Entry Lights

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Lew,

You weren't supposed to tell. Do you think the disco ball under the awning is a little over the top?

BTW, do you guys have any idea how hard it was to get whitewall tires in 315R-22.5 size?

[lewpopp]

But curb feelers with LEDs on them? Come on Jon, the kiddies are starting to cry.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

At what point does a bus with bling pass the line and turn into a pimpmobile?

[Jerry Winchester]

I think you and Mike are already there.

[lewpopp]

All Libertys are made to be Pimpmobiles with all of the bling lites.

[bill&jody]

>My wife weighs about 300 pounds and I think her big honkin feet...
soooooooooo, who was that with you at pog1............

just curious
wmm

[Petervs]

Well, this is an old thread, but I finally got around to this project so I thought I would share the "Bling".

On our 94 Marathon we have these Accent lights all over the coach, they are rope lights by another name. Seems like one out of 4 bulbs were burned out (and not evenly spaced) and they were starting to look a little scruffy so it was time for either repair or replacement.

First, here is a review of what was there:

Since you can buy them both ways, I called Marathon and asked them if they were 12 volt DC or 110 volt AC and they told me 12 volt. They were also happy to sell me replacements ( I did not ask how much) and they would happily install them too for more $$. I thought this would be a great do it yourself project in any case.

The first picture shows a section of the old lights. The bulbs are regular incandescent and are spaced every 3 inches.The second picture shows there are two coated wires that run the length of the rope, the bulbs are soldered to each wire at intervals where the coating on the wires is removed. You can solder in new bulbs to replace the burned out ones if you have some spare bulbs. I have lots of old ones if anyone wants some for spare bulbs just let me know and I will send you some.

Each bulb uses 0.004 amps so they are 0.05 watt each. A foot of rope has 4 bulbs, so the rope uses 0.2 watts per foot. My bus has about 100 feet of rope lights, so 100 feet uses 20 watts of power ( when all the bulbs are working that is). The ropes give off a nice warm amber/yellowish light.

My first approach was to buy some leftover christmas lights that were 12 volt, 30 feet to the roll, for about $12 each. I have 4 rolls of those, problem was, they were 1/2 inch diameter ropes, and just too fat to fit in my coach. They had bulbs spaced 2 inches apart. If anyone wants them, just let me know.

The next post will describe the replacements.

[Petervs]

So I ordered a roll of 150 feet of new lights from an internet company, paid about $110 total. here is a similar item: http://www.christmaslightsetc.com/pr...CategoryID=633

These ropes are made slightly differently. There is an outer sleeve that is a solid tube. Inside is a smaller diameter sleeve that fits tightly inside. This one is slitted the full length, and 2 wires are embedded in the inner sleeve. The bulbs are in groups of 4, connected in a little chain, with each end of the chain soldered to one of the wires.

The bulbs are really 3 volts each, but by making a chain of 4 they run on 12 volt DC. The outside diameter of the rope is 0.395 inches, so they are just a little fatter. The bulb spacing is 1 inch. These bulbs draw 0.0017 amps each which is 0.02 amp. a foot of these uses 0.25 watts, so the 100 foot total for the bus uses 25 watts. pretty close to the old ones.

Since you can only cut the rope between every 4 bulbs, the rope is clearly marked where to cut. Cut the rope 2 inches longer than the cut mark, and you have some room to strip the wires to make the connections.

To install them, first pry out a section of the old ropes, they are held in with a little clear silicone seal every here and there. One end will be free, the other will have two wires. Pull it gently to make some slack, cut the old one out. Use the old one to make a new one of the same length. Use a butt splice or solder the new one in. Then stuff the new rope into the groove , it may be a tight fit since it is a little fatter, but you can put an amazing amount of force on the tube to squeeze it in there with a pair of pliers even. If you have to, you can remove the outer sleeve in some sections, then the rope will be thinner than the old one. Put a little dab of clear silicone on the places where it droops, hold it in place with masking tape. That's it. I did the whole coach in about a day. The results are terriffic. These ropes give off a whiter brighter light than the old.

Another option is to buy LED rope lights. They come in several colors including white. They are much costlier, like $350-$700 for a 150 foot roll. The are more energy efficient and cooler, but at that price the energy cost will never pay back. They use less electricity so your house battery bank will last longer, but at 25 watts for the whole coach how much can you really save? The real drawback to the LED design is they are only able to be cut every 36 iinches, and since we need so many specific lengths, that would not work out at all.

[BUSTER]

Anyone who showed up with them would be an odds on favorite for Fast Rogers' bling award !!!...I heard Bluevost was trying to find California Woodie paneling in 45' lengths...now that would be something !!!

See you all soon

[Ray Davis]

Peter,

Interesting post. I've got same lights inside, which probably will need some work some day. Previous owner like this stuff, so he wired it up in a couple of the bays too, but not a real good job. Might be worth replacing.