Star - Line 655 Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 I have just replaced six MR11 halogen reflector bulbs with MR11 warm white LED's (12) and everything was fine until I connected the Motorhome to to the mains. After a short time three of the LED's started blinking, not all of the diodes only three or so at a time. I discovered that when the mains was disconnected things returned to normal and the lights operated as they should. When the ' van is on hook - up the control panel shows the battery voltage rising from 13.5 to 14.6 volts and I presume this is the reason for the "blinking lights". Can anyone please throw some light on this subject (excuse the pun). Is it normal for LED's to behave in this way when connected to the mains? Apart from disconnecting from the mains when using the LED's is there any other solution? The charging system in the Motorhome is the Elektroblock ELB 100 and the reason for changing the bulbs was energy saving as we camp at week-ends quite often without hook-up. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
747 Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 It might help if you said where you bought the LED's from. Are they the ebay cheapies from the Far East or bought in the UK? I have the EBL 99 and have no problems with my LED's. If you mainly camp at weekends then you can last with a fully charged battery, even in winter, as long as you are not continually using a lot of 12 volt gadgets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterjl Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 I have the same problem with my LED spots and its been like it since new. Brownhills changed the LEDS and it was OK for a week or two then back to blinking. I have changed the spots to normal and they work fine and, to be honest i prefer them to the LEDS which are not really bright enough (but my sight is not best and i need bright lights to read by at any time of the year) - i am sure it must have a small impact on battery life but not enough to bother me. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Dwight Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 Peter L I see you have an Autotrail, check the LEDs as if they are Labcraft they are gauranteed for 2 years. It seems that Autotrail have had problems with LEDs we have now had 5 of our strip LEDs replaced out of 6 all within the first year, they were all replaced under warrenty. I was talking to a supplier at the Newbury show and he said there have been a lot of complaints with LEDs in Autotrails. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 I have had exactly the same experience with so called "premium" led or should I say smd units bought from a UK based company that assure their units are voltage safe to 30 volts dc and guarantee them for 1 year. The blinking you describe was eventually followed by complete failure of some of the units. A claim on that guarantee was refused on the grounds that It may have been my electrical system at fault. despite having spent £110 with them, go figure........... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travelling Tyke Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Sorry to hear about problem leds again. Small voltage changes can effect them depending on how they are regulated (if at all). I fitted 5 multi led warm white MR11s and 4 single warm white MR11 "spots" over 4 years ago, all bought from Hong Kong via fleebay and had no probs. either on HU on the charger or just on the Hab batteries. It seems that the slightly higher voltage of the charger than that of the batteries on their own is the problem and that the lights are Duff........This could be down to "bad connections" (poor joints) in the relevant lights - it don't take much to "mess-up" low voltage connections. For interest, it is worth changing to leds and they are getting better all the time, All of the 9 leds draw about the same amps as 1 of the halogens I replaced. In simple terms it means that I can have all of them on for 9 times longer than just one of the halogens. This leaves more power for the TV/ radio use (if wanted) Looking at it another way, the 4 amps (per hour) that I save using the 5 general lights, say for 4/5 hours in winter time is better than that a 100 watt solar panel could be expected to produce in UK in winter............The lights have cost me about £50, this includes the fittings etc..........a 100W solar panel? Well this depends where you get them from, for me it would be fleebay and they are still over £2 per watt there.......(I do have a regulator - I bought that before I did the maths when a solar panel seemed to be the way to go) Hope you can get them sorted, it is worth it. Just picked up that it could also be a "charger problem" if it seems to happen on particular MHs......It may be that there is some slight ripple or spikes on the DC that whilst not affecting other systems, is taking out some substandard leds.......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinhood Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 As has already been noted, it would be interesting to know where you bought the units from, and whether they were advertised as being voltage tolerant. As detailed in another thread, I had problems with units bought from the same supplier as 1foot.. but through insistence was able to get a refund. I have, however, had several different sets of voltage tolerant units from Aten Lighting over a few years, and these are all still working perfectly without problem (some in the same location as the previous units from the other supplier that lasted a matter of hours!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Does appear to be a wide range of quality around in LEDs my MR11's were 99p from Hong Kong they are brighter than the halogens they replaced and work fine on battery or hook-up. Also used some 240v G10's at home early ones kept blowing not had any problems with later ones I believe the technology has improved significantly over the past couple of years but there is probably a lot of old stock in dealers. Some of the early ones didn't handle over voltage very well and needed to be run from a regulated 12v supply I wonder if Star-line's LEDs were old stock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterjl Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Hi david our strip leds have been/are fine - its those darn led spots that cause all the blinking trouble. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Star - Line 655 Posted July 1, 2011 Author Share Posted July 1, 2011 Thank you everyone for your responses. It would appear that at the moment LED's are a mixed bag. I bought these LED's from my local Caravan shop They were of branded quality and were individually boxed with the suppliers name and address. Furthermore they were supplied in two lots, the first off the shelf and the second on re-order from the wholesalerso hopefully not all old stock. I intend replacing the remainder of the halogen capsules which are G4 side pin and would be grateful if Lenny could tell me where he ordered his units from at such a competitive price. The real reason for replacing the lot is that we go to a Club THS for up to three weeks in July without hook up and it is very difficult to stretch the two 110ah batteries over that period. I have to resort to an engine run on alternate days to charge them. Incidently I use sparingly a 12volt Pace Satelite receiver and a very low consumption Roadstar 13 inch TV and manage to get by on this arrangement. Any other energy saving systems like LED lighting would be very helpful. Thanks again for your contributions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 Further to my earlier post, a couple of units sourced from Aten lighting have been fine, so for now at least debunking the other suppliers ( U******S) explanation for early failure of their goods. We have a total of 12 lights in our PVC ( yes I know the converter went over the top ) we can have all the lights on if required and they draw about the same amount of current as one halogen. Battery life is now not an issue at all. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 Star - Line 655 - 2011-07-01 10:41 PM grateful if Lenny could tell me where he ordered his units from at such a competitive price. I'm back from the Winchester Hat Fair. The G4's I used a bit more expensive UK sourced ones they have been excelent got them from here : Leon Lighting I used the fully encapsulated 12 SMD LED s The supplier on ebay I brought the MR11's at 99p on ebay is not listing any items at the moment there are plenty of other sellers offering similar prices from Hong Kong at that price it's worth taking a chance my ones have been fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Star - Line 655 Posted July 6, 2011 Author Share Posted July 6, 2011 Thanks for the link Lenny. I have had a look and there are plenty of options here. When I get the chance I will order some G4s. Without prolonging the issue though, can someone tell me what the difference is between ordinary LEDs and the SMD variety. I presume the LED's are diodes and the SMD's are chips (without the fish). Again presumeably the SMD's are brighter. Which to buy? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 No contest SMD's like these, excellent, go for the highest light output you can afford though. And no I am in no way connected with the company. I did have the older LED's when they first started to come on the market and they were rubbish. Likewise some Ebay junk, and a so called quality supplier "Ul*****eds, they failed after a short time. http://www.atenlighting.co.uk/home.php?cat=269 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anern Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 LED lights can generate electricity much more efficiently than the incandescent light bulbs, which rely on filaments heating to the point where they generate light. These light bulbs also often are better for plants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 I'm sure not many of us knew that, what a useful post. 8-) 8-) 8-) 8-) 8-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 Does that mean I can grow Skunk and benifit from FIT :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 WOW! "LED lights can generate electricity" I'll get rid of the engine puts some LED's under the bonnet and an electric motor no more fuel bills. :D :D :D Seriously though I wish this Spammer would p**s off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stewart Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 Star - Line 655 - 2011-07-06 8:15 PM Thanks for the link Lenny. I have had a look and there are plenty of options here. When I get the chance I will order some G4s. Without prolonging the issue though, can someone tell me what the difference is between ordinary LEDs and the SMD variety. I presume the LED's are diodes and the SMD's are chips (without the fish). Again presumeably the SMD's are brighter. Which to buy? Thanks. For info: Most of you will know that LED means light emitting diode. We are used to seeing LEDs as single devices usually with the chip encapsulated in a small piece of plastic. The earliest ones from a few decades ago were always red and could really only be used as indicators, not for illumination, as they were not very efficient. On their own they require between 1 and 2 volts to make them emit light up. In practice, some simple electronics is needed to make them usable for lighting, mainly to regulate the voltage. The term SMD in this context just means that one or more of these LED chips is/are mounted on a small board. SM means surface mount - just to avoid confusion with other indulgences. If the SMD are brighter, it will be because the SMD technology allows more LEDs to be mounted together in a small space. I don't know what is causing the lights to blink. However, it is far more likely to be the control electronics than the LEDs, so there is no intrinsic reason why the SMD versions should be any better or worse. Stewart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilf Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 Just found this post in a search for LED bulbs. So I have not created a new tread. I am thinking of changing my halogen spots for LED bulbs but I have heard that there is a problem with some LED bulbs “blinking” when on hook up. I have checked with a supplier and have been told that the cheap LED bulbs are the ones that are having the problems; but if I go for voltage regulated LED bulbs all should be okay. At £10 each these seems expensive over the 99p eBay offers. Has anyone bought any cheap ones off eBay and are they voltage regulated? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 As said above I fitted 99p MR11's, not had any problems with them, very seldom use hook up but they have been OK when I have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wints Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 I fitted the flat ones (9 off) and the the spots (4 off). One of the spots has lost one of its 16 leds, but no real bother. I'm off hook up most of the time. All bought off ebay almost a year ago. The flats were, I think, £ 28 for 10 which included delivery. The spots were 99p (+ £1 delivery) each. All sourced from China with a warning 'may take up to 3 weeks delivery'. The flats came within 3 days, the spots about five days. An approximate reading using the Hymer display unit indicated that if I had all the 13 leds switched on the current drain was the same as for 1 halogen unit. I'm a satisfied customer. Allen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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