Replacement of Fluorescent Light in Head

JonnyM

One of the things I didn't like about my 2003 270 when I bought it was the fluorescent light fixture in the head.  Only half of the fixture lights up because the bulb is only on the right side and it was pretty dim.  I found an led round fixture from West Marine that I had laying around and used it as a replacement.  I put a snap in the one exposed hole from the old fixture.  Sorry, no before pictures.

Stodge

I found some LED fixtures on an RV site and put those in place of the florescent fixtures in the head.  

Liberty44140

Thats great! Looks good. Agree that those long florescent fixtures are not ideal. I was thinking about some kind of motion activated LED sometime down the line.  

DanD2

I bought and LED replacement bulb for my flourescent fixture and it certainly is much brighter

Dream_Inn

I replaced the fluorescent bulb with an LED one.  Had to remove ballast from inside, but now really lights it up nicely and low power.  Did the same thing with light in shower as well.

Cableguy Greg

Darn it... Now another project...

diggin2day1

Looks awesome... it's on my "to do" list

Stodge

I switched mine out as part of the "all LED" project I did.  Because of how awkward it is to turn the head light on and off I leave 1 of them on.  I can do that and not kill the house over night with LED lights.  One of these days I'm going to figure out a way to have a switch, more like a light switch near the door of the head.  Haven't found a good place to stick one.

Dream_Inn

Stodge, we always use one of those cheap little battery candles (fake ones) in the head.  It provides just enough light at night to do what you need to without actually waking yourself up.

randy56

we plug in a night light  under the sink

Cableguy Greg

Does anyone know what LED bulb they ordered to replace the fluorescent bulb. I want to keep the fixture the same, just replace the bulb.

As far as a night light goes, I am thinking about mounting a red LED fixture in the head. I have a Vaccuflush switch that I could use for it since the switch is above my TV on the 280EC. The candle that @Dream_Inn has would be a much cheaper option.

Handymans342

I bought a retrofit kit from walmart but had to take down the fixture to rewire. 

Stodge

Dream_Inn said:

Stodge, we always use one of those cheap little battery candles (fake ones) in the head.  It provides just enough light at night to do what you need to without actually waking yourself up.

I have a little light that looks like a weeble.  I had it in the head for a while.  Need to check on it's batteries.  Same idea though.

Dream_Inn

I have two of these LED fluorescent replacements in my head:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018CFQE4A/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Looks like they are quite a bit cheaper right now than what I paid a year ago for them.  They are a bit brighter than the fluorescent and work very well.  You do have to do a slight mod removing the ballest, but pretty simple mod.

JonnyM

I bought these from Sam's last year at the end of the season.  They are 4 color and I put one in the head and 2 on the shelves on each side of the vee birth.  They run on AAA batteries and have a remote with a timer feature so I don't forget to turn them off.

https://www.samsclub.com/sams/accent-lights-multi-color/prod19542442.ip?pid=_CSE_BING_PLA_711148&source=ifpla&CAWELAID=730010300000937104&pid=ps_230012787&adid=22222222622000042015&wl0=e&wl1=o&wl2=c&wl3=10352245534&wl4=kwd-1105708109229&wl12=711148&wl14=hoover led lights&wl15=5841936941&wl16=&veh=sem

Dream_Inn

Those lights look interesting Jonny.  I assume that all 4 work at once on the single remote?  They might even be nice for inside cabinets.  I may have to look into them.

JonnyM

Dream_Inn said:

Those lights look interesting Jonny.  I assume that all 4 work at once on the single remote?  They might even be nice for inside cabinets.  I may have to look into them.

Yes, there are 5 of them and they all work together off of the single remote.  You can also press down on the light itself to turn it on individually.