Led Replacement lights

Sorry for so many questions but there is such a wealth of knowledge here might as well learn from those who have been motor homing for many years.

In the 2004 Nuevo we have 3 very old fluorescent lights. They work fine but are rather dim. I have not measured the length of the tubes and am sort of ok with the fittings but they are rather dated. Picture below.

I have searched Amazon and eBay for an hour or so but not having much luck. I was wondering if anyone knows of LED replacement lights that people have used or indeed if there are led replacements for the tubes. There are 2 tubes in each light.

There used to be a seller on ebay that sold straightforward replacement led tubes. I bought some and recommended them many times but he's mo longer listing them. They were expensive (£16 each) but were so simple to swop as others require the removal of the ballast in the fitting. Other members will no doubt tell you how simple it is to use key ribbon.
You could buy complete new lamps with led but Lumo who made the lamps you have stopped trading during pandemic. You may find another brand that will cover the same size so it won't be noticeable.

Lumo produced a LED version of the light fitting shown in your picture, which they referred to as the LED 42 Ellipse Satin Light F2572. However as Paul stated, Lumo withdrew from lighting (in 2020) and some of their fittings are becoming harder to find.

You have several options. One is to replace your current fittings with LED tape, which is the approach I took and explained in the link below. It looks like you have a pelmet moulding underneath your overhead lockers, which is ideal for hiding a low profile LED tape. I made up my own fittings but you could get manufactured fittings that use LED tape, such as those from Aten lighting. You’d need to reroute, most likely extend, and join onto the 12V cabling to the new fittings, but this can probably be done out of sight within the overhead lockers.

Alternatively, and depending on your practical skills, you could keep the existing fittings and make a matrix of LEDs to replace the tubes. You could do this by sticking short sections of LED tape onto a plate that matched the shape of the fitting. Only really feasible if you’re handy with a soldering iron and can connect the sections of LED tape with small-gauge stranded cable.

Finally, if you’re not keen on using LED tape in any form, and/or don’t fancy messing about with modifying the lighting wiring, you could replace the existing fittings with Lumo Coronet LED lights. They aren’t as slim as your existing lights, but in size and shape may be the next best option. I have the three that I removed and which are as new, if you’re interested. I replaced them because I wanted warmer lighting in the van. They are sized at 220x140x47 mm.

Tim

https://www.autosleeper-ownersforum.com/t31368-kingham-interior-lighting

There are some ideas that are specific to the Lumo Ellipse in this thread (note that the product name of Eclipse in the title is wrong):

https://www.autosleeper-ownersforum.com/t32527-eclipse-lights?highlight=lumo

The 3-panel conversion can be very bright - probably more so than the LED tape conversions - but note that (as said in the thread) one of the reasons why the Ellipse can appear to be dim is that the translucent cover can become quite dark and opaque, which blocks out a lot of light. We were given an old cover which was still relatively clear, but you may need to consider other options (such as chopping an area out and replacing it with something clearer).

Many thanks for all the help and suggestions. I am quite handy with all things DIY and have no issue with soldering etc and electrics so will look into the suggestions above

Thanks

I have added some cheap LED lights from ebay next to the light above the sink and the central light. They can easily be removed and all you might see is two very very small screw holes. The amount of light and light quality these give is far better than the stock lights pictured above.

They could be prettier but will do for now. All you need to do is connect them to the choc bloc that is connecting the main lights. They have a little switch on the end.



Here is the ebay link

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/393542974624?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2648    £14 for 4

They are great value, aren't they? Not a lot more than £3 each, in that pack of four.

Just for comparison, they should be pretty economical to run in terms of power - each of those four lights takes around half the power that a typical Ellipse two-tube fluorescent takes!

ASOC have a idea sheet showing the actual fitting and on how to convert these to led, when I did it many years ago, I added a 12 volt stable voltage chip, which stabilised the voltage as when the battery is charging the voltage may be above 12 volts

Caslon wrote:ASOC have a idea sheet showing the actual fitting and on how to convert these to led, when I did it many years ago, I added a 12 volt stable voltage chip, which stabilised the voltage as when the battery is charging the voltage may be above 12 volts

Interesting point. The old style lights when you actually start to work on them are actually quite cheap plastic and look a lot better than they are. 

I think the LED ones I bought can actually operate between 12 and 24 volts plug and play, Either way I think they are not to sensitive to voltage

Well it is dark now so went to test the lights and what an incredible difference. I am a person who hates dim lights and if I had not added these two lights I think I would have been very disappointed. I have only added the little LED strip lights to the centre light and the one above the Cooker and my what a difference. I have wired them so that each and all can be switched on and off independently.

Here is a little video of them in action. I hope you will be able to see the massive difference. Not bad for £10 and about 30 mins work.

I have 2 spare if these ones go pop.

Just bought 6 8w 12” tubes Amazon

Wonkey donkey wrote:Just bought 6 8w 12” tubes Amazon

If they are as good as the ones I just fitted you will not be disappointed

Can anyone in the Oxfordshire or Berkshire area point me towards a place that will change my existing camper internal lights to LED while they are at it I would like a Smart Charger fitted.