Heavy_Hauler
Carlsbad
Senior Member
Joined: 08/14/2006
View Profile
 Offline
|
A lot of people complain that the current draw of their heater blowers will drain their batteries. Yes that’s true, but it turns out that your lights are the biggest energy hogs overall. I have nine 1141 bulbs in my Lance. At a current draw of 1.44 Amps each, they draw a total of 13Amps! At 12.8 volts, that equates to 166 Watts! As a practical matter I only run a few lights at a time.
I’ve been experimenting with LED lighting for some time. Up to now, the results have been disappointing. I came across some LED based lights from V-LEDS.com which looked promising, so I did some testing.
I purchased two types. The 1156-3w High Power Refractor bulb.
And the 1156 Circuit Board LED bulb.
At 12.8 Volts the 1156-3w High Power Refractor bulb draws 0.190 Amps or 2.43 Watts
And the 1156 Circuit Board LED bulb draws 0.140 Amps or 1.79 Watts.
First I measured the light output of the existing bulbs in my Lance with this Lab Grade Light Meter.
The interior bulbs were 1141’s rated at 21 Candle Power. They actually produced 21.3 Candle Power, a bit better then spec.
The exterior porch bulbs were 1003’s rated at 15 CD. They measured in at 14.5 CD output.
Both the LED Bulbs had a measured output of 10.7 Candle Power.
Note: To my eye, the LED bulbs looked bright white while the incandescent bulbs looked yellowish. My cameras white balance assigned white to the incandescent bulbs which made the LED bulbs appear blue which was not the case.
The 3w High Power Refractor bulb produced the brightest, most uniform and diffused light I’ve ever seen in a LED bulb.
The LED Board produced a less diffused somewhat directional light.
Although the LED bulbs produced only half the light of the 1141’s (10.7 CD’s vs. 21.3 CD’s) they seemed in practice to be only a little dimmer then the incandescent lights. That’s because they produced a whiter light. And the human eye perceives light in a logarithmic manner. So you need to produce ten times more light for the eye to perceive a doubling in brightness.
The bottom line:
I will be replacing my Lance’s bulbs with the 3w High Power Refractor bulbs. Even at ½ the light output, I can turn on twice the lights and still consume only a fraction of the power. Also, I can run the porch lights all night long without significant penalty. That leaves more power to run that thirsty furnace blower!
...Mike
_____________________________________________________________________
Update:
I received the additional LED bulbs I ordered. The two photos were taken with the camera exposure locked, so what you see is what you get.
Here is the before shot with five 1141 bulbs installed. The 5 bulbs consumed 7 amps or 89 watts and would completely drain a 100Ah battery in 14 hours.
Here is the after shot with five LED bulbs installed. The 5 bulbs consumed 0.9 amps or 11.4 watts and would completely drain a 100Ah battery in 111 hours.
Not quite as bright but oh so efficient. I think I’ll keep them! ..Mike
_____________________________________________________________________
Update:
Steve_in_29 wrote:I too had some of the Superbright circuit board bulbs and while they seemed to work ok off of just battery power, they started dropping LEDs fast when hooked to shore power. They use 12V LEDs (or at least they did back then) that don't like the 14V put out by my charge circuit.
I grew concerned reading some of the posts regarding LED burnout issue while using shore power. So I did some testing. I hooked up the flat panel LED array to a power supply and set the voltage to 14.4 volts. That is the maximum voltage my power converter will output.
So far the LED bulb has been running 24 hours a day for the past 7 days at 14.4 volts with no problems what so ever. I guess your mileage may vary depending who makes the bulb. ...Mike
* This post was
last
edited 11/28/07 01:00am by Heavy_Hauler *
View edit history
2004 GMC Sierra 3500 4x4 D/A EC LB DRW
Ride-Rites, RS9000X, TorkLift, Fast Guns, Superhitch
2007 Lance Max 1181
|
iwon415
Northern California
Senior Member
Joined: 01/27/2007
View Profile
Offline
|
Good stuff Mike! I'm gonna order a couple and try them, thanks for the info!
TimH
|
gregorya
Torrance, CA, USA
Senior Member
Joined: 10/10/2003
View Profile
|
I noticed the 18 & 20 HI Flux, the SMT, and the 24 LED refractor on that page as well. Do you think they would offer even more brightness?
"I have never been lost, but I will admit to being confused for several weeks."
Daniel Boone
2006 Silverado LT 2500HD, 4WD, CC, SB, D/A
2006 Bigfoot 25C9.4
|
rhode trip
Rhode Island
Senior Member
Joined: 03/21/2006
View Profile
|
Geez, good write up, Mike! That's interesting, usable information, and quite a change from all the pseudo-science we get around here. Thanks! I'm going to try some of those.
2002 Dodge 3500 CTD/DRW/AFE Stage II intake/DPP 95gph fp & big lines/Bilstein HD shocks/Bridgestone Dueler A/T revo
2000 Northern Lite 10-2000cd/ Hellroaring Bic isolator/PD-9160 converter/Trimetric 2020/Lifeline AGM 6v x4=440ah/Onan microlite
|
JUrban
Delaware
Senior Member
Joined: 06/28/2004
View Profile
Offline
|
Great analysis Mike. Thanks for the research and report that has the facts rather than unsupported opinion.
John
2008 Tiffin Allegro Bus 40' QSP
2006 Chevrolet Colorado Toad
BlueOx Aventa LX Tow Bar
SMI Air Force One toad brake
Copilot Live Laptop 10 GPS
|
|
|
kwuj
NCentral IL
Senior Member
Joined: 09/06/2007
View Profile
Offline
|
Thanks so much for the great info.
2005 Chevy Suburban Z71
2008 Jayco 232
|
54suds
adk mts.
Senior Member
Joined: 10/21/2002
View Profile
Offline
|
impressive report !
05 Ram xcab drw 4x4 06 Bigfoot 25c10.6e
|
KID2TEXAS
Memphis, Tenn
Senior Member
Joined: 04/16/2004
View Profile
Offline
|
Great job on this info... I dont think the company could have done a better job at explaining and testing these they way you did.. good info and thank for all the detail...
Kid
2006 Ford F-250 Super Duty, Amarillo Special Edition 4 X 4 & 6.0 PSD,
Tow Haul/Tow Boss/Tow Command, 18" load E tires standard.
Me, a Wife and two crazy kids 
2006 Holiday Rambler, Next Level 38FKS
|
Beddows
Abbotsford, Canada
Senior Member
Joined: 04/14/2002
View Profile
Offline
|
great info
|
Clattertruck
Centennial Colorado
Senior Member
Joined: 06/19/2003
View Profile
Offline
|
Good job mike. I plan to look into trying out LEDs
Clattertruck
2008 SD F450 PSD 6.4L CC 4X4 DRW, Lariat Auto trans 4.30 LS, 2008 Snowriver 108 truck camper. Jeep Unlimited Rubicon as toad.
|
|
|
