Club 80-90 Forums

I want to replace my flouresent tubes with LED.

Any suggestions on tried and tested suppliers/products?

Make them yourself.
Here's the start of a 96 led array to replace one of the tubes fitted in my Merc.

Sounds interesting.

What do I need to buy ?

The Bishop wrote:I want to replace my flouresent tubes with LED.

Any suggestions on tried and tested suppliers/products?

I used these = http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/18-WARM-WHITE ... 2c622b51c7" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Dead simple, just remove all the tube and circuit etc, keep the toggle switch, use double sided tape to glue the strip in place, wire up to the switch, Took me 20 minutes to convert = hey presto, much brighter, but "warm white" lights (not that hard glare you get with many LED set ups), and hardly any drain on the battery.

The finished array (drawing 5769.6 mW due to large no. of leds) Replaced 13w tube that only just glowed :


Plenty of info on t'internet it's not hard, 1000 leds anywhere between £12 to £20 from Ebay. Resistors to suit (calculated HERE).
Each set up will be different - no. of leds required, size of fitting etc.

Did you solder all those LED's yourself

Yep, 1 1/2 hrs work start to finish.

I replaced one of the tubes on mine (lazy to start) with LEDS
Before

After


It's not clear from the pictures but I reckon the LEDS are around 30% brighter (2 X 48 strips).......In retrospect I think warm white would have been better as the white LEDS are a little harsh. The only other draw back is LEDS tend to be very directional and benefit from some sort of diffuser to spread the light.

Martin

California Dreamin wrote:
It's not clear from the pictures but I reckon the LEDS are around 30% brighter (2 X 48 strips).......In retrospect I think warm white would have been better as the white LEDS are a little harsh.

Aye, that was why my choice for warm white

California Dreamin wrote: The only other draw back is LEDS tend to be very directional and benefit from some sort of diffuser to spread the light.

Also true, though the diffuser on our strip lights catered for that

I've got LEd strips from Ikea (lighting/kitchens) in mine, they change colour from white to yellow, red, blue, green and purple mnually or automtically! Great output too. Just chopped the transformer off.Not sure consumption, but a friend did a calculation and worked out it would be very very low.

I've found that the warm white are good for general lighting but I prefer the blueish tinge for cooking and reading by. (more like the light from those daylight bulbs that you can get)
Keeping the diffuser on strip lights helps a little for close up lights but these ones I am doing are in the roof so are 6 ft away from the floor and the light has spread a little more by the time it gets there. With over 20 foot of floor you need a bit more light than in a T25.

I have added LED downlighters to mine, as well as single LED "decking lights" I have wired half of the downlighters to their transformer and the other half directly to the 12v lighting circuit from the Zig unit for use when we are wild camping. The decking lights are wired to the 240v transformer they came with. The single LED deck lights are great for subtle background lighting when sat chilling and gossiping.

I'm getting some from here...
http://www.labcraft.co.uk/products/sele ... de_led.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;