Overhead Lighting to LED's

[FloridaCliff]

Just an FYI for anyone looking to loose a decrease there in cabin heat sources:

I put 3" recessed lighting in my ceiling.



The bulbs were 50 amp halogens, with the GU10 base.

They are plenty bright, but as many have stated the halogens put out a lot of heat.

In my front parlor its like having a 250 watt heater on all the time.

I found some LED's bulbs on eBay recently and they work nice.

I have 38 LED spots and 48 LED wide spots, only 1.4 and 2.4 watts each.

The heaters are out.   

I also just changed out my 1141 12Vdc bunk reading lights to LED also.  Big difference.

Cliff

[Chaz]

Thanx Cliff!!!!!!!
  I'm wanting to do as many LED's as I can. I'm going to try to keep as many of those 12v as I can also.
  Any info on LED lighting is greatly appreciated!!!!
 
    Illuminated,
     Chaz

[TomCat]

Good find Cliff!

Have you considered keeping the halogens, and using them only in the winter when you can use the extra heat?

Jay
87 SaftLiner

[FloridaCliff]

Chaz,

I should have said that the 3" recessed lights are 110Vac.

Cliff

[FloridaCliff]

Jay,

Funny you say that!

I was thinking about down heres its about keeping it cool and in your neck of the woods its how to keep it warm.

I am going to keep them for backups. (double duty as heaters)

The LED's were about $10 each and the halogens are $7-8 in the big box stores. 

Cliff

[Len Silva]

Cliff,

How about the color of the white LED's?  My wife is very particular about light color, can't stand the cool white flourescents.  If your lady uses them in the vanity for dressing and makeup, what is her reaction to them?  All the ones I've seen have a definite blue cast to them, not sure that would go over well.

Thanks,
Len

[Gary LaBombard]

Cliff,
This has to be a major saving for all electric coaches for power and in summer getting rid of the extra heat.  The Halogen one's are good for cold weather only though.  Thanks for sharing Cliff.
Gary

[FloridaCliff]

Len,

I bought the "Bright spots" and the "Warm floods"

Since LED's tend to have throw out less light than the same rated incandessant brothers I would probably order all

Bright LED's next time.

The Warm is a little more yellow than I thought it would be.

Good for mood lighting though.   

I will have to go out tonight and see how I like them in a dark coach, each by themselves.

I would have last night, but after playing cow wrangler(for real), I was to pooped to go back out.

Cliff

[JimC]

I put LED's along the ceiling of my 4106.  I bought 18 LED MR16 bulbs, very similar to Florida Cliff's, but with the two straight pins. The ones I bought were wide angle, they claimed 100 degree light pattern, that may be true if mounted in the ceiling pointing down instead of sideways like mine.

I did not want to buy fixtures because they were too deep for my application, plus it would have added more cost, so what I did was mount them in the ¾ by 3 ½ oak stock that runs the length of my bus, shining toward the side. This lets the lights shine directly into the cabinets in the galley, and gives indirect lighting in the lounge area.

I drilled a 1 3/4 hole in the 3/4 stock, and the LED sits just proud of the oak, then I used a stainless outlet cover that would be used for a dryer receptacle over the LED to hold them in place. On the backside I mounted a shallow plastic outlet box to protect the LED and the wiring. For the connection I used a regular MR16 ceramic connector from Leviton.  (everything but the box's from the eplace)

I the front of the bus I plan on having 8 lights along the ceiling plus 8 under the counters for more direct lighting on the sink top, stove, table, dash, and stairway. So far I only have the ceiling lights installed, but with only those 8 lighted the coach has more light than needed.

I agree that they do have a little bit of a blue cast to the light, but it does not bother me at all when I consider they run directly off the battery at 1.2 watts each, and not through the inverter.
I will try to post pics.
Jim

[JimC]

I have been watching the advances in LED technology for several years just for this application. We have a way to go before we are lighting rooms as bright as we are used to in our homes, but when you weigh the small power usage, vs. the light output, they are perfect for our use.

I have 4 LED's in the bedroom, and 4 in the bathroom, and they give off enough light to do just about anything you need to do. (the wife used a lighted make up mirror before the LED's anyway)

Along with the LED's I have four 40 watt fluorescent lights above diffusers in the the ceiling (similar to a ceiling grid system) for when we are on the power pole.

I am going to try to post a picture of the coach with the LED lights lighted, keep in mind that the pictures do not look nearly as bright as they really are because I took them with a small Sony camera with no flash in an attempt to show how bright they were.
Jim

[Gary LaBombard]

Jimc,
Nice application of the lights in your bus, great assembly job you did also.  This internet is so great in helping us all find these things everyone brings to our attention.  Most of the lights I have seen overhead in buses were put on dimmer switches to get the same effect you get with these led's.  No doubt in my mind which way I want to go thanks to you all posting this information and leave them on as long as I like and not worry about the intense heat factor in my ceiling or on the ceiling materials.  A lighted make up mirror for the wife will satisify her and if I need more light I can add a special light over my favorite chair to read if I need to.  But I don't plan to do a lot of sitting, maybe playing instruments in a chair but not a lot of reading anymore.

Jim, your bus looks real nice too.

Try to post pictures with a little more resolutions so we can expand them when we click on them.  BNO will like them this small but MAK is a little more forgiving when you post 3 photo's.

Thanks for sharing.

Gary

[JackConrad]

Jim,
   Great job!  I am always amazed at the ingenuity of BusNuts.  I usually resize photos to 640 x 480 before posting.  This allows the photos to be easily viewed and still fit within this BBs parameters.  Jack

[TomC]

Links-I want links I can go to to see the LED fixtures you all have found!  Good Luck, TomC

[prevost82]

Hey Cliff ...I got the same lights and I have been looking for LED's to replace the halogens. What section of eBay did you find them?

Tom ... I bought mine at home depot ... I think they'er call Euro Lights, look in the under counter lighting section
Ron

[FloridaCliff]

Ron,

This guy has lots of choices.

http://cgi.ebay.com/GU10-WARM-WHITE-38-LEDs-Spot-Light-Bulbs-110-220V_W0QQitemZ200145025827QQihZ010QQcategoryZ20706QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem



Cliff