Upgrading to LED lights

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

GRRV

Member
Joined
Feb 15, 2015
Posts
9
I have a 2014 Keystone travel trailer, and I'm thinking of upgrading all, or most of the lights to LED.  In this day and age, I am a little surprised that LED is not the standard, or at least much more widespread.  But anyway, I'm wondering if there are suggestions on brands and such in swapping out the old style bulbs for LED.

Thanks for the help.
 
I'm constantly SHOCKED at the prices the LED light folks want for their products. I'd love  to upgrade to LED's in our coach, but since we rarely boondock, it just doesn't seem like the benefit is worth the price.
 
One of our forum sponsors handles LED bulb and fixtures. Probably not the cheapest source (though they give a 10% discount to forum members), but satisfaction is guaranteed. Many folks here have bought from them.

www.rvledbulbs.com
 
I have tried various led bulbs from different vendors, and am disappointed in the lumen output they give out. To get good output you need to pay a premium if thats really the way you want to go. 3-5 dollar led bulbs are not all that great
 
  How about $0.90 apiece??  I upgraded a year ago by studying LEDs to better understand the differences and rating systems.
I then ordered them from CHINA thru E-Bay at .90 cents instead of $9.00, you have to wait a little longer for the shipper but well worth it and I am very satisfied with the result.>>>Dan  ( The common 1000% markup is ridicules)
 
If you're a bit of a DIYer, the cheap Chinese panels will do fine. You can find them on Amazon or Ebay.
 
utahclaimjumper said:
  How about $0.90 apiece??  I upgraded a year ago by studying LEDs to better understand the differences and rating systems.
I then ordered them from CHINA thru E-Bay at .90 cents instead of $9.00, you have to wait a little longer for the shipper but well worth it and I am very satisfied with the result.>>>Dan  ( The common 1000% markup is ridicules)
It's pretty easy to find inexpensive standard 1156 LEDs but I've spent a fair amount of time trying to find reasonably priced T5 & T8 tube replacements and same with globe and reading lights. A search for RV interior LEDs yields thousands of hits on eBay. For those who have had luck finding cheaper bulbs it would be helpful for others interested in retrofit to know exactly where they were purchased. Do you have a seller or product you can point us to?
 
You can get them shipped quicker if you make sure and purchase from a seller shipping from somewhere in the U.S. Rather than China.  I just bought, received, and installed 10 of these lights from a seller on EBay by the seller name of "yitamotor".  He ships out of Bellevue, Washington.  I ordered them Feb. 10th and they were delivered Feb. 13th - 10 bulbs for $9.79 and free shipping.  I just looked and they are still listed.

Ken
 
Deano2002 said:
I have tried various led bulbs from different vendors, and am disappointed in the lumen output they give out. To get good output you need to pay a premium if thats really the way you want to go. 3-5 dollar led bulbs are not all that great

hmmm, I hate to pay a premium for anything but I'll admit, the 2 different discount sets I ordered from Amazon just dont put out enough lumens
 
supermanotorious said:
hmmm, I hate to pay a premium for anything but I'll admit, the 2 different discount sets I ordered from Amazon just dont put out enough lumens


Make sure when you order them to choose the proper lumens... if it ain't written or without details, just don't order those.
 
Has anyone tried Next Wave LEDs? My local RV store swears by them but they're pricey- about $17/bulb and I can not find any reviews online.

http://www.nextwaveled.com/

This is the first set I bought from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0154FU4H4

And the second:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EL37R8U
 
Howdy,

supermanotorious said:
Has anyone tried Next Wave LEDs? My local RV store swears by them but they're pricey- about $17/bulb and I can not find any reviews online.

Humrmmr... $17 for something that can be purchased around/under $1... would *love* to hear about what makes them so superior your vendor raves about... :)

Seriously, I was under the impression these things had already become more or less commoditized. What is the advantage of those bulbs to justify them being so much more expensive?

Cheers,
--
  Vall.
 
I would suggest anyone who wants LEDs to start with replacing all the condescend bulbs first, they are the energy hogs. Then look closely at the fluorescent tubes, they are less piggish with energy than condescends and usually not as many to replace.>>>Dan
 
I tried swapping out my incandescents for LEDs and went back to incandescents two days later. I thought they sucked. Really poor color and very low light output. And the only way they will ever pay for themselves is if you leave it on 24/7. Under normal use they really take a long time to pay for themselves.
 
An 1150 bulb uses 20 watts of power. The LED replacement bulb uses 2 watts for a savings of 18 watts. That means you have to burn the LED about 55 hours before you save one kilowatt of electricity. A kilowatt costs 10 cents. The LED costs about $3.00. Divide 10 cents into $3.00 and you get 30. Multiply that by 55 hours and that means you have to run the bulb for 1650 hours before the bulb pays for itself.
 
khr said:
You can get them shipped quicker if you make sure and purchase from a seller shipping from somewhere in the U.S. Rather than China.  I just bought, received, and installed 10 of these lights from a seller on EBay by the seller name of "yitamotor".  He ships out of Bellevue, Washington.  I ordered them Feb. 10th and they were delivered Feb. 13th - 10 bulbs for $9.79 and free shipping.  I just looked and they are still listed.

Ken

Have you installed any yet? If so are they any good?  The price is right . . .
 
SeilerBird said:
An 1150 bulb uses 20 watts of power. The LED replacement bulb uses 2 watts for a savings of 18 watts. That means you have to burn the LED about 55 hours before you save one kilowatt of electricity. A kilowatt costs 10 cents. The LED costs about $3.00. Divide 10 cents into $3.00 and you get 30. Multiply that by 55 hours and that means you have to run the bulb for 1650 hours before the bulb pays for itself.

Our interest is not the $ savings, but the battery savings when boondocking.
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
131,753
Posts
1,384,359
Members
137,524
Latest member
freetoroam
Back
Top Bottom