Archive for category LED lights

Wrights Lake 2011

Posted by Family RV in California camping, Eldorado National Forrest, Family RV Fun, LED lights, Wrights Lake on October 1, 2011


Sam at Wrights Lake

Sammy at Wrights Lake

Getting an early start for the long labor day weekend we made it up to Wrights Lake this year on the Thursday before Labor day. This is the latest time of the year we have been up there and it was a good thing.

The campground didn’t open to the public until July 22 this year, so by the time we made it up there on on Sept. 1 the short summer season was already winding down. Though by Friday evening all the RV sites were filled-up and there was a lot of adults and kids out and about to enjoy the long weekend.

Sam in Kayak

Sammy with Joe kayaking up the channel

What we noticed this year was there were many more mosquitoes than in past years (I assume because of the very high percip. this winter). It was just a minor inconvenience because we did bring extra bug spray.

Also this year we invited some friends to join us (Claire had booked an extra campsite). It made it extra fun inviting the family we met on our first trip to Wrights lake four years ago (the Welton’s) to spend the weekend with us.

This year we also tried to make sure we did some hiking around the area. We started out Saturday morning wanting to hike up to one of the mountain lakes (maybe Grouse Lake), but only made it a few hundred feet up the hill before the kids started complaining. So we decide to just hike around Wrights Lake, which was more than worth it and very beautiful. I think we are going to have to wait until the kids are in the teens before we attempt a hike like the Grouse Lake hike.

Ben kayaking up channel

Ben kayaking up channel

Kids fishing at Wrights Lake

Kids fishing at Wrights Lake

And this year Ben was able to be a little more independent and paddle around in a borrowed kayak. We paddled all the way up the channel to last passable section. And of course the kids tried their had at fishing, but to no avail. Well maybe next year.

Also a little different this year is that we invited are friends the Walhs up on Sunday evening for an afternoon picinic and swim at the lake. The kids had a great time and I think the adults had fun too.

And because we were dry camping we relied on our battery for the whole five day trip. I think the LED lights really did the trick because our battery never got below 3/4 charge.

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Switching over to LED lights

Posted by Family RV in dry camping, Family RV Fun, LED lights, Power conservation on August 25, 2011


We are getting close to our annual trip to our little piece of heaven called Wrights Lake for the Labor Day long weekend.

And with that trip it will be our longest “dry” camping trip of the year. Dry camping, for those that don’t know, means that we won’t have a water, sewer or a power hook-up. We will be totally dependent on our batteries for light and propane for heat.

Looking forward to that I began looking into ways to limit the draw on the batteries so we don’t have to worry about them going dead during our trip.

LED bulb by incandescent bulb

Incandescent and LED side-by-side

One way to save on power is by switching out all the light bulbs in the trailer to LED lights. LEDs are a great way to reduce the use of battery power while still enjoying a brightly lit room.

Using LEDs can save almost 85% in juice. An LED bulb draws an 1/8th of the power an incandescent bulb. But they can produce the same amount of light and don’t generate any heat. What really swayed me towards LEDs (in part) was this cool chart on comparing LEDs to incandescents and compact fluorescents (CFLs). Looking at that chart you can see the environmental advantages as well as the financial.

What was important to me was that by using LED bulbs I would enjoy all the benefits without any downside. So that meant I first needed to test an LED bulb that I thought would replace the existing incandescent while having the same brightness and general color temperature.

I found an LED bulb that, in my tests, seem to generate an equivalent or better brightness of the incandescent but only drew 3.24 watts compared to 23 watts for the equivalent incandescent. That is huge!

LED comparison to Incandescent

LED on left - Incandescent on right

But incandescent bulbs have a more yellow color temp. (that people are used to) compared to LED bulbs. Most LED bulbs will look closer to day light color temps.

It can take a little getting used to, but the day light color temp. can actually be an advantage because the light seem brighter than the yellow incandescent color.

So the LED bulb I bought to switch-out most of my incandescents is the Ming’s Mark 1156/1141 330 Lumen LED bulb. It is only $16.98 and available on dyersonline.com

(The bulbs available on Dyers are the “warm white” version and will be closer to an incandescent than what is pictured above.)

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