Replacement For Bright Interior LED Lights?

[Geosman]

Looks almost the same. It should fit and if not my little Dremel tool will help open the hole just a bit as needed. It is made for boats and RVs so I'm not expecting any surprises.

[Goodspike]

Originally Posted by Geosman

Looks almost the same. It should fit and if not my little Dremel tool will help open the hole just a bit as needed. It is made for boats and RVs so I'm not expecting any surprises.

More importantly it looks about the same in real life. Buying things on the Internet is risky because often they are much smaller and sometimes larger than you're expecting.

[dacap06]

Have you thought about something like these lights? With the three way switch you can control each light individually. I put a bunch and normally set them to 1/2 light on, but the extra light is useful when I'm working on something with fine detail. When we are on the battery, I can turn all off but one 1/2 of one.

These 12V lights are brain-dead simple to install, although the wiring in the ones that shipped to me were black (hot) and white (neutral) like 120V AC wiring, rather than like red (+12) and black (Gnd) like 12V DC. Connect the black light wire to red RV wire and the white light wire to black RV wire, and Bob's your uncle.

[tinglett]

Originally Posted by dacap06

Have you thought about something like these lights? With the three way switch you can control each light individually. I put a bunch and normally set them to 1/2 light on, but the extra light is useful when I'm working on something with fine detail. When we are on the battery, I can turn all off but one 1/2 of one.

I believe this suggestion is important for boondockers. A dimmer might save power but I wouldn't assume that without measuring. These super-simple 3-way switch lights mean half power or full power for certain.

Is one half the light brighter than the other half? I was hoping they'd be constructed that way so they work with 3 light levels like old-fashioned 3-way incandescents used to work. That would be awesome, but the amazon page isn't clear (or I'm skimming it too fast).

For now, I made a shade to go around a couple of my lights. That doesn't save power, but at least I'm not looking into spotlights anymore. I did measure my 2108DS pancake lights and found they consume 5.35 watts at 12v and 5.5 watts at 13.6v. There is a half-size light in the storage bay which could be swapped with a light in the cabin if you want to try a lighting level experiment for cheap.

[dacap06]

Originally Posted by tinglett

I believe this suggestion is important for boondockers. A dimmer might save power but I wouldn't assume that without measuring. These super-simple 3-way switch lights mean half power or full power for certain.

Is one half the light brighter than the other half? I was hoping they'd be constructed that way so they work with 3 light levels like old-fashioned 3-way incandescents used to work. That would be awesome, but the amazon page isn't clear (or I'm skimming it too fast).

No, sorry to say that one half is not brighter than the other half -- that's a good idea, but it would require a 4-way switch on each light instead of a three-way switch. The three-way switch on each light can be set to:
-- off -- neither side of the light is on, even if the other cabin lights are on
-- half -- one side of the light is on; you can't choose which side
-- full -- both sides of the light are on
I also confirmed that when the switch is off, it draws nothing from the circuit.

It is a flexible setup. I put four of these lights in the salon three years ago, replacing four incandescent fixtures. No failures so far and performance has been flawless. I normally set all four to use half of each light. But if I want to conserve juice, I can turn three off and use just one, or just one side of one, using the switches on the individual lights. My usual setup of half brightness draws around 2% of the incandescent load on my batteries.

Hope this helps!

[SactoSteve]

Is there a point in the 12v lighting system where a dimmer might be feasable for the entire set of lights? Rather than dealing with each individual light?

[dacap06]

Originally Posted by SactoSteve

Is there a point in the 12v lighting system where a dimmer might be feasable for the entire set of lights? Rather than dealing with each individual light?

Yes, if they are all controlled by a single switch. If you replace that switch with a switch+dimmer device, it will control and dim all of them at once -- assuming they are the dimmable type.

[rstraz]

Originally Posted by SactoSteve

Is there a point in the 12v lighting system where a dimmer might be feasable for the entire set of lights? Rather than dealing with each individual light?

Interesting thought. You'd need to find a wiring diagram and make sure all of the lights are on the same circuit (or at least the ones you want to dim) and nothing else is on that circuit. Otherwise you could be "dimming" a USB plug or similar.

[No1Hunter]

I wonder what happened to Goodspike and his dimmer project? He said he would report back in a week - over a year ago!!

[SactoSteve]

Hello No1Hunter-

I just ordered a 4 pack of these. After I ran out to the trailer to see if the existing ones had the dimming feature. They don’t.

-steve

[No1Hunter]

Hey Steve,

Let us know how you like them after you get & install them.

[SactoSteve]

Will do. They should be here Saturday.

[SactoSteve]

Got the lights and installed them today!
The quality is much better than original. Kinda scary seeing the quality of the factory install.
The install couldn't be easier.
Operation Push on/off, push and hold to dim, last setting is “held”.
Warm white is MUCH easier on the eyes (IMHO).
Attachments show full bright and mostly full dim.
We did “bedroom” lights, dinette light and “hallway” light. Left the “kitchen”, bathroom and “entry” factory stock. We use a night light in the bathroom, but might try the dimmer switch approach?

-steve

[RocknRoll]

Originally Posted by SactoSteve

Got the lights and installed them today!
The quality is much better than original. Kinda scary seeing the quality of the factory install.
The install couldn't be easier.
Operation Push on/off, push and hold to dim, last setting is “held”.
Warm white is MUCH easier on the eyes (IMHO).
Attachments show full bright and mostly full dim.
We did “bedroom” lights, dinette light and “hallway” light. Left the “kitchen”, bathroom and “entry” factory stock. We use a night light in the bathroom, but might try the dimmer switch approach?

-steve

Great to hear. This will be my next mod. Thanks for the update

[No1Hunter]

Looks good. I will have o looking into doing this mod!

[Marine359]

I’m gonna jump on this mod too.
The switches in two of my originals have broken.
Thanks Steve.

[rattlesnake]

If it's broken......duct tape it! lol I love the brightness of the lights in my 2100BH but the light above the dinette table blasted right into your eyes while eating or playing cards. I created a "globe" using a strip of camo duct tape. Now the light is focused onto the table where it is needed and it looks kinda cool as well.

[Marine359]

Great idea! Nice job. Thinking I’ll try that if I could only get that light to work.