# RV/Camping trailer lighting project – Need help



## 5kids (Sep 1, 2008)

I have a travel trailer that I would like to replace many of the standard “921” 18 watt incandescent lights with LED lighting of equal brightness. I often “dry” camp without a generator, so battery life is a real concern for me. I figure more than half of my battery power is used for lighting, so I’d like to reduce that as much as possible so I can run longer on my battery.

I’ve tried a DX sku 3874 28 LED module that works OK, but its not as bright, and has as a bluish tint to it that my wife nor I like. I know that a high flux SSC or Cree LED would be ideal, however I haven’t had any luck finding an affordable driver that is rated for 12V automotive use. I appreciate any help for driver selection and wiring. I would prefer to run the dual fixtures off of one driver. A 2 mode driver would be ok for high and low brightness, what I don’t want is SOS and strobe.
I have 4 single and 4 dual fixtures that I’d like to modify that look like this.






DX model I tried


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## 5kids (Sep 1, 2008)

Reserved for posting project update:thinking:


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## R33E8 (Sep 1, 2008)

You can make you own driver for high brightness LEDs using a LM317 for like $2 .. It's not the most efficient route but it is definitely cheap and easy to build.

I made my own using this tutorial


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## ambientmind (Sep 2, 2008)

I built some replacement bulbs for my dad's camper with these:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.13553
and some cree Q5s. they also have these if you can provide enough heatsinking for the led:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.13557


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## 5kids (Sep 2, 2008)

ambientmind, how did they work out for your dad's camper? Any pics? Did you use the 1W or 3W driver? Did you use any type of diffuser, other than the fixture cover? I figure a Star emitter will be easiest to work with, can you recommend a DX sku? 
How much heat sinking will I need for a 3W? The fixture is kind of slim, but long and wide, which won't leave much room for a bulky heatsink, but plenty of room for an aluminum strip. If I'm not driving it at 3W, then will a premium Q5 have any advantage?
Sorry for all the questions, but this will be my first build.


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## Eugene (Oct 14, 2008)

there are pre-made led interior lights 
http://www.truck-lite.com/webapp/wc...0001&storeId=10001&categoryId=10325&langId=-1


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## Ken_McE (Oct 15, 2008)

_"I often “dry” camp without a generator, so battery life is a real concern for me. I figure more than half of my battery power is used for lighting, so I’d like to reduce that as much as possible so I can run longer on my battery."
_
Rooftop solar panel?


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## 5kids (Oct 16, 2008)

I've already go 60 watts of solar panels, which really helps top of the battery. When I'm in wooded areas, the solar doesn't work so great because of shade. Last year we spent 5 nights at Silver Strand State beach on Coronado Island, and the solar panels gave us a nearly a full charge going into every night.
I just went camping this past weekend (in the woods) and ran the battery dead on the second night, so now I'm planning to replace my 1x12v battery with 2x6v batteries, which will about triple my battery capacity. While we were camping, I put my Fenix L1DQ5 in one of the light fixtures to see how my wife likes the output and color... and she liked it, so now I'm pretty certain what I need to do (3W Q5's).


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## Ken_McE (Oct 16, 2008)

5kids said:


> I just went camping this past weekend (in the woods) and ran the battery dead on the second night, so now I'm planning to replace my 1x12v battery with 2x6v batteries, which will about triple my battery capacity.



You might take a peek at the Optima Yellowtop batteries.


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## 5kids (Oct 6, 2009)

Ok, this is an old thread, but I'm still working very slowly on this.

I ordered some DX# 13557 1x3 watt 12v drivers
and DX # 2394 Q5 (WD) LED's on star.

I attached the LED's to some old UPS heat sinks and ran the LED's for a couple of days. I mounted 1x3W LED to a heat sink and 2x3W LED. The driver did fine with both, the light output was great. I used my Harbor Freight IR thermometer to do a temperature check and the 1x3W peaked at about 105°F and the 2x3W peaked at 115°F, ambient temperature of about 80°F. The heat sinks are rather large and do a great job of dissapating heat, as they get warm on all surfaces, even 1-2 inches from the LED.

My test with the Q5 WD tint did not go well in the the SAF (Spousal Approval Factor). She called the lights those "Scary blue lights". I'm now looking to source some warm (very warm) 3W LED's. DX doesn't have any warm Cree's. I'm posting in the LED WTB for Warm LED's, star mounted.


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## Eugene (Oct 6, 2009)

I have to rebuild the rear wall of my camper before I can start on lights.


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## Seabass_onCPF (Oct 28, 2010)

I would advise you to stay away from the optima yellow tops for a "house" battery on your camper. Especially if you are already heading in the right direction of going with the big 6 volts. I've killed about three of the yellow tops on the same truck in a year. Optimas have tanked in the quality department in my opinion. Ask around or google if you care to. I've been told that they have taken care of thier issues but I'd let others find out before I buy another...


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## 5kids (Oct 29, 2010)

Another update, I picked up a bunch of warm crees on stars from Market Place and used the DX driver to wire 2 LED in series for double light fixtures and just 1 LED for single fixtures. I used some flat aluminum plate as heat sinks to mount the LED's to. I've used these for about 20 nights so far without any issues, and battery drain is about 1/6th the amount of the incadecent lights. Heat emitted is far less, in fact the ceiling of my trailer was discolored from heat from the light fixtures.

I wanted to used old computer heat sinks, but the fins made it dificult to mount to the light fixture, so I just used some flat aluminum plate. Drilling and tapping the aluminum plate took more time then I had at the time, so I used some double-sided tape to attach it to the fixtures and they're holding just fine. The LED Stars are held by screws to the aluminum plate, with heat sink compound.

Regarding batteries. I wanted to go with 2x6v batteries for extra capacity, but I found out that my Local Interstate distribution warehouse sells refurbished or older stock batteries at a significant discount. I went down there to see what they had and they had some 6 month old 12v group 27 boat batteries that they pulled off the shelf, peeled the fancy label off, put their ECONOBATTERY label on and sold me 2 batteries for $25 each that were origonally $120 batteries each. I check the voltage first and they weren't discharged all that much. I've been using these for the past 19 months off/on and keep them on my BatteryMinder when I'm not using them. Obviously I have them wired in Parallel.


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