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Old 05-25-2011, 10:20 PM   #1
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LED light kit for the Monarch stop tail and turn light

I thought it would be a good idea and explain the LED kit we have for the 4.25 by 4.25 Stop Tail and Turn, because I have been asked so many questions about it. This light kit will work in two different style lights. We call it a 4.25 by 4.25 because the lens measures 4.25 by 4.25 inches. If your tail lights look like the below pictured lights it will work in your unit. Pictured below.



The MAIN reason we came up with this light is safety. Most of the people who have contacted us about a light for the STT on their unit don’t care anything about LED lights; they just want something much brighter than what they have. As some of these Airstream units get older the wire connections and contacts get weaker and the incandescent bulbs just don’t put out that much light. When we first started looking into a fix for this problem we looked into a cluster bulb. A cluster bulb is a cluster of many smaller lights and a incandescent has one point of light. The light lens is designed to get light from one single point and refract out the back. With a cluster bulb you DON’T get the same light out-put. Even if you had a brighter LED cluster bulb you would get less light out-put. This is why we directed our focus to a pad. We looked for a company to make a potted circuit board. The tooling (setup) was way too much and no company we found was willing to take the chance on the investment.

Our fix is 4 red pads with 1157 (BAY15D) sockets and 2 Bright white pads with 1156 (BA15S).


We have many folks asking questions about how well these lights hold up etc, etc. Below is a picture of a light Airstream uses in their 2006 Classic. It is not so far from the design of our light pad.


We suggest that you glue these pads to the lens to get the most light out-put. The glue we recommend will not melt the lens or the LEDs. The LEDs have space between themselves and the pad to allow air flow.


We have a step wise procedure for installing these light pads to make sure they will work for you. The first thing you want to do is hook your tow vehicle to you trailer. For grounding purposes the trailer needs to be on the ball, not just plugged in. Then take your lens covers off. Plug all 6 pads into their prospective places.

Get someone to sit in the cab of the truck and turn on the running lights. You should see all 4 red pads come on. Then turn on the right turn and then the left turn. Then push the brake peddle, with running lights on, and then a turn signal. Then test the other turn signal. Last but not least try the back up lights.
There is a good reason we want you to go through all this testing before you glue the pads onto the lens. If they don’t work for you can return them. The only reason they will not work is a bad ground. A bad ground will allow your present lights to work but not LEDs. The LEDs have to have the current going in the right direction to work, where-as the incandescent light can back feed into another circuit and still work. You may be surprised at how many Airstream have this problem.
If you find that you have a bad ground and want to fix it then the lights will work, but we suggest you get them working before you glue them to the lens.

You will want to use mild soap and water to clean the lens. Once they are dry you will put a small amount of glue on all 4 corner LEDs. Then place the LED onto the lens making sure it is straight. The glue drys clear and takes 15 minutes to set, but I would allow an hour before installing them. I would use a small amount of clear silicon between the lens and the light housing. The rubber seal goes between the light housing and the trailer.




We have had many people purchase this kit because they found out at night they did not have enough light by other night travelers. One guy claimed be almost got creamed by a large transfer truck.

The glue we suggest to use is sold at Wal-Mart and some folks only get the 4 red pads as their Back-up lights are not even hooked up.

I feel very confident that this is a very good product and are proud to offer it for its safety value.


LED-kit1
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Old 07-03-2011, 11:31 AM   #2
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increasing the amount of response time

increasing the amount of response time

Below is a few words taken from a Google video about LED lights. The whole article at the Google page. What is says is," LEDs come on faster and increasing the amount of response time as much as 19 ft at 65MPH. Pretty interesting!

"LED lamps promote safe driving by increasing the amount of response time available for motorists. That's an extra 19 feet of response time at 65 mph for the trailing vehicle. [Distance traveled = (mph)(5280 feet/mile)(1/3600 hour/sec)(0.2 sec.)] The results? Less rear-end collisions, which are the second most frequent type automotive accidents."

Although I do not agree that cluster bulbs are the way to go on tail lights because they spread out the light and you don't get as much light output. The over all idea is right. LED do come on faster.

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Old 07-03-2011, 01:52 PM   #3
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LED Voltage

Dan:
These are rated to 13.4V.
They probably work great on the back end of a trailer, but would they work on my Clipper motorhome. I have the tail lights on a 30A relay and juice feeds right off the rear mounted battery. When I am running, with DRL on, the battery voltage shows over 14V on the digital gauge.
Will these stand up to that voltage??


Dave



Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan@LED4RV View Post
I thought it would be a good idea and explain the LED kit we have for the 4.25 by 4.25 Stop Tail and Turn, because I have been asked so many questions about it. This light kit will work in two different style lights. We call it a 4.25 by 4.25 because the lens measures 4.25 by 4.25 inches. If your tail lights look like the below pictured lights it will work in your unit.

Our fix is 4 red pads with 1157 (BAY15D) sockets


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Old 07-04-2011, 07:44 AM   #4
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14 volts and no higher

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Originally Posted by masseyfarm View Post
Dan:
These are rated to 13.4V.
They probably work great on the back end of a trailer, but would they work on my Clipper motorhome. I have the tail lights on a 30A relay and juice feeds right off the rear mounted battery. When I am running, with DRL on, the battery voltage shows over 14V on the digital gauge.
Will these stand up to that voltage??


Dave
Dave,
We have designed them to handle no more than 14 volts. The reason being, the larger the voltage range the less light you get. We designed these for the 4.25x4.25 lens listed above because those are so dim on older units. The more pop (Light output) they have, the safer it makes night travel.

We are working on a fix your unit and I'll let you know when we do.

Thank you for explaining how that circuit works.
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Old 05-11-2014, 09:12 PM   #5
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This doesn't seem right or whoever designed the regulator (or just a clump of dropping resistors?) missed something.

An LED is typically a 1.8v device, with a specific current flow for optimal lumen output. Ohm's Law plus/minus regulator design should be able account for optimal lumen output/current for almost any voltage range from 6-18v or more - it's done in 120v home devices, no reason it cannot be done in a 10-16v vehicle system with less waste.

Battery and vehicle charge system values and performance have been well-known for years. 10v is a dead battery. 12.6 is a properly charged battery at rest/open-circuit. 13.6 v is typical sustain/run voltage. 13.8-14.8 is the charge/saturate voltage range.

If the vehicle system is running over 14v routinely then it is trying to charge a stubborn battery, or will boil out a good battery. But I would not expect "lower light output" during the post-start recharge boost period - that's a separate lighting device design issue.



"We have designed them to handle no more than 14 volts. The reason being, the larger the voltage range the less light you get. We designed these for the 4.25x4.25 lens listed above because those are so dim on older units'
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Old 05-12-2014, 05:05 AM   #6
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out dated

Quote:
Originally Posted by JimAspinwall View Post
This doesn't seem right or whoever designed the regulator (or just a clump of dropping resistors?) missed something.

An LED is typically a 1.8v device, with a specific current flow for optimal lumen output. Ohm's Law plus/minus regulator design should be able account for optimal lumen output/current for almost any voltage range from 6-18v or more - it's done in 120v home devices, no reason it cannot be done in a 10-16v vehicle system with less waste.

Battery and vehicle charge system values and performance have been well-known for years. 10v is a dead battery. 12.6 is a properly charged battery at rest/open-circuit. 13.6 v is typical sustain/run voltage. 13.8-14.8 is the charge/saturate voltage range.

If the vehicle system is running over 14v routinely then it is trying to charge a stubborn battery, or will boil out a good battery. But I would not expect "lower light output" during the post-start recharge boost period - that's a separate lighting device design issue.



"We have designed them to handle no more than 14 volts. The reason being, the larger the voltage range the less light you get. We designed these for the 4.25x4.25 lens listed above because those are so dim on older units'

This kit is no longer sold. When we came up with this kit it was mainly designed for the Airstream trailers where the tail lights were so dim. People needed something to make their unit visible on the road.
Once we came up with a better product we discontinued this kit.
The new kit is LED-kit2 which is a water tight sealed kit that handles 12 to 24 volts.
Click here to see the LED-kit2

However, this kit will not work on the Motor Home in this post. There are two or three different ways to go. If that unit has the tail light that I listed above"a picture of a light Airstream uses in their 2006 Classic.(above 5-26-2011)" then you could go back with what that company offers today (star-burst) or convert to Bargman.
I would need closer pictures and measurements to be 100% sure. There is an LED up-grade for that unit.
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Old 07-03-2018, 11:26 AM   #7
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this is the old kit

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan@LED4RV View Post
I thought it would be a good idea and explain the LED kit we have for the 4.25 by 4.25 Stop Tail and Turn, because I have been asked so many questions about it. This light kit will work in two different style lights. We call it a 4.25 by 4.25 because the lens measures 4.25 by 4.25 inches. If your tail lights look like the below pictured lights it will work in your unit. Pictured below.



The MAIN reason we came up with this light is safety.

Wow, I was searching the forums for something and ran across this. Just in case someone is doing the same I took down the old pictures and have to say there is a new kit
LED-kit2
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