LED replacement report

DocBrown · 07-23-2013, 09:20 AM

I decided to take the chance on the cheap Chinese LEDs from one of the E-Bay vendors. I ordered 15 in 2 separate orders (because I wasn't thinking!) for a total of around $20. I received 10 of them yesterday. Hopefully the others will come soon. They have a choice of light quality, I chose #3528, Warm White. I have only put one set in so far over our sofa slide. Wow, I'm impressed. These are far better than I was expecting. They are a tad brighter and whiter than the original incandescent bulbs but are a LOT cooler. They look great! I did not take any photos because the differences never seem to look the same as in person. The tape seemed to work just fine too.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/400492854370...84.m1497.l2649

dlindsay001 · 07-23-2013, 09:30 AM

I bought the same 48 LED panels from Ebay last month except mine were in stock from an Ebay store in California. I bought 15 of them for $32 and they arrived in 3 days. I cleaned the mounting areas in the light fixtures with rubbing alcohol before I stuck the 3M adhesive to them and I have not had any fall off yet. The light put out by these is great, there is no heat, and the color is great also. The only problem I had was getting the wires coming out of the wedge bases in just the right position while inserting them. Most of them went right in and lit up, but about 3 of them I had to bend the wires a little differently and they inserted and lit right up after that. Overall, I am so happy that I did not buy LED's last year from a website that was selling them for $12 a piece. These LED panels work great.

DocBrown · 07-23-2013, 09:48 AM

Interesting, I had the same issue with the wires too on one of them I had to fiddle with it a bit. $12, ouch! I was cringing at the though of $3.00 a piece.

RoyBraddy · 07-23-2013, 12:48 PM

These non-regulated type SMD boards will not interfere with your HDTV either... Good choice...

The ones i got several years back had a 12v-14V DC voltage spec on them. Works great for my converter which sometimes puts out 14.4VDC. Might blow a few LED runs on a board if my converter put out 15VDC or more.

Oc course at $4 a board you just wait until it gets to dim to use then replace the whole board and be good for another year or so...

Roy ken

oobedoob · 07-23-2013, 05:36 PM

The 3M on mine let go on the board side, not the fixture side once they warmed up a bit. Maybe they needed to clean the circuit boards better when they manufactured them. Glad yours are working for you! I'm glad I switched ours out to LEDs

popjim52 · 07-23-2013, 08:29 PM

My double sided tape let loose also ,just after a few days of camping,I own a bodyshop and have worked with double sided tape my whole 30 year carreer and feel as though this is either the lowest quality 3m tape made or like everything else made in china its fake 3m tape....I am glad it came off clean,i will replace it with 3M tape I have a t the shop and see if this makes a difference....

glsimms · 07-23-2013, 08:37 PM

Do you guys like the color of the LEDs vs. the incandescent??

Reason I ask is because I bought a couple of the panels from e-bay as well just to see for myself. I must say I wasn't wild about how they looked, almost fakey like. Also, did you replace both bulbs in the fixture, or just 1 bulb?

Chakara · 07-23-2013, 09:59 PM

The light can vary greatly from bulb to bulb. I bought a few different models from e-bay and settled on the one I liked the best. It is slightly whiter than the incandescent's, but I like it better. I replaced every battery powered bulb on the trailer. All my driving lights are still incandescent....

-Chak

oobedoob · 07-23-2013, 10:43 PM

My ebay cheapies are cool white I think. Have a bit of a blue tinge to them but we like it as the wife and I found the stock bulbs to be too bright at night, especially the dual fixture above the dinette bed. To each their own of course but they work for us

jwstewar · 07-24-2013, 06:35 AM

We've replaced all of the interior bulbs with the LED panels from eBay except the enclosed fixtures above the table and couch and the sconch on the wall. They both take a different type base. Once I remember to take them apart again, I will find LEDs for them as well. We don't really boonddock, but we mainly did it for the heat reduction. When we camp at the fair it is usually 90+ and high humidity and no trees and when we come back from the barns, we need it to be cool and since the shades are down, you need lights. The panels get warmer than I expected, but still emit less heat than the old incadescents. We went with the cool white as that is the color my wife prefers. We started replacing just a few of them to see how we liked them and compared to the old they certainly "brightened" the trailer up. The old lights made everything seem yellow.

I.plod · 07-24-2013, 06:43 AM

Didn't like my LEDs at all, didn't like the output and most of them fell out of the sockets while towing. They just won't stay in.

Put the originals back in, and I'll keep a few for boondocking in the fall, but seriously, if it's dark outside, we're probably asleep.

DocBrown · 07-24-2013, 07:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by glsimms

Do you guys like the color of the LEDs vs. the incandescent??

Reason I ask is because I bought a couple of the panels from e-bay as well just to see for myself. I must say I wasn't wild about how they looked, almost fakey like. Also, did you replace both bulbs in the fixture, or just 1 bulb?

Check the link I included in the OP. The ones I bought are "warm white". Warm being a relative term, warmer than the "cool white". They are not as "warm" as the incandescent bulbs, but they aren't harsh either. We're replacing both bulbs in every fixture.

Jammer · 07-24-2013, 09:53 AM

I've been using the same eBay boards for about a month now. I've already had 2 fail. But, when they work, they work well. We boondock about 80% of the time, so the led's do make a difference in battery life. I will probably just order more and will hope for the best. 2 fails out of 15 isn't that bad I guess. Can't get them to stay sticked though. Tried the stock tape, then a foam tape, a folded over industrial foil tape, liquid nails... Nothing will stick for more than a few days!!

glsimms · 07-24-2013, 03:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DocBrown

Check the link I included in the OP. The ones I bought are "warm white". Warm being a relative term, warmer than the "cool white". They are not as "warm" as the incandescent bulbs, but they aren't harsh either. We're replacing both bulbs in every fixture.

You're right Doc about the term "Warm White" being relative...

The ones I bought were also the warm white and the reason I posted the question.

Maybe I'll give them another shot. Energy consumption isn't a real concern since I use the CG power.

Chakara · 07-24-2013, 09:54 PM

I almost always boondock. No inverter, but run everything else as desired and thanks to LED's and the battery upgrade 4 nights is not a problem - water and power to spare. Granted we a pretty darn frugal with the water

with only 55 gallons in the tank.

The issue people ID'd above are why I just bought a few and figured out what I liked. All mine are the same except the bedroom reading lights - those are "warmer" and not as bright.

Anyway, good luck - we love our cheap eBay LED's.

-Chak

DocBrown · 07-25-2013, 07:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by glsimms

Energy consumption isn't a real concern since I use the CG power.

For us too. We stopped boon docking when we sold our pop-up. It was the heat the incandescent bulbs generated that we didn't like. If we sat on the couch you could feel the heat coming off the light above you. Yuck!

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