Aisle lights...?

[Ramzfan]

I have an '06 Meridian that's relatively new to me and I can't for the life of me figure out what the "Aisle" light switch is for. I used to have an Itasca Windcruiser and it had aisle lights below the cabinets near the floor that acted as night lights. I can't find any lights like that in this coach and nothing lights when I hit the switch.

[fun time]

Since I have the same coach, I think I can shed some Light on this (no pund intended). That switch controls two aile lights. The first is located to the right of the galley door that opens under the sink. It is very hard to replace that bulb. You will have to remove the lower drawer, unscrew the light fixture from the wood it is mounted to, then pull out the fixture to get to the bulb. The second is located at the bottom of the bathroom cabinet right as you go back into the rear stateroom. If you look at where the factory clothes hook on the wall next to the shower is then turn around 180 and look down towards the floor you will see the light. This one is much easier to replace. No doubt both bulbs are burned out which is why you don't see anything when you switch it on. Those bulbs are very hard to find locally so I called Licthstinn (sp) in Iowa and ordered about a half dozen of them for the future. If you have any questions on your coach feel free to PM me. Good luck.

[Ramzfan]

Thanks fun time...I will see what I can find tomorrow.

[FIRE UP]

stvscharve,
As fun time says, it's a pain in the a$$ to replace some of those isle light bulbs so, knowing that they were kind of a pain to find, I went to www.superbrightleds.com and looked up replacement bulbs for them in LEDs. Those bulbs are called "festoon" bulbs. There are two kinds of festoon bulbs. One has what's called "bullet" ends (looks almost like an old glass fuse only the ends are pointed) and the second type of festoon bulb has what's called: wire ends. Those are loops of wire that "hook" onto the fixture contacts on each end. If your bedroom closet is like ours in our '04 Itasca Horizon, you will find wire ended festoon bulbs behind each closet door.

I changed the isle light bulbs in the forward (next to the entry door) light, and the one at the entrance to the rear bedroom. As for the one in the kitchen area, yep, as fun time says, it's really a pain to change that bulb. So, what I did was change the entire fixture to one that looks like this:


It was a piece of cake to install. I drilled the hole for the wires, removed the wires from the original isle light and attached them to the new wires and that was it. That little tiny fixture puts out very nice light but, is not overpowering. After all, it's an Isle light and is for guidence in the evening. And, since those original festoon bulbs are like any incandescent bulb, THEY GET INCREDIBLY HOT, I no longer have that problem. I can leave those isle lights on for decades and there's almost "0" heat from them.

I used LED replacement festoon bulbs in the closets too. Now, no heat in there either. Just something to think about.
Scott

[Ramzfan]

Thanks Scott...I'm going to check it out today. What you show me makes a lot of sense.

[cbeierl]

You might also find the info in this thread over on the Winnebago forum on rvforum.net useful: Replacement festoon bulbs for aisle night lights?

[336muffin]

I used LED strip lights for ours, self adhesive and takes hardly any power. Eight colors and cheap! 7/16ths tall and 1/8th thick! Very cheap on Ebay.

[Ramzfan]

I took some advice from the Winnebago RV forum folks and just went down to O'Reilly Auto Parts and picked up a couple of 5 watt bulbs. They're not exactly the same size, but they work while I'm making up my mind about changing to LED fixtures. Thanks to everyone for your help.
Steve

[DAN L]

as i stated in an earlier post, the general electric model DE3022 festoon lamps fit my 2 aisle fixtures. i get mine from freddy meyers for about $1 each in packs of 2. these lamps are a little brighter than oe from winnebago but in my experience last about 4 times as long.