Interior light led swap

[mikeonb4c]

Was considering changing my centre bulb for LED but unsure of the procedure/complexity so the Amazon LED bulb is a great spot.

What made me consider it was the centre light occasionally not coming on; would be working fine when switched to the on position but then the next time wouldnt come on at all (generally i have the switch set to off rather than door as I dont carry passengers most of the time and even less so at night).

Is this how these bulbs tend to 'go'? Increased unreliability in starting up?
Or is this more likely to be a dodgy switch?

Could be either I reckon, but you'll find out which when you fit the new LED alternative! I'll be interested to hear what you think of the new LED option, both its brightness and how warm/cold the light is compared to the fluorescent tube. Must try it myself when I get time, and when I can remember how to remove the light cover and make the change

[g8dhe]

Don't expect any great improvement in power consumption with the replacement tube LED's they have an internal inverter to convert back to LED voltages, so you go from 12 volts to high voltage for the fluorescent tube and then back to LED voltages so you end up drawing as much power as the original tube But it does overcome the problem of finding a replacement tube of course.

[mikeonb4c]

Don't expect any great improvement in power consumption with the replacement tube LED's they have an internal inverter to convert back to LED voltages, so you go from 12 volts to high voltage for the fluorescent tube and then back to LED voltages so you end up drawing as much power as the original tube But it does overcome the problem of finding a replacement tube of course.

So that's why its such a simple swap

Rather removes one of the key attractions. Thanks for the heads-up Geoff

[g8dhe]

Oh and the other thing common with all LED replacements the light is predominately downwards, there is less light going out horizontally or even a little upwards at the edge of the case, so the roof itself does not get illuminated and hence looks darker than with an actual fluorescent tube. I've added sheets of translucent film to help improve this its not perfect but does help spread the light a little better.
http://www.g8dhe.net/bongo_images/repla ... php?ind=11

[mikeonb4c]

Oh and the other thing common with all LED replacements the light is predominately downwards, there is less light going out horizontally or even a little upwards at the edge of the case, so the roof itself does not get illuminated and hence looks darker than with an actual fluorescent tube. I've added sheets of translucent film to help improve this its not perfect but does help spread the light a little better.
http://www.g8dhe.net/bongo_images/repla ... php?ind=11

Hmmmm. Maybe I should get the tin foil out again and turn the unit into an uplighter. It could actually be interesting to try. I could even put perforations in the foil so some light made its way downwards

[Gdlee1976]

Yes, but the wiring is a little different, I don't have an old style board to take photo's of so can't show you what needs to be done in as much detail.

Here's a picture of the connection on the old style (straight tube) board Geoff... I do not have a tester so I'm not sure what each wire is what.
1 - Red with green stripe.
1 - Black wire.
1 - Blue with red stripe.


My COB panels have a red (+) and a black (-) wire each.

[g8dhe]

Really need to see the whole board to suggest the best pick up points as the switch is connected to the board directly, the picture above only shows the external connections. The aim is to pickup the +12 volts which comes in directly from the Blue/Red wire above and connect to the +ve of the COB board, then locate the common connection of the switch, lift it from the old board and connect it to the -ve of the COB board. That way you isolate the existing electronics but leave it very simple to reconnect in the future if necessary.

[Gdlee1976]

Really need to see the whole board to suggest the best pick up points as the switch is connected to the board directly, the picture above only shows the external connections. The aim is to pickup the +12 volts which comes in directly from the Blue/Red wire above and connect to the +ve of the COB board, then locate the common connection of the switch, lift it from the old board and connect it to the -ve of the COB board. That way you isolate the existing electronics but leave it very simple to reconnect in the future if necessary.

Ok, here's what I have figured out so far Geoff...
I think I have the door position figured out. Red from COB to Blue/Red on board, Black from COB to Red/Green on the board.




Reverse side with switch showing.

[g8dhe]

Not as simple as that, the Red/Green wire is the door switched Earth, so if you use that it will operate with the door at all times, and the rest of the electronics will remain powered up and drawing current.

You would need to cut the track on the PCB that leads and pickup the switched earth -ve connection as below - but can't give a complete guarantee without inspecting it myself!

[BongoBongo123]

And if you want the easiest cheapest lighting of all without doing anything fiddly I have just made 2 paracord loops that hang off the interior trim and have one at each end of the cabin... perfect not too bright and no risk of killing your starter battery. I like to try and run nothing from my starter battery when out and about. These run on a single AA battery which I prefer over AAA's for LED stuff. They are very lightweight indeed.

Not sure how long a single AA Duracell lasts yet but there is 2 light intensity settings and a flash function (just like a head torch but more appropriate light output and diffusion for a Bongo bag/tent). I hang it off something near our bed and have it on at night when I listen to the radio to send me off to sleep. Still going and have had them a few weeks now.

Used mine this morning after waking, even after a long sleep it was not overly bright and dazzling. Soft pure white light. (not a warm yellowy light I hasten to add so if you want a yellowy type of light it is not ideal, but flouro are not normally yellow unless old)

Buy these sit back have a cup of tea instead, one for the lazy.

I love my LED lights, something of a fetish for them.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pack-2-ORB-Tent ... B00K1L26PA

[Alkers]

Don't expect any great improvement in power consumption with the replacement tube LED's they have an internal inverter to convert back to LED voltages, so you go from 12 volts to high voltage for the fluorescent tube and then back to LED voltages so you end up drawing as much power as the original tube But it does overcome the problem of finding a replacement tube of course.

It's a 3.5W tube, I'm not sure what the original was but I'd say that's at most 50% of the power consumption!

[g8dhe]

Yes the tube itself is agreed, BUT in the Bongo mounting you also have an inverter to convert from 12 volts to the voltages used to power the original florescent tube, these are not the most efficient inverters and if you get as much as 80% efficiency I would be quite surprised and neither would I be surprised if it was as bad as 50%. Which is probably getting close to what the original tube used.

[Rocketscientist123]

hi all,

I tried replacing the fluoro tube in the interior light with a straight swap for a T5 224mm LED tube that i bought on Amazon. This didn't work. The very nice man (Nick) at LED-zip.co.uk in Bournemouth was able to suss out the wiring of the PCB in the interior light fitting (which corresponds to the advice above in the thread, and the required track cutting), and splice in 3 lengths of LED strip. it's now very bright, and good enough to read by......the missus is happy.......

Nick can supply the LED strip(s) for you to do the conversion yourself, or do the whole job

cheers

Graham

[Alkers]

Got a link to the replacement part?

[adscatt]

I've just done the led mod as described above for the straight tube version, worked a treat. Thanks for posting this thread. Has anyone linked up all the interior lights so they all come on when a door is opened? Best way to do it?