LED lighting for Symbol

I plan to replace the existing tube lighting inside my 2005 Auto-Sleeper Symbol with LED lights. Has anyone carried out his mod? I need to know which leds to select, where I can purchase them, any problems encountered and any other advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi there,

Search on the Forum and somewhere you will find a section where I replaced the Labcraft Tubes in "Petal" with LEDs purchased from Lidl.

B&Q sell the same type of LED strips.

The only tip is that for the 12v lights you will need a voltage regulator which is also mentioned.  Something like this ....

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A few photograph to whet your appetite.

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Hope this helps. 

Best regards,

Thanks Dutto, most helpful.
Looked at earlier thread, consensus appears to be to leave the lights alone until they need changing. I'm going to purchase some leds in the mean time to experiment with to enhance my understanding before going further.
Thanks, Dave

Hi Dave LEDs are positive/negative sensative and only work if connected correctly. Dutto has done a very neat job fitting the strip leds into the existing light. Most led rolls of strips you buy will have the voltage resister fitted so watch where you cut them so you include the resister. Watch which ones you buy as the white light can be quite harsh in the van and soft white may suit you more. Good luck.
Dannymac

I have used, with great ease and satisfaction, replacement 12in LED tubes from this company, Ledbulbs4u.co.uk, they get to most of the shows I believe, as well as online.  They are just 'plug and play' and you don't need to cut any of the electronics out of the housings first. It's not the cheapest route I grant you but saves a lot of mucking about.  

I have no contact with the company apart from as a satisfied customer.

I replaced all the neon tubes on my 2002 Auto Sleeper Duetto without problems. If you Google around, you will find enough videos that, collectively, will give you enough knowledge to take the task on. e.g. "replace tube light rv".

I used 5050 warm white LEDs. A cheap roll from ebay will be more than enough for the whole van.

You have to take out ALL the electronics (i.e. circuit board) and tube fittings from each light unit, just keeping the plastic base plate. This seems radical, but the electronics are not required.

A potentially tricky bit: On my light assemblies, the on/off switch was soldered to the circuit board. When removing the circuit board the spade connectors in the switch came away from the switch. However, I found the spade connectors could subsequently be unsoldered from the circuit board and pushed back into the switch without the switch being damaged. If the switch did break, you would need to source a replacement, but again should not be too difficult.

I also drilled holes at each INNER end of the base plate and shaped small slots with a small file, so that the LED strips would protrude slightly through at each end (I can take photos if this would help). This also allowed the LEDs to be lined up and centralised nicely with (from memory) SIX LED lights just fitting perfectly along the strip. Wiring up the LEDs was then done, out of sight, from behind. You can buy connectors for the LED strips, but I just soldered a positive and negative wire connection at one end.

The lights have all worked perfectly for several months now. If a LED in any strip did fail in future, it would be a cheap and simple task to replace.

Indeed, one of the scariest bits of the whole exercise, I found, was gently prising off the perspex lens from the base plate to start things off. It can be a bit reluctant to come away, but I did manage without breaking any of mine.

Dutto: I did not need a voltage regulator seeing as all the innards were removed. The LEDs are 12v and the power going to the units is all 12v.

Thanks Jenvid I'm going to purchase one of the 12in LED tubes that wingrider mentions - that seems the easiest solution - I'm presently holidaying in the van on  the island of Arran.

Dave

daveH wrote:Thanks Jenvid I'm going to purchase one of the 12in LED tubes that wingrider mentions - that seems the easiest solution - I'm presently holidaying in the van on  the island of Arran.

Dave

Ah, the Isle of Arran ....

....a well known centre for the purchase of LEDs!  

You will probably find what you want in the local store between the candles and the paraffin lamps!  

Enjoy.  

Best regards,

Jenvid wrote:The LEDs are 12v and the power going to the units is all 12v.

The issue that concerns most people is that when you are on EHU, or when the battery is charging from an alternator or solar panel, the "12V" power is more like about 14.4V. Some 12V LED lights are OK with that, and some are not. The ones that I fitted in place of the filament bulbs on my van's DRLs, for example, are not (but there's not much I can do about that).

However, most LEDs are cheap enough these days to make the assumption that you will have to replace a few of them - the only ones where I bothered with a regulator were the ones where 1. I did not want the aggravation of having to re-do a fairly complex installation and 2. there was enough space to fit a regulator in.

Incidentally, there is a completely new design of panel now being sold that is really bright, simple to install - and they aren't too expensive either:

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I've bought a couple but have yet to install one - but under test at 12V they are ~very~ bright - and they get very, very hot at 14.4V!

Just so that Ian/Dutto doesn't get all the glory  

Here's my previous contribution to the LED lights thread:

All our cheap 3528 ebay LEDs are still working fine, as are the G4 replacements in our spotlights and the festoons in our cab, step light and markers.

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Just found the topics on led lighting. I have used led strips on other lighting projects in the garden. When A couple of the the tubes failed I did put in 3 lengths of led after removing the electronics. The unit is wired direct to the battery with a fuse. As commented before when on hook up the voltage is around 13.5 volts. This does make the LEDs get warm. I fitted a small 12 volt regulator chip from Maplins which gives a dropout of about 2 volts. The LEDs do not seem to get warm anymore, I believe some LEDs come with a voltage range of 12 to 24 volts. When not on hookup the voltage drops to about 10.5 watts, but does not make any difference to the light. I did notice the 12 volt socket with the aerial plug does read 13.5 volts when on hookup. Not good for television if it is not regulated?. I have not changed any of the lighting as fitted by AS, so have not tested to see if they read 13.5 volts at the input, which is ok with the tubes?