Replacement bulbs

[engelside]

I have replace all the old halogen with LED apart from a couple.

They are both flourescent and I am not familiar with the way they are connected.

Has anyone else managed to replace these tubes with low power alternatives?

 

[RustyRuss]

Both of the fittings appear to be 240v AC conversions to 12vDC types. In my opinion as an electrician and former salesman/technical “expert” giggle for Philips Lighting OEM Division the fluorescent 8watt tube fitting should be replaced with a suitable “12vDC BULK HEAD LED WARM WHITE LIGHT FITTING” A replacement LED lamp will be around £8 and a new fitting will be in the region of £5 to £10 and the fitting/lamp will need to be re-wired. You’ll get the fitting on line or from a reasonably well stocked caravan/motorhome spares supplier.

The bulkhead fitting with the CFL (Compact Fluorescent Lamp) has a 2G7 lamp cap on it, you can buy LED replacement lamps but the lamp holder needs to be re-wired which is a real PITA (see diagram attached). If it was me I’d replace it with the aforesaid 12vDC BULK HEAD.

Wiring should be straight forward, you’ll need a multimeter to establish which of the two incoming wires to the respective fittings are +ve and -ve, safely isolate the circuit by disconnecting/removing the appropriate fuse from the fuse board, check that there is no voltage at the wiring with your multimeter, cut/disconnect the incoming wiring leaving as much slack as possible, then re-connect to the appropriate +ve & -ve terminals in the new fittings. Reinsert the fuse and Robert’s your Mother’s Brother, all good to go!

Might cost you £2-3 more than buying the replacement “compromise” lamps but at least you’ll know they’ll be reliable and last the lifetime of your Mo Ho or camper

Hope this helps!

Cheers!


Russ

 

[engelside]

Both of the fittings appear to be 240v AC conversions to 12vDC types. In my opinion as an electrician and former salesman/technical “expert” giggle for Philips Lighting OEM Division the fluorescent 8watt tube fitting should be replaced with a suitable “12vDC BULK HEAD LED WARM WHITE LIGHT FITTING” A replacement LED lamp will be around £8 and a new fitting will be in the region of £5 to £10 and the fitting/lamp will need to be re-wired. You’ll get the fitting on line or from a reasonably well stocked caravan/motorhome spares supplier.

The bulkhead fitting with the CFL (Compact Fluorescent Lamp) has a 2G7 lamp cap on it, you can buy LED replacement lamps but the lamp holder needs to be re-wired which is a real PITA (see diagram attached). If it was me I’d replace it with the aforesaid 12vDC BULK HEAD.

Wiring should be straight forward, you’ll need a multimeter to establish which of the two incoming wires to the respective fittings are +ve and -ve, safely isolate the circuit by disconnecting/removing the appropriate fuse from the fuse board, check that there is no voltage at the wiring with your multimeter, cut/disconnect the incoming wiring leaving as much slack as possible, then re-connect to the appropriate +ve & -ve terminals in the new fittings. Reinsert the fuse and Robert’s your Mother’s Brother, all good to go!

Might cost you £2-3 more than buying the replacement “compromise” lamps but at least you’ll know they’ll be reliable and last the lifetime of your Mo Ho or camper

Hope this helps!

Cheers!


Russ

Thanks for all that.

The internal overhead flourescent (8w) are actually a pair ether side of the roof vent. I would prefer to get a lower wattage than 6w though for that (8w to 6w is not that much of a gain I suppose). We have plenty of other 2w LED lights now inside so don't feel the need for the overhead to be so bright. The fitting is all part of the roof vent surround so not sure how easy it will be to do this in a neat way.

I guess the outside 11W to 6W is nearly 50% less power, and we don't really use it that much anyway so that might work.

 

[pappajohn]

The existing light has a crude inverter to supply the required 230v from the 12v wiring.
I used LED strips after identifying the 12v feed wires and ripping out all the gubbins from the light.
The LED strip was part of an aluminium extrusion which I secured with double sided tape into the lamp body.
Reconnect the wiring and that's it.
I had 11 x double tube lights but only put one strip in each light which gave the same light output.

 

[cmcardle75]

For the oval bulkhead fitting, I'd just replace the whole thing. If you don't want to do that (i.e. you like the appearance, or it is difficult to remove), remove both the bulb AND the circuit board. Replace with a suitably sized 12V LED striplight, connected to the red/black wires. You'll need to contrive a bracket to hold it to the existing backplate.

The long fluroescent striplight looks harder, as it looks like the fluorescent driver electronics (that need to be bypassed) may be elsewhere. However, principle is the same. Get an LED striplight and find a 12V feed. Remove/bypass any driver circuit boards.

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[tonyidle]

Thanks for all that.

The internal overhead flourescent (8w) are actually a pair ether side of the roof vent. I would prefer to get a lower wattage than 6w though for that (8w to 6w is not that much of a gain I suppose). We have plenty of other 2w LED lights now inside so don't feel the need for the overhead to be so bright. The fitting is all part of the roof vent surround so not sure how easy it will be to do this in a neat way.

I guess the outside 11W to 6W is nearly 50% less power, and we don't really use it that much anyway so that might work.

The biggest advantage of LED over fluorescent for 12v use is the very substantial increase in light output. Replacing and 8W tube with a 6W LED will at least double the amount of light.

 

[tonyidle]

For the oval bulkhead fitting, I'd just replace the whole thing. If you don't want to do that (i.e. you like the appearance, or it is difficult to remove), remove both the bulb AND the circuit board. Replace with a suitably sized 12V LED striplight, connected to the red/black wires. You'll need to contrive a bracket to hold it to the existing backplate.

The long fluroescent striplight looks harder, as it looks like the fluorescent driver electronics (that need to be bypassed) may be elsewhere. However, principle is the same. Get an LED striplight and find a 12V feed. Remove/bypass any driver circuit boards.

Buy this stuff & stick a length (or two) to the fluorescent fitting backplate once you have done as cmcardle75 suggests.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-...0001&campid=5338547443&icep_item=383711176581