Bus Marker Lights

jav9956 · February 15, 2016, 09:21:33 AM

Can anyone point me in a direction to get the perimeter marker light covers? I am assuming they are mostly standard, the bus is a MCI 102A3 if they are not for some reason. Also, what would the recommended wire gauge for wiring those lights? I was going to use an 18 - 20 gauge, I don't know if this is the right size. Obviously I don't want to go too small but for cost I would also not like to go to big. I will be needing to replace the complete case for all the upper perimeter lights (the ones on the front/back cap and the top sides of the bus) and the metal bracket on the interior of the bus as it is rusted out.

Any info is much appreciated. A cost effective/decent quality solution is sought.

Thank You!

Tikvah · February 15, 2016, 10:58:34 AM

When I did my 102A3 conversion I did a complete replacement of all my clearance lights. I ordered them from Luke at USA coach. They were a perfect fit and worked great. But over the course of the last three years they are regularly falling apart. The plastic is cracking causing the lens to come loose and fall off. So now I've ordered lots of extra lenses to keep replacing them and installing the new ones with shoe goo.

So, now my plan is to find nice set of LED replacement fixtures, that will cover the holes and screw holes to replace the existing lights. It's all wired for 24V, so I need to find 24V LED lights. If you use LED you won't care as much about wire size. Probably 16ga will be enough. If you stick with regular bulbs it seems to be a rather heavy wire up there, like at least a 14ga, maybe 12ga.

Remember, the power source for those lights comes from both the front and the back.

Good luck, if you find some nice LED that are big enough, let me know.

Dave

scanzel · February 16, 2016, 01:48:18 AM

14ga will work for either if going to led 12v or 24v. 24v led lights are hard to find.

brmax · February 16, 2016, 02:58:18 AM

The lights lens have been updated a bit in years, so the assembly is the best choice replacement I found when using oem. By the way the updates are a much better design, though look relatively the same until really looked at.

I have bought different things from both suppliers and like them a lot. When I picked up my clearance lights Mohawk had them and so bought a box of the new designs at a great price.

I think unless your changing out to a totally new led design you cannot beat these oem for the price and design.

For wire sizing I would use what ever is listed in the manuals

Good day
Floyd

http://www.mohawkmfg.com/

bigred · February 17, 2016, 09:24:53 AM

Some one on here recently replaced all their clearance lights with LED s . He got them from ,I believe he said ,American Fleet service .They were around nine bucks ea and were direct replacements.

Tikvah · February 17, 2016, 09:28:48 AM

My mistake, when I did my conversion I replaced all my marker lights and I got them from Mohawk mfg. - sorry Floyd
In their defense, I never contacted them. I did complain to Luke thinking it was his.

But, I really want to change to something better anyway.

Dave

Bill B /bus · February 17, 2016, 01:33:59 PM

Used LED's at 12VDC with a 750 ohm resistor in series. Superbright LED's was the source. They are pretty much replacements for the original marker lights on the MCI. That eliminates all the corrosion problems and bulb replacement.

Bill

Tikvah · February 17, 2016, 01:41:02 PM

Bill, any chance you have a part number or link?

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

goutoe · February 18, 2016, 08:09:57 AM

Doran mfg. Has a good selection of led replacements.>>> Johm.

brmax · February 18, 2016, 08:34:16 AM

I new some of you guys did this, I just wished several years ago I looked into leds a bit more.
so heres a couple links that were mentioned, and it's a you pic

https://www.superbrightleds.com/

http://www.doranmfg.com/led_lights.htm

Iceni John · February 18, 2016, 09:05:03 AM

If you're thinking of using LEDs instead of incandescent lamps in your existing lights, just bear in mind that most single-emitter LED lamps are much more directional than incan lamps. Traditional incan lamps squirt light out in all directions, but LEDs have specific beam-spread ratings. I found this out the hard way when I replaced all my indicator and gauge lamps with LEDs - even the wide-spread LEDs illuminate the back-lit gauges worse than incan lamps because they don't emit much light to their sides. The wider-spread LEDs also don't work as well in my indicators - my blue RETARDER light now just says TARD.

John

jav9956 · February 18, 2016, 04:30:36 PM

Quote from: Bill B /bus on February 17, 2016, 01:33:59 PM
Used LED's at 12VDC with a 750 ohm resistor in series. Superbright LED's was the source. They are pretty much replacements for the original marker lights on the MCI. That eliminates all the corrosion problems and bulb replacement.

Bill

I was looking at the lights from Superbright LED's, they have some good options there. I am going to take the dimensions of the lights this weekend and see what I can match on their site.
Out of curiosity, why the 750 ohm resistor? Amperage is the killer of LED's so I understand limiting it. Did you match the size of the resistor to the forward voltage of the LED?

Thanks for the info.

jav9956 · February 18, 2016, 05:02:39 PM

Quote from: Iceni John on February 18, 2016, 09:05:03 AM
If you're thinking of using LEDs instead of incandescent lamps in your existing lights, just bear in mind that most single-emitter LED lamps are much more directional than incan lamps. Traditional incan lamps squirt light out in all directions, but LEDs have specific beam-spread ratings. I found this out the hard way when I replaced all my indicator and gauge lamps with LEDs - even the wide-spread LEDs illuminate the back-lit gauges worse than incan lamps because they don't emit much light to their sides. The wider-spread LEDs also don't work as well in my indicators - my blue RETARDER light now just says TARD.

John

I got a kick out of your story... "TARD"

. You can always wire another led into your circuit in order to light up the complete word, possibly.

That is a good point about the beam-spread rating. Keep in mind the reflectance of the material around the LED as well as the ability of the material in front of the LED to scatter light will also play a factor it is ability to project at greater angles. I was thinking about making my own LED's in order to get exactly what I want but we will have to see. I suppose that for the perimeter lights it only matters that you can see the amber coloring, it is not really to illuminate anything in particular.

jav9956 · February 18, 2016, 05:13:35 PM

Thank you for all the information that has been provided. It has all been very helpful. I am going to look at the dimensions of the lights and see what the best option from here is, including whether or not making them myself is worthwhile or not.

Thanks again!

Dave5Cs · February 19, 2016, 06:21:03 PM

If they are like my MCI they will be 5" X 2" and have not been able to find those other than from MCI which are not cheap.
I am going to find ones that will cover the hole and still screw on. Also they are 24VDC and those are really tough to find in that size.
Dave5Cs