LED Lighting Update

I know I shouldn’t go on about a woman’s age, but there’s no getting away from it - Patsy our lovely Coachman Caravan is getting on a bit. And whilst she’s extremely well endowed in the lighting department it is of it’s time - that is, all relatively power hungry filament bulbs.

Within a year of buying her we changed the awning light to a more modern LED based unit - the fan on the charger unit under the bench seat would cut in almost immediately after the light was switched on. And it was yellowing and looking generally tired anyway.

But it wasn’t until we became aware of a lighting company specialising in low voltage LED lighting for the leisure market that we started pondering the interior lights in the ‘van too.

It’s worth pointing out at this juncture that we don’t generally go off-grid. Only once to my knowledge have we had to rely on the caravan’s battery and that was when there was a power cut on site! So what then you might think. I’ve heard the argument that - you’ve paid for the electric just use it - but it’s not an argument I accept. Reducing our power consumption is a good thing for this planet of ours never mind the wallet or purse.

However, making changes that would reduce our power needs would also give us more flexibility in planning future caravanning trips and with this in mind we got in touch with aforementioned company Aten Lighting.

I contacted them through Twitter and not really knowing what I was looking for they suggested emailing in pictures of the current light fittings to ascertain our needs. Within 24 hours of doing this they came back with a list and some options regarding brightness and whiteness. The order was placed and was delivered the very next day.

20180211_191153We elected to keep all but two of the current fittings, changing just the one we’d fitted over the hob and the one in the wardrobe. Two ‘colour temperatures’ were offered - the bright white more commonly associated with LED’s we felt just wouldn’t work with Patsy’s décor so we opted for the warm white which is intended to replicate the light offered by the existing filament lamps.20180211_191457

Fitting was straightforward - the LED units are a little larger than the filament bulbs they replaced but I changed them all inside 15 minutes, being careful not to bend the pins. The replacement fittings for over the hob and the wardrobe will have to wait as some numpty (that will be me then) left the toolbox at home. But I’ll update the blog with some photo’s when I’ve done so.

So, what’s the lighting look like? Exactly the same - which is just what we wanted. The warm white option almost exactly replicates the old filament bulbs and looks great in Patsy’s interior and each light uses roughly one tenth of the power now. A drastic reduction in usage that not only gives us more options for going off-grid but also considerably reduces the demands on the charging unit when hooked up.

Right, costs. We bought 13 lamps and two fittings for just over a hundred quid including delivery. A sizable outlay I know but we’ll certainly never need to replace them, they’ll give us greater flexibility and we’re also doing our bit.

20180211_192351As I mentioned, they offer two colour temperatures - but you can also opt for brighter bulbs too giving you the option of upgrading existing lighting without the expense and hassle of changing the fitting.

Thanks to Aten Lighting for their friendly, helpful and prompt service. Do please check them out as they not only do bulbs but a range of fittings too - not just for caravans or motorhomes but boats and other vehicles too.

Aten Lighting are at the NEC Camping, Caravan & Motorhome show from 20th-25th February 2018 on stand 1032 in Hall 1 and you can find them on Twitter & Facebook too.

We’ve also made a short video to accompany the blog which you can find on our YouTube channel HERE.

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