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BurbMan's avatar
BurbMan
Explorer II
Dec 13, 2020

Fluorescent to LED conversion

I have 2 of these fluorescent fixtures in the Lance, they work great and give off lots of light but not really very energy efficient when boondocking. I looked at swapping in LED bulbs in place of the T15s but the bulbs were pretty expensive.

After doing some reading and research I decided to re-make the fixtures with LED strip lights. I found this 5 meter light strip for $12 on Amazon, and got a bag of solderless connectors. This light strip has defined cut points at every 3rd LED so you can make any custom length. The strip is also backed 3M adhesive tape so it's peel-n-stick.

I drilled out the pop rivets holding in the bulb holders and ballast and got down to the bare fixture frame. I cut the LED strip into approx 15" sections and used 4 strips per fixture.



The LEDs are covered in a rubbery plastic to make them waterproof, so you just need to clean off one end of each strip and clip on a connector. Wire to 12v and done.



Lights are slightly brighter than the fluorescents and not as affected by the cold weather. All in all was a very easy and inexpensive upgrade!

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  • BurbMan's avatar
    BurbMan
    Explorer II
    Dec 14, 2020
    These LEDs were advertised as "cool to the touch", but I left them on for about 3 hrs on shore power and they got pretty hot, but you could still touch the metal fixture so I don't think they are a fire hazard.

    Wopachop I get what you are saying about higher voltage shortening the service life, but appreciate the use case: This is a truck camper that is used 95% off the grid at battery voltage, not plugged into a CG pedestal. The Honda gen and the solar only charge the batteries during the day, when the lights will be off. I also figured these would be cheap LEDs buying off of Amazon, where do you recommend buying LEDs from?

    Schomer, rather than a dimmer you could double the # of LEDs and add a hi/low switch to the fixture, so that you can turn on half or all of the LEDs.

    My fluorescents had an SPST rocker swicth on the end:



    Replace it with an SPDT:



    A lot easier than a dimmer.
  • DrewE's avatar
    DrewE
    Explorer II
    Dec 14, 2020
    C Schomer wrote:
    I completely converted my last 2 fifth wheels to LEDs, including the stick-on strips in the fluorescent fixtures and now I have another idea. I want to add more LED strips to some of the fluorescent fixtures to make them super bright for trailer cleaning day, reading, etc. and put a dimmer on them. Beings they are DC, I’m guessing a dimmer just reduces the voltage slightly too dim them. Sooo... 99% of the time those LED strips would be dimmed, so would that eliminate the problems with over voltage and heating? Craig


    Most LED dimmers are PWM chopper circuits, I believe; they rapidly switch the LEDs on and off with a varying duty cycle. This would help with the heating issues, as the power dissipation is reduced with the dimming.

    LEDs themselves operate at an approximately constant voltage drop, the LEDs forward voltage. Intensity is controlled by current flow, and regulated somehow--in inexpensive fixtures or typical LED tape, by having a ballast resistor. In better fixture or LED bulb designs this is some sort of active driver circuit that regulates the current, but you almost certainly won't find them in LED tape.
  • C_Schomer's avatar
    C_Schomer
    Explorer
    Dec 14, 2020
    I completely converted my last 2 fifth wheels to LEDs, including the stick-on strips in the fluorescent fixtures and now I have another idea. I want to add more LED strips to some of the fluorescent fixtures to make them super bright for trailer cleaning day, reading, etc. and put a dimmer on them. Beings they are DC, I’m guessing a dimmer just reduces the voltage slightly too dim them. Sooo... 99% of the time those LED strips would be dimmed, so would that eliminate the problems with over voltage and heating? Craig
  • wa8yxm's avatar
    wa8yxm
    Explorer III
    Dec 13, 2020
    I think I spent $7.xx on Amazon for a 5 meter (about 16 foot) roll of LED's (I still have a roll or 2 left) and sliced and diced and jumpered not as neat as the O/Ps but about 3-4 times the LED's were mounted on the old Florcesent plate. Way more light. The "Flavor" (Cool) I like v/s the Warm. longer life, NO RFI (That blasted "Ballast" (inverter) was nasty on 75 Meters or one of 'em was) and less current draw.. Was very happy with the result.
  • MEXICOWANDERER's avatar
    MEXICOWANDERER
    Explorer
    Dec 13, 2020
    This is what DC to DC converters are for. No LED on the face of the earth should be forced to operate at 50°C 122°F

    Need more light? Add more emitters but keep the temperature down.

    Search for MEANWELL constant current converters. Too bad fluorescent fixtures are steel. Aluminum would make an ideal heat sink.

    Once I rebuild my moved workshop I will resume building gift LED 12 volt fixtures for ranchos. 10 watts consumed puts out an unbelievable amount of light. I use new obsolete CPU heat sinks. And TO220 volt regulators.
  • wopachop's avatar
    wopachop
    Explorer
    Dec 13, 2020
    Those suckers are gonna run really hot when your converter goes into 14v mode. Looks cool and congrats on your mod. BUt if anyone reads this please dont buy LEDs off amazon. You are getting ripped off. Also note this style of LED does not like getting a voltage over 12.5v. Let alone the normal 13v float charge. Does your converter do a weekly 14v charge? If you notice it happen i would turn off your LED dealio. Will make it last longer. Not a fire danger just gonna burn them out. If you have access to a welding mask look at the LEDs with that. You can see which have burned out.
  • Dalo's avatar
    Dalo
    Explorer
    Dec 13, 2020
    Another benefit is less bugs. I changed from fluorescent to LED to save energy but an added plus is knats, moths etc don't seem to be attracted to LEDs..
  • Lwiddis's avatar
    Lwiddis
    Explorer II
    Dec 13, 2020
    Excellent post. Good work. Will really help on power consumption.

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