Grab handle lighting now works!
The grab-handle lighting has never worked on my MH since we bought it a few months ago. I just assumed that the Monaco Windsor handle was not supposed to be lighted. Friday I decided to find out for sure. I removed the handle and there was the LED at the top! I called Monaco parts
and found out that there is a replacement LED kit available from them
(part # S01806678) at a cost of $9.92 plus shipping. That would probably run around $15.00 with shipping. I hate to sound cheap, but I thought I could replace that little LED for a lot less than that, so off I go to Radio Shack. They had the perfect replacement, their part # 276-0017 at only $2.19 for a package of two! It is exactly the same size as the original and extremely bright, rated at 7000 MCD. Only other thing I needed was the resistor to drop the voltage from 13 VDC down to the recommended 3.3 to 3.6 volts. That took some experimenting to determine the right value. The original resistor was 150 ohms but the voltage was too high with it. I finally found that a 270 ohm resistor (Radio Shack # 271-1112, $1.19 for package of 5) put the voltage on the LED at 3.5 Volts, just right! I finished the project just about dark, and that thing is bright!
For those who might want to do this, I will mention a couple of things. First, the LED is in the top mounting bracket, but don't take that bracket off! The leads are really short to the LED and you wouldn't have the slack you need to cut and splice the wires. Remove the bottom bracket and the top end of the handle will slide out of the top bracket. You will then see the LED in it's reflector. Mine was a little bit of a problem to get out since there is not much room between the LED holder and the inside of the bracket. Be careful not to scratch the reflector in getting it out! After it is out you can cut the wires within about an inch of the LED holder, leaving as much wire as possible sticking out of the bracket. After you get the LED & resistor replaced and ready to re-install, you can solder three or four inches of extra wire (keep it small!) to the back of the LED holder. This extra wire can then be pushed back up into the bracket. The LED holder fits into a short recess area on top of the grab bar. I used a piece of duct tape to hold it in place.
You will need a low-wattage soldering iron to replace the LED and resistor on the small circuit board. I would not use anything above 30 watts. I had a Radio Shack iron with a switch that selected between 15 and 30 watts that was perfect for the job. Use a small-diameter 60/40 resin-core solder. NEVER use acid-core solder on electronic parts like this!
I know some of you will say why go to all that trouble to save $11 or so, and I agree it's probably not worth the effort, but hey, an old man's gotta find something to occupy his time! Below is a photo of the finished product. Good luck & God bless!
and found out that there is a replacement LED kit available from them
(part # S01806678) at a cost of $9.92 plus shipping. That would probably run around $15.00 with shipping. I hate to sound cheap, but I thought I could replace that little LED for a lot less than that, so off I go to Radio Shack. They had the perfect replacement, their part # 276-0017 at only $2.19 for a package of two! It is exactly the same size as the original and extremely bright, rated at 7000 MCD. Only other thing I needed was the resistor to drop the voltage from 13 VDC down to the recommended 3.3 to 3.6 volts. That took some experimenting to determine the right value. The original resistor was 150 ohms but the voltage was too high with it. I finally found that a 270 ohm resistor (Radio Shack # 271-1112, $1.19 for package of 5) put the voltage on the LED at 3.5 Volts, just right! I finished the project just about dark, and that thing is bright!
For those who might want to do this, I will mention a couple of things. First, the LED is in the top mounting bracket, but don't take that bracket off! The leads are really short to the LED and you wouldn't have the slack you need to cut and splice the wires. Remove the bottom bracket and the top end of the handle will slide out of the top bracket. You will then see the LED in it's reflector. Mine was a little bit of a problem to get out since there is not much room between the LED holder and the inside of the bracket. Be careful not to scratch the reflector in getting it out! After it is out you can cut the wires within about an inch of the LED holder, leaving as much wire as possible sticking out of the bracket. After you get the LED & resistor replaced and ready to re-install, you can solder three or four inches of extra wire (keep it small!) to the back of the LED holder. This extra wire can then be pushed back up into the bracket. The LED holder fits into a short recess area on top of the grab bar. I used a piece of duct tape to hold it in place.
You will need a low-wattage soldering iron to replace the LED and resistor on the small circuit board. I would not use anything above 30 watts. I had a Radio Shack iron with a switch that selected between 15 and 30 watts that was perfect for the job. Use a small-diameter 60/40 resin-core solder. NEVER use acid-core solder on electronic parts like this!
I know some of you will say why go to all that trouble to save $11 or so, and I agree it's probably not worth the effort, but hey, an old man's gotta find something to occupy his time! Below is a photo of the finished product. Good luck & God bless!
