Back in 2013 I wrote about upgrading our interior lighting from the standard automotive type bulb to a replacement LED bulb. I recently upgraded those LED bulbs with a better product that is fairly inexpensive.
Our Original LED Bulbs
There were a couple advantages to changing out the original bulbs. First, each of the automotive bulbs drew 1.28 amps of power, while the LEDs only drew 0.25 amps. That’s huge. Secondly, the LED bulbs had a brightness of 360 lumens versus only 270 lumens for the automotive style. The LEDs had a claimed life of 50,000 hours versus only 1,000 for the automotive bulbs.
Back in 2013, 921 LED bulbs were really, really expensive. So other than spending some money to replace working inefficient bulbs, there was no downside to the switchover.
The change inside the camper was dramatic.
But over the years, occasionally the lights would flicker off for a couple minutes or two, which wasn’t a significant problem, because most of our fixtures have two bulbs in them. But anything that does not work as it should irritates me. One possibility is the thin wire in the base that connects to the light socket may not be making good contact, but the randomness of bulbs flickering ruled that out. So I figured it was just a problem in the bulb’s circuitry, which is not uncommon with these kinds of bulbs.
So it was time to search Amazon.
Super Bright 921 LED Bulbs for RV
These new bulbs are flat, meaning all the light will go directly to the lens. I was somewhat apprehensive that this might create more of a task lighting effect than area lighting. Also, the bottom of these new style bulb have much bigger contacts for the light socket, instead of thin wires.
The new style bulbs draw .317 amps versus .25 amps for the old LEDs. In exchange for a slight increase in amperage use, the new bulbs put out 680 lumens versus 360 for the old ones. That’s an increase of almost 90% in brightness. Lastly they are bright white, whereas our old bulbs were a warm white.
So what the heck, the new bulbs cost only $23.99 for a pack of 20. There were 513 ratings on Amazon with an average score of 4.8 out of 5. I don’t hold too much faith in consumer reviews, but when you get several hundred with nearly 5 out of 5, the product is probably pretty damn good.
The improvement in light quality and brightness is significant. It was almost too bright to take pictures and I didn’t want to go through all the trouble of setting up a tripod going through all sorts of camera settings.
All that remains is to see if they don’t flicker. I left them on for 48 straight hours and haven’t noticed a single flicker or change of any kind. I think these are going to be a winner.
Super Bright 921 LED Bulbs for RV Indoor Lights Camper Trailer Motorhome Marine Boat Dome Interior Light (Pack of 20, 6000K White)
$23.99 ($1.20 / Count) (as of June 28, 2024 15:38 GMT -07:00 – More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
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