Have over the last couple of months been experimenting with some Led replacement bulbs and so far have been disappointed.
Basically I want to replace some of my lamps not all with Leds as people have mentioned that you can get brighter Leds than the bog standard 12v 10w Halogen's.
Now I would like to replace the toilet lamp as I like to leave it on all night so the kids can go to the toilet on there own and they cant reach the lamp unless they stand on the toilet seat
Also I would like to replace the 2x bulbs in the awning lamp (same spec) with something brighter.
I have so far ordered a couple from EBay via China on recommendation on this Forum and the are not even as bright as the standard halogens, so I really would like some first hand help please !
The only ones I can find which look good and equivalent to 30w (apparently) are from a company called Ultra Leds but they are £11 each
Has anyone got any first hand experience and suggestions ?
Regards.....
------------- FINE PRINT: I reserve the right to be wrong. Should you prove me wrong, I reserve the right to change my mind.
to save battery would a PIR in the toilet area to switch on the light not work? just a thought.LED yes after being at the show and seeing all the lights i can see our lights are dim in comparison,but as you say they are expensive to buy.would a PIR work????? you will need to bench test one. may help
depends on the light fitting i would guess as to what types of led's your after fitting, Car shops do sell LED conversion bulbs normally just the 21w and 5w for the car, and these arnt cheap either, as for something that give out the same light as a 30w bulb, they may do them but you are looking at sily money, but there again LED's wil last far longer than a conventional bulb and they take far less current to run. Ultra LED's have been going for a long time, and mainly deal in car type led's, (or they used to) their customer service is supposed to be good, but I have never used them, other than that, you could always see what maplin has on offer
Hi luke, As michael suggests, or in mean time you could try as i did, I ran two lenghts of cable from power side of light accross the roof channel seam down the corrner of toilet door and placed a flat switch (kind you get on table lamps) about 3ft high, and used silicone to glue it in place, now grandkids can switch it on no problems.
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If in Doubt Check it Out.
The LED's that I use mostly came from Ultra Led's - check their website or call them if you need help. I found them easy to deal with but as you say they tend to be on the expensive side. If you want a simple light for the kids you could try one of the magnetic lamps that are battery powered. I got one from B+Q about 2 years ago and it still has original batteries. It has a movement sensor in it so it does not have to be on all of the time and it does not come on in daylight. I also have a couple mounted on my aframe to warn me when I am about to walk into it when coming back from the pub in the dark!.
------------- 'A sure cure for sea-sickness is to sit under a tree'
the thing to look for is the SMD LEDs, these are the square ones, rather than the old round type, you get much more light, better colour rendition, and wider beam angle out of this type of LED, the downside being they cost slightly more.
secondly, get either proper caravan ones, or the car type ones, these are more resilient to voltage changes, most household ones are designed to be used with a 12V driver, which keeps a stable 12V, a caravan can be anywhere from 11.5 to 14.4V.
I changed all my bulbs to leds, they are really bright. There are two types warm and cool. The cool ones seem brighter so I put these in the bathroom and kitchen, whilst the warm ones are a more subtle light, used these in the lounge and bedroom. I used a company called - Aten lighting they are based in Melton Mowbray, they have a good web site are there service is very good. They do exibit at most of the major shows. It is fals economy to buy cheap leds.
------------- It's not what you take when you leave this world behind, it's what you leave behind when you're gone
That's interesting as I have had mine installed for a couple of years in 'van and about 4 years in house and so far I have not had a failure. In the 'van I did install a small voltage regulator on the lighting circuit as I was unsure about how clean the 12v supply was from the caravan transformer. I recall that with the old tungsten lamps they used to go dim when the water pump was running which indicated to me that the supply was not as regulated as it should be. In the house the leds work via a 12v transformer specifically designed for lighting and I guess that that is also regulated.
I have a sneaking suspicion that the suppliers of leds are not always totally upfront about how susceptible they are to unregulated supplies and also how variable the caravan supplies are when loads are switching in and out of the circuit. As leds are now being fitted in cars etc I guess the reliability issue has been resolved by the manufacturers of the cars otherwise there would be a huge stink raised. I think I will have to check with a friend who is involved in automotive design and see what he says.
------------- 'A sure cure for sea-sickness is to sit under a tree'
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Topic: LED Bulbs
