flourescent light replacement

Sounds like a good plan. I have replaced all my lights with LEDs. I have seen LED tubes at Costco. There are many sites that sell led strips as well. I am sure there will be many suggestions to come.

We like the 5050 cool white Led strips in the bedroom, closet, over vanity, galley ceiling, galley sink and at reading positions.

LED Strips we used

At $13 to replace ten $7 fluorescent bulbs, if you do not like the first selection, you can change them out with little cost.

The other areas could use warm white but have not converted those yet.

All of our ceiling lights were fluorescent.

I have used one 18" strip to replace one 18" bulb.

Using these connectors speeds up the installation with no soldering.

I cut the wires half way between the connectors to yield 20 connectors for the end of the 18" strips.

On our ThinLite fixtures, I do not remove the ballast and wiring. It will be covered by the reflector anyway. Saves time.

I used the Starlight brand of led tube replacement. Specs are 840 lumens, 8-30 vdc and 4,200 Kelvins. One tube will be as bright as two fluorescent tubes. I prefer a little warmth in the light and 4200 will do that, however, the blue white lights do not provide accurate color rendition. If you want warm light, like a residential light bulb, then be sure to stick with bulbs that run 2,500 to 4,000 Kelvins. As far as lumens the typical incandescent bulb in RV's produces about 160 lumens, so you can choose more or less light as desired.

There are tubes out there that are simply plug and play but they are expensive. IMHO, it's way too easy to change out the existing fixtures with LED strips and the result is excellent. Over the sink I used four strips whereas in the bath I only used two. The nice thing is you can start with two and add as many strips as you like depending on your preferences. Sort of like changing a 60w bulb with a 100w one. Here's what I used:

Step One: Click on the link below and watch the video. There are several but this one I found to be the most informative. It's by RVGeeks. It's old but IMO, the easiest and has the best volume etc.

Step Two: Purchase your LED strips. I bought mine from Amazon. These are the closest to the original color and brightness of the flourescent tubes.

SUPERNIGHT (TM) Warm White 5M / 16.4FT 5050 SMD Flexible LED Strip Lights 300 leds or 60led/m LED Light by SUPERNIGHT $11.98

ZITRADES 10MM 2PIN 10PCS LED STRIP CONNECTORS FOR 5050 SINGLE COLOR LED STRIP BY ZITRADES $7.98


Step Three: I removed the fixture as it's easier to work on if it's on the table rather than in the air. Remove the ballast and all the wiring as per the video. The only thing I did differently is the adhesive they use on the back of the strip is inadequate. I applied double sided tape from Home Depot first, then peeled the backing off the LED strip and put it in place. In the bath, I put the LED strips on the fixture but in the kitchen, I put them on the fixture and the ballast cover.

The only mistake I made was not ordering enough end connectors. I bought ten but with 16ft of LEDs I should have bought at least 20. Don't pay for shipping twice.

Good luck with your project. If you need pictures or have any other questions, feel free to ask either here or send a PM.....Dennis

LED changeout

I changed out some of my light fixtures like Executive did with LED strips purchased from Amazon. I used four strips on the lights in the kitchen and living areas and put two of them on the ballast cover as well as the other two inside the light. The stickum of the double sided tape and the LED backing wasn't working well when I put mine on and so I used some Goop. Stuck just fine. I have three more to go so I agree to buy plenty supplies if you are going to do the whole MH as I plan to do. Also it is easier if you determine the + and - on the LED strips before installing. Just make sure to put connecting wires on the correct end after the first cut. I went another step in that I soldered the LED connecting wires together before installation in the coach. Before that I found some weren't lighting because some of the wires pulled out during installation. No more buying bulbs when the ones I took out are used up. A fairly easy task but tough on these old shoulders working overhead. Best of luck on the changeover

I did our twice...
First time I bought really cheap unregulated coils from hong kong off ebay. It turned out they couldn't take the fluctuating voltage in the RV, and they burned out.

Second time I still bought the cheap hong kong ones, but got ones that were regulated, and didn't bother with the waterproof coating.
The regulated ones will show a wide voltage range in the specs, 10 to 18 volts or so.

The second set has been great.

I prefer a color temp around 5000-6000. More than 6000 looks blue, yuck. and less than 4000 looks very yellow

I soldered all the connections, removed the old ballasts and wiring, and used the existing switch on the fixture to switch from 2 led strips to 6.
We mostly use that in the bathroom, only 2 strips lit makes for a nice subdued nitelight.

Just my opinion, but LED bulbs do not generate enough light to even read a newspaper. Because of their structure and material most of the light gets trapped reducing the brightness of the light. They usually do not put out any more then a 35 watt incandescent light bulb. Unless you get them in clusters, THEN they might give enough light for your satisfaction.

RayChez wrote:
Just my opinion, but LED bulbs do not generate enough light to even read a newspaper. Because of their structure and material most of the light gets trapped reducing the brightness of the light. They usually do not put out any more then a 35 watt incandescent light bulb. Unless you get them in clusters, THEN they might give enough light for your satisfaction.

The "cool White" LEDs do not light as well as the warm white ones. We can see and read fine with the warm white LEDs. We had got some cool white replacement LEDs, but you could not see, or read by them. We ordered 2 of the warm white replacements and they worked fine, so we ordered enough to replace all rest of the bulbs, except the 2 over the driver/passenger area. Even got LEDs for the 2 map light up front, the put out more light and were much cooler to touch.

We replaced all but one of our fluorescent bulbs in our motorhome with these from marinebeam.com a couple of years ago and ZERO problems with any of them. They are expensive, but I figured if they can handle 24V, then will not have any issue with our 12V systems. We got the natural white.

The pins on the outside can be rotated 90*, so for the fixture outside of the closet I have the bulb nearest the closet directing it's light towards the closet which helps brighten the entire closet area. Since this is in the hallway, there is still PLENTY of light to illuminate the hallway.

You do have to rewire the fixture to bypass the ballast circuitry. (I replaced the bulbs as the ballasts were failing, so I didn't do them all at once.) The instructions to do so are included. If you've ever done any type of wiring, it's pretty easy to follow. There is a video on the website as well.

The one fixture I didn't replace with these bulbs I put an LED strip in which can change color via several patterns or by way of a remote control. This light was in the bedroom so we can adjust it for some "mood lighting". ;)

RayChez, PLENTY of light with these babies. I like it very bright when I'm trying to work and these are brighter than the original fluorescent tubes.

I'm sure there are cheaper units, but I'm not sure if you'll find any better.

~Rick