Replacing Interior Lights

rgatijnet1 wrote:
Those pads are only about 1/4" apart so make sure that the clips don't short to each other or to ground.

I made one set already and bench tested it - hopefully it will go as smooth when I install it!

Those pads are only about 1/4" apart so make sure that the clips don't short to each other or to ground.

I will be starting mine tomorrow. I bought some clip on leads so no soldering is required. I will just tie the two strips together and attach them to the leads with wire nuts - at least that is the plan!

brocja01 wrote:
I'm looking at those rolls of 5050 LEDs, can you simply cut them to length and wire them in? Could you guys post some pictures?

Yes, you can cut them to length about every 2" with a pair of scissors. They have soldering pads that are clearly marked positive and negative and all you have to do is solder the incoming 12 volt wires to those pads. I put four strips in each of my lights so I had to wire jumper wires between the strips. You can fold and turn the strips but I preferred to solder jumper wires.

I'm looking at those rolls of 5050 LEDs, can you simply cut them to length and wire them in? Could you guys post some pictures?

We replaced ALL our fl. lights with LED. We can run ALL the former FL/now LED lights for the amount of "electricity" that 2 fl. lights used up. (does that make sense?)..... We love them, the sky glows over our rig when we turn all of them on :B

Mine had 3M adhesive but after a few trips they started to sag. I cleaned the white light fixture with alcohol first but I ended up using silicone to hold them in place.
I took my fixtures down since it only took a few minutes to take them down and it made it easier to solder the wires to the light strips. The light fixtures are only fastened with two screws and two low voltage wires that can be refastened with crimp-on connectors.

rgatijnet1 wrote:


Mine worked fine. I got a 15 foot roll of 5050 LED lights on eBay and changed out all of my fluorescent lights. You have to remove the ballast assembly and just wire the 12 volt input, through the existing light switch, and solder the wires to the LED strips. You have to follow the correct polarity. The LED strips that I got had adhesive on the back but I did have to use clear silicone to keep them attached.

Looks like an easy enough job - the stuff I got sounds just like what you did. I was just going to clip the wires wires at the ballast - that way I wont have to remove the fixture to get to the leads in the back. Did you clean the surface well before affixing them? These have 3m adhesive on the back. If it sticks like the 3m film on the front of my coach, it will never come off!

tstryk wrote:
My fluorescent lights are starting to die. I priced replacements - $80 or so each. SO, I bought a strip of LED lights and am going to attempt to install them in existing fixtures. Has anyone on here tried that - how did it work?

Mine worked fine. I got a 15 foot roll of 5050 LED lights on eBay and changed out all of my fluorescent lights. You have to remove the ballast assembly and just wire the 12 volt input, through the existing light switch, and solder the wires to the LED strips. You have to follow the correct polarity. The LED strips that I got had adhesive on the back but I did have to use clear silicone to keep them attached.