Caravan & Outdoor Life Magazine

In the October issue we ran an article in Caravan Clinic explaining how to change your state-of-the-art trailer tail-lights back to ‘Noah’s era’ light bulbs – you know, those ones with filaments. This was to avoid the problem of your tow vehicle’s onboard computer not knowing how to deal with the low-current-draw LEDs.
But now we’re looking at the issue from a different angle to see where the problem actually lies. After all, why take a step backward in technology with bulbs, or hunt for an aftermarket add-on module, to compensate for your onboard computer’s inability to recognise and operate LED tail-lights correctly?

INVENTED IN THE ’60S

Let’s first look at the technology. A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semi-conductor light source that, after its invention early in the 1960s, became popular in small indicator lights (those red or green lights the size of a match head that show whether a device is on or not).
Unlike a conventional bulb that has an element which glows when current passes through it, an LED produces photons (light) during the flow of electrons, which is a far more efficient process. LEDs release most of their energy in the form of light, and little is wasted in the form of heat in comparison with conventional bulbs...

To read the full article, order a copy of the February 2011 issue of Caravan & Outdoor Life.