Interior LED lights

[b team]

I do a lot of wild camping so I need to conserve batt power. In the factory interior light fixtures I replaced one of the 1156 bulbs with a LED PCB.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?product=OTHER

I put one of these LED units in each fixture. This way I can use LED and if needed switch on the standard bulb for more light.

I'll post up some pics if you're interested.

 

[DirtyDog]

That sounds like a great idea! I'd like to see the pics....

 

[craig333]

How much light do you get? I did a little research on led lights and it seemed for interior lighting they leave a lot to be desired. I just upgraded one of mine to fluorescent. I paid about a third of the price getting it off ebay as opposed to what most rv places want.

 

[captainkettel]

LED Replacement bulbs

I too changed out my interior 12V lights with replacement LED bulbs. Found mine on this site. Seem to put out lots of light and use very little power. They range in price from about $5-$16 each. Depends on how many LED bulbs you want to use. These are 1156 bulb replacements. Mine were $6.99 each.

 

[DirtyDog]

How much light do you get? I did a little research on led lights and it seemed for interior lighting they leave a lot to be desired.

I have used led lights in other applications and my guess would be they would allow you to do most of the things you need to do indoors, but wouldn't be so great for reading light. It's all about the battery life.

 

[benburnett]

led

Just had one of our customers do a similar thing. Instead he actually cut a hole in the glass on an 1156 bulb and replaced the filament with an LED. Then he added the electronics inside the light and it works great for him. He actually liked it so much that he did it to the rest of the bulbs in the camper.

Your way of buying it looks a lot easier though.

 

[b team]

LED glued to light housing with caulking

LED light

LED and standard bulb on

 

[b team]

No flash and taken at night so the pics are bad.
Reading with LED. The light is ok for reading and doing work in the camper but if connected to external power than I would use the std bulbs because they are brighter (and a lot cheaper too)

Reading with LED and Std bulb

 

[craig333]

Thats not bad. May have to get one. Be nice to be able to leave a light on not worry about killing the battery.

Here's a question for you readers. I read in bed. I use the camper light closest to the bed and I use a fluorescent lantern on the other side of me for when I roll over. Anyone have any better ideas (move overhead would be nice)?
In my camper theres no clearance for a hook to hang a light on when the camper is closed. I'm thinking maybe some kind if battery operated light stuck up there with velcro.

 

[b team]

the battery and velcro would be cheap and easy. Before I installed the led lights I used a flashlight. I know they make battery operated led sitck on lights.

 

[benburnett]

lighting

I love some of the ideas that everyone is coming up with on the lighting.

Unless you are camping for extended periods though, it really is not an issue in using the camper. I have been out for 4 days at a time in the camper, parked in one spot and not running the truck to recharge the battery in that time and never drained a battery.

That is using the heater while I was parked, the lights at night for cooking and reading, the 12 volt outlet to keep a phone charged and also using the lights in the morning to cook. Also some use of an electric water pump while doing dishes.

 

[George]

There are a lot of super high output LED's on the market. I have an old LED array with a fancy switching power supply and 24 LED's. The other day I put together this board, just a resistor, with 3 Star 3 Luxeons, two whites and an amber. It blows the 24 out of the water.

http://www.pbase.com/image/73794435

The big power resistor limits the current to about 200mA. So for a full night of 5 hours, you would use 1 amp. I can read by it.

You can really drive these LED's, up to 350 mA. If you use a good variable resistor, decent wattage, you can have enough to read and you can dim it anywhere you want. You have to use a ballast resistor, but there are fancy supplies that will do a lot more and drive a bunch of these things.

What's really nice about these Stars is that they have about a 120 degree angle. So you aren't wasting much on the sides, but it's not a spot. I like throwing an amber in with the white. The white is harsh.

There are some good spiral fluorescents that take about an amp an hour. They fit in any AC fixture, but you have to set them up for 12 volts. Mostly that's the polarity.

George

 

[George]

Ben,

You might be right on the batteries. It helps to buy a 15 dollar multimeter and take voltage readings. With experience you can tell when the battery is discharged more than, say, half.

Batteries last longer without deep discharges. But this chart is interesting.

http://www.windsun.com/images/cyclelife2.gif

If you fully discharge the battery every time, it still lasts upwards of 200 cycles. Sure, with a half discharge, it lasts 1,000 cycles. But how long, in a camper, will it take, to get to 200 cycles.

I don't think the standard 12 volt RV lights are at all efficient. If you use two of them for five hours a night, you are using a quarter of your battery. And I have a fridge that is a real battery hog, an Engel.

 

[John D]

I bought LEDs for my experiments from Superbrightleds.com. They provide information about wiring LEDs, polarity, and resistors for various configurations. So far, I have actually built prototype units with 2 or their part numbers, RL5-W45-360 and RL5-WW7035. I have use a bunch of different LEDs from RadioShack but Superbrightleds is a better less expensive supplier.

Here are some points. For any given part number, more LEDs means more light. Different LED part numbers have ratings for a cone of brightness. I am modifying 12 volt bulbs to convert my fixtures to LED sources. New LED based fixtures will look entirely different.

There is a lot to be learned about the quality of LED lighting and the medical effects. The light from most white LEDs has a bluish color. Even the LEDs sold as having a softer light have a bluish look. In the terminology of physicist the temperature of LED lighting is high, over 7000 degrees, whereas the color of incandescent lighting is 2800 degrees. This refers only to the color and does not mean LEDs are hot to the touch. They are cool. My concern is the +7000 degree lights may have an ultraviolet property that might be harmful to the eyes. With dim lighting comprised by a one to four LED elements behind a diffusing lens, I don’t think there is a problem, but 36 LEDs directly into the eyes … I would be cautious with really bright LED units until more information is available. I do not know if there is any danger to the eyes or not from LEDs.

My objective in these experiments is to reduce electrical consumption in my camper. Maybe I can use a couple of AA batteries to light my camper for a week. I have made no progress on running my furnace with LEDs

 

[Brian]

Interior lights...

For reading in bed at night I have installed a Moldex pigtail in my 12v system and when we pull out the bed at night we plug in a cord connected to a small flourescent fixture that I rubberband to the lifting apparatus above the bed. It sounds more complicated than it is. The cord runs up one side of the bed and I stuck a piece of velcro to the sideliner so the cord will be out of the way. It works great, however at some point I will install a moldex plug in the wiring harness where it goes up to the roof....that will streamline the entire deal. I have some large rubber bands that I got from a commercial fishing equip. supplier in Alaska.
A much simpler set up is to just use an led headlamp that runs on AAA batteries. They last a long time and you can buy batteries anywhere.
I also installed a circular flourescent fixture in place of one of the factory incandescent fixtures and have never had a battery issue drycamping for 4 or 5 days at a time. We very often sit up playing games at night for hours. I have no other power needs other than lights. In fact, as I have said in other posts, I have a solar panel that I have never used since my power needs are so small.
I have a small one amp battery charger that I installed under the hood and connected it to the house battery so that if we plug the rig in to AC, it trickle charges the battery. I have done this on other rigs and have never had a low battery issue. I only plug in if it is cold and we think we will need our heater, a small cube type ceramic heater. If it is cold and we have no plugin, we have a "Black Cat" portable catalytic tent heater that we use. Only before bed and in the AM though, due to possible CO. (also have a CO monitor).Brian

 

[HERR42]

how much are the luxeon stars? they are stars right? or V's ?

 

[craig333]

Here's last nights test with the same setup as bteam.

First is just the led on. Second one is led plus the regular bulb. The other fixture was turned off for both pics and it was very dark outside.

Comments on the led. Though I probably wouldnt read with it (you could if held a book directly underneath) its plenty to dress by and do other camper chores. I had to get up in the middle of the night and it was lot nicer with that light than blinding myself with the regular light.