Save money, reduce heat, increase safety, by replacing your little halogen bulbs used in recessed RV lighting with LED G4 replacements.
First: What is a halogen bulb
A halogen bulb is, for all practicality, NO DIFFERENT than a regular incandescent bulb. Electricity flows through a tungsten filament in both types of bulbs and consequently glows brightly. Unfortunately they both get very hot as a side effect of how they are made to glow.
The difference is that the halogen bulb’s tungsten filament is encased in a tiny sliver of quartz which is filled with halogen gas. This has the side effect of making your bulb last a little longer.
The other side effect is that for the same amount of power (electricity) the halogen will be brighter. You could also say the opposite – for the same amount of light, the halogen bulb uses about 2/3 of the electricity of a standard incandescent bulb.
What is a G4 bulb
When you see the letters G4 used in conjunction with lighting, it means the little tiny bulbs with the two tiny pins coming out. These pins are what you plug into the electric to get the bulb electricity. BTW – all lights bulbs have a number/letter designation which helps you figure out the size and the shape you need to plug into the light socket. For example, most RV bulbs are called 921 bulb. When you see the letter/numbers 921 you know exactly what you need to buy!
So when you see G4, you know the size and the plug/bulb/socket requirements.
BTW – I have a simple LED selector guide on RV52.com.
Lower your electric consumption using LED G4 lights in your RV!
I’ve always wondered why there are light bulbs being sold with just two pointy leads coming out their base end. It turns out those have a name and an application.
Before I give you the info, let me show off where the application is located in my RV.
In our 2010 Open Range 399BHS, we have a pots and pan hanging rack over an island (pretty cool). Inside that overhead rack which the picture you see below is looking up at the ceiling, there exists three small recessed lights.
Each of these recessed lights contains a G4 halogen bulb. The G4 is the name of the pointy pins configuration. I’m pretty sure that these are 10Watt bulbs based on the reading I’ve done. This means that for every one of these you replace with an LED light bulb you should save 8Watts of power.
The fixture that the G4 lights insert into is round with two VERY small holes. I don’t think you can mount the bulb wrong with these prongs.
To remove the G4 Halogen I did the following:
- Turned the black light cover counter clockwise about 1/3 of a rotation. It just dropped off.
- Pulled the G4 Halogen bulb straight out.
Below, you’ll see the original 10W Halogen G4 bulb I removed from the fixtures. On the right, you’ll see the LED G4 replacements I ordered online from Amazon.
On the G4 LED replacement there are 6 High Intensity LED’s mounted and on the backside some circuitry that makes sure that the 12V RV power is at the correct voltage for the LED’s as well as fix a little problem LED’s have.
The problem that the circuitry fixes is that while the G4 Halogen does not care which way it goes in, the LED’s do, so the circuitry is added to make sure the LED’s don’t care which way the pins go in.
It is a very long electrical engineering talk to explain, but just know that all LED replacements must have a little circuitry in them.
To replace the G4 halogens with the LED G4 lights I did the following:
- I made sure that the LED’s (the yellow things) were pointed out or down as they give off the light. This is a 180 degree light application.
- I then pressed the two prongs into the holes in the hanging pots and pans fixture where the original halogen bulb was
- I then put the lens on and twisted 1/3 turn clockwise.
So – how did the LEDs perform?
They were OK as a replacement. They were not as bright as the halogen was, at least in my mind, but they did perform admirably. (Marlan’s note: This article was written in 2012 or so – LEDs are so much better nowadays – they are much brighter)
One important note : I noted that the halogen bulbs get very, very, very hot. Because halogens get so hot in the ceiling with the insulation and little bug dust that I feel the halogen are a fire hazard. Therefore, replacing halogen lights with LED lights will dramatically reduce the chance of a fire due to your white hot lights.
The LED lights COMPLETELY reduce the fire hazard risk from the heat given off by the lights to a very, very low level.
I would wholeheartedly recommend the LED lights for halogen bulb replacement.
If possible, get MORE than 6 LED’s on the tiny circuit board for a better replacement. However, there are probably brighter LED”s available too.
Possible G4 LEDs from Amazon using search ( go to selector guide for more choices):
Other Lighting Articles from RV52.com
I’ve written a fair amount about RV lighting. Here is a taste of those articles:
