Display Lighting / Retrofit

[CarGuy]

I've seen several forum members with displays that need lighting repairs or upgrades and seen IUSteve's thread about his problems getting parts to work together: ballast, lights, LED's, etc.

I educated myself a little on LED's and drivers and found some components that looked like slam dunks so here's a DIY. Starting with single wide that already has a halogen light the process is easy because 120v is already run to the top of the display and a hole is already cut in the ceiling. Here it is with one 20W halogen:


Kinda yellowish halogen light temperature:



Remove the top of the display that has the lighting components. This display has the remnants of a fluorescent lamp as well as a puck with a halogen. No mind though, all of that is getting stripped but I'm leaving the black box with the switch so that I can distribute power in the top and still be able to switch on and off:


I flipped it over and drilled out all the rivets that held all in place except for the black box which I'm leaving mounted:

Then you have this left:

And a hole in the top of the display:


The new lamps are a perfect fit out of the box, have their own bezels and hold themselves in with spring feet:

Insert the new lamp into the display ceiling:


Splice the driver wiring into the 120V in the top of the display using wire nuts, a 120v male plug, whatever and refit. That's it. I plugged the LED driver leads into one of the switched 120V outs on the black box. I really only use that box as a switched power source. So here's the display with the new LED lighting from the top:


And plugging in the LED rope lights from a previous display mod:


You get this complete solution:


These LED's can also be used in a non-lighted display since they are complete with driver and mounting / finishing hardware. You would have to bore a hole in the top of the display to mount the light and run 120v though the uprights but that is pretty easy. For me the education curve on lighting, ballast, transformers and drivers along with finding the right driver and LED combination was the harder part. The LED's that I sourced will work with a variable AC voltage of 84-240v so they can be used in US (120V) as well as UK (220V) applications.

It's really that easy, in fact I did this upgrade and shot the pics in about 20 minutes while having a phone con with Infinite Hero. PM me if you need additional info on these.

 

[OakleyFrankFMJ]

Good work.....I've noticed someone else has a flask.

 

[big bopper]

That's more or less what I've done with my 1st gen case as well. 2 LED strips either side of the door and three LED bulb downlights fitted into the perspex top. I really need to get around to taking some pics at some point.

 

[Oakle y]

Do you have any info on the led light used. What brand is it? where did you source it from?

 

[big bopper]

Do you have any info on the led light used. What brand is it? where did you source it from?

LED's are fairly generic, you don't need a 'brand' as such. You should be able to obtain what you need fairly easily online or an electrical/lighting supply store. This is where I got mine from:

http://www.ledstriplights.co.uk/led-strip-lights/single-colour/led-strip-lights.html

 

[CarGuy]

Good work.....I've noticed someone else has a flask.

They are interesting pieces, aren't they? I think that releases were 550 in the pack w/ a bottle and 650 separately. When you see one in person and feel the density and construction of the flask. We'll be drinking from it at RED for sure though probably filled with Woodford since they are local and I've toured the distillery which is about 45 minutes away from me.

One was enough for me and you took your usual quota.

Do you have any info on the led light used. What brand is it? where did you source it from?

No brand to my knowledge, I sourced them from China directly. If there is any demand or interest from other forum members I'll put a listing in the display exchange forum for something like $20 delivered to CONUS. Maybe a little more for our friends up in the Great White North to cover shipping.

LED's are fairly generic, you don't need a 'brand' as such. You should be able to obtain what you need fairly easily online or an electrical/lighting supply store. This is where I got mine from:

That site is for LED strips, this thread is about MR-16 LED's. Unless I miss my guess the question seemed directed towards the MR-16 downlight.

 

[Gecko]

I might have to find those and use a few in my 3.0 black case since my ballast died on top anyway. Looks real good.

 

[big bopper]

That site is for LED strips, this thread is about MR-16 LED's. Unless I miss my guess the question seemed directed towards the MR-16 downlight.

Fair do's. I thought he was asking about both the downlights and LED rope/strips. Like you, I've got a mix of both. For even light distribution it's definitely preferable.

 

[CarGuy]

Fair do's. I thought he was asking about both the downlights and LED rope/strips. Like you, I've got a mix of both. For even light distribution it's definitely preferable.

Yes, the older displays with no light source at the bottom really need a little help and the ropes/strips definitely get some much needed light down there. The pics above were taken at 1:00 AM in my cave with no ambient light, only the light of the display- so you can really see how much the ropes/strips impact the presentation and at the bottom in particular. However, once you add LED lighting to the case the relatively poor color temperature of the halogens is exposed. Hence my search for an LED solution to the MR16 top light.

 

[Oakle y]

Yea I love the look of the mr-16 light I have a double wide and would really like to add light to it. I'm in the process of finding the easiest and cleanest way to do it.