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Step Light replacement/upgrade
Hi All,
Since most of the work since we got the bus was fixing things… I just wanted to share a photo of one “fix” that ended up being a cool upgrade!
When working on my entry light – I learned there were step lights. I guess I’d seen them around… but somehow didn’t even notice our bus had them. Probably because there were only about 4 bulbs still working!!
So, I replaced them. But, instead of the regular blubs, I shoved a strip of Blue 3528 SMD LED’s in there! I’m gonna admit – it wasn’t easy. I only had a set of the waterproof ones on hand and the rubber made it tought to slide into the light tubes… but somehow I was able to do it. I’m sure next time the non-waterproof ones will slide in there easily.
Here’s the photo:
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4 Replies
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Now that is really nice looking. Good job. Great ideal.
I’ll have to see if I can get LEDs in Green Bay Packer green and gold.
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You have my interest….can you post a pic of the LED strip ?
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The LED stuff I used is this strip stuff from China – on Amazon you can enter: “LED SMD Strip” and you’ll get all you need. (Even Green and Yellow for you Packer fans) They range between 6 to 12 dollars a roll.
There are two basic types – the 3528 and the 5050. The 5050 are much brighter…. and more amp draw. So… you have to choose what’s best for the situation. I used 3528 for the step and will use 5050 for under the bus. 5050’s are BRIGHT.
And, on top of that, there is non-waterproof and waterproof. The waterproof basically is encased in silicon or something. The non-waterproof is not.
And one other choice is a white strip or a black strip which would depend on the installation which is better.
The stuff is 12V.
Here is what they look like: Top is the 5050 and Bottom is the 3528 (this is the waterproof style):
They come in 16 foot coils and have double stick on the back:
The step light has a sort of plastic tube that had the original lights in it. The tube was sealed up with silicone on both ends. Basically, I cut the end of the tube a bit, and then dug it out. Then just jerked the olds stuff out and tossed it. Cleaned out the tube and then slide in the LED. I only had the waterproof variety so it was a pain to get it in there because the rubber on the led strip grabbed the plastic tube. I had to lube it to get it in there. BUT – non-waterproof will just slide in as there is no rubber on it. Note for next time…Then, I soldered the brown wires to the led strip and pushed it back in place. The LED is polarity sensitive so you have to figure out the polarity before soldering. On our bus the stripped brown wire was +
If you wanted to do it super clean – you’d first solder a short leader wire to the strip, then secure it with some heat shrink. The tabs on the strip are a little delicate… doing this will help with that. When you get a new roll, the ends are usually done this way in the first place. You only have to do it when you start cutting the roll up.
The tube is held in place by some clips. I used a tool that is basically a small hook and slipped it up there and pulled the palstic tube down. On the step that flips up its easy to see how to do it.
The kids like it so much they want some inside the salon now…!
Admittedly – this stuff is so inexpensive and easy to work with I even put some RED inside my engine compartment and tied into the parking lights. Nice ambient AND you can see in there well at night. Better than just the little light in there. This is what it looks like:
The super cool thing about these LED strips is that you can get RGB ones with a little remote that let you make whatever color you want. There is even RGBW – that I have on my golf cart that has Red,Green,Blue, and White LED’s so that you can have any color plus a true white. I’m going to attempt installing that on my awning next…..
If you want to do this and have questions you can email me. Or ask here… whatever you need.
Walt
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Very nice Walt…
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