Broadway (2014) LED boards

I would like to change the LED's in the roof lights of our van to a uniform "warm white"colour.   Inside the lamps there seem to be a circuit board with the LED's soldered onto it.  Does anyone know of a source for these boards?  I have looked at the Aten LED site but cannot see the right part.

More info needed - either a photo would help, or an idea of size and number of LEDs.

There is a huge range of LED panels available, so without size info it's very difficult to say. Here's an Ebay listing with some examples, but you can get many other sizes and layouts:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/390727913699

The unit (with the cover off) looks like this.  On the base it has "made in UK  cableform Ltd"
I shall now try to add the picture so anything might happen!

Cableform do not seem to make this sort of thing any more.

I guess you have already Googled the part number marked on the board? I doubt it's available retail.

You have a few options though. As far as I can see the board has a 12V regulator built in, so it would be possible to substitute in other boards on top. You would have to remove/disconnect the existing SMD LEDs but that's ~probably~ just a matter of cutting a line on the PCB.

You could - if you were feeling very brave - substitute new LEDs in place of the existing ones, but I can say from experience that working with Surface Mount devices like that is not much fun. It would be pretty time-consuming!

Those 28 x 5050 chips could be replaced with something similar to the ones I've just bought for our exterior light.

These are 10-30V regulated G4 panels which are 16 x 5050 warm white. I've used this seller many times before, firstly to supply 30 G4 warm white discs to replace the 10W halogens in our boat a few years ago.
The light colour is quite nice.
You'd have to do some wiring and stick the panels to the backplate with carefully placed double sided foam tape or similar (placing the tape to avoid covering and overheating the regulators).

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/160785195740?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&var=460066224724&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

I'm hoping to modify our similar shaped outside light today, so may be able to post a pic later.

EDIT: As these are regulated AC/DC panels you don't have to worry about polarity or battery voltage, IMHO they can't be beaten for combination of price/colour/reliability at £2.29 each.

I'm considering taking out the LED strip from my recently converted interior fluorescents and replacing it with these for reliability, as the current strips of LEDs aren't regulated.

Thank you for this information.  This looks like a possibility.   I have found the unit - which now seems to be by lumolighting but it is something like £45. Also it only comes in "white" not "warm white"

If you go for the panels like the ones meanchris points to, you won't need to use the onboard 12V regulator on the panel already in place - which should make the wiring a lot simpler.

Be cautious over the use of double-sided tape, though. I have used it before and found that on panels with a lot of LEDs in a small space, they get hot enough that the adhesive fails fairly quickly and you can end up with them drooping onto the cover and melting it! However, with regulated panels you ~shouldn't~ get too much heat, assuming they are well designed.

If this is not too daft a suggestion, why not phone Saul or Joe at Aten Lighting and get their advice. They are always extremely helpful, and if they don't stock a suitable item they may well be able to suggest where you could get one.

I agree that the light from the domes is a bit harsh, and if you can't improve it any other way, you could consider placing a sheet of pale yellow cellophane (or similar) on the inside of the dome. There's not much heat generated so there would be no risk, and for the sake of a few minutes it could be worth a try.

Hope this helps

Dave

Gromit wrote:If this is not too daft a suggestion, why not phone Saul or Joe at Aten Lighting and get their advice. They are always extremely helpful, and if they don't stock a suitable item they may well be able to suggest where you could get one.

I agree that the light from the domes is a bit harsh, and if you can't improve it any other way, you could consider placing a sheet of pale yellow cellophane (or similar) on the inside of the dome. There's not much heat generated so there would be no risk, and for the sake of a few minutes it could be worth a try.

Hope this helps

Dave

I have the opposite problem with our Exec interior lights, where the old Exec had the oblong clear 3 tube lenses which worked well with LEDs, the new one has long thin oval frosted lenses.

I've replaced the Fluoro tubes with warm white LED but the frosted lenses have yellowed and the light output is both reduced and a bit too yellow.

Thanks for your suggestion.  I had talked to Aten.  They only do an unprotected strip but have an aluminium channel with a translucent front coming in (web site next week) that might be the thing.   Autosleepers parts might also be possible.
Mark has told me how to get the old strip out but I suspect that it will be damaged in doing so.

safariboy wrote:Thanks for your suggestion.  I had talked to Aten.  They only do an unprotected strip but have an aluminium channel with a translucent front coming in (web site next week) that might be the thing.  

Thought you would have spoken to them - which is why I was hesitant!

I'm a bit surprised they didn't have a part already.

I think the (self adhesive) unprotected strip would be OK if you can't get anything else to suit. We have that in the kitchen at home (Saul advised and supplied) and it gives an excellent light. The advantage with that is you could cut several short lengths to make an array, and join them with fine wire and a bit of nifty soldering. Fiddly, but cheap and probably just as good as an expensive "unit". I did it on the previous van when I couldn't get a part to convert the porch light to LED, and it worked well.

Dave