Thursday, July 10, 2014

new tech for old lights

Several years ago I swapped out my cab visor from a lighted Lund, to one from Hank @customfiberglass in CT.
I missed having the lights on it, I think they help give the van shape at night, so I shopped around and found some APC flush mount marker lights that looked great! It didn't take long for me to discover they had some flaws however... the 197 bulbs would melt the housings (making it impossible to get the bulb out if it blows) and discolor the lenses.

I had been shopping around for similar marker lights that used LEDS (the original style is no longer made) and had not been able to find anything to my liking. Recently I spotted 2 sets of them on eBay, and snagged them both, and picked up some LED bulbs to put in them. hopefully these last longer and won't cause the melting.

 I took an afternoon and swapped them out recently.

the old ones were pretty trashed.
I had to clean these up.
nice and shiny!
all lit up... but there is more to come.

this lighting project isn't over.. anyone who remembers my van, knows there were a lot more lights on the front, and they are coming back.



UPDATE 5/2017:
the LEDs didn't hold up, and I had to replace them.  I found a different bulb that seems to be better built and sealed up against the elements, and is WAY brighter.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N0Y4LTA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


they are just short enough (2cm) to fit in my cap lights and allow me to snap the covers back on.
instead of just the center lighting up like in the picture above, the whole lens lights up now.



we shall see how they hold up after a couple of years.

the other issue I noticed was one of the marker lights and broken around where the rivet was holding it to the visor. I didn't have any more bases to replace it with, but luckily found some on ebay.. I made sure to order extras for future spares.




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