Clearance LED retrofit

[Archersfin]

I have noticed there are many Airstreamers that are asking the same question.
When New LED Marker lights are purchased, the back of the light is flush with the edge. There are either one hot wire coming from the light or Two wires (ground and Hot). This makes mounting the light next to impossible without a spacer under the light. Usually there is a groove around the outside of the bottom that will accommodate the wire. Here is what I did to modify mine so no spacer is needed.
Take a 5/16 drill and drill a relief in the bottom of the light being careful not to go too deep. You only need about 1/8" deep for the wire to clear. Move over just a little and drill another relief that will intersect the one you already did and the outside groove in the light.
This is the light as purchased

drilled relief for ground wire

You will notice I have the two wire unit and don't want to cut and push the ground into the wall. I will solder both wires and heat shrink them, then they will go in the groove around the edge of the light just fine. I am still retaining the rubber bushing on the Hot wire. These lights have a recess that is just right for them. If need be I will cut a little more relief where needed for them. I am in the process of completing this and will post pics as I mount them to show how they fit.
This shows where the light will be mounted and the bushing for the HOT wire

Cheers,

[Archersfin]

This is after the plugs have been cut away. Not much wire left on the ground wire but enough.
Wires have been stripped for soldering.

Twisted the wires together and fluxed them ready for solder

After soldering and ready for shrink tubing. Don't forget to put the shrink tubing on before soldering.

Shrink tubing is in place and heated

continued.....

[Archersfin]

Do the HOT wire the same way as Ground. Seems there was plenty on mine ( I had to push some back into the trailer after soldering).
This picture shows everything tucked away ready to mount with screws.

after putting in screws and cover

All that is left is to seal the top and sides with Parabond.

Hope this has helped someone

Cheers

[VeggieBullet]

looking good!
Will love to see them on when it get dark. would you mind to share the source and the cost for the whole set up?
thanks for sharing

[perryg114]

Those look like the ones I put on my trailer on ebay but the last time I looked, I could not find them. So where did you get yours? A ball mill on a dremel tool works well for making channels in the plastic. My trailer only has the hot wire and the ground is made through the skin. I was able to pull enough of the red wire out and feed it through one of the two holes in the light after making a relief slot in the back. I could then put a wire nut on the front side to the red wire on the light. The ground wire was cut short and a ring lug was put on that to put under one of the screw heads.

Good Job

Perry

[Aage]

Nice job, Al, looking good.

[Archersfin]

the source I got mine from was on ebay, Closertowholesale.com is their address
5 Red and 4 Amber were 71.91 free shipping

[drboyd]

I just finished - like 45 minutes ago - changing out all 8 of my clearance lights to LEDs. I lucked out in that my lights are grounded through the skin.

I also lucked out in that I bought all of them from SuperBriightLEDs. These are what I got.

They are definitely a quality product. They're all sealed with silicone where the wire comes in, plus an O-ring on the lens, plus - wait, there's more - the circuit board is dunked in epoxy. IHMO, they're like the cockroaches of the clearance light world - built to survive a nuclear holocaust!

No, I don't work for them, but I like to give credit where credit is due.

[Pileus]

Here is the solution I found...
Log onto vehiclelight.com
Order these:


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Double Bulls Eye Red High Code kp97r cost 8.15 ea.
Count 16 LED lamp
Double Bulls Eye Amber Code kp97a cost 8.15 ea.
High Count 16 LED lamp

The style is bullseye, there are 16 LEDs in each lamp, they are bright.
Best of all, they mount like the original lamps. The bases of these lamps have a deep recess (like the OEM lamps) with plenty of clearance underneath to coil up leads and accommodate connectors.