Sam Coles shows you how to boost your light and save power
WEEKEND WORKSHOP
CARAVAN AWNING LIGHTS take many forms. The newer tourers tend to have LED arrays mounted, in the main, above the door, although that’s not always the case.
Some have a light bar fitted centrally, which is the optimum position for illuminating the inside of your awning, should one be deployed.
However, older vans have tended to rely on one type of awning light, consisting of a light assembly let into the side of the caravan using a 21W tungsten bulb, accessed via an internal cupboard. It is this type that I have chosen to upgrade here.
The assembly has several shortcomings, the first of which is quite major, namely, it doesn’t allow much light to escape. Another problem is that its 21W tungsten bulb means 21W of heat being generated and dissipated into an internal cupboard. Admittedly, the bulb could be exchanged for an LED equivalent, but the design of the assembly still precludes maximum light dissipation.
This article outlines how to use two white and two red ‘stop and tail’ car LED bulbs in a configuration that provides more light than the tungsten equivalent, with a reduced current consumption.
The inclusion of red LEDs gives the switchable option of an ‘ambience’ light, for times when white light won’t suit.
The LED bulbs chosen are of the offset pin variety, thus emulating the standard ‘stop and tail’ tungsten bulb that they will be replacing.
The extra illumination obtained is achieved by wiring both the stop and tail LED elements of the bulb together, so that they are both active at the same time.
The majority of replacement LED bulbs for cars have a CAN Bus provision (see box, right), which in simple terms, means they have an internal resistor in parallel with the LED elements.
This is done to ensure that sufficient current is drawn so as NOT to activate the ‘bulb failed’ electronic sensors in many modern cars. The LED part of the bulb by itself draws only a small current and might cause false triggering.
Although this resistor draws current from the supply, which is then wasted in the form of dissipated heat, the total current drawn by each bulb is still only 125mA, so the collective current of both bulbs running at any one time is 250mA, equating to 3W.
This is much lower than the 21W that would be drawn by using the original tungsten bulb, while also offering the benefit of more light.
