New lighting

by marian innis Fri Sep 30, 2016 10:23 am

I have a VW Trooper and I would like to change the lighting from dull fluorescent tubes to LCD lighting. Can I do that and if so how
do I do it. Any other suggestions for updating the lighting I would welcome.

by -mojo- Fri Sep 30, 2016 10:51 am

Yes, almost certainly you can, but you probably want LED lighting, not LCD (as far as I know there is no such thing as LCD lighting).

There have been lots of threads previously on this, so the best bet would be to read some of the older threads and then come back and ask questions if there are things that still don't make sense. The forum search tool will find most of them if you put "LED lighting" into the search box, but as a starter here's an early thread on the subject:

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If you're not into modifying things then possibly (assuming you have Labcraft Trilite or similar fititngs) the easiest solution would be to replace the tubes with ones that have LEDs inside. It's a fairly expensive way to go (which is essentially why I did not) but I believe it's possible to get ones that literally do just plug in as replacements - no other mods required.

by Greyhound Fri Sep 30, 2016 11:54 am

-mojo- wrote:It's a fairly expensive way to go (which is essentially why I did not) but I believe it's possible to get ones that literally do just plug in as replacements - no other mods required.

I looked into the direct replacement LED tubes a while ago and didn't think it was cost effective either.

In the end I have decided to stick with tubes. I like the softer light and the power consumption isn't that much more to worry about :)

Easy to replace for LED lights though, lots of 12V options out there if you like fiddling about with them as Mojo says.

by Alf Fri Sep 30, 2016 11:55 am

Hi Marian we have a Trooper mainly wild camp and have converted all 3 lights to led it's not a big job to do and have converted our last 3 campers to LED lights, it does conserve battery power in the darker months, we always use Aten Lighting for our led strips cut to length any problems send a PM

Alf

by Paulmold Fri Sep 30, 2016 12:46 pm

Aten do the replacement LED tubes which are a straight swop. As -Mojo- says they are not cheap at about £16 each. I converted one of my lights with these and the light is so much brighter so you can save on consumption by only using one light instead of 2 or 3 .

by Alf Fri Sep 30, 2016 3:30 pm

The only disadvantage is that you leave the inverter in circuit doing this still has a power loss.Removing the inverter and the rest of the circuit and just using LED,s fed direct from the 12v supply gives a lower current draw.AlfPaulmold wrote:Aten do the replacement LED tubes which are a straight swop. As -Mojo- says they are not cheap at about £16 each. I converted one of my lights with these and the light is so much brighter so you can save on consumption by only using one light instead of 2 or 3 .

by Paulmold Fri Sep 30, 2016 4:30 pm

Alf wrote:
The only disadvantage is that you leave the inverter in circuit doing this still has a power loss.Removing the inverter and the rest of the circuit and just using LED,s fed direct from the 12v supply gives a lower current draw.AlfPaulmold wrote:Aten do the replacement LED tubes which are a straight swop. As -Mojo- says they are not cheap at about £16 each. I converted one of my lights with these and the light is so much brighter so you can save on consumption by only using one light instead of 2 or 3 .

But as -mojo- said 'if you're not into modifying things' and I am not all that technically minded. I for one wouldn't know where the inverter was or how to remove it and wire in an led strip, so I just gave the lay-mans easy option. At 4w each instead of 8, each 2 tube light fitting saves 8 watts and if you can cope with the light output of just one fitting, because they are so much brighter, compared with three, then you save 40 watts. Suits me but I realise that if you are capable of doing the modification yourself, then greater savings can be made.

by marian innis Fri Sep 30, 2016 7:43 pm

Thanks for info Mojo and sorry about the LED spelling??????. What do you call expensive?
I need to get rid of the 'yellow' light which I really dislike. The white light is so
much better to live with.

by Paulmold Fri Sep 30, 2016 7:51 pm

marian innis wrote: What do you call expensive?
I need to get rid of the 'yellow' light which I really dislike. The white light is so
much better to live with.

These are the ones I referred to ...and where I got mine..

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by -mojo- Fri Sep 30, 2016 8:33 pm

marian innis wrote:
I need to get rid of the 'yellow' light which I really dislike. The white light is so
much better to live with.

I'm surprised at the comment about the fluorescents being yellow. All of the vans that I've had with fluorescent lighting (all Labcraft Trilite fittings) have been a rather harsh blue-white light. If yours are yellow, is it possible that the clear covers have yellowed? If that's what has happened then replacing with LEDs probably won't make a huge difference to the colour - though you will not of course have to put up with them being dim initially, as LEDs take no time to warm up..

The cost difference between DIY LED fittings and the "no mods required" one with LED tubes can be significant. In a Trilite you could get away with taking out the two existing fluorescent tubes and fitting just one LED tube (as Paulmold says) - but if you replace both you are looking at £30+ per light fitting! By comparison, most of the DIY installs in the "LED experiment" thread linked to above cost maybe £5 per light fitting.

by Alf Sat Oct 01, 2016 9:08 pm

Paulmold wrote:
Alf wrote:
The only disadvantage is that you leave the inverter in circuit doing this still has a power loss.Removing the inverter and the rest of the circuit and just using LED,s fed direct from the 12v supply gives a lower current draw.AlfPaulmold wrote:Aten do the replacement LED tubes which are a straight swop. As -Mojo- says they are not cheap at about £16 each. I converted one of my lights with these and the light is so much brighter so you can save on consumption by only using one light instead of 2 or 3 .
But as -mojo- said 'if you're not into modifying things' and I am not all that technically minded. I for one wouldn't know where the inverter was or how to remove it and wire in an led strip, so I just gave the lay-mans easy option. At 4w each instead of 8, each 2 tube light fitting saves 8 watts and if you can cope with the light output of just one fitting, because they are so much brighter, compared with three, then you save 40 watts. Suits me but I realise that if you are capable of doing the modification yourself, then greater savings can be made.

Alf
Paul its not a complicated task to replace with LED strip.Remove the light cover 2no screws remove the skeleton light unit disconnect the two wires I replaced mine with a 50cm length of high brightness dual LED strip cut to length with leads already connected from Aten Lighting at £ 9.99 each There is just a positive and negative to connect if you get these the wrong way round just swap the wires over it will only work when connected correctly and no harm done,

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by Wingrider8368 Sat Oct 01, 2016 9:57 pm

Hi Marian,
While i understand the arguments for and against, my choice was to replace the lighting without altering the light units themselves, so that, in future, if another owner wants to go back to original spec, they will be easily able to do so and it was easier for me to do as well. To that end I've used a company called ledbulbs4u.co.uk. I've bought led tubes and led downlighter bulbs from them and been very pleased. Apart from the kitchen area they recommend that you only use one tube per light unit, otherwise they are too bright, that means that you need to also make or buy from them a wire link to trick the light unit into thinking you are still running a pair of tubes.
It is probably the more expensive option but its worked for me. I should also say that I have no connection with the company apart from being a happy customer.

by Paulmold Sat Oct 01, 2016 10:15 pm

Alf - you have more faith in my technical ability than I have in myself.

Wingrider - I'm with you.

by daisy mae Sat Oct 01, 2016 10:23 pm

I bought mine from Atem Lighting, they also fitted them free, I had four spot lights ( I previously changed the spot lights myself bought from a MH Show, but they were too long and the glass wouldn`t fit ) and three fluorescent tubes, warm white in the lounge area and bright white in the kitchen, not expensive and very pleased with them.

by marian innis Sun Oct 02, 2016 9:16 pm

You guys & daisy mae are so helpful and I thank you for your imput. I like the suggestion
to replace with LED tubes from aten. Simple, and for any new owners to revert back if
they wish to. I'm off to the Birmingham MH show next week so have enough info to
take a closer look at what is on offer. Thanks all xx

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