12v LED travel trailer lights

woodbutcher · Jul 21, 2014

The trailer came with several surface mount 12v single and double incandescent lights. They give off a lot of heat. I noticed Amazon has LED fixtures that look just like the originals. Won't the LED's give off a lot less heat?
Butch

Phil Doolittle · Jul 21, 2014

Yes they give off only about 25% or less heat(watts), also they come up to FULL brightness many times faster making them ideal for brake lights and are more physical skock resistant in most cases. Cost more but is the way to go.

Ultradog MN · Jul 21, 2014

They are also hermetically sealed so no corrosion, rust or shorts due to wet conditions.
I put a set on a trailer I used to have and ran it many miles through rain, snow, salt and cold.
They worked as well when I sold the trailer as when I installed them.
BTW,
I soldered the connections to the trailer wiring and used heat shrink tubing to insulate the connections.

D beatty · Jul 21, 2014

They are nice lights. The company I drove for took them all off our semi trailers and replaced them with old style lights. The owener of company had followed some of us drivers coming in at night in snow storms and led lights didn't give off enough heat to keep snow off lens. It looked like we had no lights at all.

Steve@Advance · Jul 21, 2014

They're great! Another advantage is they don't pull enough amperage to confuse the flasher. The tow vehicle will never know they're there.

Bob 7337 · Jul 21, 2014

the LED lights are nice But I agree with the reply thet arent no good in snow. They dont make enough heat to keep snow melted off

Johnski · Jul 21, 2014

I think you're probably talking about interior lights in the trailer. If the cost of changing the bulbs over to led is near the price of new lights then go for it. Your house battery will last much longer between charges. I plan to replace some on mine as I've noticed on my trailer that some of the lenses are warped from the heat of the bulbs on the most used lights. HTH Jf

Ultradog MN · Jul 21, 2014

No not the interior lights.
The tail lights are being made with leds now.
Click on the link for a bunch of different types.
google images

504 · Jul 21, 2014

Wait till you get rear ended,the LEDs come on a lot quicker than bulbs.

woodbutcher · Jul 22, 2014

Thanks for all replies. I should have specified that it was the interior lights I was referring to, but the discussion of brake lights was interesting.
Butch

mkirsch · Jul 22, 2014

If you're talking INTERIOR lights, then be careful what you buy. Especially off Amazon.

Many of the LED lights are not nearly as bright as the incandescent lights.

I ended up going through several different LED replacement bulbs in my camper before finding one that put out as much light as the incandescent they replaced. The panels I ended up with have 16 high intensity LED bulbs and with them all turned on I think I could perform surgery in the camper.

jeffcat · Jul 22, 2014

Yup they found out the same thing with trafic lights. The snow builds up and no one can see if it is red or green. The old bulbs were a really funny shaped 69 watt bulb. Almost a pear shape. They were 130 volt also.

woodbutcher · Jul 22, 2014

There doesn't seem to be much variety on Amazon. The only ones I've seen look like they are the same size as the trailer's original lights, but inside, where the bulb should be, is a grid of led bulbs.
Butch

12v LED travel trailer lights

woodbutcher

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Phil Doolittle

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Ultradog MN

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D beatty

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Steve@Advance

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Bob 7337

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Johnski

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Ultradog MN

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504

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woodbutcher

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mkirsch

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jeffcat

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woodbutcher

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