Hey BC. I know what you mean about the old school incandescent bulbs creating heat. The cyclops lamp on my S-10 PU has burned two holes in the plastic lense--to the point that it leaks water
Like you, I plan to use LEDs in my bus. I've collected about 8 different style LED lights to try out. Since I only have space for three house batteries I know I'll have to go LED if I want more than a couple of days off grid (or generator). One evening while I was out in the bus testing out a LED for the fume hood my wife walked in and commented "Oh look, there's a light!". That's sort of the problem--you can see the light but you can't see anything with it
. While LEDs produce "lots of light", it just doesn't spread out very well. So far I am most impressed with the light strips when used to produce reflected light.
Today, PDBreske (The Camel Conversion) showed his installation of a LED ceiling light rated at 10 W and said to give off the equivalent light of a 60 W bulb. It looks pretty good. I'll have to ask him for more info.
I have only three situations where I really need to SEE: When cooking, when reading and when shaving. Still I'd really like to stay with LEDs.