LED upgrades

cbeierl · Mar 9, 2013

I just finished upgrading the first one of my fluorescent fixtures and and I'm pretty happy with the results. I plan to upgrade all of my fluorescents, but I chose the 12" Thin-Lite fixture over the counter for my initial guinea pig. (When I do the 36" main cabin fixtures I'll use two regulators, since they're limited to 2A at 12V DC each.) I decided that I wanted 'white' LEDs for my fluorescent replacements and 'warm white' for the ceiling puck lights. Here are the materials I used:

I removed the 2 bulbs, removed the center cover, drilled out the 6 pop-rivets from the back (4 for sockets, 2 for the ballast), unsoldered the black and white power leads going to the ballast and removed the ballast and bulb sockets intact (allowing me to put everything back together again if I wished).

The first picture shows the four 12" strips of LEDs wired to the output of the boost/buck regulator (which I adjusted to output 12V DC). Red is positive and purple is negative. I put some heat shrink tubing on the ends of the strips where I soldered on the wires and also over my wire junctions. The original black (positive) and white (negative) wires were soldered to the input of the regulator. I used some double-stick foam tape to attach the regulator.

The second shot shows the center cover re-installed.

The third picture shows the LEDs lit without the lens (sorry about the white balance).

And finally, the fourth shot shows the end result (white balance is off again).

hes4all · Mar 9, 2013

I never used a regulator on any of the LED replacements that I did.
Are your LED's 12v only? The LED's that I use will operate in a range of 8-18v.

Looks nice and you will love them.

cbeierl · Mar 9, 2013

Yes, these are 12V unregulated LEDs. I decided to add the regulator to be on the safe side and keep the light output constant. The total cost for this one fixture was $11.13 (plus a few cents for the wire and heat shrink tubing).

hes4all · Mar 9, 2013

That is not a bad price at all.

The LED's I used are for marine use, I really don't know if it makes a difference. When I talked to the rep he sure made a big deal out of it.

So are you going to do the coach?
Good luck

cbeierl · Mar 9, 2013

I plan to do the other three fixtures like this one (sink, hallway, toilet room) and then tackle the two big 36" main cabin fluorescents. I also plan to replace most if not all of the other inside lights and probably the basement compartment lights as well. I'll add a post to this thread detailing what I've done with the other lights.

Jim Godward · Mar 9, 2013

hes4all said:
I never used a regulator on any of the LED replacements that I did.
Are your LED's 12v only? The LED's that I use will operate in a range of 8-18v.

If the LED bulb operates from 8 to 18 volts, it has a regulator in the package. Look for a small probably black device with 3 leads soldered to the circuit board, a small device with only 2 leads and another probably a small "can shaped device in the same area. That is your power regulator circuit. Those should be good LEDs.

cbeierl · Mar 10, 2013

I have 10 'puck' lights in the ceiling (8 in the main cabin and 2 in the bedroom) using 10W halogen bulbs. I decided to use 'warm white' bulbs for these instead of the 'white' I used for the fluorescents. I replaced all of them with the following:

[list type=decimal]
[*]10 G4 Warm White 12 LED 5050 SMD Spot Light Lamp Bulb
[/list]These are unregulated but do have a bridge rectifier on them, so they aren't polarized (without this you might need to switch the wires around in the fixture to match the polarity of the LED bulb). These bulbs cost a little less than $1 each. Regulated versions are available, but cost considerably more--I decided to see how these work out. If I end up with LEDs dying I might consider switching to the regulated versions.
The first picture shows a couple of the reflectors that need to be removed from the fixtures. They just snap in with two legs and come out quite easily with a little sideways pressure on one of the legs.

The second picture show the LED bulb in place. I had to clip a little off the two leads on the LED bulb because they were a bit long. With the original reflector gone the socket is no longer held rigidly in place, but that's not really a problem because the LED can just lie flat on the lens.

The third picture shows the lens in place.

hes4all · Mar 10, 2013

Hi Jim:

On all my other lights there is a regulator built in. But for my fluorescent replacements ( i should have said fluorescents) I did not see anything. I was incorrect on the operating voltage. That was for my other light and it is 6-18 volts. It does say for 12VDC operation but also say will operate between 9-15 volts. They came 18" long and you had a spot to cut every two inches. Just hooked them up and work great for about a year now.

I will look but I am pretty sure they are unregulated but like most of the time I could be wrong?

One thing that is cool about the puck LED's that I have is that they work at six volts. Newmar has a circuit that is hooked up to one battery post providing 6 volt so the light can be dimmed from 12 - 6 volts.

Cheap but it does work. Switch in the up 12 volts. Middle off and down 6 volts.

Thanks Jim.

hes4all · Mar 10, 2013

Chris, for a buck you can't go wrong IMHO!

cbeierl · Mar 10, 2013

I have 7 spot/reading lights using 1383 'elevator' bulbs. I also have 3 spherical frosted bulbs in the bathroom vanity. I found very few LED choices for either of these bulbs. I ended up splurging on both of these and replaced them with the following from rvledbulbs.com (if you enter coupon code 'forum' you'll currently get a 10% discount):
[list type=decimal]
[*]1383 Spotlight "Elevator" Bulb
[*]Lumens Frosted Vanity Bulb
[/list]Both of these are regulated bulbs (8-30V DC) with a 'cool white' 4000K - 4500K color temp.

SCVJeff · Mar 10, 2013

Nice!
I have the T18's on my list too, but I think I'm going to run one buck-boost board into a dimmer and control the whole lot of em'. Those ballasts are getting expensive.

John Canfield · Mar 10, 2013

Good job Chris!

SargeW · Mar 10, 2013

Cool write up! It's still on my list!

Jim Godward · Mar 10, 2013

hes4all said:
One thing that is cool about the puck LED's that I have is that they work at six volts. Newmar has a circuit that is hooked up to one battery post providing 6 volt so the light can be dimmed from 12 - 6 volts.

Cheap but it does work. Switch in the up 12 volts. Middle off and down 6 volts.

I'm familiar with the Newmar approach to dimming the puck light. Clever and cheap. It can really confuse people who don't know about this. A friend of mine and his tech got crosswise because of this and thought they had a big problem till they got it sorted out.

OK on the puck light, do they dim on 6 volts?? If they are regulated, they will not dim but stay the same intensity.

hes4all · Mar 10, 2013

Hi Jim, I guess your Dutch Star has the same 6 volt wiring?

And yes, my puck light LED's dim great. I'll see if it will show up in a picture for you. All I did was put a diode on the 6 volt feed to the lights.

Thanks, have a good night!

Jim Godward · Mar 10, 2013

No, the old 2001 DS did not have the 6 volt light dimming feature. The only time those light are on is when my wife or I are on the couch reading so I am not sure we would use it. It is easy to add a dimming feature and she did not want it so I didn't do it. remember, SWMBO is always right.

cbeierl · Mar 11, 2013

Here's a shot giving you some sense of what the new LED lights look in action. You can compare the 'natural white' (4000-4500K) LED spot/reading lamp over the sofa, the 'white' LED fluorescent over the counter, the 'warm white' LED puck lamps in the ceiling, and the original 'cool white' fluorescent still in place over the sink.

John Canfield · Mar 11, 2013

Looks good Chris. With those new-fangled lights you now need MCD shades

.

Noblet13 · Mar 13, 2013

Forgive my ignorance, but I have an older 84 Winnie and my lights are the old square plastic covered box type with what resembles tail light bulbs, with slider type on/off switches, which get fairly hot. Is there a way to simply change bulbs for more light and less battery drain, and is it an advantage as far cost and reliability. Thx.

hes4all · Mar 13, 2013

Hi there, you can change out the stock bulb for led and save on power and generate no heat. The cost is more but the led will outlast the incandescent bulb about ten to one. Good Luck

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