Awning light overall and upgrade

In some recent post I saw a comment that to change the bulb in the 'new style' awning light, it was necessary to remove the complete unit.
On our 2010 Broadway, the light was inadequate for reading in the evenings, so I decided to investigate and if possible upgrade.

I can confirm that to get at the bulb fitted as standard (10w warm white halogen) it is necessary to remove the whole unit, since the back plate is screwed onto the front cover by 7 screws, accessible only from the rear of the back plate.



The first pic shows the removed unit which has been opened and disassembled.
You can see I have started to line the inside of the base plate with kitchen tin foil to improve reflectivity.

The cover comes apart also, and comprises a clear perspex cover with a separate white 'top section' cover.
Looking from the inside I could see there was quite a lot of green mould between the perspex and the white cover, signifying some moisture ingress between them.

In pic 2 you can see I have separated the covers and after cleaning them have reassembled with a membrane of Kitchen tin foil.
Also on this pic you will see the additional bracket I have made from thin aluminium, which will carry the additional LED lights.



The final pic shows the completed upgrade.
I have used an GU4 LED replacement for the halogen lamp, and on each side of it mounted 2 elements of a stripped down LED headlamp bulb.
These are carried on the additional bracket I made.



I have brought of the rear of the unit the extra 2 wires for the side lights.
They could have been connected inside the unit to the main lamp wires, but my intention is to power them via a switch so that I have 2 stages of lighting intensity.

Before fitting to the van, I placed a small strip of cellotape over each screw and then ran a solid bead of 'Plumbers Gold' sealant around the rear edge of the back plate where it joins up with the front cover.

The resultant lighting is significantly better, with the bonus of lower current drain on the leisure battery and hopefully maintenance free.

Now all I need is some warmer weather to sit out in the evenings - 3 miles inland from us there was 2" of snow this morning !!!

Good to see a well thought-out replacement for a halogen, as they are pretty inefficient and get very hot...

Incidentally, for anyone who wants a straight plug-in replacement, one of the 2.2W G4 LEDs such as the ones with 12 LEDs here should give a fair bit of light:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/360649169665

Obviously not as bright or flexible as Backtrax's solution, but no extra wiring required.

I should add that I have ordered a couple of the above to install in my Osram Copilots but I haven't actually received them yet, so perhaps I should hold off recommending them until they turn up. I ordered a similar (but on paper slightly better) product from an Ebay seller recently, and it simply never arrived...