U-shaped cabin bulb - alternatives?

[TheHillsAreCalling]

Hi there,

The u-shaped cabin bulb in my Bongo has gone - it comes on, but really dimly.

I see that a replacement from Ian is over forty quid as they have to be specially imported from Japan

Are there any alternatives? I seem to remember seeing someone had done an LED mod a while back but it seemed quite complicated and I was hoping for something a bit more suited to my fairly basic bodging skills.

Any info greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Phil

[mikeonb4c]

Mine was v dim when i bought the Bongo 12 years ago. Turned out it was just connections needed cleaning. 12 years on its still going great.

[Ian]

We obtained some a number of years ago from an alternative supplier, but I've lost the details. They may have been called The Lamp Company and I think they were in the USA. I still have the product code. Try Googling FUL8T61WW.

[Roy748]

Hi
I converted mine to LED and it really is very easy. No wires to cut rather just removing the light unit, a little bit of soldering and reassemble. There is a really good description on here
https://igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/vie ... 44&t=74123
which includes photos. The LEDs were bought on ebay for around £4 so a very cheap fix. I have tested mine now whilst camping and the light works great without getting hot and melting the plastic light cover which I was initially concerned about.

[TheHillsAreCalling]

Mine was v dim when i bought the Bongo 12 years ago. Turned out it was just connections needed cleaning. 12 years on its still going great.

Wow! It really should've occurred to me to try that - I'll give it a go. Thanks.

[TheHillsAreCalling]

We obtained some a number of years ago from an alternative supplier, but I've lost the details. They may have been called The Lamp Company and I think they were in the USA. I still have the product code. Try Googling FUL8T61WW.

Sadly Google draws a blank on that product code. There's a website for "The Lamp Company" in the UK but I haven't been able to find it on there - yet - I'll keep trying

[TheHillsAreCalling]

Hi
I converted mine to LED and it really is very easy. No wires to cut rather just removing the light unit, a little bit of soldering and reassemble. There is a really good description on here
https://igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/vie ... 44&t=74123
which includes photos. The LEDs were bought on ebay for around £4 so a very cheap fix. I have tested mine now whilst camping and the light works great without getting hot and melting the plastic light cover which I was initially concerned about.

That's the one! I may well give that a go actually as it doesn't look as involved as I remember - perhaps my bodging skills have improved

Many thanks.

[Propnut]

I had the same dim bulb problem a couple of years ago and used a COB lamp as per the link by G8DHE, here :-http://www.g8dhe.net/bongo_images/repla ... cent_tube/
The instructions are easy to follow and the lamp is now super bright.
The only thing I would say that the lamp plate does get hot after a while so I made a little heat sink / reflector to mount it on made from thin aluminium sheet.

Ive just read through the page for the first time since my installation and he now points out the heat issue and has amended the instructions to resolve this.

[TheHillsAreCalling]

I had the same dim bulb problem a couple of years ago and used a COB lamp as per the link by G8DHE, here :-http://www.g8dhe.net/bongo_images/repla ... cent_tube/
The instructions are easy to follow and the lamp is now super bright.
The only thing I would say that the lamp plate does get hot after a while so I made a little heat sink / reflector to mount it on made from thin aluminium sheet.

Ive just read through the page for the first time since my installation and he now points out the heat issue and has amended the instructions to resolve this.

Thanks! I really like the addition of the voltage regulator. If I go the LED route then I'll definitely include it.

[g8dhe]

Yes as is quite often the case with items from Ebay the quality of the COB's varies and one got very hot after about a years use. Hence I've added the simple Zener diode regulator to avoid issues when the supply voltage gets significantly above the nominal 12 volts, it doesn't affect brilliance, just ensures that the wires don't un-solder themselves from the COB board itself!