LEDs Etc

Prudent RVer = LEDs

My name is Sam Penny; I have adopted the handle of "Prudent RVer." If that sounds like I have an attitude, you are hearing right -- I do.

I identify myself with the full-time RVing community.  My wife, Alice, and I live in one of two RVs we own: either a 34-ft triple-slide fifth-wheel trailer we park at our base camp at the Jojoba Hills SKP Resort in southern California, or a 25-ft single-slide fifth-wheel that we pull around the country when it is time to travel.

At the same time, we work at living a very prudent life-style, one that does not depend upon too many of the amenities of society It is practice for the time when society may not be able to provide those amenities -- like food and fuel and energy and water.

Our official domicile is Livingston, Texas, and we are affiliated with the Escapees RV Club. We own no real estate. Governments have a hard time understanding and dealing with people such as we, but from our point of view , this is the kind of life we want to lead.

In practice, living as we do, we have a smaller carbon footprint than any of my children and most of our friends. Our living space is either 200 or 320 square feet, not counting our front yard which may be 50 square miles of some national forest. We have solar panels on both of our rigs, typically use less than 40 gallons of water in week when sitting on the desert near Quartzsite. We cook with a solar oven when it is convenient.

I operate a business over the Internet (www.prudentrver.com) and use both Internet and TV satellite communication (solar powered). I sell LED lights that replace the 12-volt incandescent and fluorescent bulbs/tubes in RVs.

We travel to various RV rallies around the country to spread the word about LEDs and to give seminars. It is our way of contributing to the future success of the human race and seeing all the sights we want to see. We expect to use less than 900 gallons of diesel traveling about 12,000 miles in the next 12 months -- sounds like a lot, but low when compared with the fuel consumption of some of the commuters and soccer moms we know.

So that is who I am. That is my attitude.

Sam Penny
the Prudent RVer

zipLED Connectivity

This is a short note to announce a new connectivity solution for putting together low voltage LED lighting solutions. This is called zipLED, a trademark from Neutek-USA.

The concept is really simple. In the 12-volt world, there are several different incandescent bulb bases, like the BA15s, the BA15d, and the wedge. You find fixtures in RVs and boats that use the sockets for bulbs of these different types. You find bulbs in the RV and marine dealer stores that fit into these sockets.

zipLED offers a series of "bases" that fit into the most common sockets in 12-volt fixtures. These "bases" have their own connectivity solution for attaching LED LightSticks or LightDots or even extension "bases" to build a network of lighting. This connectivity solution offers the most flexible connectivity for providing a low voltage lighting solution for RVs and boats.

To see this unique solution, visit www.PrudentRVer.com and click on the store or zipLED.

Sam Penny
the Prudent RVer

Long Time No See -- LEDs in the news at TOD

It has been a long time, but I am back. I hope to keep this blog more up to date.

Today I would like to talk a bit about a thread on TheOilDrum about LED lighting. I put in my two-cents worth, but was shouted down for the most part by people who think they know about LEDs. So what did they say?

DaveMart asked about a press release about Delta's new LED products. AlanfromBigEasy responded with his view of LEDs and how they fit in today's world:

"I use a mixture of LEDs and CFLs at home. It is interesting if a 5 watt LED can put out slightly more light than a 5 watt CFL, but hardly a revolution yet.

Such a 5 watt LED will cost more than $20 (perhaps $50 or $100) vs. a few $ for a good 5 watt CFL. A lot of money for slightly more lumens. ... And for enough lumens to light a room enough to read by, a LED has heat dissipation, as well as cost problems. ... AFAIK, no one has put out an Edison base LED that can put out 700 or more lumens. The reason is heat dissipation (which kills LEDs).

I have a USB powered LED task light for by keyboard and a 7 watt CFL for the area. I have a 0.7 watt red LED bulb besides my bed so I can see enough to turn on a "slow on" CFL (13 watts ?). A "Y" adapter for the bathroom light. A 1.4 watt LED for quick visit, I quarter twist a CFL for bathing, shaving, etc. (CFLs do not like quick on/off cycles, they die quickly). [also have] A 1.4 watt (I think) yellow LED over the door outside.

LEDs have a few useful niches such as where low light levels are all that is required, colored lights, where vibration is an issue (cars) and frequent on/off cycles. BUT CFLs have a larger niche."

Alan confuses the value of LEDs over that of CFLs by measuring value by the relative cost/lumen. He fails to consider lifetime and environmental factors. He also worries about "heat dissipation" problems with LEDs and uses that for the argument that larger LED fixtures are not possible -- but he is wrong. Finally, he argues that LEDs have "a few useful niches" where low light levels are all that is required. He does not realize LEDs can produce as much light as needed with the proper design.

I agree that CFLs have a large niche, but that is because WalMart and Costco have been pushing on the marketing end.

Marco comments on Seoul's new 4die LED at 900 Lumens (@ 90 lm/w) and Paul at HereinHalifax comments about issues regarding typical light flux, color temperature, life expectancy, and lumen maintenance. He adds the comment

"Lastly, there's the issue of fixture optics. LEDs can be a great choice where a moderate amount of light is concentrated in a narrow beam (e.g., a torch light), but they're not well suited for general illumination, as in the case of a table or floor lamp. Given the nature of their light distribution, I don't see how LEDs will ever replace general service lamps." 

Once again we have a case where people are talking about LEDs when they have not seen the full range of product. LightBlasters' HyBright LEDs have a 150 degree cone of lighting and are not focused into a narrow beam like the last generation of LEDs have required. LEDs do replace general service lamps! I responded

"Paul, your last comment is incorrect. LEDs WILL replace general service lamps. We are doing this already in RVs. What is required is to use the latest generation of HyBright LEDs used in LightBlasters' nexLED products that spread their 20 lumens of light over a cone of 150 degrees out from the surface of the chip. Earlier generations of LEDs are limited to as few as 15 degrees at only 3 lumens."

    I then went on to say

"I offer my experience.

I live entirely in an LED environment, having replaced all my incandescents bulbs and fluorescent fixtures with LED equivalents. The amount of light I have is the same as what I had before. The power consumption is about 15% of what I used before, low enough that I easily run on batteries charged by solar power during the day for my lighting at night.

The keys to doing this are 1) having a 12-volt DC electrical system available, 2) having a different attitude toward lighting, and 3) not trying to illuminate a 4,000 sqft McMansion with light I will never use.

My first secret is that I live in an RV (fifth-wheel trailer in my case). It has a basic 12-volt wiring system throughout, and all my LED lights run on that 12-volts DC system. So the conversion to LEDs was rather simple. In a "stick-home" with 120VAC system, it is necessary to convert the AC into the DC that the LEDs require (though some LED products can operate attached to an AC line by clipping out only that part of the current when the polarity is right. The problem is they flicker at 60 cycles per second.)

There are a number of low-voltage converters (120VAC to 12VDC) available on the market. Many of the lawn lighting systems use such converters. It is possible place such a converter into a strategic cupboard and to extend the wiring from that unit throughout a house to make the power available where you need it. The good thing about LEDs is that they typically require only milliamps of current, not amps, so smaller wire can be used. For isolated local applications, I also use a very small converter plugged into a wall socket.

The second secret is attitude. I want my light where I need it. Low-level ambient light around the room is okay, but I use light to see to read, or to build small electronic toys. My wife uses light to sew and to cook and do the dishes. We use a light over the dining table to eat. There is no need to have a bright 300watt bulb lighting the far corner of the living room. The intensity of the light from a bulb falls off as the inverse of the distance squared, so the closer the source is to where you need it, the better. Put your lighting fixtures close to where you need them. I also like to use linear light rather than point light. We have lightstrips around the mirror of our vanity rather than six large, bright incandescent bulbs with their six points of light. They spread the light out and make the area much more useful.

The third secret is space. It helps that I live in 320 square feet of living space. Of course, it also helps that I have the Cleveland National Forest (or wherever we happened to be camped) just out my front door as my yard. Don't live in more space than you need. Don't try to light space that you do not need.

Now one of the questions was the brightness of the LEDs compared to CFLs or incandescents. Products are available that produce as many lumens of good "white" light as a CFL where you need them using only one-third the power. You also don't have to be concerned with the bit of UV from a fluorescent or the bit of mercury in the CFL when it dies. And the LED will last 20 times longer than a CFL. When you compare the LED to incandescents, you use 15% of the power for 100 times the lifetime.

Another question was cost. Yes, good LEDs are expensive (unfortunately, most of the really cheap ones are dim and failure prone). but the payback comes from long life and much less power consumption. At this point, good 12-volt DC LED lights retail for about $10 for 50 lumens (using about 0.7 watts of power), and you can add more LEDs to build lamps with 300 or more lumens (4.2 watts for $60).

And by the way, incandescent lights create 7 times the heat as LEDs for the same amount of light. Unless you are heating your home by turning on the lights, you may need to run the air conditioner to remove that extra heat. Use the rule of thumb that it takes twice the energy to remove the heat as to generate it.

I believe the future of lighting is in the LEDs (unless it turns out to be a wood fire). It should be what you go for now.

Sam Penny
the Prudent RVer"

There is more in the thread, but it gets off on the color rendering index and other specifics.

It was a good discussion about LEDs, and there need to be more on similar forums. Keep your eyes open for such discussions; people are beginning to be more aware of the place of LEDs in our future.

Sam Penny
the Prudent RVer

 

TapeLights Showing at Cal Expo RV Show

Tomorrow we will be showing our LED wares at the Cal Expo RV Show in Sacramento, CA. It is not a large show, but there are lots of RV choices out in the parking lot for people to look over. There are some nice booths in the indoor market, such as ours where we show the different LED lamps and lightstrips available from LightBlasters.

Our latest product addition is the TapeLight, a flexible 3/8" wide, adhesive-back tape with three LEDs every 5 centimeters. The TapeLight runs at a nominal 12-volts, what you find in most RVs and Boats. Each HighBright-1 LED produces about 7 lumens, so you have about 120 lumens in a 60 cm strip (about one foot).

TapeLights come in a variety of colors, including cool white, warm white, red, blue, and green. A special version can be ordered that will change colors between red, blue, and green upon command from a controller (sold separately).

You can string together 65 feet of TapeLight before you reach a current draw of 3 amps, the point at which you might begin to worry about voltage drop affecting the brightness of LEDs at the end of the string. TapeLights come in 5-meter reels but can be cut at any 5-centimeter segment mark. They can be soldered together to achieve the required lengths.

If you are interested in purchasing these new TapeLights, contact www.prudentrver.com. The cost is $1 per LED in small quantities.

One Difference Between RVs and Boats

This past week we have vended LEDs at the Northern California Boat Show in Jack London Square, Oakland, CA. Response has been so-so. I have learned a lot about lighting differences between boats (or ships as some would say) and RVs.

It turns out that there is a major difference between the incandescent bulbs used by boaters and by RVers. Most notably, the RV that have bayonet type sockets for using the 1141 and 1156 use the single contact type socket. Boaters on the other hand use double contact sockets for the 1142 and 1152 bulbs.

It is interesting to understand why the difference.

I got an inkling of why when a friend asked me to check out why one of the single contact LED lamps would not work in a sailboat at the show. I took along my DVM to investigate.

Yes, the fixture was for a single contact BA15s bulb, and such a bulb burned nicely in the socket. But when I tested the LED lamp, it would not burn, even though it had worked back at the booth. I used the DVM to measure the voltage, and found that the polarity was reversed from what the LED lamp expected. The center contact was ground and the socket was +12 volts. The fixture had been "mis-wired."

Upon inspection, I noted that the fixture did not use different color wire coming from the socket, so there was a 50% chance the wiring would be reversed. I checked another fixture, and found the ground was attached to the socket as I expected.

The salesman said the problem could be easily fixed, and I agreed. The question was, why had it happened in the first place?

Some people do not realize the dangers of having a hot +12v socket, especially in a marine environment where things can be consistently wet, and a salty environment where even the water becomes a good conductor. It is a good way to develop a short and drain a battery.

Someone in the sailing industry realized this early on, and they decided to use the double contact socket and bulb. In this manner, the socket could not be shorted out to anything, and the current would be limited to the wiring, not to the chassis like in an RV. This practice has continued in most boats, especially in the salt water environs.

This problem did not appear in the beginnings of the RV industry. Using the same techniques as those used with automobile, the common ground throughout the RV is the chassis. This is not the best thing to do, but it works.

In many cases, ground connects in the electrical system are wired to the nearest chassis point, and the chassis is connected to the final ground wire back into the batteries. It saves a lot of wire, but can produce some interesting situations when some ground connect does not make good contact with its chassis point.

Of course, it is not a good idea to submerged the chassis into water. It does strange things to the electrical system.

Moral: be careful about transfering your knowledge of RVs to boats and vice versa. Sometimes, things are different.

sam

Planning(?) for the Unexpected

Yesterday (8/30 - see 9/2 update below) we had a test of our Planning for the Unexpected, an activity every prudent traveler by RV or Boat should do.

We were pulling our fifth-wheel trailer from Sutherlin, OR to a camping spot just north of Lassen Volcanic National Park on our way to the Reno area. We planned to stay in one of the National Forest Campgrounds along Hat Creek, but had not chosen one.

After passing Old Station, CA we drove east on CA Highway 44 until we saw the sign to Butte Lake Campground, 6 miles south, a new place to visit. We left the pavement and drove along on a dusty, washboard road at about 25mph. It was bumpy and dusty as hell.

Maybe it was the bumps. Four miles in Alice mentioned she smelled smoke, and I sniffed the same. I stopped at the side of the road and stepped out. Under my 98 Dodge Ram I saw a black puddle of oil. I immediately turned off the engine and checked out what had happened.

Looking back along the dirt road I could see a long string of oil stain, stretching into the distance. Whatever had happened, the truck had no oil, nor could it hold any oil. All this was unexpected.

I checked our cellphone -- nada, no signal -- but what do you expect out in the middle of a National Forest. If I could make a call, I would call Good Sam Emergency Road Service (part of my planning for the unexpected).

I looked around and checked with my compass. We were in a forest of tall pines, but there was an opening through which I could sight my Internet satellite (having Internet anywhere is another part of my planning). Had there been no opening, I would have been stuck for communications.

Then a friendly couple drove by and stopped and asked how they could help. They were not from the area, but at least they might take me to some place where I could get cellphone coverage. But then a young man by the name of Seth Mitchell drove up and stopped. He said he was a forester working in the area. He could pull my rig up the road to a level spot and he knew where get cellphone coverage. I thanked the other couple and put my faith in Seth.

In some way, another part of my planning is to smile and trust others who offer to help. So far it has worked. It worked this time.

Seth pulled my truck and trailer about 100 yards to where we could get them out of the road and waited while I got the trailer set up. They we drove back toward Hat Creek to the vista point to make my phone call.

The next part of my plan failed. I was among the first to adopt the AT&T One Rate nationwide plan back in 1998 when there was nothing else quite so ubiquitous. Now they are Cingular, but when I tried to make my call, there was no signal. Cingular does not work along the Hat Creek valley. I plan to revisit this choice and probably go to Verizon service. They appear to be doing a better job of covering where we travel.

Maybe I should add a VOIP service so I could make Internet phone calls. That sounds like a good addition to the plan in hindsight.

Seth loaned me his phone and I contacted Good Sam. I had the complete directions for finding our rig in the middle of the forest, down to the latitude and longitude to the nearest second. Charlotte from Good Sam called back in about 10 minutes and conferenced me in with Bob Tucker who is taking the truck into Redding. We made sure he knew exactly how to find us and agreed to communicate by email. I was feeling better.

Seth returned me to the trailer and headed home. I set up the satellite antenna on its tripod and quickly locked in to a good signal. We are now communicating with the outside world and redoing our schedule.

Our rig is fully self-contained and I always carry a fresh tank of water. The propane tanks are full. The rig has solar, so if we are frugal in our usage of resources, we are good for a week or more at this spot. Having all LED lighting inside the rig surely helps. It was all unexpected, but we are actually in a beautiful camping spot. We just don't have any motive power at this time. I do expect to have that problem solved in the next few days.

sam

A Mission

Let's get started on why this blog exists. There is a reason.

This blog is to here to promote our website, www.prudentrver.com. That website is where I talk a great deal about a "prudent" style of living and suggest that people should purchase the products (LEDs for RVs and Boats for the time being) that we offer.

You may wonder why I am pushy on the "prudent" life-style. It comes from the fact that I am a futurist with a background in physics and engineering. Most futurists are optimists, and to some extent I fit that mold, but others (more like me) are realists (and maybe pessimists), trying to look into the future to see what trials and tribulations we face in the near term, and what faces our grandchildren in the long run.

To be honest, I do not hold much hope for the future of our current civilization. I fear that at 6.5 billion bodies, we already exceed the reproductive energy capacity of the entire earth, and at the rate at which fossil fuels are being used, within my lifetime (I expect to live another 25 years to age 95), we will be sucking on the bottom of the fuel tank. The weather will change dramatically, and not the way we want. Food sources will dry up, literally. Pandemics will sweep the world until they cannot find a way to spread. Disasters of a magnitude we have never experienced will happen, and the world will drop into chaos.

I became interested in scenarios of the future many years ago when I started to wonder what would happen if events of the past happened in today's "modern" world. (See www.the79scenario.com) The example I chose to study was what would it be like if today's world experienced a series of earthquakes of the magnitude experienced in 1811 and 1812 in the heartland of the Mississippi Valley. 195 years ago, there were about 5,000 souls living in the affected area; today there are 32 million. It was the worst natural disaster to ever strike the United States, at least in terms of potential damage. Today, it would simply be the worst.; ten times what Katrina did. I wrote a couple of novels telling what it would be like: Memphis 7.9 and Broken River. You can find books these on Amazon.

I recently saw a History Channel episode on Mega-Earthquakes that described what Memphis and St. Louis are looking at (USGS says 10% chance in the next 50 years). I was both pleased and dismayed when they quoted the worst case: 80,000 dead, 500,000 injured, 10,000,000 homeless. Those figure are directly out of my books.

Back to this website. I have done the book tour scene, trying to tell the people of the central US what they are facing and warning them they must do something. Some agreed with me (like CUSEC and CEIR and the MidWest Earthquake Center in Urbana) and are busy trying to do something, but they face a daunting task. I am no longer sure there is enough they can do to make a real difference.

In fact, I have concluded that survival has become a personal thing. Can I survive the calamities that are sure to come? Is there something I can do to ensure success? And is there something of what I have learned that I can share with the rest of humanity, so that others can survive as well? And what are the various kinds of disasterous situations do we face in the future?

Out of those concerns has come has come the development of the Prudent RVer and Prudent Boater website. I see recognize that at least some of today's RVers and Boaters have the survival talents necessary to handle tomorrows trials, and by building on those talents, maybe we can create a group of humanity that will be capable and equipped to handle the future, whatever the challenges may be.

So, our mission as The Prudent RVer is to be far-sighted in our search for the key elements of a lifestyle that is thrifty, wise, and frugal. We are vigilant to real opportunities and wary of choices and habits that threaten our existence, and the existence of the rest of humanity. At our website we share what we find that is prudent.

I am not sure if it can make a difference, but at least it gives me a focus for my thoughts on what to do to help myself. Let me know if it helps you as well. And join the movement to survive the future.

sam

A Calamity at the FMCA Charlotte Rally

Not only are we selling LED Lamps for RVs at www.prudentrver.com, but we have been working as vendors at RV shows and rallies around the country. I will tell you more about that in a later post.

I want to tell you about today's news, because there is a lesson about being wary as an RVer.

Alice and I are vendors for LightBlasters LEDs and had a booth in Gillette, WY for an FMCA rally. We were preparing to travel to the east coast to set up our booth at the FMCA National Rally in Charlotte, NC, when we received the news that our grandson in Tacoma, WA had been hit by a speeding pickup and critically injured. We needed to head back to help.

We immediately started a search for someone to take over our booth in NC, and to cover the Fall Escapade in Van Wert, OH for us as well.

Jim and Linda Harriss of Edwardsville, IL answered our call and we traveled to near St. Louis to hand over the booth parts and inventory and to train them. They agreed to do both FMCA and Fall Escapade. Then we headed back to Tacoma.

Last week the Harrisses traveled to Charlotte to do the FMCA show. I had arranged for onsite parking as a vendor, so they had a place to park when they got there. They were put in the vendor area next to a creek at the Charlotte speedway.

They told me the first day went well, and that evening they headed out for supper with Kelly from LightBlasters.

It started to rain, and rain hard. When they returned, they were horrified to find their fifth-wheel trailer and truck under water from a flash flood of the creek. They had been placed in the flood plain.

The latest word is that both vehicles are being totaled by the insurance company. The Harrisses are picking up the pieces and returning to Illinois. They will not be able to cover the Fall Escapade.

Why am I telling you this? First for the news about our representation at the shows (or lack of it at Fall Escapade). Second as an example of things to watch out for when traveling in an RV.

Flash floods happen, and they happen quickly. Water destroys RVs and their contents. Jim lost his laptop computer among other things. Their records and other papers in the trailer and truck were water-soaked. Luckily, the water did not get into the upper level, else they would have lost all their clothes and bedding.

So far, no one at FMCA seems interested in taking any responsibility for what happened. Nor does Charlotte speedway take responsibility, even though the same thing happened in 2003 during a Nascar event. The Harrisses and others caught in the flood will be "talking" with them.

Moral of the story: it is up to you personally to be wary. Watch for risks, especially the unobvious ones, and if someone puts you or your rig at risk, do something about it. You can refuse to accept the risk.

And finally, don't park in a flood plain, in North Carolina or in Arizona or anywhere else you may travel.

Are LED Lamps Best for RV Lighting?

This short piece was first published this August in the RVLifeStyle.com ezine.

Did you know that 19% of the world’s energy goes to produce lighting? The World Energy Agency says that if we replace inefficient forms of lighting, including open fires, incandescent bulbs, halogens, and old fluorescents fixtures, with more efficient sources like LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes), we can save almost half of that energy.

Last year I looked at my RV and found that over 60% of the electrical power went to incandescent lighting, at least until I turned on that A/C. Even the fluorescents used more than I expected. That was why we couldn’t boondock on solar in the desert until the tanks were full.

I checked out LED lamps and found they used only 1/7^th of the power required by an incandescent bulb to produce the same number of lumens of light (lumens measure light like gallons measure water). I decided to replace my inefficient lighting with LEDs and halve the power requirements in my RV.

I learned more interesting facts. AON Insurance reports that 52% of all RV fires start in the 12-volt electrical system, often involving hot light-bulbs that melt fixtures and insulation, char wall-paneling, and burn curtains. Eliminating white-hot bulbs with LEDs made my rig safer.

Incandescent lights use 85% of their power to create heat and attract bugs. The A/C must use twice that much to get rid of the extra heat. In hot weather LEDs tripled my savings, and I could read in the evening without flying distractions.

Of course, LEDs look different; they are different. The light spectrum from white LEDs does not include all that red and infra-red that makes them hot, so they have more yellow, green, and blue light that mixes together producing a clear, bright white. Newer technology is yielding more warm and cool varieties so I had a choice.

I found that LED lamps are high-priced if you want quality, cheap if you accept junk. The price is coming down and with quality construction, the lifetime of the LED fixture matches the lifetime of the LED, designed for 100,000 hours – that’s eleven years. Incandescent bulbs have expected lifetimes of 200 to 2,000 hours. It is easy to justify the higher cost with the longer life. And I think of my high-quality LEDs as an investment. When I trade that old RV, I plan to take the LED lamps with me.

Best of all, LED lamps are now being designed to fit the environment of the RV interior. Lamps that send the right amount of light to the right place are available. They run cool and safe inside any coach or trailer. They fit into existing light fixtures as replacements for those hot incandescent and halogen bulbs. They simply plug-in and play.

Are LED Lamps best for RV lighting? Yes – that’s why I discarded those old bulbs that Thomas Edison introduced in the 19^th century and started using 21^st century lighting.

Visit www.prudentrver.com for more comments and LED products for the RV and Boat lifestyle.

 

LED - Light Emitting Diode

LEDs are the preferred lights of the 21st century. Using less than 15% of the electrical power to produce the same amount of light as incandescent bulbs, they are a necessary part of our future. This blog will be devoted to getting the word out about LEDs -- what is available that is good, what is crap, and where to find it.

Check out www.prudentrver.com for some of the new, higher quality LED lamps coming along.

Incandescent lighting was invented by Thomas Edison in the 19th century, and we are still using it. Why? Do you still ride a horse to work? Do you still use a typewriter?

sam