LED retrofit for fluorescent ceiling fixtures?

[tkcas01]

Over the stove in my rig there is a gang of three 12" fluorescent ceiling fixtures behind a wooden frame with diffuser panels.

They have gotten to where they don't always come on unless I "bump" them. I tried replacing the ballast on the one that was the first to start misbehaving, but it didn't seem to help much.

It has gotten worse so time to do something about it. To replace those 3 fixtures with something similar is not cheap. I was wondering about trying something like
Cabin Bright. Anyone have experience with these? Anyone have a different recommendation?

Also, it seems like I have read of issues with LED lights in RVs that have an inverter - that the lights flicker, pulse or something. Anything to be aware of to prevent making a bad decision?

[tenbear]

tkcas01 wrote:

tenbear wrote:
Here is a link to a fluorescent to led conversion I did. I soldered the wires to the strips. The strips I used didn't have any wires attached.

Oh, that is simple - just solder the incoming wires to one of the strip and then jumpers to the others it seems.

That's right. Just make sure the polarity is correct. If its wrong it shouldn't do any damage, it just won't work.

[tkcas01]

tenbear wrote:
Here is a link to a fluorescent to led conversion I did. I soldered the wires to the strips. The strips I used didn't have any wires attached.

Oh, that is simple - just solder the incoming wires to one of the strip and then jumpers to the others it seems.

[tenbear]

tkcas01 wrote:
Anyone still watching this thread? I got my LED string and regulators so this will be my holiday project this weekend. Good timing.

Looking for any expertise/suggestions on the details of connecting the wiring. Based on the model LED string I bought, I will be able to get away with just two strips in each fixture and still have more light output than the florescents.

The question is - exactly how do I make the connection between the large gauge wire coming into the fixture to the tiny wires that go to the strips? Do you just strip them, twist together, solder and then shrink wrap? Photos would be nice.

Here is a link to a fluorescent to led conversion I did. I soldered the wires to the strips. The strips I used didn't have any wires attached.

[tkcas01]

Anyone still watching this thread? I got my LED string and regulators so this will be my holiday project this weekend. Good timing.

Looking for any expertise/suggestions on the details of connecting the wiring. Based on the model LED string I bought, I will be able to get away with just two strips in each fixture and still have more light output than the florescents.

The question is - exactly how do I make the connection between the large gauge wire coming into the fixture to the tiny wires that go to the strips? Do you just strip them, twist together, solder and then shrink wrap? Photos would be nice.

[ronfisherman]

You may be pushing that regulator with all three fixtures on and 4 strips per fixture. As cheap as they are. Get one for each fixture.

[tkcas01]

ronfisherman wrote:

tkcas01 wrote:


Just one more thing. No one mentioned anything about my other question. I am a full-timer, so connected to power most of the time with the inverter changing the house batteries. There is no pulsating of these lights in that situation?

Appreciate all the help, everyone!!

No pulsating of lights with my setup. I did install voltage regulators as is recommended in the link I provided.

Thanks again. No I had not gone through all the many pages in that other thread - not being familiar with that forum I didn't really notice them down there.

I saw some people talk about making their own regulator, but I had rather get prebuilt if I can. One post linked to this one. That seems pretty cheap for something with so many components! What did you use?

And... Since I have these three fixtures all "ganged" together on one switch, I assume I can use just one regulator for all three? I'd just need to finesse the wiring a bit.

[ronfisherman]

tkcas01 wrote:


Just one more thing. No one mentioned anything about my other question. I am a full-timer, so connected to power most of the time with the inverter changing the house batteries. There is no pulsating of these lights in that situation?

Appreciate all the help, everyone!!

No pulsating of lights with my setup. I did install voltage regulators as is recommended in the link I provided.

[ronfisherman]

If have the time to spend reading link I provided above you will find a lot of information about connectors. I bought some. They are on a shelf somewhere in my shop. My and others experience is that they are not reliable. Soldering works much better. After doing a couple strips it will become easy.
If you still want to use connectors. Get non-waterproof strips. Less problems with connections.

[tkcas01]

Ivylog wrote:
Putting in 3 of these will be cheaper than the 5630 even having to buy the connectors.

Something is out of sync. At that link it says the strip has 270-300 lumens per meter, but over on this seller the 5050 strip is said to have 1080 lumens per meter.

Regardless, that seller will only ship to your Paypal address and as a full-timer that is seldom even near my official address in South Dakota, that is not convenient.

[Ivylog]

Putting in 3 of these will be cheaper than the 5630 even having to buy the connectors.

[tkcas01]

ronfisherman wrote:
Here is a good thread on installing LED strip lighting.
Inexpensive Fluorescent to LED Upgrade
The 13 Fluorescent fixtures in our RV have been converted to LED.

Thanks! I think this is the way I am going to go, but for the fixture over the stove I think I will go with the 5630 LED strip.

It seems a 12" segment of the 5050 would produce 327 lumens, or 20% less than my current bulbs.

With the 5036, 12" would produce 545 lumens - 36% more. Or, I can shorten to 10" and get 454 lumens, just 13% more.

Just one more thing. No one mentioned anything about my other question. I am a full-timer, so connected to power most of the time with the inverter changing the house batteries. There is no pulsating of these lights in that situation?

Appreciate all the help, everyone!!

[Ivylog]

Mod, thanks for the link as I did not know you could buy these connectors so no soldering.
OP, as stated in the above link...make sure you buy the 5050 300 LEDs and putting three strips/fixture is what I'd do. With those connectors it's easier to put in strips than panels.

[ronfisherman]

Here is a good thread on installing LED strip lighting.
Inexpensive Fluorescent to LED Upgrade
The 13 Fluorescent fixtures in our RV have been converted to LED.

[ktmrfs]

tkcas01 wrote:

ktmrfs wrote:
What I did was to buy LED strip lights with regulators. The good ones can be cut to length and wired directly to the 12V. So.... you can

1) use silicone adhesive and glue them to the tubes
2) remove the tubes and glue them to the housing.

either way, the light comes out much more like the floresent tube rather than using the rectangular arrays.

Like Mex says, over a stove, I prefer something in the 5000K range, not the 3500K range.

Thanks. I kind of like that solution. Being dense again - what is the benefit of the regulators? And can you provide a link to an example of one that could be cut to length?

Also, In some of the other threads, the lights look SO BRIGHT! I am not looking for more light - just lights that come on when I turn them on. One of my spare 12" fluorescent bulbs says it puts out 400 lumens, so I think I would want the same amount of light out of LEDs. Sounds like I need to be careful and do some research.

Benefit of regulators is that the LED's can run at designed brightness from about 10V through 18V or so. without that, they will be dimmer below 12V as the battery discharges and above rated output when the converter is charging the battery, thus shortening there life.

Downside is that some LED's with regulators can cause RF interference with radio/TV, and of course they are more expensive. But they are brighter and last longer.

LED's brigtness is related to the current in the LED which is a highly nonlinear function of voltage. a small increase in voltage can result in a very large increase in current.

The regulated ones hold constant current over a wide range of voltage.

Here is a link to LED strips that you can cut to length.

These aren't regulated, but so far have held up well in my trailer, and given how much we use it, the only unregulated LED lights that have lasted more than a few months in our trailer given our heavy use.


They are 340 lumens/ft so about the same brightness as your existing tubes.

LED light strips