Autotrail Owners?

[wildebus]

OK.... carrying on with this thread, I got a reply from AutoTrail ...
"There where two lights which looked exactly the same that we fitted, one version had small screws down the centre finials where you have removed the screws out off. the other version was held in place by spring clips so will just pop out with a little pressure and care."

Shining the torch around the fitting didn't give me much more info. I tried putting a fine screwdriver into the "centre finials", but that was too small really - so any screwdriver that could have fitted I reckoned would be too small anyway. The things that looked like tabs do not actually connect to the fitting so they don't look like they would make a difference either. So I decided to go for plain force and used a trim removal tool to lever the fitting out without (hopefully!) damaging the veneer around the fitting.....

With some persuation the fitting was out!


So there were screws on the other side of the bezel in line with the centre finials. but they were not actually screwed into the ceiling - the hole was oversized so those screws were mostly just pushing against the side of the holes. Annoyingly there was some veneer chipped off


This is where it is a bit silly ... the reverse of the fitting:

The brass top bezel/cover locks to the fitting with two clips - one where the red arrow is and another deeper one on the opposite side. But there is no way to access that clip when the fitting is in place to separate it. Clearly it must have been clipped in after the fitting was put on?


Taking the bezel off reveals the screw heads

Way too big to have gone through the centre finials so must have been fitted and the bezel then put on as I suspected above. I have a reasonable collection of fine screwdrivers but not got anything that would have gone through that finial AND been enough to turn the screw.

So looks like the fitting is pretty well not removable without using levers and just pulling the screws through any wood they might have gone into.
I guess one option could be to have a drill bit though the finial and drill out the heads? that would release the fitting and then it could be refitted by turning the fitting so a new screw would avoid the old screw body. I think that is what I would do in future if I needed to remove one of these again.

But still not got anywhere with fitting the bulb yet

removed the two tiny screws that secure the reflector to the base and that allows access to the bulb receptacle. Unclippling this reveals the problem ....

something sticking out there - and with the receptacle in place that had nowhere to go and stayed blocking the hole

And as I suspected, it was a prong from an old bulb

could have just broke, or could have also been due to metal fatigue with the prongs heating and cooling over the years?

With that old prong removed and the reflector back in place, bulb goes in nice and normally


So ready to be refitted. Or is it?
There are two of these fittings in the bathroom and the bulb in the other fitting is flickering. So need a new bulb there for a start and wondering if I should change both fittings anyway? Could even sell the old ones to an Autotrail owner who needs a replacement as these are not available new any more!

 

[GeoffL]

Ouch! If you choose to replace them, I would be grateful for details of the replacement items as my van has similar sized fittings.

FWIW, I suspect I've got a similar issue to those 'blind clips' with the grilles on the (Pioneer) speakers in my rear lounge. I need to remove one of the speakers to access the void behind to route a new TV aerial cable but I haven't been able to get the darned cover off

 

[wildebus]

Ouch! If you choose to replace them, I would be grateful for details of the replacement items as my van has similar sized fittings.

FWIW, I suspect I've got a similar issue to those 'blind clips' with the grilles on the (Pioneer) speakers in my rear lounge. I need to remove one of the speakers to access the void behind to route a new TV aerial cable but I haven't been able to get the darned cover off

I use these "Puck" lights for camper conversions and I find them very nice - the ones I have (in the picture) are actually machined aluminium and great quality but are slightly smaller then the existing fitting and only just cover the ceiling hole. They will work well but would ideally be a few mm wider. Going to do a search for larger ones

 

[wildebus]

Decision made ...
Going to keep the light fittings but replace the existing LED Bulbs with standard Halogen 10W bulbs.
I actually find LED bulbs generally unreliable (the opposite of what they promise) and replace them more often than normal ones typically. the extra power used might add up to around 1Ah a day if someone spends a fair amount of time in the bathroom, so don't really care too much on that power impact.

 

[wildebus]

new G4 halogen bulbs arrived today. refitted the repaired fitting and swapped out the LED bulb on the 2nd fitting.
Much nicer light IMO even if it is battery-sucking

 

[trevskoda]

new G4 halogen bulbs arrived today. refitted the repaired fitting and swapped out the LED bulb on the 2nd fitting.
Much nicer light IMO even if it is battery-sucking

G4 bulbs are to hot and waste lecy, my led units have ran 9 years with no trouble, light units in cold silver or white are on ebay.

 

[wildebus]

G4 bulbs are to hot and waste lecy, my led units have ran 9 years with no trouble, light units in cold silver or white are on ebay.

as the phrase goes, Trev .... "Your Mileage May Vary"

PS. the LED bulbs are also a bit too big for these fittings and look oversized and silly in them, but that is not the reason I have swapped them.

 

[St3v3]

I would print a ring for the new puck lights to go in, and that will also cover the chipped veneer.

Ref LED's, the type that are a flat round pcb are much better for that type of fitting

 

[wildebus]

I would print a ring for the new puck lights to go in, and that will also cover the chipped veneer.

Ref LED's, the type that are a flat round pcb are much better for that type of fitting

IF you want LEDs that is.


I DON'T

 

[St3v3]

I use these "Puck" lights for camper conversions and I find them very nice

But, whatever lol.

 

[Silver sprinter]

new G4 halogen bulbs arrived today. refitted the repaired fitting and swapped out the LED bulb on the 2nd fitting.
Much nicer light IMO even if it is battery-sucking

A lot of people will find it strange you have used halogen bulbs on a second fit. But with your knowledge and always on the ball regarding what your using. It's insignificant. And like you there's a lot of led lights I dont like the colour or look off. But that's a individual choice.

 

[wildebus]

A lot of people will find it strange you have used halogen bulbs on a second fit. But with your knowledge and always on the ball regarding what your using. It's insignificant. And like you there's a lot of led lights I dont like the colour or look off. But that's a individual choice.

For a bathroom, the power use really is minimal, and I really have wasted so much money on replacement LED bulbs in the house that failed prematurely. I think they are getting both better AND cheaper and I do have plenty that work well (6 above my head as I type this) but so many have just failed (mostly G4 fittings for some reason - maybe it is the voltage? Trev always wonders why I type "240V" instead of the modern "230V" for UK AC? well, the voltage where I am is never 230V - it is 240V at a minimum and often close to 250V!).

But anyway, when I was working on the light fitting in the bathroom and one next to it that was technically ok, but was flickering away due to individual leds in the bulbs failing, decided enough was enough for this room!).
In the motorhome living area, the spotlights are LED, and the previous owner fitted LED strips along the ceiling lengths which I mostly use (and added a dimmer to as very bright). The original Autotrail 12V lighting in the living area is still "old-school" and you can see that sucking power for sure. Very rarely use that (although it is a nicer softer colour TBH)

 

[wildebus]

I would print a ring for the new puck lights to go in, and that will also cover the chipped veneer.

Ref LED's, the type that are a flat round pcb are much better for that type of fitting

Hey Steve .. talking LEDs, see if you can work this one out (I can't!)

The cooker hood bulb failed - usual 40W SES fitting. Decided to go 21st century and get LED replacements (woo woo!).
Arrived, screwed them in .... no worky.
Hmmm. put in the old standard bulb from the other side of the hood that still worked ... that lit up ... Fitting good, new LED bulb bad?
Tried the new LED bulb in a table lamp to check .... that worked!
Sent the LED bulbs back and bought a replacement conventional one instead which is working fine.

So why would an LED bulb work in a table light but not a cooker hood, and a normal bulb work in both?

 

[wildebus]

But, whatever lol.

I find the replacement bulbs in LED format the unreliable ones.
The LED strips usually work well; The Puck lights (with the flat PCB led boards like you describe) are very reliable; but the 'like-for-like' swap replacements, both 240V and 12V type, are not.
Used various styles and types - push in, festoon, you name it and they always fail before the standard type (and the ones I always get are meant to be voltage insensitive, and not for a regulated 12V setup either).

 

[St3v3]

Hey Steve .. talking LEDs, see if you can work this one out (I can't!)

The cooker hood bulb failed - usual 40W SES fitting. Decided to go 21st century and get LED replacements (woo woo!).
Arrived, screwed them in .... no worky.
Hmmm. put in the old standard bulb from the other side of the hood that still worked ... that lit up ... Fitting good, new LED bulb bad?
Tried the new LED bulb in a table lamp to check .... that worked!
Sent the LED bulbs back and bought a replacement conventional one instead which is working fine.

So why would an LED bulb work in a table light but not a cooker hood, and a normal bulb work in both?

Very odd, all I can think is that they had a slightly different contact area on the end that the socket in the hood didn't make contact with, but the lamp did.

I find the replacement bulbs in LED format the unreliable ones.
The LED strips usually work well; The Puck lights (with the flat PCB led boards like you describe) are very reliable; but the 'like-for-like' swap replacements, both 240V and 12V type, are not.
Used various styles and types - push in, festoon, you name it and they always fail before the standard type (and the ones I always get are meant to be voltage insensitive, and not for a regulated 12V setup either).

There definitely has been a lot of crap made, but some are good. I've been using a crompton GU10 lamp for everything I fit for years now, they are very good.

Anything else I haven't used enough of to have any decent data. Anything in the van has been fine light colour wise, and only had the odd one fail. They are so cheap though, it's not a big deal.

 

[nabsim]

Lights that are only on for minutes a day don’t really impact battery SOC to my mind. I have left a couple of strip lights in place, alternative either meant quite expensive led tubes or a lot of messing about. It isn’t always worth the time or effort but a lot of folks will just change for the sake of having led.
No problem if that’s what you want to do, good job we are all different