LED Curb Light Conversion

[Gil_J]

If you have the early 70s Chevy Cargo Lights and hate the limited brilliance that come from them or their high current use, here’s a cheap LED upgrade.

I removed the light fixtures to determine the best approach to adding an LED panel light. I bought 20 of the panel lights shown from a Chinese seller on eBay for about $25. My intent was to install 2 in each light that is mounted close to the ground and 3 panels in the lights mounted above the tires. Due to their brilliance, I opted for just one on the lower lights and 2 on the upper lights.

The first challenge was how to mount the panels. Ultimately, I decided to mount them in the lens supported solely on the pressure applied to them by putting them between 2 strips of foam that was purchased from Home Depot. Although I’m confident this will last, my fall back plan would be to use a silicone adhesive on the corners of the LED panels while still using the foam.

The next challenge was how to wire them to the coach. These panels come supplied with 3 bulb attachments, but none that will work in these fixtures. I first attempted to use blade connectors and connect them directly to the connector used to support the lamp carrier in the fixture. I abandoned this as it didn’t support the connector and put the connections too close to the door panels. I decided to just solder the LED panel wires to the lamp-carrying fixture. Doing it this way allows me to revert to standard bulbs if I choose to do so.

These panels are brighter than expected and are the bluish color. For this application, the color is fine. The panel lights did live up to typical expected Chinese quality, but they were cheap, so that should be expected. Many of them had the red and black wires backwards. That was no big deal, as I needed longer wires anyway. Some had components that weren’t soldered as they should have been, but still worked, and a couple didn’t work.

My initial feeling is this project gave me the results I was looking for.
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[JIM KELLER]

Good Job Gil. Nice explanation of the procedure. So..... since the left side doesn't work, did you install these only on the right side ?

[Gil_J]

Yep Jim they are only on the right side. That was my intent anyway until I got some use out of them to determine if I needed to make any modifications before doing both sides.

[JIM KELLER]

What on earth could be the problem on the left side ? I looked through my CC books and couldn't find anything helpful. This looks like a Nashville project. Right after we cut that hole in Jamie's Bus.

[NashXL]

Gil,

In my case I replaced only the festoon style bulbs. SuperBrightLEDS makes a number of bulbs to replace the 561 Festoon style. I used a nine LED natural white light. Did all 6 on the driver's, and all six on the passenger plus the door/patio light. Cost was about $100 with a few extra bulbs. Cleaned all the light lenses, put 303 on the little gasket rings. The light looks great. Really highlights the sides and ends of the coach without being so bright the bugs are being drawn. Little power draw so I left on both ways going to Excalibur from Cinci when laying over at FlyingJ's so other campers could see the sides (keep a gap). 2,000 miles and alot of rain and all working well.

Sincerely,

Doug
Nash XL

[Gil_J]

Doug, I used the yellow festoon LED replacement from superbriteleds for the porch light. Not so bright and being yellow should attrack fewer bugs. This one I leave on at night.

[Gil_J]

I was asked about this upgrade in New Orleans, so I thought I'd resurface this old post. This looks like the LED panels I bought:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/9-12-15-20-24-36-48-LED-5050-3528-SMD-Car-Light-Panel-T10-Festoon-BA9S-Adapter-/400492854370?pt=US_Lighting_Parts_and_Accessories&var=&hash=item5d3f3bfc62

[Reagan Sirmons]

Gil, from the information presented, is there an issue with doing both sides or did I mis-read the comments?
Thank you again,
Pres

[Gil_J]

Reagan,

The problem with the one side was ECC related and has been resolved. It was not a problem with the lights themselves.

[Reagan Sirmons]

Gil,
I tried the Superbrightleds and they were not very bright. The ones I obtained were made up of 9 diodes & $5.95 per festoon LED light. The replacements you used had 24 diodes...obviously where I would prefer to go with this project. Can you tell me where you located the lights you used ? or any like them?
Thank you,
Pres

[dale farley]

I ordered these a couple days ago, so I intend to install them in a couple weeks. My original curb light bulbs are 1142s, so I hope these will be direct replacements. They have 27 LEDs on each light.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/201137947927?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2648&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

[Gil_J]

Reagan,

These are stated to be the same dimensions (click here) (http://www.ebay.com/itm/10X-24-SMD-Panel-1210-Led-White-Light-Lamp-Festoon-T10-Dome-Bulb-BA9S-Adapter-/331139726299?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item4d19773bdb).

[Reagan Sirmons]

Gil... or anyone with some thoughts....
I acquired the led lights with the 24 diodes...they look great when illuminated. The wires with them are extremely, extremely small. They are not as large as the ones in your picture at all. Did you take the back off of the lights and rewire the lights with a thicker wire? While working with the lights with the smaller wires, I tried to design a away to attach them to the positive and negative poles of the lighting fixture on the coach. I cannot reach the poles of the fixture well enough to solder them in place, I do not believe. Do I have to remove the entire light fixtures? If so, is the fixture attached with a disconnect behind it?
Secondly, in the process of experimenting, using small alligator clips to attach the lights, I shorted out the right curb lights and searched for over an hour to find the blown fuse. All of the fuses in the modular board seem to all be functioning. Where is the fuse for the right curb lights?
Sorry for the questions but I am stumped. It looks like I have to take the fixtures off of the bus?
By the way, I ordered one dozen of the lights at $9.99 per light. When the shipment arrived 4 weeks later, the shipment contained 12 dozen lights... not 12! So, I am in the process of getting ready to return the extras... 132 of them... crazy!
Thank you,
Reagan

[Reagan Sirmons]

Jim, in looking over the list, you have a '99 CC...do you know how to locate the fuse for the right side curb lights?
Thank you,
Pres

[Gil_J]

Reagan,

I did change the wires to gain some length. The gauge I used was larger, only because that is what I had. I used flux and soldered the wires on the lamp fixture just below where the original bulbs make contact with the fixture contacts.

I removed the fixtures to make the job easier. If the fuse is not on the control card of the ECC card it will be after a relay. I don't remember if this is an external relay use circuit. I can check on Monday.

[JIM KELLER]

Reagan,

I too have popped that fuse working on my lights. I think it is on that bottom row of fuses of the ECC. One of the easy ones to get to.

[Reagan Sirmons]

Update on the LED conversion:
For those of you who are interested, please reference the pictures Gil posted in an earlier comment on this thread. Mine ended up being identical but I had to employ a hobby shop to change out the wires and make the combined brackets. The wires that came on the lights were about 24 or even 26 gauge... hair thickness ...and I could not work with them at all.. apparently, neither could Gil so I had the wires changed out to 18 gauge.... I put two 24 diode LEDs in each of the 12 lights along side the coach. I did take the light fixtures off of the coach and took them to a local very advanced hobby shop with an extremely talented available person..... Even with their expert assistance and equipment, it took well over 3 hours just to make the 12 brackets plus an additional six brackets for additional use if needed. One screw on one of the fixtures on the coach broke off while on the coach ....and with the screws being stainless steel, drilling it out became impossible without running the risk of hurting the insert, etc. I therefore had to solder the ends to the posts on that fixture while it was on the coach....not a good thing and it was very difficult for me...but it finally worked. Reinstalling the fixtures with the brackets attached was hairy but finally the trouble-shooting ceased and the conversion was completed. For the record, it took me about two hours to remove the fixtures and about 4 hours for the reinstallation, not including the three trips to Home Depot for replacement screws and parts.... The time I spent trying to make the brackets myself was about three hours....so that was wasted... Including the three hours of the mechanic at the hobby shop, and all other work over two days, I had about ten full applicable hours in this conversion.
Now, was it worth it? .....Knowing what I now know and considering the alternatives of LED bulbs that might have been a less bright, yet effective replacement, I am not certain BUT...they are very bright and look absolutely great! In addition, they are soldered in place and should not vibrate loose... and the hours of expected future use are tremendous. On balance, I am glad I made the conversion because I have now converted all of the lights in the interior (35) to LEDs as well as the rear lights... they all seem to go together....and it definitely updates the coach.

Thank you to all who were so kind as to provide information to me even including where to find the blown fuse in the ECC... it all came together.
Pres

[Gil_J]

Reagan,

Sorry hear it took so much time. When time is money some of things we choose to do can really add up. I can now apprraciate and understand why it cost so much to have others do some of these upgrades.

[JIM KELLER]

Reagan, Great idea to employee the services of a hobby shop. I never thought of this and they probably work on small wires and parts everyday.

[Charles Spera]

Reagan,
Thanks for your great idea to install LED panels in our cargo lights. I have done that on the coach and enjoy the better lighting.

I decided that the best way to be able to go back to the stock bulbs would be to use the same bulb base. You can find them on Ebay such as here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/BAY15d-Bayonet-Base-10-Pack-Car-LED-Light-Lamp-Bulb-Socket-Base-Adapter-1157-/400765370970?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item5d4f7a425a&vxp=mtr

Soldering wasn't too big a problem. Hope this helps.

[Gil_J]

Charles,

Great idea and the panels come with adapters. The problem is I didn't find any 561 bulb adapters. I considered making my own, but for me soldering was easier.

[ratherBcycling]

Dale, did the LED bulbs you ordered work? I ordered amother set of the same bulb in evay that does not work. Thanks
George

[Gil_J]

Look at drawing in post #11 and make sure you have power on both center pins.

[dale farley]

George,

So far, I've had no problems with the bulbs.

[KenEhresman]

Anyone got a pic of that curb/patio replacement Donnie Meyers makes? or know the cost per unit?

[Gil_J]

Here's the thread that shows Donnie's LED curb lights CLICK HERE (http://forum.prevostownersgroup.com/showthread.php?8309-Lens-for-Yard-Lights&highlight=patio+lights). You might want to call him to see if he went into production. If he didn't here's a couple options. The Maxxima MWL-33 for low mounted lights. Whelen Perimeter Light for eye level or above mounting. Neither of these choices are direct bolt-on replacements. Donnie's is a bolt-on replacement.