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LED Lights

Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2011 5:20 am
by ezrablu
Can anyone tell me if these would work to replace the original lights (bulbs) in the ceiling of my Bluebird bus? If so, would it be a difficult process?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Car-Ligh ... ccessories

Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2011 5:35 am
by Sharkey
Well, that depends entirely on whether your ceiling light fixtures use one of the two provided socket adapters. What they supply is for either a "fuse-type" lamp (that's the one with the cylindrical glass body with the cone-shaped end caps) or the "wedge base" type, which replaces lamps that have no metal base, but use the glass bottom of the bulb to fit into a spring socket.

If your lamps use a "bayonet" lamp base, neither of these will simply "bolt in", some cutting/splicing of the wiring will be necessary, or an appropriate adapter would need to be fabricated.

For that price, you should buy several and figure out how to use them after they arrive. The red and black pigtail wire and quick disconnect connector would make them simple to adapt with a tiny bit of soldering.

Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2011 11:45 am
by ezrablu
Thank you very much, Sharkey. Tomorrow I'll go to my bus and see what kind of ceiling lights I have in there. It would be ok for me to do a little wiring or put new ends. I'll probably buy some of these since they are so cheap...I wanted to make sure these kind of lights are the correct ones that could be used in my bus.

Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2011 12:12 pm
by Rudy
Blu, whenever possible, LED lights are the wise choice. They burn cool and don't distort plastic lenses. They require less power to operate. You NEVER have to replace bulbs.

While replacing fixtures, you will most likely have to improvise mounting techniques. Basically, if you have a 12 volt feed wire in the ceiling, and have a few inches to work with, cut the existing wire to it's longest length. Then you can attach the new (HOT) wire to the new LED fixture. The other wire will most likely be attached to the metal of the ceiling, making it a body ground.

You can attach the old wire to the new wire with what is called a butt connector. You should have a crimping pliers for that. Then wrap some black tape around it a few times, and screw the new fixture to the ceiling. Oftentimes, the ground wire from the new receptacle would need a round terminal that gets crimped onto it and then, one of the mounting screws of the new fixture captures it against the ceiling metal.

Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2011 12:22 pm
by Rudy
OH Yeah! I almost forgot to mention my new LED brake lights/running lights. These are located below the big stop lights and big turning signals.

I got the upper ones working . The cool thing is that on the inside of the red brake lenses is written STOP.

It was hard to spend $50 on the LED set, but those lower brake lights were irreparable and had to be replaced. I know that I will always be glad I bought them. AND TALK ABOUT BRIGHT!

When I get all my roof and body running lights working, I'll take pics and post them.