LED van downlights

[Grey13]

Hi, My relatively newish Swift has 6 small HALOGEN down lights. Apart from pleasing the eco friendly people on the forum, they use much more power and get very hot, so hot you can hardly touch them. So as you do, I will change them for LED. The problem however is finding a suitable LED replacement. There are 2 parts to the problem. 1. Physical size and pin assembly shape and size 2. Colour temperature of the bulb.

So on the physical size I need the following:

Dia 35mm
Depth 35mm
Pin Looks like GU4
Colour 4000k or higher
Voltage 12Vdc
LED About 4 to 6 watts

So it looks like I need a MR11 (GU4) fitting. The MR11 has 2 sharp pins on the bottom of the bulb as well and is also classed as a 'push fit' bulb. It is a 12V lamp which requires a transformer. It measures 35mm across the face of the bulb. The 4 in GU4 means that there is a distance of 4mm between the two pins.

Colour temperature.

Halogens are usually bright white light but many LED are what is called Warm light (2000/3000K ). I personally do not like the yellow tinge in these lights so are looking for a 4000K bulb. (Tending towards daylight)

Has anyone been through this and found a good daylight (4000k) 12 Vdc LED bulb for their vans?

It is not as easy as some may think unless you are just a lucky chappie!

 

[otherclive]

I changed mine to LED but went for warm white as most others who had gone for the 4000k+ colour renditions thought them too cool for a lounge area. But as you say it is a matter of personal choice. If you search you will find the thread which was about 2 months ago. 6 watts will would probably be a lamp that is too large for your fitting. Amazon have good range from various suppliers and they show the dimension chart for each bulb.

Thread was 1 month 2days ago. "LED lamps which is best colour" and there may be some useful guidance on sizes lumens etc.

 

[Trevormc]

I purchased 2 to replace ones that got very hot.
look at this site.

www.atenlighting.co.uk

Trevor

 

[VicMallows]

A 4W LED will be tremendously bright to replace a 20W halogen. The usual replacement with modern chip-type LEDs is rated 1.2W.

I used these

They are available in both cool and warm, and have inbuilt regulators. Are you certain you want cool-white in the living area?

 

[otherclive]

A 4W LED will be tremendously bright to replace a 20W halogen. The usual replacement with modern chip-type LEDs is rated 1.2W.

I used these

They are available in both cool and warm, and have inbuilt regulators. Are you certain you want cool-white in the living area?

Thats quite allow wattage, although I have seen some at 0.8 watts. Were yours the Cree LED as I have some Lenser torches with the Cree diode and they really impress people when they see the power of the beam from such small torch.

 

[VicMallows]

No, as described in the link they use 9 SMD 5630 LED chips. In use they seem brighter than a regular 20W halogen. We seldom have more than one lamp on at a time. In fact they are really too bright for reading in bed!

The brightness of any LED varies dramatically with the current you allow them to draw, which is why in a caravan application it is important that they have a regulator circuit built in. You can achieve massive light output if you drive an LED really hard ... but it may not last very long.

 

[Craigyoung]

Can you not leave your spots the way they are and just use your dimming light system in yours if you have got what we have got in hours if you have it in your swift ?

Craig

 

[Grey13]

Craig. In my van the two panel lights are dimmable but the spot / downlights are not.
general comment: The problem however is not the brightness but that halogens use a lot more power. Makes sense if only using a 12 V battery to reduce the power. A 30 w halogen lamp on 12 Vdc will use 2.5 amps. In the first place they get very hot to touch and secondly, if say you have 4 on it will soon drain the battery (4 x 2.5 = 10 amps) When using a LED 30 watt equivalent it will only draw 0.3 of an amp. So if all 4 are on it means only a 1.6 amp draw compared to 10 amps - battery will last much longer.

 

[Craigyoung]

Yes I think that's the same set up as ours i think , we've got for spots but very rarely use them I normaly put the dimmer on or one spot if the wife is waiting which is like you say bright enough so if you're running of the battery i understand why you're wanting to the change the bulbs

 

[otherclive]

Given the discussion on LEDs I am thinking of swopping the downlighter bulbs which are 10 watt Halogen G4 pins. There seem to be two sorts available in Led. One which looks very much like the existing bulbs, and the other which is a circular disk LED with the two 4mm pins set into the back face. Instinct tells me that the disc type would be better for downlighter. What haveForum members found?

 

[Grey13]

After much research I have ordered some of these bearing in mind the physical size etc shown below. I do not like the yellowish light so need 4000k or higher. The spec is MR11 lamp with GU4 pin construction.
Integral LED 3.7W MR11 GU4 4000K to be found here: http://theledspecialist.co.uk/integral-3-7w-mr11-4k-733.html
Dia 35mm
Depth 35mm
Pin Looks like GU4
Colour 4000k or higher
Voltage 12Vdc
LED About 4 to 6 watts

 

[otherclive]

After much research I have ordered some of these bearing in mind the physical size etc shown below. I do not like the yellowish light so need 4000k or higher. The spec is MR11 lamp with GU4 pin construction.
Integral LED 3.7W MR11 GU4 4000K to be found here: http://theledspecialist.co.uk/integral-3-7w-mr11-4k-733.html
Dia 35mm
Depth 35mm
Pin Looks like GU4
Colour 4000k or higher
Voltage 12Vdc
LED About 4 to 6 watts

The link shows a bulb with a depth of 40mm including pins. Are your OEM bulbs retained with a wire circlip? Be interested to know how it fits as when I was looking for spot light bulbs decided to stay with the dimensions of the OEM ones which from memory were 37-38mm as measured. But it took a long while to find any and some MR11 equivalents were up to 45mm in length. Such is "equivalence".

 

[Grey13]

Yes they are. I have tried 2 so far but did not like the yellowish tint so hopefully these will be better. I have measured one other that said it was longer as well but in truth the front glass was curved meaning where the clip fitted was still oK. As soon as these new ones arrive I will let you know.

 

[Grey13]

Hi After loads of research and much trial and error have made my choice regarding changing from the old power hungry halogen bulbs to LED. My downlights under the overhead cupboards look like this: http://www.qis-uk.co.uk/Pics/Down%20Light%2020171120_151608.jpg I was worried at first about the bulb dimensions but soon figured out that a standard MR11/GU4 bulb will fit just fine. Looking carefully at the picture shows that the plug/pin bit is actually not fixed but held in place by the bulb itself, hence a bulb 35mm or 38 or even 40mm deep fits fine.
So I ended up going for a:
LED MR11/GU4 bulb
35mm diameter fits the holder just fine
40mm deep no problem
GU4 pin arrangement fits perfectly
Wattage I chose was 2.6w (about 20w halogen)(found others too bright)
Colour temperature 2700K (at first I wanted a whiter light but ended up deciding after trying different ones 2700 was just fine)
This is the bulb http://www.qis-uk.co.uk/Pics/Dial%20LED%20Downlight.JPG
It was a Diall MR11/GU4 from good ole B&Q, warm white (2700K) 184 lumens, 2.6 watts 12Vdc bulb that costs £3.00 each.
So LED light job done, on to other improvements/upgrades on this great van after a short Xmas and New year break in the van!
If this is my last post this year, may I wish one and all a great Xmas and Happy, prosperous New Year!

 

[RayS]

While on this topic does anyone know the source of the downlights as fitted to current Coachman vans.
These have no mechanical switch but a (presumably capacitance) touch switch and also a led built into the base. You get two choices - a quick dab gets you the small led in the base, a longer touch puts on the main reading light.
Very neat and you can leave the small light on as a nightlight.
Also there are no obvious assembly fastenings visible from the outside - again very neat. I'd like to buy some more but ideally not at Coachman spares prices.

 

[Mark31415]

I've also used the led lamps from B&Q. Fit perfectly with the wire retaining spring clips. Good bright light and no heat. Most B&Q stores do not hold stock so will be a click and collect affair.

http://www.diy.com/departments/diall-gu4-184lm-led-reflector-light-bulb/1324499_BQ.prd