Moving the thread from Swap to here for easier finding...

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Rusty whom did you get the LEDs from? Thanks Ray

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The T8 and T5 tubes are from eezrvproducts.com. The T5 triple "tube" fixtures came from Ming's Mark via Amazon. The info on the patio lights is in the coach, and will have to wait for tomorrow.

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Hey Rusty, do you have a picture of your new lights, and where did you purchase them. The fluorescent fixtures in my new Barth's are yellowed and don't give off good light with the lenses on.

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Replaced patio light bulbs with LED #52532 (www.dg-usa.com; they don't sell direct but PPL Motor Homes is a dealer). 25 LEDs, drop-in replacement. Huge increase in illumination

Replaced 18” fluorescent tubes with EZ-108FCW-T8 (EEZRVPRODUCTS.COM). Replaced 12” fluorescent tubes (Bedroom ceiling) with EZ-51FCW-T5. In both cases, removed the ballast and rewired direct 12VDC. All these tubes have a diode bridge and so are not polarity sensitive. These are brighter than the fluorescents replaced. The T8s can be rotated in the fixture, a nice feature for increasing the diffusion.

The three remaining T5 fixtures will be replaced by Ming's Mark 9090103 triple tube fixtures. These allow switching among 1, 2, or all 3 tubes. They are narrower and longer than the OEM fixtures; because they all are at a headliner seam, I'll make a fascia for each to cover the gap. These are surface mounted, so the recess for the SunRay fixtures is not a factor.

On order are Bargman Series 58, 55-8377 LED Red and 55-8386 LED Amber boundary lights from PPL Motor Homes.

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The Bargman boundary lights were here when I arrived home today; they'll be a simple replacement, as the hole spacing is the same as the OEM.

From Superbright LEDS enroute are:

4 1157-R2W Red 90 Degree (Taillights) $16.95/ea.
4 1157-A24-WV Amber 100 Degree (Parking/Turn) $ 7.49/ea.

I'm headed to NAPA tomorrow to pick up the turn signal (ES36L) and hazard (Echlin #552 electronic equivalent) flashers. While looking for the flashers, I discovered the hazard flasher was extremely hot after only 5 minutes of use. With 4x12W rear incandescents, 2x1W rear LEDs, and 6x6W front incandescents, the 32W flasher was WAY overloaded.

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The Bargman Series 58, 55-8377 LED Red and 55-8386 LED Amber boundary lights from PPL Motor Homes...

Are a disappointment, mainly because the only way to attach them is to rivet from the back. The LED board mount is flush with the hole edges, leaving no room for a screw head. And the LED board mount sticks up so a pop riveter can't get a grip.

The amber LEDs from Superbright LEDS work fine; I have an issue with the red, which I think I can fix tomorrow without too much problem - seems to be the sockets on the left side.

Meanwhile, fascia/bezels for the Ming's Mark 9090103s are cut out and sanded; they'll be drilled and finished tomorrow, so the interior lighting nears completion.

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Interior lighting is done! The 3 tube 9090103s are MUCH brighter than the 2 tube T5s. The 3 removed Sunray T5 fixtures are on the Dec GTG list, along with amber boundary lights, with the reds to follow possibly.

The issue with the taillights turns out to need more troubleshooting - they come on high with the lights on; the brake lights don't work then, but illuminate the low power with the lights off. These symptoms point to a bad ground or a partial short...more tomorrow when I get the turn signal flasher installed. In any event, it's likely unrelated to the new lamps.

Rusty,

I am having a similar with my led brake/turn/tail lights.
When I turn on my tailights they are bright and with them on, if I turn on a turn signal or emergency flashers you can hardy see them flash.
If I turn off the tail lights, the turn signals and flashers work fine and are very bright.
I'm working on the problem but haven't found it yet. I moved the ground wire and cleaned all the ends on the right side and it did not help.
Tomorrow I'll work on the left side and see what happens.
If cleaning the ground wire on the left side doesn't fix the problem I may try seperating the four lights. I'll make the top ones just for the turn/flashers and the bottom ones just for taillights/brakes and see what happens.
I really don't want to do the latter because it requires a lot of rewiring.

Jim

The Cagles and I are at a GS GTG at Tybee Is., GA. Nick helped me fasten the boundary lights by riveting from behind...

I also ran across a similar issue with the stop/taillights all LED. They worked fine on turn signals and hazard flashers (Both with the taillights on and off), but the taillights stayed on bright with only the lights on. In that condition, the brake pedal did nothing. The front boundary and parking/turn signal LEDs work normally. BTW, I replaced the mechanical hazard flasher and turn signal flasher with electronic ones from NAPA.

After messing about a bit, we discovered that if 1 of the taillights was restored to an 1157 incandescent, all 4 worked normally. So when I get home, I'll wire sockets for 1157s inside the access louvers for the air compressor and P/S reservoir (passenger side) and coolant overflow tank (driver side). This will solve the problem and provide lighting for areas hard to see when checking fluid levels. However, it should have been unnecessary

Anyway, in your case, a temp fix is to have incandescents in one socket on each side. My adding the new sockets does the same thing, but allows LEDs in all 4.

Oddly enough, this is reminiscent of late '70s sedans (GM, IIRC) where the engine computer used a taillight bulb for ballast...if it burned out, the car stopped.

Interesting... when I installed LED taillights, they worked fine except they didn't provide enough load to keep the cruise control engaged. Had to wire in a brake relay to get the cruise to stay engaged. Any such problems for you?

I don't use the cruise control; I don't like the idea of 8 tons on its own if I were to have a medical issue.

Today I also replaced the interior step well light with a West Marine 4 red LED "Mini Strip Light" P/N 12639860, $19.99. This IS polarity dependent. One of my other aisle lights burned out, so this was to get red for star parties and to replace the dead one with the old light.

Thanks for the reply. I had already replaced all my flashers to the electronic ones years ago.

I'll be going out now to try your idea of adding an extra 1157 bulb to see if it cures the problem.
If it does I just might add a side light near the rear tail light.

I'm just wondering if that will make my cruise control work again, however I doubt it.

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I don't use the cruise control; I don't like the idea of 8 tons on its own if I were to have a medical issue.

OTOH, it would be a great way to go if you didn't kill somebody else at the same time. Headlines would read "Aging navy officer/engineer dies while driving his beloved Barth. Two companion dogs miraculously escape injury and adopted my Mary Ray". Sort of like a Thelma and Louise moment.

Not sure it would make much difference... If you couldn't hit the brakes, you'd be coasting out of control vs on cruise with no control... either way you'll roll till you hit something!

Oops, serious thread drift! Sorry.