need help interior ceiling lights

juudede · 08-10-2015, 11:27 AM

We have a 2005 264sr and the ceiling fixture 12 volt bulb has burned thru 2 lens covers. I imagine it's because the light gets the most use. Anyhow, we put in some LED bulbs, but the light output is horrible. Need help finding replacement lens covers and suggestion for the best LED replacement bulbs or fixture. Need really good task lighting in that area.

mainah · 08-10-2015, 04:18 PM

The incandescent lamps are very inefficient the inefficiency creates heat they use a lot of power to make light burnt lens are pretty common. The tower LED’s waste light because they shine up and to the sides so their light is not useful where you need it. I prefer the LED’s on a board for replacements because all of their light is shining down where you need it the most.

Gene · 08-10-2015, 07:16 PM

Early last year a member here recommended some LEDs from GRV from Amazon. I bought these: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EL0YYY8/...ing=UTF8&psc=1 I am very happy with them.

They have many others but watch the voltage range. They note that some 12 volt ones get too hot on 14 volts that is typical when the converter is running. Mine are rated for 11 to 28 volts and after 3 or 4 hours they are only slightly warm. They have 24 3528 LEDs which are a little more toward blue than a 921 lamp and maybe slightly less bright. They also have 24 5050 LEDs that are brighter. One thing to note when inserting them: Hold by the base not the round part with the surface mounted LEDs. The T10 base is the same as a 921 light used in most Sunlines.

mainah · 08-11-2015, 05:42 AM

I can tell you that wide voltage range LED's tend to make a lot of radio noise because of the switching power supplies. I have some very nicely made flush mount ones and they pretty much wipe out my FM radio. 12 volt LED's use a standard voltage regulator to keep the voltage with in range of a 12 volt system they are needed because the operating voltage of the LED it's self is around 3 volts, they are electrically quiet. All LED's do produce some heat it is pretty much harmless to the bulb. Color temp plays a big role in light output, the high color temp 5-6 thousand K does produce more lumens than the 3500 K range yes they tend to be on the blue side but in the case of us older folks the high color temp is helpful.

pwb01 · 08-11-2015, 06:10 AM

There's some pretty decent sales on Amazon right now on packages of LED's. If you replace all of your lights you'll double your battery life. Most of them use about 1/3 of the power as the 11 watt bulbs you probably have now.

mainah · 08-11-2015, 03:36 PM

My T1700 had 13 1156 bulbs they drew 24 amps! It now has 15 LED lamps they draw 3.08 amp!

**JohnB** · 08-14-2015, 10:32 AM

When I did my LED conversion, now about 5-6 years ago, I used the baseline of 100 lumens as the bottom end of light output. 100 works but 110 to 120 is better. 80 is not very good. It took me 3 years ($$$ was the reason) to convert the entire camper. And I could tell across the 3 years they kept getting brighter as the technology advanced.

Point: If you are under 100 lumens you may not be happy in areas you really need light (over stove, sink etc.)

Hope this helps

PS. Do you know the lumen rating on what you bought?