Bongo Fury

Hi
Mike...
Strange, that reminds me....I re-wired mine 7 or 8 years ago to stop it coming on as a courtesy light, and it lights the front light in the cab instead.....can't give passengers too much luxury, or they won't know they're born.... ...It only comes on when you use it as a switched light, and I never use it....Plus I have an LED "touch-light " on the rear window pillar
Cheers
Helen

helen&tony wrote:Hi
Mike...
Strange, that reminds me....I re-wired mine 7 or 8 years ago to stop it coming on as a courtesy light, and it lights the front light in the cab instead.....can't give passengers too much luxury, or they won't know they're born.... ...It only comes on when you use it as a switched light, and I never use it....Plus I have an LED "touch-light " on the rear window pillar
Cheers
Helen

You're a girl of many talents Helen!

if you do wish to do the LED upgrade here is my video of how to do it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_digIxwxV4
hope it helps.

peanutcrusher wrote:if you do wish to do the LED upgrade here is my video of how to do it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_digIxwxV4
hope it helps.

I enjoyed that. Looks like it gives good light too. I hate 'de-originalising' the Bongo though in case the LEDs don't last as well as they should (my front interior light LEDs haven't).

I understand you point Mike about not keeping to "original" spec or as near as... changing a bulb for a bulb is easy and easy to return to factory.... I have looked to see if there is a U shaped LED replacement tube like the straight tube for our Early versions.... I guess there will be a time where some with U shaped tubes will scour the breakers for the earlier strip versions and fitting the led tubes... waiting for my tube to arrive... I'm not too bothered about the brightness as compared with the standard tube as the LED front cab lights give a light that can't be compared with the "yellow" T10 that were in the unit. So long as it lights enough to see and read I will be happy... It'll also help on the October to March nights out.... sans point électrique... Solar rules...

I must say i like to keep my bongo looking a original as possible hence why i when to the breakers and brought the replacement roof light and that's the one i modded i still have the original one which i can just put back in at any time.
it only cost me £15 with a u shape bulb so now i have a spare u shaped bulb and a normal straight light including bulb.
it one of my LED's dies then its easy to replace just watch the video your see how easy it was to put together in the first case.

peanutcrusher wrote:I must say i like to keep my bongo looking a original as possible hence why i when to the breakers and brought the replacement roof light and that's the one i modded i still have the original one which i can just put back in at any time.
it only cost me £15 with a u shape bulb so now i have a spare u shaped bulb and a normal straight light including bulb.
it one of my LED's dies then its easy to replace just watch the video your see how easy it was to put together in the first case.

That's the way I'd do it. Just in case I came to regret the mods I'd made. Or if I was concerned about effect on resale value.

I ordered one of these as soon as I read this thread. It arrived yesterday....

Look before you leap, as they say.

It's very inefficient to step up 12v to 240v and then back down for about 2v for the LEDs. If saving power is the aim of the excercise, it would be better to bypass the inverter in the existing fitting and get some 12v LEDs.

What's wrong with the original? Mine is, and it is very bright, easy brihght enough to read by. Is it just when they get older?

Fitted mine last night.

Agreed that it's not the most efficient way to create light, but at the current involved it's not going to flatten a 113Ah leisure battery too quickly.

I don't think the 90% less power quoted in the original pot is quite right - the Amazon page lists them as 2W compared to an incandescent equivalent of 20W, which would be a 90% saving. However the standard lamp is a T5 6W lamp, so there's a 66% saving, if we assume that the 2W listed is the total drawn power, including that used by the electronics taking the 240v back down to LED voltage. Either way, it's a saving.

My original tube was very dim and yellow. The replacement (traditional) tube was much better - and to be fair was bright enough to read with etc. This LED one is brighter still. Not really a requirement, but it does look more modern. I've kept the tube lamp as a spare.

Hello all...

Just in the process of trying to fix my cab light...I documented the notes on another post. I may well just end up replacing the tube with the LED lights, following that youtube video that peanutcrusher kindly added Anyways, does anyone know how to disconnect the white connector? I have someone helping me and that's what they asked

Oh btw peanutcrusher, did you happen to get round to taking any photos of the LEDs at night? Be great to see em!

Steve

The white connector just has to have the release tag depressed, its a locking type on all the plugs in Mazda, turn the connector over and you will see a little plastic tag that has to be depressed to release the latch.

Thanks g8dhe! Bongo Fury is the most helpful forum on the planet.

Excellent, fitted mine last week and tried out this weekend - much better, though to be fair I think my original was on it's way out anyway!

Dave