Solution to "halogen to LED problems"

[Lou]

Didn't know if this should be a new post.

Our neighbour/friend who is retired electrical engineer came to look at problem of our replacement LED lights (that are part of banks of lights) only going to dim when switched on.

1. They discovered that when plugged in to electricity the main bank works just fine and you can also use the dimmer switch (not that we care about that). Naturally when he was there they also worked fine on battery. He wonders if perhaps the problem was caused by low battery. I don't think that is likely but they are definitely working right now.

2. The bank at the back of the van (called TV lights) would only come on dim no matter what the power source. He wondered if the switch didn't sense enough resistance. He suggested changing just one LED in the bank of lights back to halogen. They did that and now everything is fine. We have so many LEDS that it will still save on electrical usage.

My husband knew that we could buy a fancy on/off/dimmer switch that would work with our LEDs but it was large, ugly and obtrusive and would need an electrician to install. We did talk to Pleasure-Way and they said we could buy a standard on/off (no dimming and easy to install) switch to replace the on/off /dimmer switch at any automotive store. This is what we will do if we have any more problems. I don't know very much about electrical systems so hope all of this makes sense.

All of our single and double LED lights continue to work well.

I will let you know if the banks of LEDS continue to work (without dimming themselves) after our next trip.

[Lou]

Out on our trip, the main bank of LED lights became a problem again (always being dimmed). We used the same solution we used for the other bank, we removed one LED light and put back one halogen. Now both banks are working well. No problems whatsoever with single or double lights but then none of them have dimmers.

[Lou]

More Problems.
New LED lights worked okay all summer (battery power and plugged in) but a week ago we suddenly had problems. One of the LED replacement lights (of the two reading lights over the couch) popped and basically melted. We thought maybe it was defective, then two more from the so-called TV bank popped. We were plugged into 30 amp power. We didn't know what the problem was but we still had the halogen lights in the van so my husband switched most of the lights back to halogen. The next morning our fridge wasn't working properly so now we wonder if there was something strange about the power in the campsite (because the next night it worked properly on electricity). Now we have no idea what to do about the LEDs, the fridge is fine.

[AK49er]

Could your light problem be caused by your battery problem that you are having? Or...is your light problem causing battery problems. It seems that sometimes it is hard to get quality LED bulbs that last, I'm not saying that is your problem, but it might be something to look at. Good luck.