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Cabin LED Replacement
I know this has been beat to death, but I’m fuzzy on just what 12v LED’s need to be purchased to replace the standard G-4 bulb. My concern is what will fit:
1. Will the LED fit the recess of the light and still allow the pins to seat in the socket?
2. Is there a polarity problem with the light requiring wire changes or can you get LED’s what are plug & play?
3. Is warm white the correct color and how many LED’s are needed?
4. We don’t us a dimmer, so that’s not important.
5. Best place to order?
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20 Replies
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Tom I replaced mine with the led all the ones on a on off switch no dimmer , I will go down to bus and get number they are plug and play , they look like that bulb but have LEDs around side and one facing down I will take pic I just got some the other day…
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Tom,
We purchased ours from this supplier
http://ablelightingcn.en.alibaba.com/productgrouplist-212865485/G4_Led.html
We found them to be very professional and the prices are the best I could find.
Warm white is the closest match to what you now have.
You’ll have to measure your space carefully and compare it to the different size bulbs.
We used a flat disk with 6 LED’s and our pins are mounted on the side of the LED bulb.
It was necessary for us to pop the reflector out of the original fixture in order for the LED’s to fit, but that may not be the case for you since your pins are located in a different position.
This is the LED that we used.
Sounds like Peter has the same fixture configuration as you have, with the pins pointing up rather than to the side. He will be able to help pinpoint exactly what you need.
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here’s what I used Tom
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you may want different color those are not real bright
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I used them in bathroom and bedroom did not want real bright in there , there are other lights that are in those areas vanity lights that are bright , these ones I leave on most of the time no power draw
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I replaced all mine a couple of years ago with LED discs like the picture another poster added. My fixtures are setup so the pin goes in the side, not the top. I got all my stuff from Superbrightleds.com I have had no failures and like them. I bought the 6 led ones, they have up to 10 or 11 if I recall correctly. Very little heat, and lots less amps being used!
I would buy from them again. Service was good.
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Mark…
Can yours be used with a dimmer?
I know that you can buy some that can and some that can’t… I think Jill and Wayne had a problem when they tried to change all of them out… they wouldn’t dim…but by leaving one G4 in place they would dim??Jill… if you read this can you clarify what I just wrote… not sure I got it right??
Diane
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Hi Diane,
Yes, you are correct, we had to leave some halogen bulbs, more than 1, in each circuit in order to draw enough amps for the dimmer to work. The LED’s that we used (pictured above) match the color and intensity of the 10w halogens so the difference is not noticeable.
When we were intstalling we kept cycling the dimmer until we had as many LED’s as possible in each circuit and still had the 4 step dimming that we enjoy.
Our LEDs cost under $20 each, when purchasing 33 of them cost was an issue. The same bulb at superbrightleds costs just under $80.
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I replaced over 70 of our puck light bulbs with LEDs. Ours were the side pin type.
There are LEDs designed for dimmers, but the dimmers must be the PWM (pulse width modulation) style dimmers, not the knob, resistance old style dimmers. You may want to contact your LED supplier to be sure they will work with the dimmer your coach uses.
Our coach has multiplex switching which uses PWM dimming. The dimmable LEDs are a little more expensive and I used the standard LEDs in the non-dimmable fixtures.
The multiplex PWM dimmable LEDs will dim in 5 steps. They do not dim quite as low as the incandescent halogen bulbs. If you desire extremely dim lighting, LEDs may not be for you.
We dry camp a good bit and the LEDs significantly reduce battery draw, some say 1/10 the amp draw. Dry camping aside, getting rid of the heat gain of the halogen bulbs makes a difference in air conditioning also.
We have been using the LEDs for over a year and not needed to replace any. I was replacing a halogen bulb way too frequently.
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Tom,
I have replaced all of my halogens in fixtures just like yours. I have used the LED “tower” bulbs shown above but I used the soft white 3700K model. I do not have dimmers.
I tried using the disc type and found one at Camping World that worked great but it was $18 apiece! On line I found a Chinese supplier with the same (looking) disc for about $2 or $3 each. I ordered 36 and they were deliverered within a week. Unfortunately the Chinese version had a small coil mounted on the back that would not allow the LED to mount in the fixture. They were returned for credit and I ordered and received the replacements in another week.
I am totally satisfied with them and have some extras if you would like to wait until you get to Pelican to see and try them.
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I am not sure if the ones I got are able to be used with a dimmer. I don’t have one, so I never investigated it. I assume not, but I think you could find out from the supplier if they will work or not.
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Has anyone found any G4 LED warm or cool light bulbs that will fit in the very shallow Marathon housings?
Mine are side mount, about 8 thick in the bulb and about 22mm long not counting the two prongs!
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they are G4 side pin with 10 LEDs warm white, $6.99 each. Work great but not dimmable.
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Gman, you may need to remove the metal reflectors from the fixtures. The LED disks have resistors and whatnot on the backs that made them too thick to fit in my fixtures with the existing reflectors in place. (The reflectors are needed for high heat halogens, but are not neeed for LEDs) On mine the reflectors were intended to be permanantly installed, so I had to crack the pastic light fixture housing where the metal prongs of the reflector snap in. Not a problem if you are careful but it took a while to do all 50 lights. The rest of the housing stayed intact. The reflectors will never go back in, but the LEDs are equal in light output, generate far less heat and amp draw compared to the halogens, so I will never go back anyway. These are the ones I used, which I think are the same as Ron references:
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Thanks, I ordered a few cheapies on eBay to test out. I think my refelctors come out so that will not be a big drama, just hope they can dim, some can some can’t I guess…then need to decide between warm and cool white.
Will report back what I find!
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