Interior lights - original fixtures vs plastic rv led fixtures

[j.m.jackson]

So while working on my bus, which is still fairly non-rv'd from the 12v systems standpoint, I needed interior lights. On a 5303, there's a 4" wide aluminum panel in the center that holds the overhead light fixtures. When I flipped the switch for those at the drivers station, they'd come on for a few seconds and click off. Circuit breaker tripping. Not thinking much about it other than wanting to replace the 1141 single bulbs with something brighter, I bought a few of the similar sized led rv lights to try them out.

Since it's getting darker earlier now, I went ahead and started taking down the original fixtures to replace them. When i took the first one down, I discovered that the power to the fixture is provided by two wires, each with a male bullet connector on them. No polarization. One connector plugs into the fixture base, the other plugs into the 1141 socket base. After taking them all down, viola, they worked, so one of them was plugged in backwards. So the wiring is good to them. But 7 1141 bulbs was not where I wanted to be on power usage or brightness for interior lighting.

The original fixtures are aluminum, with a hinge and single screw to swing them open for service. They also have a beautiful glass lens. The plastic led fixtures are just chintzy compared to them. I can't bring myself to take down the glass fixtures and put up cheap plastic ones with the even cheaper feeling switch.

So now the plan is to get some warm white led panels that'll fit in the glass base and go that direction. For each group of 2 or 3 lights on an aluminum strip, i'll put a heavy duty metal toggle switch in the overhead panel for control.  I'll use the 2 led fixtures behind the destination sign, so no big loss there.

My conversion is to keep the utilitarian feel of the bus because there is so much unique aluminum trim inside, and just brighten it up with brighter floor material, white between the windows and on the ceiling, and white/coastal blue accents. The deco nature of the aluminum rub rails, glass light fixtures, aluminum ceiling strip / etc is just too rare for me to try and cover it all up.

Here's the glass fixture in question:

[TomC]

Excellent! I used LED walkway lights from Home Depot-took off the mounting rod and attached directly to the ceiling-good overhead lights. For the bathroom, I converted two old fashion glass globes to 12v LED-since the interior is craftsman type. Good Luck, TomC

[j.m.jackson]

I've ordered the panels, so we'll see how they work soon enough. I also ordered a Progressive Dynamics (PD9270V) 70 Amp Power Converter with Charge Wizard, which I'll put on the start batteries for now since there's not a proper house bank yet. I want to keep those 2 8D's happy.

[richard5933]

I've got the same converter/charger from PD. So far I like it very much - it takes up about 1/3 the space of the old one, and it seems to handle our bank of 4 T145s pretty well so far. I also have a Xantrex Echo charger to shoot some power to the starter batteries.

[oltrunt]

Glad to see someone else wants to keep those original lenses.  My old skoolie (82 yrs) only had two small milk glass dome lights.  I retrofitted them with led's and use one as a stairwell light and the other as an overhead "map" light.  I went with bright white led strips for the rest of the lighting.  I really like the bright white though I know there are those who find the color distressing.  Jack

[j.m.jackson]

Here's what I did last night. The led panels I ordered came in, and they came with socket adapters. SO i cut the adapters up and made them 2 ways to run 2 panels. Then I used some hot glue to secure the wires in the adapters so they didn't break off from movement where they are soldered to the lamp base (cheap-o adapters, a few flexes and the wire would surely break off.

Then I took some corrugated plastic sign material (like you'd get for a for-sale sign to stick in your yard ($5), and cut out a piece that would fit between the lens and the base. Then cut a slot for the wires to go through, and for the zip-tie to go through each side of the panel. The led panels have double sided tape on them, but i trust that about as far as i can throw it to actually stick in the long run. I don't want the panels flopping around in there.

[j.m.jackson]

Then i plugged the panels into the adapter, and closed up the fixture. I made up all the adapters last night with solder, heat shrink and hot glue, just need to make the rest of the plastic panels and I'll have some good light to work with at low, low power consumption.

[j.m.jackson]

Hung the two front lights last night with the help of my 5yo and 3yo. Wow, they put out a lot of good looking light!

[j.m.jackson]

Also, i haven't cleaned anything on the interior yet. Nothing.