I am in the process of purchasing my first RV... hopefully. One of the first things I want to do is to replace the lighting to LED's on the interior. I am looking for some ideas on what I can and should do. I do like how Justin Credible have his lighting in his vehicle, and I might do something like that with my RGB strips (leftover from another project and I have about 50ft of that stuff), but I want to also add something more practical, since my RV will not be used just to live in, but to travel and most importantly completing homework since I will be attending college (either UNLV or USF, still deciding) I honestly do not know if I want to keep the dome lights or go with strips... Any advice or ideas is appreciated.
Looking for some ideas on lighting
- Thread starter proxima
- Start date
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Kevin Means
Site Team
Proxima,
Our motorhome was completely converted to LED lighting, primarily for two reasons - power consumption and reliability. We converted, because we boondock a lot. If I knew that we were only going to be hooked up to shore-power, I might not have made the leap. The price of good quality LEDs has fallen, but they're still significantly more expensive than bulbs. If you were only going to replace a few, however, that probably wouldn't be a big expense. LEDs also run a lot cooler than incandescent bulbs, which helps eliminate bezel cracking and yellowing around fixtures.
There are a lot of things you can do with LEDs but all LEDs were not created equally. They have different color temps, and different people find that some are too harsh for reading and others too blue, or too bright. It's worth spending some time to see which you prefer.
Kev
Our motorhome was completely converted to LED lighting, primarily for two reasons - power consumption and reliability. We converted, because we boondock a lot. If I knew that we were only going to be hooked up to shore-power, I might not have made the leap. The price of good quality LEDs has fallen, but they're still significantly more expensive than bulbs. If you were only going to replace a few, however, that probably wouldn't be a big expense. LEDs also run a lot cooler than incandescent bulbs, which helps eliminate bezel cracking and yellowing around fixtures.
There are a lot of things you can do with LEDs but all LEDs were not created equally. They have different color temps, and different people find that some are too harsh for reading and others too blue, or too bright. It's worth spending some time to see which you prefer.
Kev
waynestractor
Member
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2015
- Posts
- 15
If you are going to go with strips for your main lighting I would not use the RGB, as I'm sure you know they will be too cool. The best option in my opinion, but not the cheapest, is to replace the fixtures with led fixtures. I used the 6" ultrathin dimmable lights in our 5th wheel as they are super bright and they cover the holes left by the old fixtures...most of the time. These use 13watts and put out the equivalent lumens as a 65w incandescent so are a huge improvement! I also replaced the 2 fixtures above the countertops with a single strip of led's on 1 switch which vastly improved the lighting there while using way less energy. Check out my thread for pics.
http://www.rvforum.net/SMF_forum/index.php/topic,88311.0.html
http://www.rvforum.net/SMF_forum/index.php/topic,88311.0.html
I wasn't planning on using the RGB strips as primary lighting but more for accent and indirect. I am thinking of replacing the domes to LED fixtures and possibly have a strips along and under the cabinets. I plan to use 3200 to 3500 k for the color temp of the lighting. Not the fan of the 5600k lighting. I want to be creative, but at the same time functional. Most of the stuff that I have were used for events and concerts, so I am not worried about the quality there, but they are RGB strips and I might make some modification with my CK color blast and mount it outside. As for quality, I am not worried about that with my current equipment. I am shopping around to see what I can find with deals.
HappyWanderer
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2014
- Posts
- 2,967
Before you go crazy with "accent" LEDs on the exterior, think of your neighbors. I've been parked next to some really obnoxious light shows.
