# What lights?



## gemnrich (Apr 7, 2010)

Hey all, new to this sight, what a fantastic wealth of information you have!!! My partner and I are planning to convert our nissan cargo van into a camper and go on a grand tour of europe (or as grand as we can fund with our little savings!) anyway, we were wondering what lights would be best for our little van, we are looking on the cheaper side (both to purchase and run) but would like enough to see our dinners and read a book of an evening, if the weather isn't being too kind, any ideas would be fantastic,
many thanks,
Gemma and Rich


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## tony (Apr 7, 2010)

hi & welcome.
you should look into l e d lights they are easy on the battery.
look up o'learys motorhomes on the internet.
i bought from them , a few at a time.
tony


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## gemnrich (Apr 7, 2010)

We have looked at LEDs and I must say they seem to be the favourites, any idea how many spot lights (with the 18 LEDs) would be needed to suitably light up our relatively small sized panel van?? Once again, many thanks!


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## tony (Apr 8, 2010)

gemnrich said:


> We have looked at LEDs and I must say they seem to be the favourites, any idea how many spot lights (with the 18 LEDs) would be needed to suitably light up our relatively small sized panel van?? Once again, many thanks!



would'nt know about that. we just replaced the ones already there.
im sure o'learys should be able to advise you on that.they carry everything for self build. they got a lot more stuff there than is on the web site.
tony


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## Belgian (Apr 8, 2010)

Hi,
'Philips' has now 2-pin leds (same size as halogens) with 48 leds in it. Only consuming 2,8 W.
Or have a look at 'Ikea' they have sort of bureau lamp with led and a small solar panel in the bottom. I use them for several years now. Excelent for reading. (it was posted on here some years ago; but I cannot find it back)


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## n8rbos (Apr 8, 2010)

i use 'led' strip lights from b&q run by batteries, they last 100hrs and i've replaced as needed with rechargeable batteries,they can be switch on/off independently as i require. the only thing i use leisure battery for is tv


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## Belgian (Apr 8, 2010)

Found it:
http://www.wildcamping.co.uk/forums/motorhome-knowledge-base/6192-solar-bureau-lamp.html


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## gemnrich (Apr 29, 2010)

hi guys just got back from our first road trip up to shrewsbury! Looked around millets up there and they have a battery powered 24 led light (runs on 3 aaa batteries) its ab fab and we will only need two to light our van (any more and we'd be lit up like a christmas tree!)...all for £7...so to those interested in battery powered LEDs this on is a must!!!


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## tiderus (Apr 30, 2010)

Just replaced all my bulbs with LED'S. The 12v leisure battery consumpsion has dropped dramatically. They come in two types of groups, one is round bulbs, the other is square yellow bulbs. The Yellow are far brighter, and stand a fluxuation in voltage. The round sets of bulbs have a problem over 14.5 volts where by they may fail in blocks of three but are slightly cheaper. At the Peterborough show they were £8.40 each, being the dearest. Down to 99p on ebay from china. I have had both types from ebay. With one at £1.49 free postage the tags were to far apart, and most broke off when I squeezed them in a bit, and shortened the contact wires. Had I had fewer bulbs on the base, they wound have fitted better. The others had a small black plastic strip that slid over the two contact at the bulbs end, and all were a great fit. These were the cheaper round bulbs type at about £1.49. Noticed that they have the better type yellow square ones on at present for 99p post paid. So might get a couple to try out. You don't need a lot of bulbs on the light itself, As they may not fit the existing holders, G4 bulbs have 4mm contact spacings, as do the MR11 ones with 35mm dia outside. the larger MR16 50mm outside dia, have 5.3mm spacings. These are the three most popular LED'S. They have saved from 10,amps on a quarts halogen bulb, to 0.8 on each LED bulb, so well worth fitting. Hope it's of help.
Rgds Graham.


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## dolmen (Aug 15, 2010)

I just swapped to the MR11 LED bulbs and I'm very happy, my problem now is how do I sort out the other lamps in the Elddis? there are two round lamps, a small tube type over the galley, and a small sunken lamp in the shower. 

I've looked at these and can't work out how to open them, I don't wish to break them by forcing them, especially when I don't really know what I'm doing.

Any help would be appreciated and guidence on converting these over to LED.

TIA


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## maingate (Aug 15, 2010)

Hi dolmen,

Leave the fluorescent tube alone. It is virtually as economical as an LED.

The cover on the large round light in the roof should come off easily enough. I think these are the round bulbs (like indicator and brake light bulbs). You can get LED`s of this type on the internet.


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## dolmen (Aug 15, 2010)

Thanks maingate, didn't know the tube fitting was that economical, do the round lamps just pull off, incl the small one in the bathroom? I've pressed and pulled and I'm afraid the whole thing will take a lump out of the roof on its way down!

tia


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## maingate (Aug 15, 2010)

I have no idea how to remove the big light shades as I had no need to touch them in my Elddis.

You have tried pulling and pushing, so why not try twisting?

Or you can hope that Peter from Johns Cross Motorhomes reads this and tells you how to do it.


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## dolmen (Aug 16, 2010)

maingate said:


> You have tried pulling and pushing, so why not try twisting?
> 
> Or you can hope that Peter from Johns Cross Motorhomes reads this and tells you how to do it.



 Twisted and turned them too, just a little mind you ... I don't wish to break them.

Over to you Peter, tia

Cheers


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## winchman (Aug 17, 2010)

maingate said:


> Hi dolmen,
> 
> Leave the fluorescent tube alone. It is virtually as economical as an LED.
> 
> The cover on the large round light in the roof should come off easily enough. I think these are the round bulbs (like indicator and brake light bulbs). You can get LED`s of this type on the internet.



We tried this recently at work by measuring the consumption of a standard 12v fluoresent tube against a LED striplight with 36 LEDs in it, the LED used a very small fraction of the electricity the tube used, we re did the test as we though wehad done it wrong.
I think it was 0.02 of an amp but have to check to be certain


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## dolmen (Aug 17, 2010)

Hi winchman, did you replace the whole lamp or did you manage to fit the LED's into the old lamp? Tips would be great thanks.

Cheers


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## winchman (Aug 20, 2010)

dolmen said:


> Hi winchman, did you replace the whole lamp or did you manage to fit the LED's into the old lamp? Tips would be great thanks.
> 
> Cheers


I bought a load of very nice chrome and clear plasic LED fittings at a good price as the LEDs are coloured.
I took one apart and bought 100 white LEDs from a nice man in China for £4 inc delivery!
It was a simple matter of unsoldering the coloured and replacing with white.

If you have a none LED fitting cut a strip of plastic that can be secured in the fitting, drill two holes for each LED leg and poke the legs through the holes, solder wires on the back and connect up and you have a simple cheap conversion.
Now the best alternative I have seen is these
Rolson 61770 72 LED Camping Light: Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools
If you rejig the internal wiring it will work from 12v instead of the batteries, Asda recently had them for £7 each


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## lisa01633 (Aug 20, 2010)

i have noticed at the different caravan and camping shops (i know they cost a little more) have led strip bulbs to replace halogen ones .. we have 4 strip lights (2 are double) in our camper and were looking to replace all with these led strips as they are a lot less consumption on the battery


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## al n sal (Aug 21, 2010)

we replaced all our interior light bulbs and tubes and festoons with LEDs from these people, mostly arrived within two weeks, and wa easy to fit,

2x 48 LED Blue Flexible Strip Waterproof Car Light Bulb on eBay (end time 03-Sep-10 18:12:03 BST)

worth checking their sites as they sometimes sell for very reduced prices

works well for us, we also removed tubes from double tube housings

al


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## paulgrav (Nov 9, 2010)

*Spotlights from b&q*

Hi all, I'm new to this camping and I'm starting a self build on a Nissan vanette. I have seen some spotlights in b&q and wondered if I could hook these up to my original light wires if I put lower watt bulbs in them?
Thanks


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## Mastodon (Nov 9, 2010)

We replaced all of our 10w halogen spots with led's. Now we can have all 16 on and use the same energy as 2 of the halogen jobs. We used to use the ceiling fluorescent tubes as they were more economical, now we avoid using them as they're so power hungry... (significantly more so than led's my multimeter tells me)


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## vwalan (Nov 9, 2010)

i use gas lights .my miulimetre tells me that they dont use any electric . hee hee andgive heat and get rid of mozzies . cheers alan.


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## Hawkmoon (Nov 10, 2010)

dolmen said:


> Thanks maingate, didn't know the tube fitting was that economical, do the round lamps just pull off, incl the small one in the bathroom? I've pressed and pulled and I'm afraid the whole thing will take a lump out of the roof on its way down!
> 
> tia


 
I'm at the same stage as you Dolmen - I have a Compass 120 & have replaced the lounge downlights with led bulbs but haven't managed to find out how to release the two round diffusers to see whats needed in the way of led's in them.  I also haven't sorted the loo light either.  

You would think that the manual would show you how to change the bulbs!


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## dolmen (Nov 21, 2010)

If you find out how to undo them please let me know, I'm no further on ...

TIA


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