LED lighting

[Ron Dickey]

I was going to put this in the Poll section but think it better here.

As a owner of new LED brake lights I have seen many other uses for LED's in and on trailers.

I was hoping you who have LEDs in your trailer could share what you have and where.

One gent had them under his step for those late night runs to the ...

another a night lite inside.

I have a Tent fan in mine and it has LED lights too, runs on batteries.

I want to do more with LED's and hoped you folks could share what you did!

[Leon]

I have LEDs on almost everything in the teardrop. The backup light isn't, and I have a florescent kitchen light, but everything else is LED. I like them so much I'm thinking about changing the backup and kitchen to LEDs also.

[eamarquardt]

Hi,

Here is a site for leds. They have modules that you can buy and make your own fixture from (simple to make a housing with a plastic lens and switch (be careful though a regulator is built into to the light socket and you get a one time only bright flash if you don't use the socket, oops).

They also sell a landscape light for about $34 that works on 12 volt dc (or 24 volt a/c). It comes in two different beam widths and I bought one of the 45 degrees lights. It's built like the proverbial bs (out of what appears to be machined aluminum) and is probably water tight to boot. Just make a base with a switch (again a piece of cake for anyone who has built thier own trailer). The color of the light is nice and white and these will make great reading lamps.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/other_bulbs.htm\

Cheers,

Gus

[Ron Dickey]

I picked up some LED's that I put on the upper part of my triler for upper blinker and stop lights Just what I wanted right size right length right color but they did not come on .....

so I pulled Tucklite up on the net only to find I think that they are for RV's and they run on 24 volt.

Is there a simple step up that I can do so they will work or is it back to the stores till I find the right ones??

Ron Dickey

[Steve F]

Cant help with the 24v LED problem but I do run LED's everywhere, rear lights, step light interior lights and galley lights. Cant see the point of running anything else and here in Australia we have heaps of LED's to choose from.

Cheers
Steve

[BrwBier]

I have neveer heard of an RV that uses 24v electric system. You must make sure + is to + and - is to -. Led's are not like other light bulbs.
Brwbier

[emiller]

All my lights are LED, 4' running lights, tail lights, interior lights (yacht lights),and galley 4' LED's with chrome teardrop ends.

[brian_bp]

:( I picked up some LED's that I put on the upper part of my triler for upper blinker and stop lights Just what I wanted right size right length right color but they did not come on .....

so I pulled Tucklite up on the net only to find I think that they are for RV's and they run on 24 volt.

Is there a simple step up that I can do so they will work or is it back to the stores till I find the right ones??

Ron Dickey

I have not heard of a 24-volt RV, either, but there are 24-volt heavy trucks, aircraft, and military vehicles... a 24-volt lamp is still a rare thing compared to 12V. Most of Truck-Lite's line is 12V (as I would expect) - which is really 13.8V or 14V but we call it "12V" - some models are available in either 12V or 24V, and a few "OmniVolt" models will take anything from 10V to 30V.

If they really are for 24V, they need to be exchanged - there's no practical way to make them work on 12V.

Ron, do you have model numbers for me to check against the Truck-Lite catalog?

[Ron Dickey]

after reading these above statements I am beginning to think I got the wires backward.

they came with no instruction. it is a light 1960-3 and it plugs into 19726 in most lights the ground is grounded through connecting to the body or frame and the lead is the hot.

on this unit the base has a black wire coming out and where the bolt is is where the brass strip wraps around. I assumed that was the ground.
I need one of those emoticons yellow headed guys with his left hand pointing right and his right hand pointing left with a simalare face to this guy.

the rest of the exteranl lights are LED's now... finally.... the pourch lights are solar.

Thanks
Ron

[brian_bp]

:oops: after reading these above statements I am beginning to think I got the wires backward.

they came with no instruction...

That's easy to do, and a likely cause. Fortunately, it's also harmless... the wires have to be corrected the right way for the lamp to work, but it isn't damaged by hooking it up backwards.

The "-3" part of the model number means "bulk packaging"; maybe that's why no instructions. Just a 1960 (or 1960A for amber) is apparently the regular packaging.

...it is a light 1960-3...

That's on page 37 of the Truck-Lite catalog. It says "Designed at 13.5v, .050 amp", which means it is a normal 12V lamp (and it takes 50 milliamps at the design condition of 13.5V, less current if lower voltage, more if higher).

"12V" is rarely actually 12 volts...

...and it plugs into 19726 in most lights the ground is grounded through connecting to the body or frame and the lead is the hot.

on this unit the base has a black wire coming out and where the bolt is is where the brass strip wraps around. I assumed that was the ground...

That's strange... in the catalog model 1960 has a "Standard plug termination", which looks like two common bullet connectors protruding from the back. I didn't find 19726, but Truck-Lite has many harnesses, and some certainly do have a wire with a ring terminal (likely for "grounding" to the body), and other wires with plain ends.

It is not apparent to me in the photo what would prevent the wiring harness from simply being plugged into the lamp in a reversed position. If it were reversed, then you could be using the wires for their intended purposes, but still have the lamp fed power backwards - which doesn't work with LEDs.

If 19726 is like 19721 (a mounting kit on the same catalog page as the lamp), then it might make sense that the lamp could plug into the mount the wrong way up, and thus have the connections reversed.

The Model 19 series of mounts and wiring are - according to the wiring harness catalog - for incandescent lamps, which don't care which wire is which (as long as they don't accidentally cause a short to ground). They are using them for some LED models, which may open up the possibility of getting the lamps backwards.

[Ron Dickey]

Looks like we are on the same direction.

I have to take some stuff appart to get at the wiring but I will try and photograph the lamp and the plug and then see if I can get back at the wiring inside ...well well well I have a shot of the inside. have to load it into the computer and do all the reduction stuff. so stay tune.

The lamp does not seem to say on the back which is the neg and which is the positive side.

And I do not know if you can tell by the catalog but, the raised lettering on the lamp is to the left and the back wire is on top. I would gess if I swith the wires on the back it might just work. this sounds like an at dusk project and I most work the late shif so some time on an off day I will pugg it in and see what happens.

Thank you very much for your help
Ron D.

[brian_bp]

Ron, if I'm looking at the right mounting kit (like a 19721), then it appears that the lamp just plugs into it... so without changing any wiring, it could be unplugged from the mount, turned over, and plugged back in. Does that make sense?

I think the mount Ron is using looks like the one shown in the image on the right. The red lamp at top shows the protruding bullet connectors.

The left hole would be the one used to ground (connect to negative side of circuit) via the mounting bolt; the one wire hanging out would be for power (positive polarity).

I can't see any lens markings in this online catalog image.

[Ron Dickey]

Yup that is them
the red light in the plug on the right.
I made a ryme

anyway thanks I will try one day at dark and see what really happens.
that flash you see was me

Ron D.

[MrgrumpyNJ]

Converted my 69 Fleetwing brakelights to LEDS, when I got the trailer the socket on one side was completly rotted out. Was all of 30min per light to change over.

Removed the lens from the LED light.


Trimmed edges so it fit into old lens and siliconed in to keep out dirt, dust and water


Finished

[brian_bp]

MrgrumpyNJ, those original tail lamps are common on trailers of the 1970's, including moulded fiberglass travel trailers such as Bolers, and including my 1979 B1700. While many people like to keep the original appearance of the "wedding cake" lens, the base and socket under it are not the finest lighting hardware around. This sort of LED module retrofit seems popular, and has worked out well for others. Thanks for the illustration.

The other popular LED conversion for these lamps is to completely replace them with a common 7" diameter round surface mount lamp, but it does change the look.