On LED lighting

Ron's Technical Tips No. 2.3 Amps

LED's - an alternative view.

Based on my own experience, and on reading pretty much every post on here since the beginning, I am starting to feel slightly negative about LED lighting, or at least about about installing them everywhere.

There are two main reasons for this - the first is how they look and feel - the aesthetics of them, and the second is just how much power do they really save?

Don't get me wrong, I like my LED installation, but it has taken me several years and at least 3 separate designs to get it to my satisfaction, and my present installation is in addition to and not instead of the original Hymer lighting. 

The first mistake I made was thinking that all leds are the same. They are not. I had to learn about "colour temperature", and that there are many, many shades of white. Several years ago it was difficult to know what you were buying, but now the market has settled down into roughly 2 shades of white - "cool white" and "warm white". Most people know this nowadays, but it is worth saying for the sake of completeness. Cool white is very bright and has shades of blue, and warm white has more yellow. It's down to personal taste, but in general most comments I have read indicate that warm is the way to go in a van, and cool is too harsh, a bit like an operating theatre. The main thing to remember is that it can make a big difference, and getting it wrong is just a pain in the rear. My first bathroom install lasted less than 24 hours before I put the old bulbs back!

The second mistake I made was underestimating the quality and design of the original lighting. Having lived with it for many years, when I started to replace elements of it, I found that I really missed them! Not only the lighting, but the feel and temperature as well. This is the main reason why I have retained nearly all the original lights in my present installation. I think one of the reasons for this is that most of us grew up with the look and feel of the old style lighting - both incandescent and fluorescent. Am I the only one who so often goes into a pub or restaurant which has just had all it's bulbs replaced willy nilly with modern bulbs, and gone "ouch!"?

So what's the appeal? Power saving! You are all mostly shouting. Well I have looked into this quite deeply, and I just don't think the power saving is all that great, or that important. Most Classic Hymers have a combination of 12v strip lights, and small round halogen spots. The strip lights are quite efficient, about 1 amp, and the spots less so at about 2 amps. On paper the difference is quite big, but in reality? I can't imagine a situation where you would have all the lights on for 6 hours. So the lighting "bill" for an average evening might be in the order of 10 amps. Yes the led's might only consume 20% of that - but so what? You have at least a 100 amp battery - you can afford it! And the real deal changer in recent years is that fact that the vast majority of us now have solar panels or some sort, which start to work as soon as the sun comes up, putting power back in.

As an example - take the 4 bulb bathroom column in most Classics. Switch it on and watch the rest of the lights in the van dim, and watch the needle zoom into the red! But Hymer always did things for a reason. You need light to do your makeup (Jon Avery!). As soon as you do away with those 4 powerful bulbs, you will miss them! And the reality is that Hymer didn't bother about how much power they used because they would only be on for a short time. They might use 6 amps - but for how long? So think about this before you rip them out.

My contention is that it isn't how much power you save, but how you use the power available. 

Power saving through lighting is only really a big factor if you are spending a lot of time off grid, and in particular in winter, where there is less sun available.

I am not trying to put anybody off LED lighting, but I do think there is more to think about than just power saving.

Finally, here are some random thoughts about LEDs.

Led strips in the curtain pelmets look super! But you have to install them properly. Nearly all the self adhesive strips I have used have eventually started to come down after a year or so - it can be very frustrating. You have to clean the surface very well, and basically if it doesn't say 3M on the backing strip - don't use it! You can repair falling strips with hot melt glue, or other glues, but it's a fiddly job.

RBG strips that change colour are very funky, but not as replacement lighting. The white that they produce is not liveable with. I suggest RGB strips for decoration and entertainment only.

LED bulbs that consist of lots of leds in clusters are, only in my opinion, the most potentially disappointing of all. Just one faulty flashing led and the thing becomes a source of annoyance. There have been gazillions of cheap Chinese led bulbs on the market, and already I reckon most of them are in the bin. If you have to use bulbs, buy the best you can possibly afford.

Quality in general can be pretty bad. On the whole I have been disappointed with the quality of the components I have used over the last few years. Last year I decided to go in the opposite direction and seek out the most expensive gear I could find - the sort used by proper fitters in commercial establishments. So far a year has gone by without a single fault. So you get what you pay for. Bear in mind that you really only want to do the job once! 

If you are getting on a bit, and find that you need more light than you used to for close up work, then well installed, powerful, high quality, dimmable, warm white led strips can be an absolute boon - especially over the kitchen and dining area.

So in conclusion, think twice, plan your installation, use the highest quality you can, think carefully about the aesthetics and don't be obsessed with power saving.

Also

On the subject of the original Hymer tube lights - most of us have one in the bedroom and one in the van. These were (I think) made by Philips, and are no longer available. However they are a lovely design, and part of the Classic look. They don't consume a lot of power, and have a nice light. The tubes can be replaced, but when the transformer goes, as many do after 25 years, then it's quite a wrench to replace them with a modern unit. However it is a very worthwhile project to rip out the insides and install warm white led strips inside. The end result is very good, and preserves the "classic" feel.