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Old 12-30-2012, 09:30 PM   #21
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Zep,
You've really been doing some innovative stuff with these LEDs!!! I'm interested in doing some similar conversions in maybe a couple of years as I've got a lot of other stuff that I need to do first.

I've looked at some of your other similar threads and I plan to re-read all of it. Thanks for sharing the information and sharing the ideas!

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Old 12-30-2012, 09:48 PM   #22
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Any chance of capturing a picture or two of the field of illumination at night of your re-design?

Thanks,
Barry & Karen in Mi.
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Old 12-30-2012, 11:07 PM   #23
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Great job!

I love it !

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Old 01-01-2013, 09:18 PM   #24
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Per post #14 above, the following design is about as small as you're going to get a hooded "scare" light, providing you don't sink some of the fixture into the shell. The fixture is a bit smaller in height than the over-door light, 3" long, and 3.25" wide. It might crunch down a little by making the lens flanges (the strips of metal behind the clear lens) 1/4 instead of 3/8. But it's a lot smaller than that scoop in post #1.

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I started off with what I call the socket tray. The back is leaned back 30° and the tabs are then bent inwards 30°. The nice feature of this kind of support fixture is that one or the other tab can remain straight if you want illumination directly below the light, for instance if you put this above the front window to illuminate the tongue and also area forward of the door. In that case the left tab would remain flat and the right tab would be bent.

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The flat skin needed to make the hood looks something like this, but in the end (as I folded and fit it), the original skin was also cut along the blue lines. I used a 2/x4 (again) to get the starting shape with the large radius bends.

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The final fixture has good illumination to the right and left, but a bit more restricted in the "out" or "up" (away from the Airstream) direction. The socket tray can be slid back 3/8" or forward 1/4" to change the light cone. If this was mounted up as high as the over-door light (and consequently angled back significantly), I think you'd want a longer hood along the top edge in order to shield the lights. Down at the scare light level this shape is probably fine.

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I think my final objective is to replace the scare light with something like this that is half-submerged in the existing scare light hole, plus one that is surface mounted over the curb side of the front window, both of them on the same switch.

This fixture would also be suitable to hang, when parked, on a window or awning and plugged into a socket near or on the scare light. I think you could brightly illuminate the whole area under an awning plus the tongue for 1.6 amps.

Zep
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Old 01-02-2013, 10:12 AM   #25
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Being a 60s cynical ex-hippy now working for the establishment, how about a strobe?
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Old 01-02-2013, 10:35 AM   #26
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Being a 60s cynical ex-hippy now working for the establishment, how about a strobe?
Go all-out and make it a lava lamp. Do those come in LED?
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Old 01-02-2013, 12:03 PM   #27
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Being a 60s cynical ex-hippy now working for the establishment, how about a strobe?
A strobe would be easy. An NE-555, a capcitor, and a couple resistors. Piece of cake.

Zep
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Old 01-07-2013, 09:17 AM   #28
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There was a recent post somewhere about a LED unit that is the same dimensions of the scare light, but I can't find it. Sound like you could still use the existing scare light frame and lens. Does anyone know what I am talking about? Because I obviously don't.
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Old 01-07-2013, 09:53 AM   #29
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Quote:
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There was a recent post somewhere about a LED unit that is the same dimensions of the scare light, but I can't find it. ...
LED4RV had a complete unit with fixture, lens, and gaskets, which looked identical. I looked for it last week and it was gone. Maybe he'll get it back.

But it suffered the same issue as the original--a blinding light straight out to the side.

Zep
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Old 01-07-2013, 10:51 AM   #30
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It's there, SL30BW . I am going to order one. Let y'all know how it works out.

Thanks
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Old 01-07-2013, 12:13 PM   #31
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Nice work as always Zep!

I am trying to improve my exterior lighting too.
The motorhome has the similar scare lamp but also some docking lamps front and rear that were useless...
Here is how they look..


This is what I will be using there, and I thought I would share...
Ebay floodlamp..
Aluminum body, with 12v 10W LED.. about $12 each, shipped.


Casts a nice round beam..



I intend to modify my docking lamp mouldings and use teh lamp without the bracket, and fit them in like this..


I like your idea Zep, and might mod my scare lamp in a similar fashion to incorporate one of these...
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Old 01-07-2013, 12:36 PM   #32
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...Ebay floodlamp..
Aluminum body, with 12v 10W LED.. about $12 each, shipped.

Casts a nice round beam...
Key, what do you estimate the beam width/circle is in degrees? A 10W LED must put out a heck of a lot of light. If the beam width is big enough, these look ideal to hang on the side of the Airstream once you're parked. I'm thinking of taking out the standard scare lights and putting an external 12V receptical in their place.

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Old 01-07-2013, 12:50 PM   #33
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I have been wanting to do something with my scare light. I know that an LED replacment is available. I had though about two pins and making the light swivel like a fish ceiling light. But I now like the idea of the hood to reflect the light down where it is more usefull.

I also like the idea of a receptical. Then you could control the patio awning lights by a switch.

Thanks for the new outlook.
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Old 01-07-2013, 01:33 PM   #34
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Biggest obstacle right now with the scare light is that it intesects the pathway of the Zip Dee arm. Anything sticking out from the shell will stop the arm from folding against the body side.
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Old 01-07-2013, 01:34 PM   #35
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Slick solutions....We don't use the "scare light" routinely because we don't want to annoy neighbors, especially if we happen to be in a commercial place where we are closer to neighbors. It's not so much of an issue when we are in a public campground or dry camping because we are usually further away from neighbors. I do like the concept of making the range variable somehow...

I have switched to an LED which helps to cut down the intensity of the light a lot. However, I still want to flood the area at times... especially when we are about to step out the door with the dogs at night to do their duty. We have seen beady little eyes in the distance that belong to skunks and/or javelinas...they all keep their distance, so in that respect the full flood "scare light" is useful.
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Old 01-07-2013, 04:02 PM   #36
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LED4RV had a complete unit with fixture, lens, and gaskets, which looked identical. I looked for it last week and it was gone. Maybe he'll get it back.

But it suffered the same issue as the original--a blinding light straight out to the side.

Zep
I bought one but have not installed it yet.
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Old 01-07-2013, 04:06 PM   #37
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Biggest obstacle right now with the scare light is that it intesects the pathway of the Zip Dee arm. Anything sticking out from the shell will stop the arm from folding against the body side.
I'm surprised yours is like this. All three of mine that have scare lights have a minimum of 1" clearance between the inside of the scare light mounting circle (rivet circle) and the arm.

But it's definitely a hazard.

BTW, KEYAIR, I did some shopping today for LEDs and I noticed that the ads have changed since the last week of December. Many of the ads for the LED discs that previously (and accurately) stated they used 2W now say 10W. I wonder if yours is really 10W.

TBRICH, maybe you have discovered that the "scare light" is aptly named!

Z
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Old 01-07-2013, 05:56 PM   #38
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Hi Zep!
I will take some measurements of how much the beam spreads upon distance from floor.
The lamps are still on Ebay as 10W and they quote it as 800/900 lumen output. I got the one with the round lens, but they sell them with a flat lens...

I see no reason to keep the scare lamp as is... I want good illumination in the awning and doorway floor area.
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Old 01-07-2013, 06:32 PM   #39
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..I see no reason to keep the scare lamp as is... I want good illumination in the awning and doorway floor area.
Looking forward to the measurements. The flat lens is very interesting. I'll jump on eBay tonight.
------------
After making the 2-disc fixture, I wanted to see if I could illuminate the front corner without too much ugly. I installed the fixture above the curb wing window and waited for night to fall to see what light pattern I got.

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The following panels show the front light, the over-door light, and then the two lights together. The trailers have a burm rising on the curb side, so you'll have to guestimate what the pattern would be on flat ground. I took the photos from up on the berm, so the photos are looking down.

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Note that the over-door light also has a step light on the same circuit. It's made from four 3-LED segments from the 5m LED tapes that are available lately (may cut down to two or even one segment). This one is obviously cool white. It looks way too bright when the over-door light is dim, but it's not that bright to the eye. I'm still going to dim it down a bit, however. Right now it has a 180 ohm series resistor which I'll pump up to 270 or 330. I may also dim it a bit in the bright setting.

I really wanted to illuminate the propane and tailgate area (I often use a small grill on the tailgate) and I'm satisfied that I met that objective.

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For comparison, here is the over-door light on the other Safari (taken on level ground, not up on the berm). It has a slightly different arrangement of the LEDs inside the fixture, but I think it has a very similar light pattern on the ground.

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The current draw for each fixture on dim is 90-100 milliamps. On bright the over-door draws 590 ma and the front light draws 380 ma. The step light on bright draws 130 ma and, on it's current dim setting, draws 30 ma. It's hard to believe that 30 ma is too bright.

The over-door light provides good illumination well aft of the door and out from the trailer at least 20 ft. This is plenty for under the awning and BBQs, particularly since the front light can illuminate a grill out from under the awning. I don't see any reason to re-install a light in the scare light hole.

I'll post some photos tomorrow on how to fish the wires and install the dimming resistors. Getting the step light installed looked impossible but turned out to be pretty easy.

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Old 01-07-2013, 06:39 PM   #40
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Zep,
As the Brits might say, it's brilliant...absolutely brilliant!

God job my man!

Steve
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