Converting 12V. dome style indoor RV lights to LED

[Alphawolf]

I am looking to change some of my indoor lights in my trailer to LED's, so as to reduce current draw during extended camping trips, while running on battery only (no generator or plug-in). The lights are of the type in the link. I am thinking clusters of 5mm Nichias, but I would like your opinions. I can't afford to do all the lights in my trailer(there are too many of them!), but I would like to do a few critical ones, like the ones over my dinette, and in the bathroom and etc. I am assuming it would be just solder a cluster of say, five LED's, plus resistors, into the automotive bulb mount that was the original light, right? RV dome light

[83Venture]

I remember this topic in some of the RV forums: IRV2 (http://irv2.infopop.cc/eve), Popuptimes, Popup explorer (http://www.popupexplorer.com/) you will have to use the search function. Hope this helps.

[idleprocess]

There are a slew of drop-in 12V LED "bulbs" on the market - odds are there are numerous sources you could check out.

I can't find one site I used to browse through, but superbrightleds.com has numerous 12V products.

Also - before you start to solder anything to a bulb socket, keep in mind that 12V systems tend to wander all over the map on voltage. 14V isn't all that uncommon, and it can drop below 12 under enough load. If you drop most of the voltage across a resistor, the LEDs won't be too over- (or under-) driven should voltage stray from 12V one way or the other. Better, some sort of current regulator for greater efficiency and a wider range of input voltages.

[Eugene]

Make sure you buy plenty of LED's they are not nearly as bright. I bought some for in my truck and they are nice bright leds, brightest I could get, hurt your eyes to look at them bright, but they make far less light that even a small under the dash light.

[HarryN]

Georges80 builds similar things. If you PM him, he might be able to set you up.