. Much better lighting with MR16s. I try to use warm white LEDs (around 3000k) to duplicate incandescent lights, but I use pure whites in some situations. Surface mount LEDs (as opposed to the traditional little plastic domed type) usually provide the brightest output. Bulbs from CREE are usually the brightest of the brightest. For basement storage compartments, I used bayonet LEDs, but I chose pure white due to its typical higher lumen and the fact that “natural” light wasn’t necessary for the basement. Above the sink/prep area I used round display cabinet LED fixtures with 50 surface mount LEDs. MUCH better than the fluorescents. All in all, I LOVE LEDs, especially since they consume so much less power. Expensive, but getting cheaper all the time.
Paul LeSage
Just replaced the big brake & signal lights with LED’s on our covered 24′ Haulmark trailer used to carry our car. Wht a differencd from the old ones.
Just curious… our 2005 39′ Fleetwood Excursion ceiling lights are on a dimmer switch. Are the replacement LED’s bulbs dimmable? I know the CFL’s at home are not.
Harris Schultz
Ooops, my fat digits and ‘puter skills resulted in thinking a prior message didn’t go out to magic land. Francis, thanks for replying, no need to reply further to my duplicate note. Pricey as this bulb is, I don’t want to blow it out before trying it outl.
Harris
Harris Schultz
I just received a LED bulb and on the package it says the bulb is polarity sensitive. Nowhere does it have a + or – notation on it, and if it did, I couldn’t tell by looking at the socket which side is + or -. Can anyone help with this?
Harris
Francis
@Harris: From what I see of the JC-15-W, it’s a wedge base push-in lamp so if it doesn’t light when inserted just remove, rotate the lamp 180 degrees, insert and the polarity will have been flipped.
Francis
@Jim: That’s a really cool idea! My rig has the same lights and that sounds like a perfect way to break into LED-land. Did you go with one of the altered color temp LEDs or the standard blue-white? Thanks for the inspiration!
Dave Planitzer
Be careful of what you get from Ebay. I got a couple and they burned very hot. I touched the “bulb” after several of the LEDs on the circuit board stopped and I may have burned up the RV if I hadn’t and removed them.
Harris Schultz
I just received a JC-15-W LED bulb from Jirah and it came in a package that says it is polarity sensitive. Don’t know if I can tell from the fixture how to honor that. Anyone have any ideas.
part time living in a DRV Mobile Suites that has lots of LEDs but not all fixtures include them.
H
Douglas Johnson
While in Red Bay, Al, I found a great company to get the G4 LED bulbs. I had tried 1 from another company, that wasquite expensive, and felt that I couldn’t afford to change all of them. I was told that Three D’z Electronics had then for less than 1/2 the price of the others. They are brighter and not yellowish like the halogen, brighter than the pricy one, but not the blue white. There are 9 LED’s on each one. They fit very easily into the round fixtures in my coach. I replaced all but the bedroom bulbs, as we dont keep those on long anyway. If you are interested call Dallas at 256-356-9005. I don’t think they have a website.
Jim
Our Provan Tiger has interior light fixtures which have with two bulbs and a two-position switch. I switched to LEDs on one side of each fixture, which allows us to use LED only when boondocking or dry camping, and to use both the LED and the brighter incandescent lamps when hooked up to shore power. Before installing the LEDs, I tested both the LED and incandescent bulbs on a 12-volt power supply using a digital multimeter, and the LEDs draw less than 10% of the power required for the incandescents.
Jim
Geoffrey Pruett
We have done some of the interior and all (except headlights) of the exterior lights on our unit. Strongly recomend using the messy and sticky anti corrosion grease on the pins both inside and outside. The anti corrosion grease is not for the reason you assume, there is virtually no heat from the LED lamps which means the small amount of motion normal with regular 12 volt bulbs that keeps the contacts clean is not there. Some of the auto parts chain stores carry idiot proof wedge lamps for clearance lamps, I highly recomend these as clearance lights are frequent failure items.
The superbrightleds.com site has a wide range of bulbs plus all the dimensions for clearance in inside locations. If you have closet lights the low power means low heating, kind to the ceiling and battery life. The self contained battery units do the job well but are easy to forget, leaky batteries, yuck.
Mike
I replaced the G4-style halogen lights in my RV with LED replacements.
I bought these:
Disc Type G4 Base Side Pin 15 SMD LED, Bulb Replacement
http://www.ledwholesalers.com/store/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=594
They are g4 base replacements, and you want the **warm white color**. Do not
get the white color, they’re horrid. Do not get the model with less LEDs,
they are not bright enough. This model is identical in color and more
important *brightness* with the halogens they replace.
They don’t run as hot or use as much power as the bulbs they replace. The best
thing is that I don’t mind using them. With the halogens, I only used them for
a moment then shut them off.
To install them, I had to remove the halogen heat sink/reflector, which was a
very heavy metal part that snapped out. It was a bit of work to do this.
Then I installed the G4 bulbs, and had to bend the pins just a bit to make
the light shine straight down out of the fixture.
I was really pleased with the results.
Sam
I bought several from regular stores ( Wall mart, Amazon) and have them as separate battery operated lights( 3 to 10$ a piece) in key places.
when not hooked up in primitive sites, (or boon docking) I use these and they work fine for the Kitchen sink, reading etc and definitely save on the battery. If I need much more light, I still have the “big old type” but they only function for a short time. The small batteries provide, they say, 100 hrs, and they sure last a long time.
Have not tried to replace the original lights.
rag-ftw
Dan,
What is your opinion of the happy bowl liners? I have been thinking about giving them a ty myself.
RAY RUFF
Have followed your adventures with interest. I have looked at the led lamps and am contemplating a change over, so I will watch for your blogs with much interest. Keep us informed and Thanks , I envy you. Ray Ruff
Gerry
Howdy all,
We boon dock frequently and found led lights on ebay. Our rv uses wedge type bulbs (T10). I found some on ebay that cost 2 for $1.00 plus $2.99 shipping. It takes about 3 weeks to get because they come from China. They have 25 leds/light and are equivalent to my current bulbs but 1/10th the consumption. Yes, the whitish blue light takes some getting use to, but perhaps in a couple of years this will change. My issue is conserving battery power so I can continue to run my Satellite receiver and TV. Camping without satellite just ain’t camping!
Dan Strickland
EBay is a good source of LEDs with competitive prices.
Personally, I am sold on LEDs.
Dan Strickland
These work pretty good:
http://tweetys.com/happy_bowl_liners.aspx
Ron W.
Sorry I forgot link:
http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index.cgi?cx=009514094345175776914%3Amkyhcwxmrkw&cof=FORID%3A10%3BNB%3A1&ie=UTF-8&q=93&sa=Search
Ron W.
Below is a link to another LED web site. I have bought from them and been happy. I only bought 3 , because of cost, but wanted to save on batttery when possible.