Upgrading to LED bulbs and fixtures?

[JSumeracki]

I just joined the forum as a new Jayco Eagle owner and my first search was for the phrase "LED" in order to see what other owners have done regarding upgrading their rigs to all LED lights.

I was surprised to get NO HITS! So, I would like to start the discussion. Before I even took delivery of my 2012 Jayco Eagle 31.5RLTS, I upgraded every single bulb in the rig to LED. Total cost was less than $60.00! I have also ordered a super bright 12V LED fixture that will replace the center of my main 3 switched living space lamps. This fixture coats $80 plus shipping and is 10 times brighter than even my double lamp fixtures after upgrade to LED (2,400 lumens).

Thin-Lite LED626P Light Fixture

Having done the same upgrade to my Fleetwood Niagara pop-up, I can assure you it is WELL worth it! The LED's are instant-on, far brighter and whiter and really light up the camper at night. They also do NOT flicker or dim as you turn additional lamps on and off (incandescent lamps tend to dim as the bus voltage loads down).

I also purchased but have not yet installed three 18" bright white LED light bars at Lowe's Hardware that run off 120VAC and string together. I plan to use these as under cabinet lighting over the kitchen counters and the stovetop. I even replaced the crazy hot halogen spotlight reading bulbs over the master bed with 500 lumen LEDs. This should help avoid skin burns and reduce any chance of a fire hazard. I am using the same bulbs in the fixture over the kitchen table which provides a total of 1,000 lumens (2 bulbs).

Interested to know if anyone else has upgraded to LED and how you like it so far?

[troutslayer]

Yes. All "warm white" LEDs and love them.

[mike837go]

Love and hate LED lighting. Converted my last trailer. New one came with them.


MUCH lower power consumption, more light, don't burn out.


Very harsh, bright light. Bordering on uncomfortable.

[RedHorse1]

Surprising you didn't get any hits with "LED", there's been quite a bit of discussion about the topic. I've installed them in both TT's and am pleased with the results. For both I purchased from an ebay vendor and they were shipped directly from China. I had zero failures with the first batch in about a 2 yr period. The second batch included some 921 replacements and 2 sizes of halogen bulbs. I've had no problems except for the "small halogen" replacements where I've had 2 fail in a 2 yr period. I believe it's the electronic "goodies" on the cards rather than the LED's themselves that fail. I ordered several spares and when I run out of the last one I may try ordering a new batch of replacements and replace all the "small halogen" style since they are the ones that seem to be failing.
We don't go off-grid so the power consumption is not a consideration but the heat load they add is. Prior to replacing I had 2 of the halogen bulbs fail in a 3-ish month period. The total halogen bulb count is 24.
When shopping for my replacements I look for an LED bulb replacement that gives roughly the same lumen and has a color temp in the 3000K range. So far all of my replacements have been a flat card with the LED's on the same surface. The 921 replacements were square cards with a "pigtail" connector and 3 styles of plugs. The halogen replacements have been round cards (large and small) with 2 pins sticking out the side.
Having a longer lasting bulb is what pleases me the most

[hoppers4]

Originally Posted by mike837go

Love and hate LED lighting. Converted my last trailer. New one came with them.

Very harsh, bright light. Bordering on uncomfortable.

If you can get the color temp around 3500K you'll find it more to your liking. Perhaps you have something around 5000K (natural light) and it is very harsh. 2700K is equivalent to incadescent.

[mike837go]

Originally Posted by hoppers4

If you can get the color temp around 3500K you'll find it more to your liking. Perhaps you have something around 5000K (natural light) and it is very harsh. 2700K is equivalent to incadescent.

Whatever Jayco screwed to the ceiling is what I gots. There's a modifications thread around here about a translucent liner that'll calm things down a bit.

Once the cover comes off in the spring, there are several minor items that will be addressed.

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by RedHorse1

Surprising you didn't get any hits with "LED", there's been quite a bit of discussion about the topic.

+1 LOTS of discussion on the forum about LED upgrades/transitions.

OP, you didn't get any hits because there's too much out there on leds. You need to make your search terms more specific, and I bet you'll get a lot more hits.

Anyway, I agree that it's all about the temperature. 3500K is actually too whitish/blue for me, I'm more of a 2700K kind of guy. I want them to LOOK just like the standard bulbs, but perform like LEDs.

These have fit the bill perfectly for me so far; I've tried several different types/brands/colors, and these have been the best by a LONG way.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...dp_o_pd_nS_img

[JSumeracki]

Don't know what to tell you other than try to search on LED yourself, see what you get. Nothing simpler than a 1-word search IMHO.

Back to a couple responses... I agree the whiter light is more harsh but I can personally live with it. The central fixture I ordered (2,400 lumens) is more of a soft white which will not match my other lamps. This is intentional...

If I find this single fixture is as bright as I believe it will be and does well as a central light in the main living space, I plan to order two more. Thus all three of the "switched" ceiling fixtures in the center of the ceiling will thus produce more light by themselves than all the lights combined previously.

Then I will be able to choose between soft light and the brighter light with all the remaining individual fixtures. Time will tell...

Worst case? Spend $20 and buy 50 soft white bulbs and convert them all...

[mike837go]

Originally Posted by JSumeracki

Don't know what to tell you other than try to search on LED yourself, see what you get. Nothing simpler than a 1-word search IMHO...snip...

Yup!

The one word LED is considered "too short or common" by the search engine. Flat out refusal. Dumb machines.

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by JSumeracki

Don't know what to tell you other than try to search on LED yourself, see what you get. Nothing simpler than a 1-word search IMHO. ...snip

I did just that because I was curious with all the discussion on the subject why you didn't get any result. The reason is stated in the search result explanation:

"The following words are either very common, too long, or too short and were not included in your search : led"

It's like searching for "the" and expecting to get results; you're just going to get every post on the forum.

OTOH, if you search "LED Upgrade" (with the quotes) you get 10 very specific discussions related to your subject. If you search "led lights" (again, include the quotes), you get 350 results, a broader range of discussion, but many of which relate to lighting changes members have made.

I already know why you didn't get any results, I'm just hoping I can help you understand why you didn't get any results. I'm hoping this helps you make more efficient use of the forum; like I said, there are LOTS of discussions on LED conversions.

[JSumeracki]

As a former computer programmer in multiple languages and a very proficient computer enthusiast and Internet search engine user, I understand your point and see now what happened.

I will say, however, this is absolutely absurd to simply list no results as opposed to a more common sense approach like "there are zillions of hits you idiot, add search criteria to narrow it down to less than 100 so my database does not melt..."

I will be sure to avoid single word ambiguous searches until such time as the search engine in this forum is made to be more intelligent. Remember this: Computers are only as smart as the people that program them!

[DocBrown]

I changed my bulbs out with 48 led flat panels from Ebay. About $29 for 15 replacement "bulbs". They are about 3 years old and working perfectly. They are labeled "warm" but are a bit whiter than the factory bulbs. But not so much that they are harsh.

[Crabman]

Originally Posted by JSumeracki

As a former computer programmer in multiple languages and a very proficient computer enthusiast and Internet search engine user, I understand your point and see now what happened.

I will say, however, this is absolutely absurd to simply list no results as opposed to a more common sense approach like "there are zillions of hits you idiot, add search criteria to narrow it down to less than 100 so my database does not melt..."

I will be sure to avoid single word ambiguous searches until such time as the search engine in this forum is made to be more intelligent. Remember this: Computers are only as smart as the people that program them!

You should have seen this when you searched for LED which explains why there were no hits

''The following errors occurred with your search:
Sorry - no matches. Please try some different terms.
The following words are either very common, too long, or too short and were not included in your search : LED"

[mike837go]

Originally Posted by Crabman

You should have seen this when you searched for LED which explains why there were no hits

''The following errors occurred with your search:
Sorry - no matches. Please try some different terms.
The following words are either very common, too long, or too short and were not included in your search : LED"

Google doesn't do that. Nor any of the other forums I deal with.

If the search result is an overwhelming boatload, then give me the first 100 or so hits and message that the hit count is excessive.

Eliminating short or common words from the search is foolish. Let us as reasonable thinking humans decide that we entered too simple a search. Then we'll enter more or see what the top bunch has to offer.

Those top few will have the clues to a more complex search.

[Snake Plissken]

Originally Posted by mike837go

Google doesn't do that. Nor any of the other forums I deal with.

If the search result is an overwhelming boatload, then give me the first 100 or so hits and message that the hit count is excessive.

Eliminating short or common words from the search is foolish. Let us as reasonable thinking humans decide that we entered too simple a search. Then we'll enter more or see what the top bunch has to offer.

Those top few will have the clues to a more complex search.

LED is too short. If I remember correctly you need more than 3 letters to search on vBulletin forums.

[DocBrown]

Google has a large staff of full time programmers that custom built a search engine. jaycoowners.com is off the shelf forum software with a limited search engine. It's not a data mining tool. Still, I agree it could be a bit better. I don't find any of the forums I'm on have all that great of search capabilities.

[mike837go]

I guess an SQL-like front end would be a bit much for the average internet user?

[DocBrown]

Originally Posted by mike837go

I guess an SQL-like front end would be a bit much for the average internet user?

Ha! So long as you will take on the task of explaining a booleen search to everyone!

[norty1]

https://cse.google.com/cse/publicurl...95:_douuy_o5dq

This link will direct you to a google search of this forum. It may be better than the standard forum search engine.

[nwminnesota]

M4products I say no more they speak for them selves. Did my whole trailer.