Trying to ID correct LED bulbs, advice please
We plan to swap the standard bulbs on our van with LED's, as so many have advised. As usual I get lost in the jargon. The bulbs I've just taken out say, as far as I can tell on the rather wobbly stamp, HP21W12v(E2). Or maybe it's "IHP21W " etc.
Obviously I want 12v bayonet replacement LED bulbs, but what I don't know is how many of the numbers & letters in the spec have to match, for them to fit, and work!
For example, I get offered "380 BAY15D 1157 WHITE 12 DOME LED DRL SIDELIGHT SIDE LIGHT BULBS SLD200101" and also "R5W BA15S P21W 1156 9 LED Car Tail" which also looks the right thing, but again, I don't know. They both fit "standard" car tail lights, but I know from my own car that bayonet fittings and size vary in sometimes annoying ways!
So any advice on how much of these figures on the side of mine need to match would be very welcome please.
As would comments on how many LED's are needed for a useful light one offers "12 Dome LED", one 9 LED, but I'm (can't resist this....) completely in the dark about how many will be either useful or merely a poor glow-worm.
There are lights costing £2.99 a pair, and also ten times that - difficult to know whether it's worth spending the extra, or just a case of being ripped off.
Thanks as ever for all the shared expertise here,
Richard
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I just went to a store which stocked them, displayed them, understood them, compared them and explained them - and made it clearer to me than buying on line from an e.bay seller.
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Thanks for this. And this is where the annoying way my post has appeared in triplicate works against us! On another version of the same thread, there's a link to Bedazzled. It turns out they're quite close to us in Northants, and they've already sent a helpful reply to my enquiry, so yes, Eurotraveller, that's exactly what I'll be doing too.
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If by noting the bulb types you mention I am right in believing you are talking the "road lights" of your van, I have to ask why bother?
You will have a car with an alternator to comfortably power these and going LED brings little advantage other than "life". Even that with a caravan is likely to outlast the van.
You could also unless driving a very recent car to throw up light warning and or indicator issues as most cars are set up to recognise only filament lighting bulbs; LEDs being so low consumption are seen as failed.
Where LEDs are invaluable is the van's internal lighting, for those of us who go off EHU where we need to "eek out" our batteries very limited stored energy and work with the lowish yield from sensible sized solar cells.
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While the bulb I mentioned is the same as a standard road light, it is from an internal light, and yes, it's the internal lights we're planning on swapping. Sorry if I didn't make this clear.
It's a relatively old 'van - no halogen bulbs in this one
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Okay sorry for going off on a tangent, just can't remember any of my van's using 21 Watt rear light type bulbs.
You most definitely want every one of those you could use other than very briefly if dreaming of going off EHU.
LEDs should reduce the power drain by a factor of about 8 at the least.
I think I would be changing the internals to more modern G4 and the like [G11 G16] so the light throw can be where it is needed, rather than the wasteful 360 degrees the one you have exhibit.
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That will account for our learning experience, then: we took the van off for our first proper caravan trip last month, and found that if we made the mistake of using all the lights all evening, on a cold dark and proverbially stormy night, twice running, along with having forgotten to switch the fridge to mains, even with EHU recharging the (new) battery, the lights began to fade after some hours! While this was definitely something not to repeat, it increased the resolve to go for lower energy lighting before we do try going off-grid.
I've no idea if the bulb is fully what Rapido intended - the van is from 2000 but the design quite a few years older - but it's what the last owner left in. And I guess too there were less options on what was available when they began building these, maybe?
Thanks Ocsid.
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I would be careful about changing bulbs that are ""vehicle"" bulbs as the change in current can cause an error being recorded by the ECU. The ECU thinks a bulb is faulty or broken and can show a fault. If the fault is not cleared , although there are working lights, is an MOT failure.
Internaly bulbs can be changed at will. I found that Roadpro very useful. One thing to note that some LEDs are polarity sensitive, and wiring changed if the bulb cannot be reversed. Roadpro bulbs have circuitry that senses polarity,
rgds
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Totally agree with TonyIshUK, leave your vehicle bulbs as they are meant to be as modern cars look for the resistance in the bulb. Changing the internal lighting of the caravan is easy and there are lots of LED replacements or simple retro-fits on the market that will cut battery usage. However, it's a waste of time and money if you mainly use sites with EHU.
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I can only assume the same applies to caravans, but converting vehicles road lights to LED's i.e. taking out a standard filament type bulb and replacing it with an LED is illegal. VOSA or whatever they call themselves now issued a statement last year saying that unless they are "E" marked they are not legal for road use unless fitted in a lamp/reflector housing designed for use with a LED.
This was prompted by car owners fitting after market HID headlamp conversions and LED replacement bulbs which do not conform to the current C&U regulations.
Chances of getting prosecuted for it are slim, but why risk it?
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