Community Forums

steph1217 · 01-30-2014, 04:03 PM

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!

cook elandan · 01-30-2014, 04:48 PM

Where did you get the led strips, and how many did you replace for the 40$. Thanks.

DDDonkey · 01-30-2014, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cook elandan

Where did you get the led strips, and how many did you replace for the 40$. Thanks.

x2 please

steph1217 · 01-30-2014, 05:21 PM

Hi we replaced 12 fluorescent bulbs! We bought the roll of LED lights on Amazon. They're cutable every 3 LED bulbs. Not sure if I'm allowed to add these links or not, but these SUPERNIGHT® 5M 5630 SMD Super Bright Flexible LED Light Strip NON-waterproof for Indoor Party Backlighting Birthday Wedding Celebration LED Light Strip - Amazon.com are the lights we bought in Warm white (which are brighter than the old fluorescent ones) we have probably 5ft still left over after replacing all of the bulbs. You also have to buy the 10m strip connectors as well. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 . This is the video on Youtube that I watched that explained it all to me! Hope all of this info helps

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAMPQrAu0aI

GNP99 · 01-30-2014, 05:22 PM

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.

Wizard · 01-30-2014, 05:22 PM

Did the same thing in mine but added a third strip down the middle for a few more lumens

Got mine here Amazon.com: SUPERNIGHT (TM) Cool White 5M / 16.4FT 5050 SMD Flexible LED Strip Lights 300 leds or 60led/m LED Light: Home Improvement

steph1217 · 01-30-2014, 05:33 PM

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!

cook elandan · 01-30-2014, 07:32 PM

Thanks, I can see I will be doing some light changing.

Mac99 · 01-30-2014, 08:09 PM

This is another good option:

Cabin Bright |

vsheetz · 01-30-2014, 11:18 PM

At Quartzsite I replaced my incandescent bulbs. Just now ordered the items listed by the OP to do the flouresants. . Thanks!

gruelens · 01-30-2014, 11:48 PM

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

Wizard · 01-31-2014, 06:07 AM

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!

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.

spkwms · 02-02-2014, 07:16 PM

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.

Gary RVRoamer · 02-03-2014, 09:50 AM

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).