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This article was submitted by a regular visitor and member of the site  – Peter Dean. Peter shows you “Step by Step” just how easy it is to convert an existing Flourescent light fitting to LED’s

Are LED’s better, are they bright enough? – Peter reveals all  -

 Article Written – by Peter Dean

One of the biggest drains on your caravans’ power is the lights. Each of those twin fluorescent fittings draws 8 watts from the battery, that’s often 16 watts each twin fitting, that does not sound a lot until you start counting up the lights in your unit. How about being able to have all of the lights on as long as you like and still not draw as much power as one of those fittings? Ahh enter the humble LED.

Please note, when I first posted this on an American site, I was informed that under no circumstances would I get the same amount of light from an LED light as I would from a Fluorescent. I have to say that the gentleman was right…The LED’s are far better!! So much so that I have now converted my in-laws van to LED and have had several enquiries when we’ve been out in the van.

Tools

First you will need some tools;

• A soldering iron (preferably gas as you have more freedom of movement), flux and solder
• 
  A thin bladed screwdriver
• 
  A ‘Philips’ or cross headed screwdriver
• 
  A cordless screwdriver and 4mm drill bit
• 
  A quantity of 4mm clear plastic ties – DO NOT use black as these will show up when the light is on! (To work out how many ties you need, if the lights are twin tube, you need six for each one)
• 
  A pair of sharp snips to trim the tails off
• 
  Extra gas for your soldering iron, just in case!

Removal 

 

Right so now we’re ready to start.

Ensure that your 12 volt supply is turned off, we don’t want to blow any fuse.

Unscrew the two Cross headed screws securing your light and gently pull the wires through until you expose the connectors.

Make a note of which one the red (positive) wire goes to* and unplug them both. (*in our case the wires were green and white so either could have been the live!)

 

Rear View

This is what the back of your light will look like.

Remove the sticker covering the circuit board and gently prize out the tubes ONE at a time, ensuring that you hold the metal parts and not the glass, if these shatter the resulting shards are very nasty!

DO NOT be tempted to just solder your LEDs on here, as there is a transformer on that board that WILL fry them – as a friend recently found out……..

Desoldering

BEFORE trying to remove the circuit board, you must de-solder the two connections at point 1 on the picture.

These are usually the largest ‘blobs’ of solder on the board. This is where your thin bladed screwdriver comes in handy, as you de-solder the connections gently prize the circuit board up at the edge using your screwdriver.

The switch is locked into the light and forcing it will break it, so take your time. When the board is free, de-solder the next two connections at point 2 on the picture, freeing the wires, don’t throw these wires out, they’re going back in!

Goodbye tubes!

 

 

Be careful in disposing of the tubes as they can shatter very easily and the glass is very thin and very sharp (do not place in your glass recycling bin!).

Also throw out the circuit board, that hungry little transformer is no longer welcome! Finally solder your red wire to one side of the switch (circled).

The white one we will use in a while

Adding the LEDs

 

 

Shop around! I obtained my LEDs from Hong Kong for £0.99 and £1.99 postage per strip from a ‘ahem’ reputable auction site.

Go for the ‘blue white’ if you want bright lighting, if it is just ‘mood lighting’, the ‘yellow white’ may be better.

Don’t be afraid to experiment. And VERY IMPORTANTLY, use the LEDs that stand up from the base  __n__n__n__ (see photo) Make sure that you check which wire is your live, they are not always clearly marked!

Drill six holes at equal distances on the outer edges of the light base, at either end one LED in, and another roughly in the middle.

Carefully tie these in place ensuring that your LEDs point out at right angles to the holder -see picture! Trim off the tails and turn the fitting over.

 

 

 

 

Now we are almost done. From the LED’s if you have two strips, solder both negatives together and both positives together.

The positive wires we now solder to the other side of the switch and remember the white wire?

We now solder the white wire to the negative wires. Carefully insulate these either with heat shrink insulation or good old tape

Let there be light!

Carefully re-connect the two wires to the ones hanging from the van ceiling, remembering to put the positive back to the right one! Tuck the wires back up into the roof and replace the Philips screws. Turn the power back on and pat yourself on the back, you are now a ‘Green vanner’!

The first thing that you will notice is that the light is more like day light, the diffusers do a good job of spreading it around, bright enough to read by but not harsh. The second thing that you will notice is that even if you have all of your lights on, the battery meter will only move a tiny amount; compare that to your old lights!

Now, back to my wind generator experiments… Any questions, give me a yell!

Peter is a regular visitor to this site, and can be contacted on the Forum should you require any further help