RV LED lights

I assume any of you buying a newer trailer already have LED lights coming standard now? So this mainly applies to those of us in an older RV.

The first goal I had with the RV LED lights was to cut power consumption. After I put a battery meter in the RV I was able to measure how much power each of the bulbs drew which was around 2 amps. My 2005 trailer came with the common 921 incandescent bulb as standard. I could have replaced all the light fixtures with LED fixtures but it was so much easier to buy 921 compatible LED bulbs. The first set of bulbs did not disappoint in their much reduced power draw, I’d say they used 10% or less power than the original bulbs. But their brightness level was disappointing to say the least. And even though they did not provide much light the little pinpoints of light on them was hard on my wife eye’s. I did find some larger similar ones later and they provided about the same amount of light as the original incandescent bulbs but the same pinpoint of lights problem. Shortly after installing these lights the quality problems showed up, they start flickering and burning out. These pictures show you what these ones looked like:

13 LED version, bad! It saved a LOT of power but it wasn’t very bright. And even worse it wasn’t long before they started flickering and one by one stopped working

17 LED version, better but still not great. These ones came closer to matching the brightness of the original. This batch had better quality but still a lot of them failed.

Then I found some 921 base LED lights that were encased in silicon, they were more money but they have turned out to be great. The silicon is kind of rubbery feeling and must be designed to absorb the damaging heat produced by the LED circuits. The draw more power but still only about 25% of the incandescent bulbs. And they are a LOT brighter than the originals it really makes a difference to have these bright lights. So far after 2 years they are still going strong. I save a lot of battery power, and the trailer is much brighter inside.

This LED light barely fits because it’s so long, but it produces a lot of light

A smaller version where we don’t need quite as bright of bulb

Same idea but based on 5730 LED’s. Slightly brighter again

You can order the lights in various color temperatures (warm like the original or more daylight balanced). The daylight balanced ones seem a little brighter but overall I think I prefer the warm ones. I kept the daylight ones I bought and have them near the windows and it matches with the light coming in from outside. Overall I’d suggest experimenting with what you prefer.