Replacing van fluoros with LEDs

Curryhouse · Newbie

Replacing van fluoros with LEDs

rockylizard · Guru

Gday...

Your fluoros look very similar to mine, if so, I replaced them with these LEDs.

[edit: just noticed your fluoros do not have the same mounting as mine had - the LEDs in the link probably won't suit hmm ]

LED 01.jpg

http://caravansplus.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=12686

Cheers - John

-- Edited by rockylizard on Thursday 29th of January 2015 11:08:01 AM

rockylizard · Guru

Gday...

Found this one - but it appears a Yankee site - http://store.marinebeam.com/led-replacement-for-12v-circline-fc8t9-8-fluorescent-tube/

Cheers - John

Yuglamron · Guru

Try Googling Replacement LED's for Fluros and there are lots of places to check out. Fleabay has many options based in Oz. I would assume the existing fluro is 12 Volt so any of the ring types would suit perfectly. Depends on the light intensity you need. Most require getting rid of the ballast and connecting the positive and negative directly to the power supply (12 Volt) You keep the same fitting.

Alternatively replace the whole fitting with one of the newer type LED panels Like Narva. A relatively simple swap. I swapped a couple of mine with the Narva Saturn slimline fitting. Good light, not too bright.

madaboutled · Guru

Curryhouse, you'd certainly want to replace that one, Wow 22 watts.... The good news is that what you have would be an easy conversion not matter what LED you decided to use.

The Red and White wires going in will be the power, one + positive and one - negative most likely the red wire will be the + positive but you'd best confirm that with a multimeter. Thankfully the wires aren't soldered so its just a matter of unscrewing the terminal blocks to remove the wires from the circuit board. If possible I'd isolate the power before playing with it though, you could do that be removing the "lights" fuse or disconecting the 12 battery. Then its just a matter of removing the existing circuit board and the fluro brackets to fit up the new led.

You could use the panel like rocklizard suggested but you'd need to modify it a little to remove the socket and wire it directly and also work out a way to fix it in position. That could be done by drilling a couple of mounting holes into the plate and carfully avoiding the underlying circuits which can easily be seen. You may have to put in some spacers to ensure the circuits behind the panel doesn't touch any metal surface, but any modification may void any warranty. There are some similar panels on the market one is sold by BCF that doesn't have the socket and have mounting holes but in terms of light output you may get less light out of it than what the fluro will produce. Again I say MAY. Another factor to consider with these big panels with lots of LED's on them is if a few of the LED's go out or die you'd eventually have to replace the whole panel. That said LED's these days are very good and that may never happen.

Here a product that you may like to consider http://www.madaboutled.com/led-products/replace-12v-double-d-fluro I don't want to break the rules of this forum and plug my own site so if the link is removed just PM me and I'd be happy to provide it to you.

keiron · Senior Member

I have just recently replaced my fluro's with a "bank" of 48 small led's. About 50 x 40 mm, 12 volt. 6000k output.

They worked well, give off heaps of light, but, let me repeat, but they generate a lot more heat. Too hot to place your fingers on them.

I am now contemplating removing them because of the heat.

Cheers, KB

Santa · Guru

Just replaced all of the interior light fittings in our MH with new LED fittings purchased from Jaycar.

Has reduced lighting power draw on the batteries by approx 3/4, the old fittings were starting to show their age, so installing new ones gave the interior a bit of a face lift.

Jaycar have a good range and installation is straight forward.

The units we installed provide more than enough light and generate very little heat, vast improvement on the old Fluoro's and QH bulbs

-- Edited by Santa on Friday 30th of January 2015 09:43:04 AM

Curryhouse · Newbie

Thanks for the replies and the information provided. I'll research some more to come up with a solution. Hadn't given any thought to the LEDs being hot. I have three lights to replace. I don't currently have a battery in the van. So my major project for 2015 is to mod the van to be able to do a night or two free camping when we are travelling. I thought progressively replacing the van lights (fluoros and halogens) would be a good start.

Curryhouse · Newbie

Santa wrote:
Just replaced all of the interior light fittings in our MH with new LED fittings purchased from Jaycar.
Has reduced lighting power draw on the batteries by approx 3/4, the old fittings were starting to show their age, so installing new ones gave the interior a bit of a face lift.
Jaycar have a good range and installation is straight forward.
The units we installed provide more than enough light and generate very little heat, vast improvement on the old Fluoro's and QH bulbs

-- Edited by Santa on Friday 30th of January 2015 09:43:04 AM

Thanks Santa. Did you have round fluoros like my van? I have four small halogen reading lights in the van. I found some replacement LED globes on ebay and installed one today. Have yet to power up to see if its any good.

Santa · Guru

Curryhouse wrote:
Santa wrote:
Just replaced all of the interior light fittings in our MH with new LED fittings purchased from Jaycar.
Has reduced lighting power draw on the batteries by approx 3/4, the old fittings were starting to show their age, so installing new ones gave the interior a bit of a face lift.
Jaycar have a good range and installation is straight forward.
The units we installed provide more than enough light and generate very little heat, vast improvement on the old Fluoro's and QH bulbs

-- Edited by Santa on Friday 30th of January 2015 09:43:04 AM
Thanks Santa. Did you have round fluoros like my van? I have four small halogen reading lights in the van. I found some replacement LED globes on ebay and installed one today. Have yet to power up to see if its any good.

Morning Curryhouse,

I replaced an assortment, most of the fluoros were oval fittings, covering the mark left by the previous fitting was important for me, fortunately Jacar had units with bases large enough to do the job.

Regarding heat, one of the features of LED's is the fact that they generate very little heat, if they are getting hot there must be a problem, all of mine run very cool. smile

madaboutled · Guru

Santa wrote:
Curryhouse wrote:
Santa wrote:
Regarding heat, one of the features of LED's is the fact that they generate very little heat, if they are getting hot there must be a problem, all of mine run very cool.

LED's dissipate any heat generated through their surface area so its a good idea not to have any surface like the covers or lenses of the light fittings touching the LEDs themselves. They can get warm but they shouldn't get hot and certainly not too hot to touch if they do and there's air space around the LED then it's a good indicater of cheap LED.... usually from Fleabay.

Santa · Guru

madaboutled wrote:
Santa wrote:
Curryhouse wrote:
Santa wrote:
Regarding heat, one of the features of LED's is the fact that they generate very little heat, if they are getting hot there must be a problem, all of mine run very cool.

certainly not too hot to touch if they do and there's air space around the LED then it's a good indicater of cheap LED.... usually from Fleabay.

Wondered about that.

03_Troopy · Guru

Fact or Fiction LEDs dont produce heat?

madaboutled · Guru

03_Troopy wrote:
Fact or Fiction LEDs dont produce heat?

FACT But without going into the tech side of things IMHO LED's do produce some heat but in most cases no where near that of incandesent lighting. As the development of LED's continue I'm seeing more LED that uses more power, thus more power = more light, which in turn = more heat. An important thing to note is that not all LED are the same.

However, most heat produced by LED's can be greatly reduced simply by having airflow around the LED's and or using a heatsink within the design.

Here's something to consider..... Have you seen the flexible self adhesive LED on a roll with the silicone cover making them water resistant or as some claim waterproof?

If you have then think about this.... the silicone covering actually prevents the LED's from cooling, but they are water resistant so they can be used outside right?
.... Wrong!. These type of strips where originally designed for refigeration lighting the cooling from the refrigeration system helps keeps them cool and the silicone cover is not UV resistant, so when exposed to sunlight the silicone will eventually yellow and cause the underlying strip go brittle and break.

The point I'm making here is that some people see an LED product and think "Great I can use that in my.... XYZ" but rarely do they consider what it was designed for and what things need to be put in place to use it for a different purpose.

03_Troopy · Guru

madaboutled wrote:
03_Troopy wrote:
Fact or Fiction LEDs dont produce heat?
FACT But without going into the tech side of things IMHO LED's do produce some heat but in most cases no where near that of incandesent lighting. As the development of LED's continue I'm seeing more LED that uses more power, thus more power = more light, which in turn = more heat. An important thing to note is that not all LED are the same.
However, most heat produced by LED's can be greatly reduced simply by having airflow around the LED's and or using a heatsink within the design.
Here's something to consider..... Have you seen the flexible self adhesive LED on a roll with the silicone cover making them water resistant or as some claim waterproof?
If you have then think about this.... the silicone covering actually prevents the LED's from cooling, but they are water resistant so they can be used outside right?
.... Wrong!. These type of strips where originally designed for refigeration lighting the cooling from the refrigeration system helps keeps them cool and the silicone cover is not UV resistant, so when exposed to sunlight the silicone will eventually yellow and cause the underlying strip go brittle and break.
The point I'm making here is that some people see an LED product and think "Great I can use that in my.... XYZ" but rarely do they consider what it was designed for and what things need to be put in place to use it for a different purpose.

Yeah, actually I wasn't asking a question, but merely posting a link to a pretty good description about LED lighting and heat.