Removing the covers from the 300mm fluoro lights?

[RussnSue]

Hello all,

I have aquired LED replacement lighting to fit the 300 mm Fluoro lights fitted in the van. The problem is that I can't get the old diffuser covers off. There appears to be a place near each end where you should "squeeze" the cover to release it but I've put about as much "squeeze" on it as I dare and it still won't budge. Has anyone had these covers off and how did you do it?

Cheers

Russ

[TonyH]

Hi Russ,

I presume you are talking about the round lights inside the van..... you threw me when you said .... there is a place to press at the "end" of the light.

If you have the round diffuser, have a look around the 'side' of the lamp/light body & you will find a small plastic pin, note its position & directly opposite there will be another pin..... with a small phillips head screwdriver or similar press these pins in about 4 to 5mm & gently pull down on the plastic diffuser.... easy

[RussnSue]

Hi Tony

Thanks for the reply but no, these are elongated lights, with a 300 mm long straight tube. I had already changed all of the circular fluoros with LED replacements and had moved onto these rectangular ones. We have three: Under the kitchen cupboards over the sink; under the cupboard above the vanity basin and on the ceiling of the shower room.

Cheers

Russ

Edit: Actually, we have four. There is one in the front boot, but I won't change that one because I never use it.

[John and Ann]

Hi Russ,

No doubt you have a different model to my own. The only one I have is in the front boot and the diffuser is easily removed by using your finger nail under one corner to pull the side away from the body. In my case the fluoro has a switch one end with a curved diffuser and roundish ends. On this model the diffuser is retained by protrusions on the diffuser that clip into dumples on the fluoro body, two each side.

Good luck

John

[RickA]

Dumples ?? Vot iss Dumples?

Cheers

Rick

[RussnSue]

G'day again and thanks for the replies.

In the interim I contacted Tom at the factory, by email. His instruction was that they simply pull off. The first one I tried (and the only one I had tried up until receiving Tom's email) did come off when I pulled on it, along with one end of the body of the fitting and the two screws that it was mounted with! No biggie, I have some thicker gauge screws to replace them with. The others (that I hadn't tried yet) came off easily.

Interestingly, and somewhat disappointingly, the factory fitted screws that came out were drill-point tech screws, even though the fitting is screwed into wood. All is good and we should be LED throughout the van (apart from the one in the front boot) by cob tomorrow.

Cheers

Russ

[John and Ann]

Hi all,

Dumples, hmmm, the technical equivalent of dimples perhaps or just a typo

Glad to hear it's solved Russ, another energy saving measure ticked off the list?

Cheers

John

[RussnSue]

Hi all,

Dumples, hmmm, the technical equivalent of dimples perhaps or just a typo

Glad to hear it's solved Russ, another energy saving measure ticked off the list?

Cheers

John

Yes John, we're saving so much energy these days that we could probably pump some into the grid when we're parked up in civilisation.....ummmmm.....if you don't count what we're using for the air conditioner atm.

Cheers

Russ

[Andrew and Sally]

1363765425' post='9725']

G'day again and thanks for the replies.

In the interim I contacted Tom at the factory, by email. His instruction was that they simply pull off. The first one I tried (and the only one I had tried up until receiving Tom's email) did come off when I pulled on it, along with one end of the body of the fitting and the two screws that it was mounted with! No biggie, I have some thicker gauge screws to replace them with. The others (that I hadn't tried yet) came off easily.

Interestingly, and somewhat disappointingly, the factory fitted screws that came out were drill-point tech screws, even though the fitting is screwed into wood. All is good and we should be LED throughout the van (apart from the one in the front boot) by cob tomorrow.

Cheers

Russ

Hi Russ

I replaced my round inside lights and square outside lights today too. All good. Not so good with the flouros you're talking about in the bathroom! I only got to work on the one in the ceiling, but was unable to get it to work after the conversion. It was also a one way trip and no way I can return it to flouro. Not only that, the other one (still flouro) over the shower now also won't work,even though I didn't touch it. The one over the hand basin does still work though.

I've checked all the fuses I can find in the front boot and all OK. Do you have any idea why I can't get power in either light now? Do you know where the fuse for these units is located?

I'm planning to replace the entire fitting for both lights now and not try to convert them. Like you, I'll leave te other three units in the boot and under the cupboards as we rarely use them.

Now, if I can just get some power back to these dead lights! I'll call Tom on Monday.

Regards

Andrew

[RussnSue]

Hi Russ

I replaced my round inside lights and square outside lights today too. All good. Not so good with the flouros you're talking about in the bathroom! I only got to work on the one in the ceiling, but was unable to get it to work after the conversion. It was also a one way trip and no way I can return it to flouro. Not only that, the other one (still flouro) over the shower now also won't work,even though I didn't touch it. The one over the hand basin does still work though.

I've checked all the fuses I can find in the front boot and all OK. Do you have any idea why I can't get power in either light now? Do you know where the fuse for these units is located?

I'm planning to replace the entire fitting for both lights now and not try to convert them. Like you, I'll leave te other three units in the boot and under the cupboards as we rarely use them.

Now, if I can just get some power back to these dead lights! I'll call Tom on Monday.

Regards

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

I don't know if I can be of much help but one thing I did notice was that the replacement LED tubes that I purchased were just a poofteenth shorter than the fluoro tubes. This meant that if I didn't centre the new tube in the fitting, it would not make contact at one end, thus creating an open circuit. Maybe yours are the same? I'm afraid that I have no answers for the one that you didn't touch.

Cheers

Russ

[Andrew and Sally]

1364076717' post='9741']

Hi Andrew,

I don't know if I can be of much help but one thing I did notice was that the replacement LED tubes that I purchased were just a poofteenth shorter than the fluoro tubes. This meant that if I didn't centre the new tube in the fitting, it would not make contact at one end, thus creating an open circuit. Maybe yours are the same? I'm afraid that I have no answers for the one that you didn't touch.

Cheers

Russ

Hi Russ

Yes, I also found they are a tiny bit shorter and fiddled it back and forth to try to seat it to get a circuit. Not sure whether it would stay in place when the van is rattling and banging on rough roads?

Thanks anyway. I'll let you know how I get on.

Regards

Andrew

[morribm]

Hi Andrew,

I had a similar problem some time ago when I was unable to get the fluoro light to work in the bathroom after I had needed to fiddle with it for some reason. In our situation, I found much to my extreme embarrassment the we had a light switch on the door frame outside the bathroom and that had to be switched on before power was available to the switch on the internal light. I don't know why this was setup like this but I can tell you that I still cringe when I consider that I just about rewired the internal light completely and had asked a fellow Kedron owner who was also electrically savvy for help, before almost accidentally leaning on the external switch and found the light had come on!!

Cheers

Brian

[Andrew and Sally]

OMG Brian, surely not! If there's a switch outside the bathroom that makes perfect sense. I always thought it strange that you'd turn on the ceiling lights from a switch on the fitting itself, especially in the shower.

I'll check it out and really hope you're right. If so, you'll have saved me endless trouble and similar embarrassment. I've been pulling every fuse I can find to no avail, and that's no easy job considering where they've hidden the fuse panel behind the batteries.

Thanks for letting me know. I'll report back when I can next get back to the job after Easter.

Regards

Andrew

[Andrew and Sally]

OMG Brian, surely not! If there's a switch outside the bathroom that makes perfect sense. I always thought it strange that you'd turn on the ceiling lights from a switch on the fitting itself, especially in the shower.

I'll check it out and really hope you're right. If so, you'll have saved me endless trouble and similar embarrassment. I've been pulling every fuse I can find to no avail, and that's no easy job considering where they've hidden the fuse panel behind the batteries.

Thanks for letting me know. I'll report back when I can next get back to the job after Easter.

Regards

Andrew

[Andrew and Sally]

Just to close this off. Yes, the problem was a switch on the wall. I've now successfully replaced all flouros.

Thanks to all for the helpful suggestions.

Now, for my next job, if anyone knows how to find and fix a leak in the roof over the bathroom that's been there since the van was new and still remains after the Kedron boys covered everything with silicon...

Andrew

[RussnSue]

Just to close this off. Yes, the problem was a switch on the wall. I've now successfully replaced all flouros.

Thanks to all for the helpful suggestions.

Now, for my next job, if anyone knows how to find and fix a leak in the roof over the bathroom that's been there since the van was new and still remains after the Kedron boys covered everything with silicon...

Andrew

Hello Andrew,

my persistent leak turned out to be a hairline crack in the inner moulding of the hatch, combined with a gap in the seal that goes around the lip of the outer hatch. The seal had split where it was joined and had shrunk until the gap was about 20mm wide. This was big enough to let quite a bit of water in when raindrops splashed up from the roof. The water then either leaked in directly, and/or seeped down the crack.

Cheers

Russ