12 Volt Lights

Ron · 09-30-2011, 08:28 AM

I know there has been alot of discussion on the 12 volt lights that hang over the kitchen sink area and the 12 volt bulbs that keep burning out in them, has anyone figured out why this is happening. We go campine almost every weekend and after the initial factory installed burnt out then replaced with new ones, I thought that I havd the problem licked, I guess not. Here we are camping again and another one is turning black. I usually figure out any issues we have with the trailer, but this one has got me beat

Happy Campin......Ron

SAABDOCTOR · 09-30-2011, 10:10 AM

HI THERE I TOOK ALL MINE OUT (MADE IN CHINA) AND REPLACED THEM WITH ORSAM BULBS. THEY COME FROM GERMANY. AND ARE AVALIBLE AT A GOOD QUALITY IMPORT AUTO PARTS STORE. NOT WALLY WOROLD OR AUTO ZONE. HAVE NOT HAD A FAILURE IN TWO YEARS! NOW IVE GONE AND DONE IT WATCH THEY WILL ALL BLOW TONIGHT WHEN I GET BACK TO MY CAMPER.HA HA GOOD LUCK

Johnnyfry · 09-30-2011, 01:14 PM

Supply voltage plays a big part, 10% high ( that is 1.2 volts high ) decreases lamp life by over 50%. Saabdoctors idea of using Osram lamps sounds right on too. We all know about QC on Chinese goods.

I have 3 bulbs in the fixture over the dining table, over the past year one of them has turned black as the ace of spades but all 3 are still running. I suspect that that one has sone sort of internal contamination. All 3 are OEM from Keystone.

John

Ron · 09-30-2011, 02:45 PM

Thanks guys, in January when we were in Quartzsite at one of the super duper tent sale flee market thingys, i bought some lights at a steal i thought untill i got back to the 5er and installed one where one had burned out, and whala, blown a fuse, come to find out my super deal light bulb had a short in it so they all went in the trash. went to an auto parts store and bought them just like the ones in a marker light #1076 i think and thought they would last just like in the rigs, i guess not. I will try the import bulbs when we get back home. thanks again........Happy Campin...........Ron

hankaye · 09-30-2011, 03:24 PM

SAABDOCTOR, Howdy;

Quote:

Originally Posted by SAABDOCTOR

HI THERE I TOOK ALL MINE OUT (MADE IN CHINA) AND REPLACED THEM WITH ORSAM BULBS. THEY COME FROM GERMANY. AND ARE AVALIBLE AT A GOOD QUALITY IMPORT AUTO PARTS STORE. NOT WALLY WOROLD OR AUTO ZONE. HAVE NOT HAD A FAILURE IN TWO YEARS! NOW IVE GONE AND DONE IT WATCH THEY WILL ALL BLOW TONIGHT WHEN I GET BACK TO MY CAMPER.HA HA GOOD LUCK

Would you still have the bulb number ???

Thanks,

hankaye

mikell · 10-01-2011, 05:28 PM

Picked up 30 of these off EBay
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2X-Warm-Whit...57855516362975

couldn't be happier. Fulltiming but just went 30 hours without power and still had plenty of battery

hankaye · 10-02-2011, 09:18 AM

mikell, Howdy;

Thanks.

hankaye

Festus2 · 10-02-2011, 10:53 AM

How do these LED lights that you ordered off EBay fit into the standard 921 bulb bayonet socket? All of my 921 bulbs have the bayonet-type socket.

SAABDOCTOR · 10-03-2011, 12:03 PM

THAT LOKS LIKE MODIFICATION TIME I BET THEY ARE BRIGHT AS ALL GET OUT. NOW YOU'LL HAVE TO WIRE IN A DIMMER.

SteveC7010 · 10-03-2011, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SAABDOCTOR

THAT LOKS LIKE MODIFICATION TIME I BET THEY ARE BRIGHT AS ALL GET OUT. NOW YOU'LL HAVE TO WIRE IN A DIMMER.

Those G4 bulbs are listed as 60 lumens each. There was another discussion thread that included the info that somewhere around 250 lumens per bulb is necessary to achieve the same amount of light as a 921 incandescent.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Festus2

How do these LED lights that you ordered off EBay fit into the standard 921 bulb bayonet socket? All of my 921 bulbs have the bayonet-type socket.

The G4 lamps in that particular Ebay listing are strictly the two pins seen in the pic. Those base pins are pretty stiff and will probably not stand up to being bent to fit a T10 so it can then be inserted in place of the 921's. Now, if you can get your hands on some of the festoon adapters, they can be made to work.

I have a drawer full of LED's that I have purchased and found to be less than ideal.

These have the T10 base for the 921 socket and are listed at 100 lumens each: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1x-T10-194-9...item3f0d2cc521

This one is supposed to be 360 lumens: http://www.ebay.com/itm/921-BA9S-Fes...item2a1217bb15

There are a number of others currently available on Ebay, but they don't show a lumen rating.

**JRTJH** · 10-03-2011, 07:38 PM

We replaced all the 921 base bulbs in our trailer with these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/High-Power-3...item27b5740117

They are warm white, come with 3 different base adapters, two sided tape to hold them in place, They are as bright or brighter than the standard 921 incandescent bulbs, and they work !!!!

We dry camp quite a bit, would be "paranoid" about not using lights, put these in all the lights and we can now use as much light as we want without almost no concern about battery consumption.

Others have pointed fingers at these lights, saying they're made in China, must not be very good. All I can say is the lights that are $30 at CW are stamped "Made in China" Hmmmmm

Shipping is free, I'd suggest you order one or two, try them, if you like them, order more, if you don't, please tell us why.....

Festus2 · 10-03-2011, 08:16 PM

John:
I have these same LED lights which I ordered a while back and just recently arrived from China. However, I did not find them to be as bright as the 921's but they give off sufficient light to do the job. I also noted that they did not stick to the top of the fixture that well as the tape didn't seem to hold. Used a dab or two of tub and tile sealer/caulking and that seems to have done the job.
I agree that the price is very attractive, there are no moving parts, they wont shread or crack at 65 mph, and my safety isn't compromised.

SteveC7010 · 10-04-2011, 02:58 AM

I did some research and found that the 921 incandescent is rated at 264 lumens. At 12.8 volts it draws 1.4 amps and uses 17.9 watts.

By comparison, the 36 diode, warm white light mentioned above should use about 1.4-1.5 watts. If my math is not too far off, it should only draw about 0.15 amp.

The 1210 SMD diode is rated at 7 or 8 lumens (finding two different ratings for the same diode). 36 of them should be right around 252-288 lumens which means that the light output should be about the same as a 921 bulb.

But, as always, the result has to satisfy the end user. I have some on order, but will have to wait until spring to report on them. DW will be the ultimate beholder in this instance...

mikell · 10-04-2011, 08:07 AM

I bought a bunch of these and they work fine but seem to stop at 12 volts anything less you only have the center LED working. Something to think about or report back. I'm going to do some more testing

http://www.ebay.com/itm/250865094258...84.m1439.l2649

SAABDOCTOR · 10-04-2011, 08:20 AM

THOSE LED LIGHTS ARE NEAT ESP. IF YOU ARE DRY CAMPING AND IT LOOKS LIKE YOU GET A LOW VOLTAGE WARNING FOR FREE. I CAN'T REMEMBER THE LAST TIME I DID DRY CAMPING I THINK IT WAS IN A TENT HA HA. THE ORSRAM BULB WILL HANDEL THE VOLTAGE FLUCTUATIONS IF YOU WANT TO GO THE INCADESANT ROUTE AS CARS WILL BE AT 12.5 ISH BEFORE YOU START THEM AND WILL GO AS HIGH AS 14.7 VOLTS TO GET THE BATTERY BACK UP AFTER A START. AND THE DOGE DIESEL DRIVERS WATCH YOU DASH LIGHTS AFTER A START AS THE WARM UP GRID GOES ON AND OFF. SO THE 1.2 VOLT SWING WILL NOT HARMA GOOD BULB. IF MINE START POPING I THINK I WILL GO THE LED ROUTE TOO.

**JRTJH** · 10-04-2011, 07:48 PM

We've had the LED's for a year now, Every light in the trailer is converted, even the "ambiance" lights over the dinette and sofa. The only light not an LED is the refrigerator light. It's a halogen and I just haven't gotten around to changing it out yet. It will be an "experiement" since I'm not sure how the LED would handle the temperature and humidity inside the reefer.

At any rate, by my calculations, it cost me less than $150 to do the entire trailer, including the running lights (tail/brake lights were extra) On the inside, they are all functioning as new one year into the test project.

As for the tape not sticking???? All of mine are so "stuck" I had to change out the white metal reflector with the LED attached when we were moving things around during the conversion. My DW wanted the LED over the sink, not over the stove during the time frame when we had only a few.... Tape still stuck on all of them, so not sure what happened with yours....

**JRTJH** · 11-03-2011, 02:14 AM

What "other companies" are you talking about? What "new proprietary festoons" use a higher grade lamp and where are they being made/who sells them? Do you have any links to the specific bulb that you refer to? I'd like to take a look at those. Thanks

SteveC7010 · 11-03-2011, 03:54 AM

I am not sure I am understanding what you are saying so let me ask some specific questions.

Are you saying that the entire light fixture is rated at 42 to 50 lumnens? Or are you saying that each individual diode in the lamp is rated this high? Most LED lamps are made up of two or more individual diodes. Each diode puts out a fixed amount of lumens, so the total output of the fixture is then the sum of the lumens of each diode.

If this is the case, then please tell us enough details about these lamps so that some of us can purchase and examine them ourselves. Stating that something like this exists without naming names and pointing us at a source just isn't enough.

One other point, you refer to a festoon style lamp. I presume you are referring to a lamp that looks like this:

That's nice, but most of the lamps in our RV's are the T-10 base type that accept the 921 incandescent bulb. A festoon lamp would be very difficult to adapt for this application.

Now if these new high output diodes are available in a fixture like this:

With adapters to fit various lamp bases like this (the bottom one being the T-10 fitting):

Then we might be talking!!!! But let us see what you are talking about.

**JRTJH** · 11-03-2011, 07:24 AM

I'm not sure at this point if I was "dreaming" this morning when I read the post about LED's that produced 50 lumens each, but I see Steve also replied to the post, however it appears to have disappeared.... What gives??? I'm very interested in the source for these LED's and any information that may be available.

What say ye, Steve ???

SteveC7010 · 11-03-2011, 08:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JRTJH

I'm not sure at this point if I was "dreaming" this morning when I read the post about LED's that produced 50 lumens each, but I see Steve also replied to the post, however it appears to have disappeared.... What gives??? I'm very interested in the source for these LED's and any information that may be available.

What say ye, Steve ???

Yeah, it was there when I responded. Looks to me like that person wants to duck out of the conversation now that two of us have asked some serious questions.

Too bad, as a leap in LED technology for our needs would be wonderful.

Just so you know, there are 1 watt diodes out there now used for lighting on fire trucks, ambulances, and other emergency vehicles. They are incredibly bright; I have a bunch of them on my truck. They're not configured so that we could use them in our RV's, and they're not designed for steady burn over hours like we use our reading lamps.

The technology is there, but it hasn't filtered down to the consumer market for automotive lighting yet.

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