LED rear brake lights on 2001 Beaver

[Richard Cooper]

I did a search of threads and could not locate any previous discussion of replacement brake lights -- the whole thing including the red plastic outer part as well.  I met someone at a rally, and he said someone at a FMCA rally was selling the whole kit as described above which will match up with what your coach has for brake lights.  Except the kit contains LED lights instead of the regular light bulbs of yesterday.

Can anyone tell me their own experience in doing this on their Beaver and where on the web I can order the whole kit to fit my 2001 Beaver Marquis?

[Joel Weiss]

Richard--

I'm not sure why you want to replace the entire light assembly when it is so easy to replace the bulb with an LED equivalent.  Several months ago there was a discussion on the forum of using a spring-open star-shaped bulb as a replacement.  Subsequent to that I purchased a pair of those (in red) and they perform quite well--far more visible than the standard bulb.

Joel

[Dick Simonis]

Joel, which ones did you buy??   Now that we're home I have some tasks and doing this to both the MH and Toad are high on the list before our next trip in Nov.

[Joel Weiss]

I used these: http://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/tail-brake-turn/1157-led-bulb-dual-intensity-30-smd-led-spider/818/ but there are probably others that would work well, also.  The "spider" lights provide multiple bright lines that are visible through the lens of the light fixture and there is enough scatter to cause the entire reflector to light up as well.

[Dick Simonis]

Thanks Joel.  Did you replace the ones on you toad as well?

Dick

[Joel Weiss]

Thanks Joel.  Did you replace the ones on you toad as well?

My toad is a 2009 Malibu LTZ which happens to have LED tail lights already.  My rule of thumb is only to replace bulbs with LEDs where I expect to see an improvement.  IMHO, LEDs are still too expensive for me to relamp every light fixture in the coach.  I relamped one fluorescent fixture after the ballast died, but I haven't done that to any others and I've even bought a few replacement fluorescent tubes because they're still a lot cheaper than LEDs.  I've also installed flexible strip LEDs under my front cabinets because they made a huge difference, but I see no real benefit to simply swapping bulbs out; the energy savings isn't going to make enough of a difference in the way we RV.