10 Watt Halogen light bulbs

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SargeW

SargeW

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I am putting this in the Winnebago forum because this lights are used in my 2010 Journey. I am not sure if they are being used in other rigs as well. 

My Journey came with several flush mount ceiling lights in all areas of the coach. They have a flat glass lens and are used in every area of the coach both in the ceiling and under cabinets.  I like the look of them and they work well, but I have gone through a significant amount of replacement bulbs in the 17 months that I have owned the rig.  The bulb is a "Halogen JC Type Light Bulb G4 Base 12V 10W Watt bulb. "

I have replaced about 5 of them so far, none of the same one twice yet. They are pricey little buggers, about $3.50 each retail. Right now I have 3 more burned out that I haven't replaced yet. I have 23 total of this type of fixture in the coach.

I just started buying them in bulk on Amazon where I got the price down to about .42 each delivered. I have just never had so many lights burn out in a rig before. 

Has anyone else experienced this with the lighting in their rig?  I don't know if it is just the type of bulb, or if the electrical system in the coach contributes to their demise.  We don't run a lot of lights much so it's not like we burn them a lot. When I change them out I use gloves, just in case the oil in my hands would shorten the life of the bulb like in other halogens. 

Your thoughts guys?
 
I do not have anywhere near that many of those type of lights but none of them have burned out in over 3 years of use. I am not even close to being an expert in electricity but you may have some type of over voltage affecting your lights. You might consider changing at least some of your lights to LEDs. If you do that the web site below is a good place to start. The owner has excellent LED prices, great info and great customer service.

http://led4rv.com/
 
We have about half and half the JC10w G4 style bulbs mentioned above, and the 1383 mini-spot reading lamps. The DW used to go through 4-6 1383 bulbs every year at her couch reading position, plus a few in other fixtures. We have replaced several JC10w bulbs but at nowhere near the same rate. A little over a year ago I replaced a couple of the 1383 with an LED that DW deemed acceptable (after trying several that she rejected). That bulb is now over a year old and has paid for itself due to no more replacements every 6-8 weeks. At the same time, I replaced two JC10w bulbs with a G4 LED replacement. They too have done well, and the best part is that they burn much cooler and don't use anywhere near as much electricity. It would be very pricey to replace them all at the same time, so I replaced the few we use the most, and will do the others a few at a time as I feel the need.

I did find that the 10w Halogen G4 bulb is sold at Walmart for about as good a price as I have found anywhere else (some home appliances use them ...yep, 12v bulbs) ...but not as good as $.49 ea!!  If you get them at Walmart, be careful that you get the 10w version as they also sell higher wattage G4's that would burn much hotter and likely melt your fixture and/or cause a fire.
 
Sarge, I was having problem with short bulb light of the halogen work lights in my shop.  Come to find out, halogens do not like the oil in our fingerprints from the installation process.  Makes them overheat and burn out.  I started installing them then cleaning the bulb with alcohol.  No more short life problems with the halogen shop lights.  Just let the alcohol evaporate completely before you turn the light back on.
Jerry
 
Yeah, I have considered the LED option.  With all my fixtures it would cost me almost $300 to replace them all. I bought a pack of 12 JC10's pretty cheap so I guess I will see how fast I go through them. How is the light color the LED's put out compared to the halogens?
 
SargeW said:
Yeah, I have considered the LED option..... How is the light color the LED's put out compared to the halogens?
Click to expand...
Our old sailboat used 42 of those lamps.  I replaced them all with G4 LED replacements.  Yep a little pricey but I could burn 10 of them on the same current that one of the halogens.  We really boon docked in not hooking up to shore power for 6 months at a time.

The ones that I had were in warm (yellowish, like incandescent) and cool (the bluish look).  I liked both although the cool ones might be just a tad brighter.
 
Most likely the problem is fingerprints on the bulbs when you replace them, but you could have over-voltage problem too. Plus, the halogens burn terribly hot and they overheat in those tiny flush fixtures (I have them too). I've replaced all mine with nice LEDs from rvledbulbs.com, but I only have 8 of them. You can get LEDs in several brightness levels (lumens) and either warm white or bright (cool) white.
 
As others have suggested, it is likely an overvoltage problem that is shortening their life. If your coach charger/converter is putting out  over 13 volts, the life of the bulb will be dramatically reduced. You might measure the voltage when you are connected to AC or Generator power to see what you have. You should have no problems when using the coach batteries as you are running them with 12.6 volts or less. If your converter is putting out a higher voltage, that is likely the cause of the reduced life. Not a lot you can do about it.

bob
 
All the ones that I have changed I have used gloves, and so far have lasted. It's a good bet that when they were installed at the factory that they were bare handed.  I will see if they last any longer now that I have replaced some, or if I get a bunch of money I don't know what to do with......

I will check the voltage at one of the burned bulbs to see how much voltage is at the fixture.  Maybe that will give me a clue.
 
Nearly every RV power system is putting put well over 13v when the converter is running. 13.6v is pretty much the norm for float voltage.  Bulbs don't last quite as long at 13v as they do at 12v, but I don't think that is Sarge's problem.
 
Sarge, I can't help you with a solution but can tell you we had a similar problem with Halogen under-counter lights from ikea. We got tired of the expense and trouble of changing out bulbs (35w halogens). finally changed out fixtures to florescent. I never touched the bulbs when replacing them. Forgot to mention this is in the stick house so voltage probably was not an issue.
 
Seems to be a big push to change all your fixtures to LED. I removed half of the halogen bulbs in my  MH and am satisfied with the results. I monitor my DC usage with a TriMetric.  Instead of swapping for LED's take that money and invest in a battery monitor like the TriMetric.

Jim
 
Well, I think Gary is on to something about finger prints on the bulbs.  None of the ones I replaced have blown again. So for the time being I will replace the JC10's with like bulbs and see if they hold up. If not then t he LED's will get a serious look.
 
Being in the TV type business I have been around Halogens of all shapes and sizes for 35+ years (yikes).. All the cautions with fingerprints on the glass have to do with overheating the glass itself, not cooling a filiment that's already burning white hot.

Two things happen with contaminated lamps: the glass will super heat and suck a hole and instantly kill the lamp. Or (2): the lamp will explode and rain glass all over anyone under them. I have has this happen to me several times when people aren't paying attention, I've seen it on various newscasts, Carson, Leno, and at least one Academy show.

Those lamps are designed for 12V, not 13+. THAT's why the failures.
 
I don't know of any so-called 12v system that runs at a constant 12v. Even the voltage of a fully charged 12v battery is 12.6 and usually closer to 13.6 after charging.  If the bulbs are designed for 12.0 and can't tolerate 13.6, then they are just cheap designs. But I guess we get a lot of those these days.

The same thing applies to Leds, which are very voltage sensitive. The better brands of bulbs have circuitry that will handle a wide range of voltages, cause the designers know they will encounter that in vehicle electrical systems. The cheap ones do not.
 
And that's the problem, these things aren't designed for RV power systems that often run over 10-20% over a ?12V? Halogen lamp. It?s already running right on the hairy edge trying to maintain their ultra white 3200 degree color temp.. Problem is you cannot individually regulate each lamp like you can an LED that runs at ~1.2V.

I think that's where allot of the LED guys get in trouble designing regulators expecting 12V on the front end, not 13-15.5V. That?s not real world.
 
THEN watch what happens when you EQ the batteries..
Click to expand...
Exactly why equalizing instructions say to disconnect all 12v loads before equalizng. I trip the house battery disconnect when equalizng to protect circuit boards as much or more than bulbs.
 
Even my Adsorption charge is <.1v different from EQ according to mfgr. spec.
 
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