LED light upgrade in my Class C
I replaced 9 pancake lights and 1 single pancake light in my Cruise America 28R with LED versions from Thin-Lite. Sorry no pictures. Here is the link to the double pancake lights. Here is the link to the single pancake light. It is about a $350 USD upgrade, but it was well worth it IMO. The on/off switch on the LED lights feels solid. On the 1141 pancake lights, the switch would wear out (I replaced several over time due to failed switches). I have a 14-speed Fantastic Fan in the bathroom. It gets its power from an adjacent pancake light. With the fan on high, turning on the 1141 pancake light would slow the fan speed. With the LED light there was no change to the fan speed. With several of the LED double pancake lights turned fully on there was no change to the fan speed. These LED lights are bright though. If you're used to working in a cubicle farm with overhead fluorescent lights then you'll be OK with them. IMO, the white light of the LED in the bathroom is much better than the warm yelllow light from the 1141 bulbs.
Installation:
The LED double pancake lights are virtually a direct replacement for the 1141 double pancake lights that I had. I was able to reuse the (aweful square-bit) original screws and wire nuts from the 1141 double pancake lights when installing the LED lights. The distance between the screw holes in the 4 corners of the LED lights are a millimeter or 2 wider than on the 1141 double pancake lights. Using the original screws and my fingers, I was able to nudge the screws into the original screw holes. This pleased me because I'm screwing into luann and high density foam. The pressure applied to nudge the screws into the original holes means that the lights are very well secured to the ceiling with virtually no chance of falling off it.
In several cases I needed to use needle-nosed pliers to gently pull the wire nuts out of the ceiling/hole. In one case I could not reach the wire nuts and had to cut the wires on the 1141 pancake light. More on that in a moment. In the case of the single pancake light on the side of the cabinet in the cabover, after pulling the wire nuts out of the cabinet I had to use needle-nosed vice grip locking pliers to keep the wires from going back into the cabinet after removing the wire nuts.
When I installed the new single pancake light on the side of the cabinet for the cabover, the screw holes did not line up with the screw holes of the 1141 single pancake light. I used one screw to install the LED light using one of the existing screw holes. I positioned it for level and tightened the screw just enough to keep it in place. Then I used a drill with a very small diameter bit to drill pilot holes in the cabinet through the other 3 screw holes on the LED light. I then screwed the light to the cabinet using the 1 inch screws from the hardware packet, well... because I don't need 1.25 inch screws for the cabinet and the CA screws have crummy square-bit heads and the 1 inch screws have phillips heads.
The trouble spot:
Refer to the 1141 double pancake light on the ceiling outside of the shower door in the below picture. After removing the 1141 light, I discovered that the hole in the ceiling contained the 12V wiring harness for the rest of the lights. It was a nest of wires. I could not get to the wire nuts for the light. I had to cut the wires at the back of the 1141 pancake light and use then to connect to the new LED pancake light. A minor irritation -> PITA. The "fun" part was trying to neatly stuff all the wiring back into the ceiling so that the new light could be installed.
Shipping note:
I purchased the LED lights in 3 separate orders from Amazon - several weeks apart.
1st order: I bought 1 LED double pancake light - as a test case to see how well it installed and worked. In the Amazon box was the light in its retail box. The light was in a plastic sleeve with a hardware packet of 4 one inch screws and 2 small wire nuts.
2nd order: I bought 3 LED double pancake lights and 1 single pancake light. In the Amazon box were 4 lights, each in its plastic sleeve - wrapped in bubble wrap. There were no retail boxes or hardware packets. Although it is a w.t.f. moment, the lights were in perfect condition and I used the existing screws and wire nuts to install them.
3rd order: I bought 5 LED double pancake lights (1 is an extra). In the Amazon box was 5 lights, in their retail boxes with hardware packets.
Installation:
The LED double pancake lights are virtually a direct replacement for the 1141 double pancake lights that I had. I was able to reuse the (aweful square-bit) original screws and wire nuts from the 1141 double pancake lights when installing the LED lights. The distance between the screw holes in the 4 corners of the LED lights are a millimeter or 2 wider than on the 1141 double pancake lights. Using the original screws and my fingers, I was able to nudge the screws into the original screw holes. This pleased me because I'm screwing into luann and high density foam. The pressure applied to nudge the screws into the original holes means that the lights are very well secured to the ceiling with virtually no chance of falling off it.
In several cases I needed to use needle-nosed pliers to gently pull the wire nuts out of the ceiling/hole. In one case I could not reach the wire nuts and had to cut the wires on the 1141 pancake light. More on that in a moment. In the case of the single pancake light on the side of the cabinet in the cabover, after pulling the wire nuts out of the cabinet I had to use needle-nosed vice grip locking pliers to keep the wires from going back into the cabinet after removing the wire nuts.
When I installed the new single pancake light on the side of the cabinet for the cabover, the screw holes did not line up with the screw holes of the 1141 single pancake light. I used one screw to install the LED light using one of the existing screw holes. I positioned it for level and tightened the screw just enough to keep it in place. Then I used a drill with a very small diameter bit to drill pilot holes in the cabinet through the other 3 screw holes on the LED light. I then screwed the light to the cabinet using the 1 inch screws from the hardware packet, well... because I don't need 1.25 inch screws for the cabinet and the CA screws have crummy square-bit heads and the 1 inch screws have phillips heads.
The trouble spot:
Refer to the 1141 double pancake light on the ceiling outside of the shower door in the below picture. After removing the 1141 light, I discovered that the hole in the ceiling contained the 12V wiring harness for the rest of the lights. It was a nest of wires. I could not get to the wire nuts for the light. I had to cut the wires at the back of the 1141 pancake light and use then to connect to the new LED pancake light. A minor irritation -> PITA. The "fun" part was trying to neatly stuff all the wiring back into the ceiling so that the new light could be installed.
Shipping note:
I purchased the LED lights in 3 separate orders from Amazon - several weeks apart.
1st order: I bought 1 LED double pancake light - as a test case to see how well it installed and worked. In the Amazon box was the light in its retail box. The light was in a plastic sleeve with a hardware packet of 4 one inch screws and 2 small wire nuts.
2nd order: I bought 3 LED double pancake lights and 1 single pancake light. In the Amazon box were 4 lights, each in its plastic sleeve - wrapped in bubble wrap. There were no retail boxes or hardware packets. Although it is a w.t.f. moment, the lights were in perfect condition and I used the existing screws and wire nuts to install them.
3rd order: I bought 5 LED double pancake lights (1 is an extra). In the Amazon box was 5 lights, in their retail boxes with hardware packets.
