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Old 04-29-2012, 03:58 PM   #1
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Inside bus LED lights

I installed LED lights in the existing interior lights. I wired a push button switch in each one. When engine is off, lights are powered by the house battery bank. An order of magnitude brighter, and uses less power than the incandescent bulbs that were in there.
$20 for the LED units from Super Bright LEDs. the swich was about $3. The total cost was about $25 a light.




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Old 04-29-2012, 05:11 PM   #2
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Re: Inside bus LED lights

That is super sweet.
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Old 04-29-2012, 05:57 PM   #3
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Re: Inside bus LED lights

Thanks.
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Old 04-29-2012, 06:45 PM   #4
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Re: Inside bus LED lights

i have the mr16 base 3 watt lights that cost 13.00 for 5 of them in my bus. entire 40' thing only has 12. i think they equal 50 watt regular bulbs.
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Old 04-29-2012, 07:03 PM   #5
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Re: Inside bus LED lights

Just curious chev, what kind of bulb is that, i.e. incandescent, fluorescent, halogen, LED ?
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Old 04-29-2012, 08:46 PM   #6
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Re: Inside bus LED lights

just go to ebay and look up 12v mr16 bulbs. most are three bulb led's and you can buy bases for regular 110v lamp and wire 12v to it, or bayonette adaptors also. there is also the type you have on ebay also, but i use these light bulbs that have 2 prongs and also buy the adaptors very cheaply from hong kong. the bulbs are best bought from california
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Old 04-29-2012, 09:35 PM   #7
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Re: Inside bus LED lights

Be nice to have a link to it. I'm not saying that what I'm doing is right. And twenty-five bucks a light sure adds up fast in a 35' school bus, a BB AA at that. In fact most of my bus projects are iffy, to say the least. Just see my tutorial on building your own waste tanks out of plywood, styrofoam, fiberglass, and a couple of gallons of epoxy. If an RV park were to ask "Will it leak?" I'd reply: slowly, only slowly. (The tank doesn't leak, it just hasn't been road tested yet--if you know what I mean. )
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Old 05-01-2012, 07:54 AM   #8
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Re: Inside bus LED lights

I did the same thing with led's I got at Autozone.
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Old 05-01-2012, 09:11 AM   #9
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Re: Inside bus LED lights

When i build the slide out after we get back to our other property, i am gonna toss out all my plastic holding and fresh water tanks and build all new ones that will fit the exact shape of the compartment it is in... i am wasting too much space having 5 fresh water and 3 grey, etc..
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Old 05-04-2012, 12:59 PM   #10
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Re: Inside bus LED lights

Dragged this post over from a Conversion Disscussion thread:

Chev49's link ...http://www.ebay.com/itm/160734295819...819%26_rdc%3D1 .

Nice price.

Heres a link to what I used (I used that warm white 9 hi power LED board): http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-b...%2Fpcblamp.htm .

Price not so nice, and a bit delicate to mount. IIRC correctly, with 10 of 'em lit I use about 1.6 amps of 12v power. That would be 19 watts for 10 lights.
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Old 10-04-2013, 01:27 AM   #11
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Re: Inside bus LED lights

I kinda wanna do this as well, I'm veryyyyyyy uneducated on all the technical stuff though.
My first idea was to take a string of those bulky "rope" christmas lights, and string them up inside to give off some light, and I wanted them to be solar powered...
on top of that, I'd want them on a switch so they could charge all day and I can switch them on/off at night, when its dark.

Does anyone know the best way to go about learning about circuits and switches and solar stuff?
I found some pretty good youtube vids, but I'd need further help.

(Also, I live in Canada and most of you seem to be in the states!)
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Old 10-04-2013, 09:11 AM   #12
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Re: Inside bus LED lights

Quote:
Originally Posted by xJP
I kinda wanna do this as well, I'm veryyyyyyy uneducated on all the technical stuff though.
My first idea was to take a string of those bulky "rope" christmas lights, and string them up inside to give off some light, and I wanted them to be solar powered...
on top of that, I'd want them on a switch so they could charge all day and I can switch them on/off at night, when its dark.

Does anyone know the best way to go about learning about circuits and switches and solar stuff?
I found some pretty good youtube vids, but I'd need further help.

(Also, I live in Canada and most of you seem to be in the states!)
http://www.expeditionportal.com/foru...olar-Power-FAQ

ENJOY hours of reading also Lorna's awesome score here.......

http://www.skoolie.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=13540

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Old 10-04-2013, 07:33 PM   #13
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Re: Inside bus LED lights

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Old 10-06-2013, 04:21 PM   #14
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Re: Inside bus LED lights

I think this is something every one should consider. I was watching Trucks on Spike TV when they were comparing the amp draw on 5 incandescent type cab over bulbs on a dually. They installed 2 led on the rear fenders. The amp draw on the regular lights was around less than 2 amps,the leds were half of an amp. I don't see the episode up but its one of the latest of them working on a truck called super dually.

I would think anyone that runs on battery power for any length of time needs to keep these kind of conversions in mind or slowly convert them
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Old 10-06-2013, 04:49 PM   #15
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Re: Inside bus LED lights



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Old 10-06-2013, 08:10 PM   #16
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Re: Inside bus LED lights

Opus

I am planning on having some rope light for some low level light so you don't walk in to total darkness as well as having some of the LED like those listed in the beginning of the thread for more of spot type light for reading or cooking etc....
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