Let There Be Light – Part One

Today’s post is designed to set the stage for tomorrow, which I hope will be a report on a successful do-it-yourself project that I hope to finish today.

I will be headed out to the 5th wheel shortly to replace most of the interior lights.

Here’s how we got to where we are this morning:

Our trailer originally came with a couple of 120 VAC lights, but the majority of the lights inside were in 12 volt DC fixtures that used T-10 type incandescent bulbs like this:

 These bulbs burn very hot, don’t have a very long life expectancy and the interior of the trailer just didn’t get bright enough, so last year I replaced them with LEDs like these:

That should have worked – comparing one of each in a two-light fixture, the LED lamp was noticeably brighter – but the light they gave off had a bluish tinge, and the interior was still as dim as a redneck bar.  Something had to be done.

Other owners on rv.net who had replaced their T-10 bulbs recommend using these,

so I ordered 20 of them a couple weeks ago.

Of course, I can never do anything the easy way.  When they arrived I realized that I had ordered the wrong part number.  The p-c boards come prewired with a small pigtail that plugs into any of several adapters for use with several different types of sockets.  The one I got was to replace BA15S bulbs like this:

I called the vendor last Saturday – their website says their help desk is open Saturdays, but they’re not – and tried again several times on Monday with no luck.  Finally, on Tuesday morning, the help desk number was answered.  The person on the other end was the owner, in her car on the way to work.  Rather than do a return for credit and a reorder, we agreed it would be simpler just to send me the correct adapters, so that’s what she did. 

I got them yesterday and am headed out in a few minutes to try them out.