Problems with your ballast?  Or time to replace your bulbs again?  Or just can't get those fluorescent lights to start in cold weather?  The solution maybe LEDs.  But what if you've got fluorescent lights in place and don't want to change fixtures?  I may have the solution.

I was asked recently to help a customer convert a Command 005-395 Fluorescent light to LED.  The 395 is a 30 watt fixture about 2 foot long.  It uses two 15"F15T5 bulbs ordinarily.  (this conversion should work just as well with other brands of lights, but check for available space for the modules.  You'll need a flat mounting space for each 2.8" x 3.1" board) These Fluorescent lights put out a lot of light and it will take three of our 30 LED boards to make the conversion and provide enough light output.

The project was pretty easy.  First, take off the lens and remove the bulbs and save or discard them properly.  Remember, fluorescent bulbs contain mercury and should not be just thrown in the trash.  Disconnect the fixture from the power.  Clean the inside surface of the light fixture with some glass cleaner to remove any dirt or oil residue so the LED modules will stick well.

I drilled a small hole about 1/4" (big enough to feed two 18 gage wires through) from the bulb area into the side of the housing containing the switch. 

There are two wires feeding into the light fixture, one goes directly to the ballast (that is the white wire in the photo below), the second goes through the off/on switch and then to the ballast.  In the photo below this wire is black leading to the switch, and red leaving the switch, heading toward the ballast. 

Cut the two wires going to the ballast, leaving yourself enough wire to work with comfortably. 

These two wires are routed through the 1/4" hole that you drilled in step2.

Connect these two wires to the special 3 socket harness supplied by Command Electronics.  Plug each of the 30 LED boards into the harness and position the boards where you would like them.  I used small pieces of tape to temporarily hold the wires in place.  Remove the 3M VHB tape from each LED module and press into place.  After the boards were in their final position, I replaced my tape used to hold the wires temporarily with small pieces of white duct tape that I picked up at the hardware store.

Connect the two lead wires back up to the 12 volt supply in your RV.  It doesn't matter which is hot and which is ground as the LED boards correct polarity automatically.  Re-attach the fixture to the mounting surface and enjoy.

This light using three 30 LED modules draws 1.41 amps compared to the fluorescent bulb version which draws 1.85 amps.  But fluorescent lights have a much higher current draw when first turning on.  The LED light will not produce any significant heat, has no bulbs to burn out and no ballast to fail.  It is not affected by cold weather in any way. 

So how bright is it?  Fluorescent lights start out at one brightness level and over a 15 minute warm up period they get brighter.  The 3 LED conversion we did is brighter than the fluorescent light starting cold, but not as bright as the fluorescent light fully warmed up.  It's difficult to get a good photo of LED lights and the photo appears much yellower than the LEDs are in real life.  

If you'd like to do this conversion on your fluorescent lights, order kit number K-395L.  It includes three 30 warm white LED modules and the 3 socket harness assembly.  For ordering information, click Here.