L.E.D Bulbs, deabte . . .

edgerton19 · 10-10-2012, 23:07

To answer the original question it depends on the type of lighting fitted in your caravan. If you have fluorescent lights fitted the LEDs will be only very marginally more efficient as their efficacies are similar (but the latest LEDs win).
If you drive them via a resistor to control the current you are on a looser as the resistor just converts the excess voltage (and hence power) to heat. If you buy switch mode LED drivers the conversion efficiency should be over 90% and you can series LEDs, work on each LED needing around 3 to 3.3V at their rated current.
The big problem with home construction is getting the heat out of the LED body, at work we build high power LED light engines on PCBs with an aluminium substrate and these are then mounted on aluminium heatsinks. Small low power LEDs can be mounted on FR4 but you still need to back the assembly with some form of heatsink.
In your position I would look at a ready made solution, Labcraft got a good write up in RadCom for their 12V LED lamps and no I don't work for Labcraft but I do work for a UK company that manufacture 100,000 LED drivers and light engines a month!!

10-10-2012, 23:07	#10
edgerton19 Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Yorkshire Vehicle: Terrano 3.0 SE Posts: 99	To answer the original question it depends on the type of lighting fitted in your caravan. If you have fluorescent lights fitted the LEDs will be only very marginally more efficient as their efficacies are similar (but the latest LEDs win). If you drive them via a resistor to control the current you are on a looser as the resistor just converts the excess voltage (and hence power) to heat. If you buy switch mode LED drivers the conversion efficiency should be over 90% and you can series LEDs, work on each LED needing around 3 to 3.3V at their rated current. The big problem with home construction is getting the heat out of the LED body, at work we build high power LED light engines on PCBs with an aluminium substrate and these are then mounted on aluminium heatsinks. Small low power LEDs can be mounted on FR4 but you still need to back the assembly with some form of heatsink. In your position I would look at a ready made solution, Labcraft got a good write up in RadCom for their 12V LED lamps and no I don't work for Labcraft but I do work for a UK company that manufacture 100,000 LED drivers and light engines a month!!