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01-30-2014, 04:03 PM
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#1
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Member
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 74
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Changing the old fluorescent bulbs to LED!
So I just wanted to share the project my husband completed today! He changed all of our Fluorescent bulbs out to LED light strips! We were so tired of paying close to $10 per light and it burning out very quickly, not to mention the fact that it was fluorescent lighting as well! After all the supplies the change out only cost around $40, money well spent. Anyways this is the after photo without the cover on it!
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01-30-2014, 04:48 PM
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#2
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Member
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Middletown, Ohio
Posts: 74
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Where did you get the led strips, and how many did you replace for the 40$. Thanks.
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01-30-2014, 05:14 PM
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#3
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Senior Member
National RV Owners Club Ford Super Duty Owner
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 510
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cook elandan
Where did you get the led strips, and how many did you replace for the 40$. Thanks.
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x2 please
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01-30-2014, 05:22 PM
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#5
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Senior Member
National RV Owners Club
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Ranchita, CA
Posts: 118
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Looks similar to my Thinlite Fluorescent light LED modification. That is the new 5630 SMD LED strip, it is about 1 1/2 times brighter than the 5050 SMD LED strip that I used, so 2 strips should be plenty of light. I don't have a picture, but what I did was remove the ballast and light sockets, basically gutted the fixture and then installed 3 5050 SMD LED strips. 5 meters (16.4 ft) of LED strip light cam be purchased on eBay for $12 to $18 and the connectors are another $5 to $10, enough to do 4 of the 18" thinlites with 3 strips ea or 6 with 2 stirps ea.
There is another thread with tons of info here:
http://www.irv2.com/forums/f115/inex...de-139025.html
The first post in that thread has photo's of how I did mine.
__________________
2004 National Tropi-Cal T-350 LX Freightliner XC CAT 350
2005 TJ Wrangler RME 4.0L
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01-30-2014, 05:22 PM
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#6
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Senior Member
Winnebago Owners Club Freightliner Owners Club
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Home on the hill in Georgia
Posts: 2,742
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__________________
Jerry Potter, Taz
1999 Coachman Catalina Sport
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
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01-30-2014, 05:33 PM
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#7
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Member
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 74
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Wizard- I'm curious how long have you had them? Any of the strips quit working? I'm hoping they hold up longer than the fluorescent- they should! When he switched them out today we were down to only 5 working fluorescent bulbs with 7 blown! I'm super excited about them. They've changed the quality of lighting and made it way brighter! My husband wanted me to add that the quality of the adhesive is not the greatest so he added hot glue to each end. Don't know if you've had any problems with them not sticking or not!
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01-30-2014, 07:32 PM
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#8
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Member
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Middletown, Ohio
Posts: 74
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Thanks, I can see I will be doing some light changing.
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01-30-2014, 08:09 PM
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#9
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Senior Member
Damon Owners Club
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Annapolis,MD
Posts: 1,458
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This is another good option:
Cabin Bright |
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01-30-2014, 11:18 PM
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#10
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Senior Member
Fleetwood Owners Club Ford Super Duty Owner
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: SoCal
Posts: 15,749
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At Quartzsite I replaced my incandescent bulbs. Just now ordered the items listed by the OP to do the flouresants. . Thanks!
__________________
Vince and Susan
2011 Tiffin Phaeton 40QTH (Cummins ISC/Freightliner)
Flat towing a modified 2005 Jeep (Rubicon Wrangler)
Previously a 2002 Fleetwood Pace Arrow 37A and a 1995 Safari Trek 2830.
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01-30-2014, 11:48 PM
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#11
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 1,450
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A very nice refit by the OP.
I changed mine over 18 months ago for a completely different reason. My air conditioner compressor was cycling off, my refrigerator was turning off ......... the reason for these strange occurrences was driving me crazy. Thanks to the internet I learned that even a working flourescent light can have a faulty ballast. The faulty ballast backfeeds into your 12v house wiring (layman's terms). Sooooo most things that are controlled by 12v start acting strange. Changed all flourescent fixtures to LED. No more problems+ nice bright light+ low power draw+ long life span of LEDs = Happy Camper
__________________
George R. - Fulltiming since January '03
2007 Newmar Mountain Aire 3991
2012 Chevy Malibu LT1
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01-31-2014, 06:07 AM
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#12
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Senior Member
Winnebago Owners Club Freightliner Owners Club
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Home on the hill in Georgia
Posts: 2,742
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Quote:
Originally Posted by steph1217
Wizard- I'm curious how long have you had them? Any of the strips quit working? I'm hoping they hold up longer than the fluorescent- they should! When he switched them out today we were down to only 5 working fluorescent bulbs with 7 blown! I'm super excited about them. They've changed the quality of lighting and made it way brighter! My husband wanted me to add that the quality of the adhesive is not the greatest so he added hot glue to each end. Don't know if you've had any problems with them not sticking or not!
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Only had them in for a few months, no problems yet. I cleaned the surface with alcohol wipe and pressed every component on the strips. I replaced the 6 bulbs in 3 fixtures with the one length of LEDs that I bought. First string I bought was warm white and I didn't like, reordered cool white and that was much better.
I originally bought warm white LEDs bur reordered cool white and like that much more. I did this for 1/3 the cost onf one LED tube from the place that sells LED replacement tubes.
__________________
Jerry Potter, Taz
1999 Coachman Catalina Sport
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
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02-02-2014, 07:16 PM
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#13
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Junior Member
Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 11
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Light conversion
Planning on making the same florescent/led light conversion. My question is should a low amp inline fuse be added to protect the led light lead wires. They are of a light gage wire.
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02-03-2014, 09:50 AM
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#14
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: West Palm Beach, FL. USA
Posts: 27,704
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I'm using the tube LED replacements for F15T8 fluorescents in my Thinlite fixtures (got them at www.RVledbulbs.com). A bit pricier than roll-your-own led strips but simple and easy to install. I was replacing four of my flourescents every 6 months because they get turned on/off dozens of times daily. Since converting to the led tubes three years ago I haven't bought a single replacement bulb, so they have nearly paid for themselves already.
Since then I have also replaced all my halogens and several incandescents in the bath area and also the storage bays. As a side benefit, i get lower amp consumption and a lot less heat (especially now that the halogens are gone).
__________________
Gary Brinck
Former owner of 2004 American Tradition and several other RVs
Home is West Palm Beach, FL
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