LED dome lights

[stephen99]

Originally Posted by Chotch

Check out E bay and Amazon , here’s 1

Looks like the ones in the dinette. It doesn't have the gaskets like the one in the bathroom but it'll do. Thanks for the tip.

[stephen99]

Did a little more checking. Popped the cover off one of the dinette lights to compare it to the bath light. Discovered the only difference is the silicon switch cover which is glued in place on the bath light. And the gasket between the fixture and the ceiling of the bath is a separate piece that will fit the base of the dinette type fixture. So all I need to do is buy a plain dinette fixture like Chotch pointed out on eBay, move the gasket to it and reuse the old bath cover with the silicon switch cover. Problem solved. Sheesh, all this to avoid spending $34 on shipping. I do wonder why the LEDs are different. In my dinette lights I have the strip LEDs but the bath light is a round LED.

[cpaharley2008]

I have never seen that round fixture before and not since. I wonder if any other E21 owners have it in their bath?

[John in Santa Cruz]

my bathroom light on my 2014 E21 looks like...



which is obviously a single version of the main cabin lights,



(note I changed one side of that one to a low brightness amber LED, which makes an awesome night light.... this is the one controlled by the switch in the door frame, so if I leave that fixture on just the amber side, I am good at star parties).

[Rossue]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

(note I changed one side of that one to a low brightness amber LED, which makes an awesome night light.... this is the one controlled by the switch in the door frame, so if I leave that fixture on just the amber side, I am good at star parties).

Where did you get the amber LED?

[cpaharley2008]

The 1st G models had replaceable led bulbs which made customizing easier than now. Try
here https://www.superbrightleds.com/cat/...gh%20Bay%20LED

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Rossue

Where did you get the amber LED?

was this one,
https://www.superbrightleds.com/more...t-car/198/862/

I tried a couple, this had the right brightness level and was more of a deep amber and less of a bright yellow.

[CarinaPDX]

That is one cheap LED module, which is probably why it burned out. I wouldn't waste time trying to get an exact replacement. It has LEDs with series current-limiting resistors; a module designed for 12V will be stressed by the higher charge voltage (depending on your charging system) and the LEDs will have a shorter service life. It should be replaced with a module that has a proper boost/buck low-EMI regulator, assuming you are a bit handy with electronics. Otherwise look for a lamp fixture that has a good regulator inside and buy it and replace the whole thing.

Edit: it probably died from prolonged overdriving (too much current) rather than overheating, although both may have contributed.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by CarinaPDX

That is one cheap LED module, which is probably why it burned out. I wouldn't waste time trying to get an exact replacement. It has LEDs with series current-limiting resistors; a module designed for 12V will be stressed by the higher charge voltage (depending on your charging system) and the LEDs will have a shorter service life. It should be replaced with a module that has a proper boost/buck low-EMI regulator, assuming you are a bit handy with electronics. Otherwise look for a lamp fixture that has a good regulator inside and buy it and replace the whole thing.

rather disturbingly, virtually ALL of the RV '12V' LED fixtures I've seen are unregulated.

[steve dunham]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

rather disturbingly, virtually ALL of the RV '12V' LED fixtures I've seen are unregulated.

I purchased some LED lamps from a source in Washington State years back .
The lamps have built in regulation and are rated for 10-30 VDC
They are now nine years old and I have experienced zero failures ,not even 1 diode has failed . They weren’t cheap ( 1 lamp costs more than a normal RV LED light fixture ) but they have worked well .
I believe the name of the outfit was “ LED Trailer Lights “

[CarinaPDX]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

rather disturbingly, virtually ALL of the RV '12V' LED fixtures I've seen are unregulated.

That is disappointing to say the least. At least with the fixtures that use standard sockets it is easy to replace the LED module with a proper one. It isn't at all hard to re-wire the others if there is a minimal level of skill with a soldering pen.

I can't tell from the photo the diameter of the module, but it should be easy to replace with two parts: an LED module and a separate regulator. I am using a 28mm round COB LED to replace 5W compact fluorescents in my reading lights (https://www.ebay.com/itm/3W-5W-7W-Co...sAAOSwARZXoHyY). There are options for white temperature and power levels; different diameters are also available in other listings. I am combining the 3W version with this regulator: https://www.ledsupply.com/led-driver...-dc-led-driver (350ma version). For an area lamp I would use a higher power LED and higher current regulator. Note that this regulator supports dimming, either with a simple pot or with remote dimmer solutions.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by steve dunham

I purchased some LED lamps from a source in Washington State years back .
The lamps have built in regulation and are rated for 10-30 VDC
They are now nine years old and I have experienced zero failures ,not even 1 diode has failed . They weren’t cheap ( 1 lamp costs more than a normal RV LED light fixture ) but they have worked well .
I believe the name of the outfit was “ LED Trailer Lights “

these were interior RV light fixtures? or exterior trailer lights ?

[wetzk]

Some of you might be interested in this, if not sorry for the long read.


I replaced 2 of the LED lights under warranty, the bathroom and the large light over the table. Since then I have had the 2 originals fail again and another large one. Since I’m now buying the lights I did not want to keep replacing them so I decided to fix the problem. What is causing this is these lights do not have a voltage regulator. They depend on a resistor to control the current to the LED diodes. That works fine with fixed power sources. I contacted the manufacture in China and asked what voltage they were designed for they replied back with 12v. So I tried again and asked can these lights handle 14.5v dc and they replied back “no 12v DC”. So that tells me they did not expect them to be exposed to higher voltage than 12vs. Our trailers when plugged into AC can supply over 14V while charging the batteries. This explains why they keep failing.


So I decided to regulate the voltage to the two DC circuits marked lights. And ran into my first problem.
These control a lot more than what is listed on the panel.
On my 19 the first one only goes to the wetbath and feeds the light and fan. The second one controls all inside and outside lights except the kitchen and the wetbath. It also controls the Maxxfan and did control the awning and heater/dsi. The heater/dsi was supposed to be on another circuit marked heater/dsi. When I followed it with a tone it went behind the wetbath and stopped. I decided to pull two new 12v circuits in, one to move the heater/dsi to the correct fuse and another to separate the awning to its own fuse. I used #12 AWG wire for that one since it is a long run in a 19. I also separated the 2 circuits marked 12v, one of them feeds the USB/12v outlet by the bed and the kitchen fan and light. It also powers the Level indicators and the water pump and water heater circuits. The other feeds the 2 USB/12v outlets by the dinette.


Before I changed the wiring I tested amps via the Fluke 87 at fuse #2 and found all inside and outside lights on 3.01 amps. Maxxfan initial open and close bumped it momentarily over 5 amps and settled down to 3.54 at slow speed. Top speed bumped it to 4.37 amps running.
Awning extend bumped it with all the above running ( maxxfan high) to 7.6? as it started and when it did the little back and forth at full extend also went over 7.6amps Running it was bouncing around 7.12 amps.
Retract went over 8.6 amps when it hit the casing and the motor sounded like it was getting into a bit of a load just before it stopped.. So I could have left them all on the same circuit as it was under the fuse size ( 15 amps ) but it did sag voltage when it ran as I saw 12.27 volts at an outside light with the awning running while plugged into AC. When I tried it on battery power it dropped to 11.27 volts. Since I had just disconnected from AC the battery was fully topped. When the battery has sat awhile I imagine the voltage will dip even lower. Not too sure that is good for the awning motor so I decided to move it to its own circuit.. I tested at the outside light since they were inline with the awning.


Heater/DSI is now connected to the correct fuse, I was able to partially remove the heater and work through the floor of the closet and connect the wires. By the way putting the heater back into place is a real pain in the butt. It does not want to go at first I moved it all over and finally pulled the outside exhaust and was able to do it. Even then it fought me.



The lights and maxxfan are on the 2nd lighting circuit with a 12 amp 12v dc buck/boost regulator keeping the voltage at 12v. I used this device https://www.amazon.com/KNACRO-Conver...+DC-DC+Convert I measured and at full load never went above 5 ½ amps so I fused it at 10 amps.
That will protect the majority of the lights and the maxxfan . I read a post from someone on the forum who was told the maxxfan has problems with overvoltage, it could shorten the life of the control board. Since it pulls a lot less than 12 amps my regulator should be fine and should keep the lights and Maxxfan from failing from overvoltage



The only 2 lights now that were not regulated to 12v are the one for the kitchen and the one in the wetbath.
For those I made a little regulator circuit that fits inside the light fixture, Here is the schematic and here is the circuit installed in a light fixture. I did this one with a bad light fixture that went disco on me to see if it would fit and work like I wanted. The 2 others are a bit cleaner looking These use way under an AMP so the 1N4007 is plenty. It’s not even really needed if you are sure you will never mess up polarity.



The L7812 regulator works for what I want this to do. Keep the voltage under 12v to the light. If you feed more than 14.5 volts to the light it will supply 12v. As you go under 14.5v the voltage out drops. 12.4v supplies just under 12v ( depends on the regulator as these seem to not have very tight specs ). 9 volts in supplied 8.47v out which was noticeably dim. As long As you are feeding more than 12v in the lights are close to original brightness.
With the factory converter you do not need to use capacitors from common to the source and out. If you are using another type and notice a slight pulsing in your lights you can use 2 .1uf caps for each light to stop it.. I soldered the inside lead ( common ) to the negative circuit and lifted the positive and attached it to the diode/ regulator Vin lead and attached a wire from the Vout lead to the circuit board. The other 2 have the same circuit they just look a little nicer

To do all this rewiring I had to partially pull the heater, ended up removing the lower panel under the sink and had to pull the upper cabinet by the dinette to access the power and ground wires to the awning

Whoever did the wiring in mine never attached it they just left it all dangling loose on both sides. I took the time to fix that and removed all the scotchloks I found too. We had heavy rain 2 days before I started and I noticed under the heater there was some water on the floor. I looked all over the refrigerator compartment and it was ok so I suspect it was coming in the heater vent. I made sure to seal it well when I reattached it.


I should not have anymore lights going disco on me so that makes all the work worth it.

[cpaharley2008]

Wow, great write up and explanation.......

[CarinaPDX]

Nice work - I like it. I was looking at changing the internals to have a proper current regulation (LEDs need current, not voltage, regulation) but of course if the voltage into the fixture is regulated to 12V then the series current-limiting resistors will work just fine. More than one way to skin a cat...

[John in Santa Cruz]

I think I would instead get a 10A buck-boost 9-18V to 12V converter/regulator, and put that in between the lighting circuit and the fuse panel, so it cures ALL the lights at the same time.

[wetzk]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

I think I would instead get a 10A buck-boost 9-18V to 12V converter/regulator, and put that in between the lighting circuit and the fuse panel, so it cures ALL the lights at the same time.

The problem is there are 2 circuits in the 19 marked lights. Neither has just lights on it and there is also a light on the usb circuit in mine. I moved the awning and put the heater where it belonged. Then i was able to add a buck/ boost device to the main light circuit and individual ones to the other 2.

[tdf-texas]

I have enough LM2940CT-12 Low Dropout Regulators on order to add to all the LED lights in the trailer. I'll add 22uf caps across the output to eliminate any flicker.
http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/lm2940c.pdf

Thanks Ken (wetzk) for the idea!

[Eggscape]

Great findings!

I will be doing an article shortly on down converting buck converters to get a true 5 volt, 2 amps in each of 3 USB ports for under $10. Great for changing a few large iPad at the same time.

I will see where some of my light and fan wires come from as well. Depending on how much current draw I find on each, I will order the appropriate converters.

Here is a ruff list of my sources if others are interested:

8 40V to 12V 10A DC DC Converter Reducer Regulator Voltage Stabilizer Step up Down type 120w Daygreen CE RoHS 8 40V TO 12V 10AMP-in Inverters & Converters from Home Improvement on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

1pc 10A 300W DC DC Adjustable Voltage Step Down Converter Regulator Module-in Inverters & Converters from Home Improvement on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

Hot Selling! 300W 20A DC Buck Module Constant Current Adjustable Step Down Converter Voltage High Quality Mar29-in Inverters & Converters from Home Improvement on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

1PC DC DC Step Up Down Boost Buck Voltage Converter Module LM2577S LM2596S Power N2-in Inverters & Converters from Home Improvement on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

Mini 360 DC/DC Buck Converter Step Down Power Supply Module 4.75V 23V To 1V 17V-in Inverters & Converters from Home Improvement on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

[tdf-texas]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

I'm beginning to think you have to be an electrical expert to experience all these problems.

The LED lights Escape installed in my trailer have not given me any problems so far. But since they don't have any voltage regulation circuitry, it makes sense to add a voltage regulator to the lights to give them a longer life. The manufacturer has already stated that the lights are not rated for use above 12 volts. With a solar charger, my "12 volts" in the trailer gets a little higher than that!

The LM2940CT-12 regulator costs about $1.80 and the tantalum 22uf capacitor costs about $0.70. So for $2.50 a light, I can create a pretty good LED light that will last a long time. That's a lot cheaper than replacing lights as they go out.