Halogen to LED upgrade problems

rockymountainchicks · 03-13-2020, 04:59 PM

I am 3 weeks into a 3 month trip through Nevada and Arizona. Before I left I replaced all 17 puck style halogen ceiling bulbs with LED bulbs. Now I am already down to just 5 working bulbs. I can't find good replacements on the road but that may be a good thing since I now suspect a deeper problem than faulty bulbs. After some research online and 2 calls to Jayco I am not much closer to figuring out the problem . The problem (per the net) might be that halogen circuits use higher amperage than LED so the circuit might be supplying too much juice. Or...that some LED's are sensitive and can't handle much fluctuation in power. Or..there is a halogen driver/transformer in the present system that should be an LED driver. Here is my info: 1) I have a 2014 Melbourne 29D. 2) The bulbs are from Amazon (Jenyolon), round disk style, G4 base, 3 W, 40 Lumens, meant for both AC and DC applications. They have a circuit board on the back. 3) Some lights flicker, some just flat die, one overheated so much the solder joints on the pins melted and it flamed out (see pic) Here's what the different Jayco techs said: 1) Just replace the 20A fuse for your lights with a 15A resettable fuse, then when things overheat and the fuse blows, you let it cool and reset the fuse. Doesn't make sense to me. A fuse is to protect from amps over the stated number, it doesn't act as a resistor and notch the level down to the required level. I feel that I would be resetting the fuse a lot. On top of that, the lights are not all on one fuse, more like 3 or 4 combined with different electrical things. 2) The 2nd Jayco tech said that all the lights would need to be retrofitted with LED type puck lights. Expensive!
Sooooo, after writing this tome, I'd like to know what others have done to switch from halogen to LED. I'd like to find out if there IS a halogen driver/transformer that could be found and switched. I didn't really want a PHD in RV lights, maybe sitting in the dark is easier, lol.

Vicr · 03-13-2020, 05:22 PM

I deal with LED lights all the time (electrician)and I suspect the ones your purchased are of low quality.

#1. There is nothing special about the old halogen fixtures. 12v is 12v.
#2. The Jayco "tech" doesn't know his a__ from a hole in the ground.
#3. Buy a higher quality LED fixtures. You get what you pay for and China is cranking out LED light faster than you can blink.
Hope this helps.

GHen · 03-13-2020, 05:47 PM

I agree with Vic, buy some better LED’s. The quality of LED’s vary dramatically between manufacturers.

LED’s use a lot less power than halogen. They must be shorting out to cause this issues shown, get all of them out of the rv before they whole rig burns down.

EA37TS · 03-13-2020, 05:59 PM

I agree with others. I replaced all the lights in our 2015 Challenger with LED bulbs and never had a problem. I did some prior research and based on that research I stayed away from the cheap bulbs and I paid for quality bulbs.

rockymountainchicks · 03-13-2020, 06:08 PM

Thanks for the input. Got any recommendations for a good 400 lumen bulb or a brand that is consistently good? What are you guys paying per bulb?

Jopopsy · 03-13-2020, 07:02 PM

https://m4products.com/elite-series/

I’ve pulled these bulbs in and out of a few rigs - they still work great. However, I did pay a decent amount for them.

Vicr · 03-13-2020, 07:25 PM

The M4's are top shelf "bulbs,that's what I use in the few incandescent fixtures on my coach. What ever LED fixtures are in my coach have all worked great for 4 years. OP, maybe call Jayco and see what vendor they used. Another option is order some LED fixtures from eTrailer, I don't think they would sell low quality fixtures since they are an RV specialist and not Amazon 'sell anything' or Evil Bay junk.

ricks · 03-13-2020, 08:55 PM

Replaced all mine on our 13 Melbourne with flat type LEDs from Ultra Brite in earth city Mo. Work great.

TaftCoach · 03-13-2020, 09:35 PM

Seems like you could grab a meter and check the current against the specs. You might also think about anything that could cause a spike in current.

Vicr · 03-14-2020, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TaftCoach

Seems like you could grab a meter and check the current against the specs. You might also think about anything that could cause a spike in current.

Switching from halogen to LED's will greatly reduce the current drawn on the circuit. Any "spike" in current will not affect a load on a circuit. Voltage "spikes" (not my term, layman's term) could damage the LED circuit although in a "normal" RV there really isn't any load that would feed a higher voltage into a DC circuit.

kevin5203 · 03-14-2020, 01:07 PM

I replaced all my puck light halogen bulbs with GRV T10 921 194 24-3528 SMD LED Bulb lamp Super Bright DC 12V (10pcs, Warm White) on Amazon for my 2014 Greyhawk 31DS . Six years without a single failure: https://www.amazon.com/GRV-24-3528-S...omotive&sr=1-1

Vicr · 03-14-2020, 01:08 PM

The OP is looking for replacement light "fixture" not "bulb/lamps".
.

rockymountainchicks · 03-14-2020, 06:37 PM

I was actually asking about "bulbs" and got a lot of helpful answers. I'm going to order 2 from M4, probably and see how that goes before switching out the other 15. Thanks to everyone who took the time to reply.

watchout · 03-15-2020, 01:39 PM

The Amazon page doesn't give very detailed electrical specs for those lamps, but one thing to consider would be the voltage range they can handle. They are supposedly good for 12V, but they can easily see something like 13.5VDC at the fixture in your RV, especially when on shore power. If you look at the M4 bulbs, they are rated for 10-30VDC, so no problem handling typical RV "12V" power. Going from 12V to 13.5V might be too much for LED driver circuit in those Amazon bulbs.

Pauls72 · 03-21-2020, 01:03 PM

I replaced several of my fixtures with white/red dome lights from these guys about 3 years ago. I wanted to be able to switch to red for when I am at Astronomy Star Parties.

https://www.superbrightleds.com/cat/rv-led-lights/

This is what I got. Very happy with them.
https://www.superbrightleds.com/more...tch/1273/2949/

Bicycleman · 03-21-2020, 01:19 PM

Check out CABINBRIGHT.COM. Have been using his LED’s for 6 years never had a problem or burn out. I

Peekayphx · 03-21-2020, 02:42 PM

+1 on super bright led sight. I've ordered RV and RZR lights of all kinds. Under cabinet lights, you name it. (Also electrician here) I've tried other vendors and always come back to them. Excellent quality!
https://www.superbrightleds.com/

robert66r · 03-22-2020, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rockymountainchicks

I am 3 weeks into a 3 month trip through Nevada and Arizona. Before I left I replaced all 17 puck style halogen ceiling bulbs with LED bulbs. Now I am already down to just 5 working bulbs. I can't find good replacements on the road but that may be a good thing since I now suspect a deeper problem than faulty bulbs. After some research online and 2 calls to Jayco I am not much closer to figuring out the problem . The problem (per the net) might be that halogen circuits use higher amperage than LED so the circuit might be supplying too much juice. Or...that some LED's are sensitive and can't handle much fluctuation in power. Or..there is a halogen driver/transformer in the present system that should be an LED driver. Here is my info: 1) I have a 2014 Melbourne 29D. 2) The bulbs are from Amazon (Jenyolon), round disk style, G4 base, 3 W, 40 Lumens, meant for both AC and DC applications. They have a circuit board on the back. 3) Some lights flicker, some just flat die, one overheated so much the solder joints on the pins melted and it flamed out (see pic) Here's what the different Jayco techs said: 1) Just replace the 20A fuse for your lights with a 15A resettable fuse, then when things overheat and the fuse blows, you let it cool and reset the fuse. Doesn't make sense to me. A fuse is to protect from amps over the stated number, it doesn't act as a resistor and notch the level down to the required level. I feel that I would be resetting the fuse a lot. On top of that, the lights are not all on one fuse, more like 3 or 4 combined with different electrical things. 2) The 2nd Jayco tech said that all the lights would need to be retrofitted with LED type puck lights. Expensive!
Sooooo, after writing this tome, I'd like to know what others have done to switch from halogen to LED. I'd like to find out if there IS a halogen driver/transformer that could be found and switched. I didn't really want a PHD in RV lights, maybe sitting in the dark is easier, lol.

Change the fixtures all together. There is a seller on eBay I bought 5 led fixtures for 35.00. No issues sense.

Seismic 3914 · 03-24-2020, 03:43 PM

Use the Phillips led’s. That’s what I did in my seismic. Replaced them all with this bulb. No problems. Bought them on amazon in 12 packs.

rockymountainchicks · 04-28-2020, 08:33 PM

I'm back from my 3mo trip and thought I would write an update to my LED light issue. Thanks to all that contributed suggestions. The solution turned out to be simple yet expensive. The puck style bulbs I bought from Amazon were from China. After a great conversation with the folks at M4 I now know that there were 3 issues. The China bulbs weren't engineered to dissipate heat, the actual LED chips were of poor quality and they were made in China, not the USA. The M4 bulbs were $10 each but, they are still working. Again, thanks to everyone for their contributions.

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