Interior lighting thoughts?

[brwint]

Does anyone know what the difference between a digital and a electronic ballast is if any? I'm looking to replace some 12v fluorenscent fixtures and tubes. I'm tired of bulbs not lasting for squat. I purchased a couple of new 18" replacement fixtures at Camping World two years ago and both have quit working properly. And at almost $60 ea. with tax I don't think they were worth a darn.

[folivier]

Consider going to LEDs. A lot of us have replaced the fluorescent fixtures with the adhesive backed led strips. Very easy to install and work great. Pretty inexpensive too and cut your power consumption dramatically making it great for boondocking.

[MrE]

I haven't done it yet...but I'm looking at these to replace all my fluorescent fixtures, and all closet and storage bay lights.http://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/led-module-strings/lbm-x4-series-led-module-string/144/

LBM-x4 series waterproof LED module strings. Each module has 4 wide viewing angle 90 degree 5mm High Flux LEDs. PVC design housing with 2 mounting screw holes and included double sided adhesive foam tape. 3 inch wires between each module. 12VDC operation. Quantity ordered will be wired together on a string with 100 modules maximum per strand.



Beam Pattern
90 degree
Current Draw @ Operating Voltage
40mA


Current Draw per Foot
370mA
IP Rating
Waterproof Submersible IP68


Number of LEDs on Unit
4 LEDs
LEDs per Segment
4


Lifetime
20000 Hours
Price Per Foot
$8.85


Type
Module Strings
Operating Voltage Range
10~14.5 VDC


Wattage Consumption
0.5 Watts
Wattage per Foot
4.4 Watts

[folivier]

These are the kind I installed in my coach but I bought from Amazon. I pulled out all of the fluorescents fixtures from behind the valences and stuck these with the adhesive strip and wired up to the existing wire for the fluors. I bought the 3500 series cool white lights and really like it. It's not too bright but if I ever want more light I can add another strip next to it easily enough. I also replaced all of the halogen bulbs with led cards (9 leds/card) and also the floor lights.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cat/top-emitting/

[GORDON HUMMEL]

Jon,
Do a search on this forum for LED's & you should find a wealth of information. Some years ago when I started to work with LED's, Superbrightleds was one of the only places to get them. I paid almost $10 a foot. Today, I get them from Honk Kong/China via ebay. They are less than $20 for 5 meters. I like to buy made in the USA, but all this stuff in made in the orient anyway, so I buy direct.

[brwint]

Thank you guys for your help and imput. I'm reading deeper into the forum. The LED idea is definitely an option. Sounds like I have a homework assignment.

[MrE]

Gordon,

Thank you for the advice, I'm just getting started replacing all the bulbs with LED's. So far I've replaced all the dash lights with red LED's and that was a huge improvement. The hardest ones for me to find were the midget flange 330 bulbs that are primarily used in aircraft, I finally found them at zorotools.com for $0.38 each and free shipping (http://www.zorotools.com/g/00046542/k-G1466552/). They were a little to long, but the bench grinder fixed that in a hurry. What I like about the ones I mentioned above is that for $1.95 each you can replace the bulbs in the storage areas. I was going to buy a few and see how they work replacing the fluorenscents, I have 6 with bad ballasts and I figured they would be a great start and if I didn't like how they worked for that application I still had a use for them.

[Randy J]

This is something I need to do to our coach. Does the adhesive stick well?

[fulltiming]

Brett, as to your original question see an explanation here http://www.hhydro.com/Electronic_VS_Digital_Ballasts.html. As to replacing existing florescent lights, Gordon has you on the right track. I bought 4 rolls of 5050 LED's on Ebay. I could, with a little soldering, gotten by with 3 rolls. They were About $18/5 meter roll. I removed the valence panels, removed the florescent fixtures, built a riser platform mounted the LED rolls on top of the platform with the adhesive backing, attached the wires to the 12 volt leads that went to the old lights and reinstalled the valence panels. Photos are worth lots of words. The first photo is with the valence panel off to show the dual rows of 5050 cool white leds. The second shows the right side with the leds and the left side still with the old florescent lights. I had enough length to almost double the rows on the drivers side so I did. That is why I said that 3 rolls likely would have worked. With the four rolls, I have noticeably more light than I did before (3rd photo). These rolls were 5 meters of 60 leds/meter 5050 SMD Cool White Flexible LED Lights Strips, 6500-7000K.

26632664 2665

[brwint]

Nice job Michael. I have went through many other posts here and some are maybe outdated and a couple are dead. I'm onto the hhydro site now. Thank you.

[brwint]

Ok, I see the difference if go back to the fluorescents. I'll study more on the LED's. Just don't want to take on a major underpinnings. Thank you Jon, Folivier and Gordon for your imputs. I'll be back!