Halogen to LED conversion

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Z

ZinLuvR

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 23, 2018
Posts
129
Location
Colville, WA
I want to change out the 12vdc halogen to LED lighting.  This could be posted somewhere already, not sure.  Anyone done this and where is a good place to purchase the lights.  Thanks for any help or direction to the information.
 
When we bought our coach the previous owner had converted to LED from halogen.  Unfortunately, he had bought cheap LEDs, and one night shortly after we got the coach, one of the LEDs started flickering and began to smoke.  That's when I started doing research, and found out about cheap Chinese LEDs.  Stay away from them.  They are missing the circuitry that allows the LED to compensate for fluctuations in power.

LEDs from M4 products http://www.m4products.com/ were recommended to me by posters on this forum.  I've used them ever since.  They aren't the cheapest LEDs you can get, but I've had no fires since I've been using them!  Besides that, they provide great customer service.  There are guides on their web site to help you select the proper bulb replacement, and they offer three light colors: cool white, natural white, and warm white.
 
Lots of led sources these days - pretty much a commodity. Amazon has numerous vendors, as does Ebay.

One good source, though not the cheapest, is RVledbulbs.com. They do, however,  give good service and guarantee satisfaction. Another sopurce is https://www.ledlight.com/12-volt-led-lights.aspx
 
Gary RV_Wizard said:
Lots of led sources these days - pretty much a commodity. Amazon has numerous vendors, as does Ebay.
Click to expand...

Another excellent source of LEDs is superbrightleds.com  I've replaced all the lighting in my MH with LEDs including some very inexpensive ones purchased "direct from China" on eBay and not a single light has failed in several years.  As Gary noted, LEDs have now become commodities; there's little need to go to RV-specific vendors to buy them.
 
Like John Coffey said above, avoid LEDs that lack on-board voltage regulation.  They can't cope with the varying DC voltages in an RV.

One clue is in the description - be wary if the voltage is listed as "12 volts DC".  The better LEDs with on-board regulation have a range of acceptable input voltages, such as "12-14 VDC" or even "12-24 VDC".

For example, here's a regulated LED replacement bulb (good):

eBay 12v - 24v LED replacement bulb

And a similar bulb without voltage regulation (not so good):

eBay 12 volt LED replacement bulb
 
Excellent.  Good to know about the voltage issue, I'll keep that in mind when buying.  I've got about 24 to change out and was planning on a couple hundred bucks, so that should more than cover it.  Always good to remember not to go broke trying to save a buck.
 
These LEDS have worked the past 7 years for me:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003TKI4VU/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&psc=1&linkCode=ll1&tag=recreationalvehicles-20&linkId=c4c870f77f57305a1a89a41c6c34e58f

These super bright Starlight bulbs are perfect for the porch light and kitchen and anywhere you want BRIGHT light, when one failed, they promptly mailed me a replacement at no charge. These are 350 lumens nearly double the typical 200 lumens and the difference is clear!
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009T06RMW/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&psc=1&linkCode=ll1&tag=recreationalvehicles-20&linkId=9dab6e447bb5a48213fbd8d25a2f1baf

I also redid the stove overhead light and what a huge difference to have nice bright light over the stove instead of the crummy candlelight one the manufacturer supplies.

Halogens are so ridiculously hot, I have no idea why RV manufacturers use those.

My 5th wheel came with some spotlights inside under cabinets that had very hot lights until I replaced them with LEDs.
 
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