12 Volt CFL Lighting

I just ordered some 5 watt, 10 watt and 15 watt 12 VDC CFL lamps, gonna give them a try in the RV to see how well they might replace those inefficient 15 or so watt incandescent lamps like RV's and Boats use. Of course, LED lighting is even more efficient and I am considering them also, but will give a few of the 12 volt CFL's a try.

When we dry camp where theres no shore electrical power we hardly use any 12 VDC stored battery energy in the day, maybe an occassional vent fan or the water pump. Then in the night theres a bit of light, vent or water pump use, but with some solar panels if its a sunny day the batteries can pretty much recover the next day. All that (I have 460 Amp Hrs of Battery energy Storage via 4 Deep Cycle 6 volters) plus solar and an Onan genset if all else fails, dry camping (like Utah and Colorado BLM and Natl Forest lands or Army Corp of Engineers, free or fairly cheap with Access Senior Pass) at elevations where its warm days n cool nights, camping isnt too expensive....

Anyone used the 12 VDC CFL's ???????????? Like them????

John T

All cfls have an inverter in them. The track record of 120v cfls is poor.I have 9 duds that had a short life.Ive had smoke roll out of them.Found the bare power wires blue from overheating.I count over 20 small parts that will burn.Use at your on risk.

You won't be sorry with them and right now believe they are still a better buy then LEDs.Our one fifth wheel was almost 100% CFLs and loved them,however if the LEDs turn out as well or better they are easier to change because all you need is the bulb vs changing the whole fixture.

I would be interested in hearing more about them too.
Going to be staying up at the camper for deer hunting and the 12V lights aren't real bright.
I suppose I could look it up on Google but what is the average wattage of camper bulbs and how many lumens do they put out.
Would the CFLs put out more light per watt?
I do have shore power but if I could get a little more light over the cribbage game that might be good. All the lights are 12V in the camper - no 120V except for a couple of outlets.

I've been using them for years. No problems. In fact - they've been somewhat more durable then the 120 volt CFLs I've got in my house in barn. But that might be because of the different brands.

I've got the ones with the standard Edison threaded ends that are the same as a standard 120 volt AC incandesant bulb. So, it's easy to make mistakes and burn them up.

I've had two failures with the 12 volts CFLs. Both when my wife screwed them into a 120 volt socket. One big pop. Even blew the 15 amp breaker in the fusebox once.

We have a cabin that is wired half with 120 VAC and half with 12 volts DC. That's the problem. The fixtures that are on 12 volts are marked with a Sharpie pen reading "12 volts." But, since they look like normal 120 volt fixtures - mistakes get made. Also if you lay a 12 volt CFL next to a 120 volt CFL, they look the same. Easy to mix up.

I've also got a few 12 volt LED bulbs. So far, I'm not impressed with the light quality. They certainly do run on less current but the light quality itself is awful. That was an issue with the 120 VAC LEDs also - but now after many reviews by users, they've been improved. Not the case for the 12 volt LEDs though since they are not in great demand.

One wierd thing with LEDs. There seems to be no threshold of low voltage where they don't still put out a slight amount of light. A 12 volt LED still puts out dim light with 1/10th of a volt.

The BIG advantage to LEDs is their durability when used in a places that gets shut off and on, a lot. They can last almost forever under that kind of use. On the other hand, CFLs and incandesants suffer from frequent flipping "on" and "off."

I've heard others say CFLS of any kind are short lived. I've got some I bought at Home Depot in 6 packs for $8. That was four years ago and haven't had a bad one yet - in our house. That's the ones equivalent to 60 watt incandesants. The 40 watters DID fail a lot.

I observed about 50 cfl bases at the scrap yard today all missing the glass tubes. Mentioned to attendant I was surprised they"d take those in. Why? he says. The glass contains mercury I told him. Is that bad? he asked! WOW! They gent who dropped them off stopped me when I can out of the office to ask me why I what I said to the attendant about them. Talked to him about the mercury in the glass part. He was also unaware of the dangers of mercury. He. Works for a glass recycler and they get the bulbs in with their regular glass recyclables already broken. Seems there are a lot of people who toss them rather than recycle them properly. Over time there will be a growing mercury contamination from cfl bulbs at recycling centers and collection points from people disposing of the cfl bulbs in the wrong way. Lots of workers unexpectedly getting mercury exposure. Typical government, fix a small issue and create a worse one.

All fluoresent tubes have mercury in them to make the gas conductive.A woman dropped and broke a cfl.An expert told her it would cost 2200 bucks to clean up the contamination.I went to an area dump to get 2 storm windows for a cold frame.Check the shed for books and found ten glass globes full of carbon tetrachloride.These were used as fire extinguishers for years.Low doses can cause liver damage.Many attendants dont know S from S.

I have 50 watt 12v light bulbs on the shelf in my shop.Most small 12v bulbs draw 12 watts.A 50watt bulb will be hard on your battery.

The little 12 volt bulbs in my campers are incandescent automotive type #93s or similar. 13-15 watts.

The following are the Edison big-base bulbs. You can wire your 120 volts AC appliances into a 12 volt DC source in a camper and use them.

12 volt CFL – 11 watts $9.99, 8000 hour average life
715 lumens .9 amp draw
color temperature – 2700K
30 BTU’s of heat per hour

12 volt CFL – 15 watts $11.99, 8000 hour average life
975 lumens 1.25 amp draw
color temperature – 6400K
30 BTU’s of heat per hour


12 volt CFL – 9 watts $9.99, 8000 hour average life
450 lumens 1.25 amp draw
30 BTU’s of heat per hour

120 VAC or 12 VDC incandescent bulb, 1200 hour average life.
450 lumens – 40 watts
800 lumens – 50 watts
1100 lumens – 75 watts
85 BTU’s of heat per hour

120VAC or 12 VDC LED bulb, 50,000 hour average life
450 lumens – 5 watts
800 lumens – 8 watts
1100 lumens – 13 watts
3.5 BTU’s of heat per hour