88 Country Coach - Interior lighting upgrade

[Pagoo]

The wife and I just bought our first coach!! Why would you buy a piece of plywood and fiber whatever when you can own Real Stainless Steel! This is my first forum experience so I hope you will bear with me until I get the hang of this.

We wanted to introduce and say hi to the POG. We are not new to motor coaching experience, My parents had a couple of Liberty's, American, Wanderlodge, and a Winnebago over the years Started doing it in the early 70's.

We have been out of it for about 10 years had fun in the collector car hobby but we really miss the coach experiences. So here we are, ready for the all the maintenance challenges & fun to come.

The first thing I need to do is upgrade the LV house lighting inside. The coach has florecent fixtures in the headliner and it is just dated and less than optimal. Hope you can help!

[dreamchasers]

Pagoo,

I have a 1995 Country Coach that uses 12 volt rope lighting for accent lighting and 12 v Halogen for for general salon lighting. The salon lighting is augmented by two sconce lights (119) mounted on each side of the salon. With a little research, you will find that many coaches today use LED lighting. If you are planning of changing lighting I would recommend LED if possible. The halogen puck lights used in many coaches produce allot of heat.

Good Luck and welcome to POG.

Hector

[treedoc]

Pagoo Welcome to POG Be sure to share pics of your upgrade. Before during and after, we can always learn from your experince. Rick

[michaeldterry]

Welcome to the asylum, Pagoo! Your POG subscription is the best $10 you'll ever spend on your bus each year! :p Don't worry about "getting the hang of it" - just jump in with both feet and have fun. Be sure to set up your signature by clicking "forum actions" at the top of the page, then click "edit profile", and then "edit signature" to add information about your bus (year, model, converter, etc) and any other info like what you tow, where you lve, nams of you & your better half, etc.

When you post again, tell us a little bit about your background, etc. The more you tell us, the less we'll have to make up lies about! :rolleyes:

Be sure to ask any questions you may have. POG is an amazing resource for information about all things Prevost, bussing, conversions, and life in general. As Jon likes to say - you'll always get answers and on rare ocassions, some will even be correct!

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Are you putting words in my mouth, Michael? Don't get the new guy excited about the cheap price we all paid for our memberships.

BTW Pagoo, it is customary for new members to buy presents for all of us old members. I kind of have my eye on a new flat screen HD plasma TV. Hint, hint.

[garyde]

I don'tknow what you have as far as voltage at each fixture location. If its 120 volt you have many choice from many different fixture manufacturers. If it is 12 volt or 24 volt then you are probably going to have a halogen or a small flourescent. Wall sconces can be changed out for many different residential type fixtures and changed to any voltage needed.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Actually the lighting decision is going to be based on two issues. The available voltage and wire capacity is the first. If it is DC voltage which is most likely the options are halogens, incadescent, or the LEDs now available for ceiling lighting. If dimming of the lights is a requirement LEDs may not work, but halogen and incandescent will.

The second consideration will be the effort required to physically mount the new fixtures. That will depend on how the ceiling is made, the clearances over the ceiling and the tolerance for whatever modifications may be required to install a different style of lighting. The selected style may have to be surface mounted if recessing is not possible.

This sounds like some internet research is required to find all the types of lighting available and then some study on how the ceiling is made to determine the feasibility of the different types.

Without detailed photos all POG members can do is shoot from the lip when offering solutions because without details we would be speculating. The most valid information is going to come from members with the same vintage coach who have modified their lighting. I'm old school so I still use candles and the occasional oil lamp.