Replacement interior bulbs (1 Viewer)

Billy23

Free Member
Feb 10, 2012
1,610
2,984
On a planet...far, ....far away.
Funster No
19,772
MH
C Class
Exp
On and off 1995
I have heard that it is a good idea to change the "ordinary" interior bulbs in the motorhome with, I think LED ones (Might be wrong as I really don`t understand electric). Could somebody please point me in the right direction as to the type and best buy.(y)(y)(y)
 

SuperMike

Free Member
Apr 28, 2010
2,477
7,593
St Albans
Funster No
11,285
MH
Winnebago Sightseer
Exp
11yrs, but many years a tugger.
http://www.atenlighting.co.uk/caravan-motorhome-lighting

Quality stuff. Fast delivery. Excellent aftersales. (y)

You should be able to find most of what you want there. Beware of cheap cr*p Chinese ebay led's. They are often polarity sensitive, which could leave the lamp facing the wrong way and often have a limited voltage range and usually a limited life.
 
Last edited:
D

Deleted member 29692

Deleted User
It depends on your existing lights fittings.

With most of them you will just be able to change the lamps to LED ones but there are quite a few different types so obviously you will need the correct ones.

There are a few types of fittings where you won't be able to do that and will have to replace the whole thing.

If you post what fittings you have, or better yet pictures, someone will be able to point you in the right direction.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

musson

Free Member
Dec 25, 2013
487
165
grantham
Funster No
29,456
MH
low profile
Exp
since Jan 2014
Change them all to LEDs there are different grades Warm white etc,also if you take children with you and they touch the bulb led will not burn them,
 
Dec 11, 2011
839
2,102
Nr Hastings, East Sussex
Funster No
19,165
MH
AutoTrail Tracker RL
Exp
since 2010
just to follow on from what @musson has said, make sure you look at the colour of the light that the LEDs emit. The warm white ones are more like the colour of light that you get from your existing incandescent bulbs. I find the light from the cool white ones a bit too 'clinical' but it's down to personal choice.
 

RowleyBirkinQC

LIFE MEMBER
Sep 20, 2014
2,336
222,872
Dazed & Confused
Funster No
33,417
MH
A Class
Exp
Since 2007

GJH

LIFE MEMBER
Aug 20, 2007
29,450
38,828
Acklam, Teesside, originally Glossop
Funster No
127
MH
None, now sold
Exp
2006 to 2022
One of the first jobs I did in the Burstner, when we bought it 4 years ago, was to replace all the bulbs with LEDs. The lights we use mainly are four spotlights and two ceiling fittings. Having used Aten products previously I bought LEDs for the spotlights from them. The ceiling fittings were a little "tired" and the most suitable replacements were from Ledbulbs4u.

For the lesser used fittings I decided to try eBay suppliers (both China and England based) as they were significantly cheaper - the LEDs have worked fine so far but they are less robustly built than those from Aten and Ledbulbs4u.

EDIT - A decision to be made with LEDs is whether to use Warm White or Cool White - very much personal preference. The easiest place to compare is at a motorhome show where several suppliers will have both on display.
 

treetops1

Free Member
Feb 25, 2013
1,599
1,759
yorkshire/ lincolnshire.
Funster No
24,843
MH
Sold last van-
Exp
a long time,since 1996
We have cool white in the toilet/shower room warm white elsewhere,Got the cheep Chinese ones and a few spares 99P 3 years ago ,

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Jan 12, 2016
300
2,063
Amble
Funster No
41,210
MH
adria izola
Exp
since 2014
Just changed our lights to leds ,what a difference ,should have done it ages ago.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

Wickolad

Free Member
Sep 10, 2013
490
542
Wickersley
Funster No
28,023
MH
Coachbuilt
Exp
Newbie to MH, 20yrs+ Caravanning.
They are often polarity sensitive, which could leave the lamp facing the wrong way
I found this out when replacing halogen bulbs for led in the roof lamps in my caravan a few years ago. Each lamp had 2x bulbs, I had to turn 1x lamp holder through 180 deg in each of the 5x roof lights due to polarity, so that the lamp was facing the right way. I think all led lamps are polarity sensitive so don't immediately think a new led bulb is u/s if it doesn't illuminate. Try it the other way around, you may just have to unfasten the lamp holder and turn it 180 degrees as I had to. That was with G4 type bulbs.
 

Wickolad

Free Member
Sep 10, 2013
490
542
Wickersley
Funster No
28,023
MH
Coachbuilt
Exp
Newbie to MH, 20yrs+ Caravanning.
We have cool white in the toilet/shower room warm white elsewhere,Got the cheep Chinese ones and a few spares 99P 3 years ago ,
Ditto, I still have the spares too, albeit not as many as I had due to replacing a couple of friends lights when their halogen bulbs had popped.
 

SuperMike

Free Member
Apr 28, 2010
2,477
7,593
St Albans
Funster No
11,285
MH
Winnebago Sightseer
Exp
11yrs, but many years a tugger.
I think all led lamps are polarity sensitive so don't immediately think a new led bulb is u/s if it doesn't illuminate. Try it the other way around, you may just have to unfasten the lamp holder and turn it 180 degrees as I had to. That was with G4 type bulbs.

All those sold by Aten Lighting are not, and will work whichever way round they go in. One reason, I suppose, that they cost a bit more.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

Shrimp

Funster
May 27, 2015
3,962
32,908
Bedfordshire, UK
Funster No
36,573
MH
Hymer B584
Exp
Long time
We changed ours few years back, cool & warm light in washroom, cool ones in overhead then warm light in side downlighters, Hymers have a lot of lights!
They save a lot power, invaluable when on Aires in France!
 
Aug 18, 2014
23,539
131,310
Lorca,Murcia,Spain
Funster No
32,898
MH
Transit PVC
Exp
16 years since restarting
All mine are Hong Kong Fuey's top quality chinese tat. Never had a problem with either the bulbs , which the bloke previous to me had changed to, or the interior lights which I changed to the led on boards type varying between 4 & 20 led's on a board.
Never had a problem with the polarity as the wires are red & black :) Prices are excellent unlike buying them from a car spares shop here or a Bosch,Lucas,Magnetti,Marelli dealer where you need a mortgage. The only alternative is ship them from the UK.
 
Nov 2, 2014
331
295
Maldon Essex
Funster No
34,092
MH
A Class
Exp
2014
10x G4 6/9/12/24 SMD LED Warm/Cool White Lamp Home Marine Car Boat Light Bulb DC
eBay item number:151349749382
The 9 SMD Warm white are about 24mm diameter plus the legs polarity neutral so fit any way.
I have fitted around 50 of these to mine and friends vans with no problems.
£5.49 for 10 not £5.49 each.
Shipped from the UK

Chris

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

maxi77

Free Member
Mar 20, 2013
892
560
Kingdom of Fife
Funster No
25,172
MH
coacbuilt
Exp
newbie
Current and last van have Chinese Leds from ebay, no problems so far, some are polarity sensitive but you just change them round. One thing I did find was some Chinese MR11 bulbs have G5.4 bases instead of our standard G4 whch can be a problem. I have also found some of the 5w5 bulbs a bit iffy which is strange when all the other styles are OK. We also are now about 90% LED at home as well. A friend change his high power security lighting which is tripped many times a night by wildlife to LEDs and his leccy bill fell noticably.

Of course you can trade the power saved for more light, I have changed one light in the Bongo to a similar powered LED and the interior light is now worth having.
 

GWAYGWAY

Free Member
Sep 6, 2014
4,213
3,305
Dover
Funster No
33,216
MH
Hymer ML I 580
Exp
4 years
You might find that some do not work, that is because they are diodes and only pass current one way so the wire might need swapping over on the holder, two were like tha on mine when I changed the bulbs to LED, the batteries last a LOT longer with the LED as the current draw is way smaller than the halogens on the spots.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
OP
OP
Billy23

Billy23

Free Member
Feb 10, 2012
1,610
2,984
On a planet...far, ....far away.
Funster No
19,772
MH
C Class
Exp
On and off 1995
The ones I ordered are out of stock, they are G9 and fit into a converter. I now need to reorder, I see that they seem to come in different watts, could one of you kind gentlemen tell me what watts I need please.
 
Aug 6, 2013
11,941
16,533
Kendal, Cumbria
Funster No
27,352
MH
Le-Voyageur RX958 Pl
Exp
since 1999
The ones I ordered are out of stock, they are G9 and fit into a converter. I now need to reorder, I see that they seem to come in different watts, could one of you kind gentlemen tell me what watts I need please.
A bit of internet research will offer a comparison between light output from conventional vs LED - normally expressed in lumens. From that you can determine how much light is available from the different types.
 

maxi77

Free Member
Mar 20, 2013
892
560
Kingdom of Fife
Funster No
25,172
MH
coacbuilt
Exp
newbie
The ones I ordered are out of stock, they are G9 and fit into a converter. I now need to reorder, I see that they seem to come in different watts, could one of you kind gentlemen tell me what watts I need please.

An LED of about 1/5 the wattage of a halogen should be OK but some labelling is a trifle optimistic. For example I use 9 watt in place of 5 watt in the house and often 3 in place of 10 in the van. A little playing around soon gets things sorted.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Sep 16, 2010
2,994
2,849
Bungay Suffolk
Funster No
13,734
MH
Autotrail TrackerEKS
Exp
Since 2010
You can also buy them for your house under the label GU10 if you have the stubby bayonet type. I've done our kitchen, so instead of using 320 Watts of "trickery" in the 8 spot lamps when we turn on the overheads, its just 24 Watts.
Yes I am careful. ((tight))
Mitch. ;););)
 

Join us or log in to post a reply.

To join in you must be a member of MotorhomeFun

Join MotorhomeFun

Join us, it quick and easy!

Log in

Already a member? Log in here.

Latest journal entries

Funsters who are viewing this thread

Back
Top