12V Lighting

[Fiat Ducato]

Is there anyone on here with experience of fitting 12V LED flush ceiling lighting in a motorhome?

 

I have already posted a thread on here, but got no replies.

 

I am after some advice on upgrading and installing 4 LED flush ceiling downlighters to my motorhome ceiling, as I am in the process of ripping it all out due to water ingress. I want to know how to connect all 4 lights to a single switch.

 

All advice and comments will be very appreciated. :-)

 

Many thanks

Paul

[colin]

Most people I would guess only replace the bulbs, or they might replace a fitting without having to rewire.

In your case running the lights off the standard 12v system, I would wire them in parallel.

[StuartO]

If you want them all the work from the same switch it is certainly conventional to wire them in parallel but because leds are low voltage devices, they often consist on units of three leds or so leds in mini circuits which include a resistor and you can see this construction if you look closely at a section of led strip lighting. This is why you can often cut of short lengths of this led strip from a reel and you can buy connectors to attach either lengths of led strip together (eg end to end or with a 90 deg turn) or to attach wires for connection to the supply.

 

If you are replacing the ceiling lighting units completely there will be no constraints from the size and positioning of the old units, so you get to choose your replacement units and position them wherever you like - and since led lighting allows lots of flexibility in layout, you will have wider design options. On the other hand if you need to save money, you could consider converting the existing light units to run leds, for example by removing the flurescent units and sticking strips of leds in their place.

 

Beware sticking long led strip lights directly on to the ceiling board because strips of bare leds can look a bit cheap. better perhaps to use indirect light from this type of source. Have a look at modern MHs, eg at the forthcoming Peterborough Show, where you will see lots of professional designs for the use of leds from which you could copy or adapt.

 

Small diameter circular ceiling lights are usually adaptable to LEDs and you can buy replacement lamps to suit. They often need a flat disc of leds in either MR16 or MR11 sizes (MR16 is 16 X eigth of an inch, so 2 inches wide, MR11 is smaller) and the power connection is a pair of wires 4mm apart, which either point sideways from the disc or backwards. Look of EBay and you will soon work it out.

 

The wiring up part should be simple as long as the led units are grouped so they will work on 12 volts and it's really just a question of connecting positive to positive and negative to negative, with the switch on the positive cable run. LEDs consume very little current so you can connect lots of them to the same circuit.