Update : Fluorescent Light Replacement with LED Strip

February 09, 2018, 08:59:33 am

Well, I did the last two fluorescent fixtures yesterday. NO MORE FLUORESCENT LIGHTS! YEAH. One roll of the strip light was enough to do the entire RV. Best of all Miss Sandy likes them.

Things I learned were:

1) I tried to change to brighter white LEDs and they were just too blue for me. So back to the original soft white lights. They seem bright enough in any case. And if not you can always add a third strip.

2) The clip on ends were not reliable enough for me. So I took a tip from one of our group and started soldering the connection.
3) I started to worry about if the aluminum strips I was using might come down with time or vibration, so I switched to a stronger double sided tape and put it all the way across the back of the aluminum strip. Several thousand miles now with no issues. I had toyed with the idea of short screwing them in but this appears to be working fine.
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Florescent Light Replacement with LEDs

Well - Florescent bulbs are disappearing. Some vendors still have them (http://tweetys.com/cool-white-fluorescent-tubes.aspx ) but the writing is on the wall. They are increasingly difficult to get even in RV stores.
I have been moving to LEDs for some time, but the florescent were just not that bad. Sandy and I were in the habit of not using them when boondocking. Other incandescent lights we just did not change if we did not use them frequently (like under bin lights).

Well, I started looking for LED replacements for the florescent bulbs, and the prices were outrageous. These may fall as other LEDs have, but I wanted something sooner. So I went the route of building my own replacements from strip LEDs.

Constructing LED Strip Lights
I started by ordering strip LEDs from Amazon.com Amazon.com: SUPERNIGHT (TM) Warm White 5M / 16.4FT 5050 SMD Flexible LED...

Bright LEDs with a Warm White (yellowish) glow. And I needed some snap on connectors:
Zitrades Led light strip connector 2pin 10mm single color 5050SMD 10pcs...

Snap on Connectors matching the strip lighting. Just cut the length you want and snap on the connector. [ I eventually started just soldering these in place to make a more reliable connection.]
My first attempt was to place the LEDs on the ballast shield, but the angle of the lights did not work and the shield turned out to be plastic. So this was a wash out:

Don't do it like this - very disappointed

This was a wash out due to concern that the heat from the LEDs was too much for the plastic ballast heat shield.
So after that I used junk aluminum from home desperate or flat aluminum strip from the junk box. I grabbed my twin grand kids and put them to work on the great strip led manufacturing line.

Grand Kids were very excited when they saw the LED strip light up.
The finished light is shown here ready for testing. I used Coax seal and a bit of tape to ensure the ends would not short, and the light stay in place. The thermal stick tape not appearing that reliable.

Mounting the lights
To get these lights into the fixture requires some basic work. Make sure the power is off. Then pull off the heat shield to reveal the ballast:

Pop that Electric Ballast out and pop out the pins holding it in place.
Clip the negative lead (white in the photo) from the ballast. Clip the positive lead from the switch to the ballast (Red in the photo.) Then mount the light in the fixture:

I mounted the light with double sided sticky tape, the aluminum acting as a heat sink for the LEDs.

Later I moved to a single strip of stronger Heavy duty mounting tape down the back of the aluminum strip.

I found that twist connectors (22 - 16 AWG usually light gray) worked great for connecting both lights to power (+) and ground (-).

At this point it is time to put on the cover and test:

What I don't know at this point is how long these home made lights will last. Also I used tape to hold the fixtures in place and perhaps a screw would be more reliable with vibration and everything. Only time will tell. The cost was low, and the work was pretty fast. And the project was fun to do with the grand kids.
[Several thousand miles now, and no issues.]

Best
Kevin (Real) McCoy [@KF5FUZ]
("Roscoe Ventura" Jayco Seneca HD SS 34 Diesel 2006;
"Toad" Jeep Wrangler Unlimited 2007)

Re: Update : Fluorescent Light Replacement with LED Strip

Reply #1 – February 09, 2018, 09:16:43 am

Yahoo Message Number: 16481

Looks good.
I did mine in 2013. No compliant from new owner yet.
Best
Ron Hall

Re: Update : Fluorescent Light Replacement with LED Strip

Reply #2 – February 22, 2018, 09:37:43 pm

Yahoo Message Number: 16482

Well done!! The right LED is so much better.

JE

Re: Update : Fluorescent Light Replacement with LED Strip

Reply #3 – February 23, 2018, 09:30:27 am

Yahoo Message Number: 16483

I did mine last month and the only complaint I have is the adhesive on the strips. What have you done to keep them in place?

Re: Update : Fluorescent Light Replacement with LED Strip

Reply #4 – February 23, 2018, 09:46:10 am

Yahoo Message Number: 16484

Did ours a few years ago. Based on Ron Hall’s method I used some”GOOP” glue from home depot to anchor the LED strips to the original fixture base. I also make under cabinet led lighting using aluminum U channel….also GOOP to fasten the LED light strip securely. Bobby From: SuperCrvgroup@yahoogroups.com [mailto:SuperCrvgroup@yahoogroups.com] Sent: Friday, February 23, 2018 9:30 AMTo: SuperCrvgroup@yahoogroups.comSubject: Re: [SuperCrvgroup] Re: Update : Fluorescent Light Replacement with LED Strip I did mine last month and the only complaint I have is the adhesive on the strips. What have you done to keep them in place? On Feb 22, 2018 7:37 PM, "J Eric yawnznsx@... [SuperCrvgroup]" <SuperCrvgroup@yahoogroups.com> wrote: Well done!! The right LED is so much better. JESent from my iPhoneOn Feb 9, 2018, at 6:13 AM, ronjhall@... [SuperCrvgroup] <SuperCrvgroup@yahoogroups.com> wrote: Looks good. I did mine in 2013. No compliant from new owner yet. BestRon Hall

Re: Update : Fluorescent Light Replacement with LED Strip

Reply #5 – February 23, 2018, 09:55:25 am

Yahoo Message Number: 16485

Thanks Bob.

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