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Old 11-10-2020, 07:56 PM   #1
KenJFerguson
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Lower wattage lighting

During our first trip in our 2014 22RBPR we noticed a few things about the lighting that we'd like to address. The unit currently has no LED bulbs and lowering battery usage during dry-docking would be a plus but not the primary goal.

1. Salon puck-style ceiling lights with G4 halogen bulbs are too bright. Replaced with 20W LED G4 ($2 each) which are even brighter but I'm afraid that the 10W LEDs might be too dim so I've ordered a rotary dimmer ($29 on Amazon) and custom "plug" ($4 from guy on Facebook) that replaces the little red rocker switch in the switch panel to give us the option of bright or dim.

2. Bedroom G4 ceiling lights replaced with the 20W LEDs are brighter but that's fine and don't need a dimmer.

3. 1141 single contact bayonet bulbs in the bedroom reading lights and dinette fixture are too bright and based on my research it sounds like the LED replacement is even brighter. Any suggestions on a lower wattage alternative to the 18W bulbs?

4. I suspect the LED replacements I ordered for the 921 bulbs in the dome lights - kitchen, bathroom, porch light and outdoor kitchen - will be brighter than the current bulbs which is fine except for the under-cabinet one over the kitchen sink which drives my wife nuts. She is short and needs to wear a hat. Any suggestions on a lower wattage replacement for the 921? 912 perhaps?
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Old 11-10-2020, 10:28 PM   #2
bobbecky
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This site has excellent LED bulbs, and usually has different brightness options, so you will be able to get the right bulbs you are looking for. https://m4products.com/
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Old 11-11-2020, 01:45 AM   #3
KenJFerguson
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Thanks Bob & Becky. I had seen that site when I first started looking at LEDs ... not your typical Chinese cheapies. Thank you for reminding me of them as they seem like real gurus who can help me get what I need.
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Old 11-11-2020, 02:28 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KenJFerguson View Post
During our first trip in our 2014 22RBPR we noticed a few things about the lighting that we'd like to address. The unit currently has no LED bulbs and lowering battery usage during dry-docking would be a plus but not the primary goal.

1. Salon puck-style ceiling lights with G4 halogen bulbs are too bright. Replaced with 20W LED G4 ($2 each) which are even brighter but I'm afraid that the 10W LEDs might be too dim so I've ordered a rotary dimmer ($29 on Amazon) and custom "plug" ($4 from guy on Facebook) that replaces the little red rocker switch in the switch panel to give us the option of bright or dim.

2. Bedroom G4 ceiling lights replaced with the 20W LEDs are brighter but that's fine and don't need a dimmer.

3. 1141 single contact bayonet bulbs in the bedroom reading lights and dinette fixture are too bright and based on my research it sounds like the LED replacement is even brighter. Any suggestions on a lower wattage alternative to the 18W bulbs?

4. I suspect the LED replacements I ordered for the 921 bulbs in the dome lights - kitchen, bathroom, porch light and outdoor kitchen - will be brighter than the current bulbs which is fine except for the under-cabinet one over the kitchen sink which drives my wife nuts. She is short and needs to wear a hat. Any suggestions on a lower wattage replacement for the 921? 912 perhaps?
Not all LED lights are dimmable. Brightness in LED is determined by the color rendering, not wattage. Warm white is natural light. Look for 3000/3500 LEDS. 6000 is bright white. Not meant for indoor RV lighting. I replaced 35 bulbs in my trailer with 3500 LEDs love it.

https://www.amazon.com/921-led-repla...placement+bulb
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Old 11-11-2020, 07:41 AM   #5
sourdough
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As the above poster noted, the LEDs can come in color variations (brightness/lumens) in the same style bulb. You need to figure out what you like (sounds like you know) and determine how that fits with the "color" scheme of LEDs. The bulbs will also have a reference for the lumens provided.

Lighting, like cars etc., is a very subjective thing. I do not like dim, dark lighting but instead prefer brighter lighting. Others are the opposite. Below is a link that has some tables comparing lumens to watts which you are probably more familiar with;

https://www.takethreelighting.com/lu...omparison.html

Here is another that basically goes over the whole thing;

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Old 11-11-2020, 09:33 AM   #6
KenJFerguson
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cavie View Post
Not all LED lights are dimmable. Brightness in LED is determined by the color rendering, not wattage. Warm white is natural light. Look for 3000/3500 LEDS. 6000 is bright white. Not meant for indoor RV lighting. I replaced 35 bulbs in my trailer with 3500 LEDs love it.

https://www.amazon.com/921-led-repla...placement+bulb
I ordered 10 G4 LEDs (non-dimmable) with the lowest Kelvin rating I could find (3000) for ceiling lights which turned out to be too bright. I'll keep keep 2 for the bedroom but ordered the dimmable version $20 for 10), the dimmer $29) and the dimmer adapter ($10) for the control panel. Will see how that works out.
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Old 11-25-2020, 01:31 PM   #7
KenJFerguson
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Made some progress with this lighting project and some not progress:

1. Salon/gallery - Installed the G4 dimmable LEDs in the 6 ceiling puck lights and the dimmer from Amazon with panel adapter from Marty Robinson. Pretty straightforward as Marty provided detailed instructions, connectors and a Youtube video for the wiring and installation. His adaptors are really for GD models so didn't quite fit requiring a bit of trimming by me. I alerted him to this and he offered a refund which I declined as I'd made it work and now he's working on modifying to fit Keystone. I will post pics and video when I figure out how to do that.

Marty is an engineer at Dow and also does 3D printing and you can get to him on Facebook Marty Robinson in Danbury TX or email [email protected]

2. Replaced the 18W 1141 single contact bayonet bulbs in the dinette and bed reading lights with 12W 1003 bulbs that reduce brightness... temporary solution until I find an LED with low brightness.

3. Ordered LEDs to replace the 921s in the dome lights - over the sink, bathroom, and outdoor kitchen. Once again I ordered the wrong ones as they were super bright white with an industrial factory look. Marty has recommended some.
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Old 11-25-2020, 01:32 PM   #8
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Ready to install
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Old 11-25-2020, 01:45 PM   #9
KenJFerguson
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Pics of installing dimmer

Ready to go
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Doesn't quite fit... trim with small hacksaw and box cutter
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Installed
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Old 11-25-2020, 01:47 PM   #10
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Dimmer in action

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rem...fyUXkGJeC/view
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Old 11-25-2020, 02:21 PM   #11
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So when we bought our 2018 Half Ton one of the sales features was the interior LED lights. ALL of those beautiful BRIGHT white lights! After the first trip out we discovered that all that light is great to showcase a new trailer but impossible to live with. The lights are "extreme white and extreme bright". There is one switch that turns on four ceiling lights, one switch that that turns on three lights above the sofa, one switch that turns on three lights above the dinette. There are two light above the recliners that have on off switches. We've tried all combinations for night lighting to watch TV and nothing works. The lights are simply too bright.



I did some research and found that they make the same light with an on off push button in warm white. So I ordered 16 of them. Of course the parts department ordered the wrong light and I got 16 push button extreme white. The second order was correct...


I replaced all of the lights and now I can select exactly what light is on and in warm white lighting. What a difference. It is really helpful in the bedroom. Especially the light right above the bed. It was literally blinding when turned on.



Two hours and $97 dollars later problem solved.
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