Interior Cabin Light: Three Options

[msinabottle]

Here's a basic question that I think you illuminati can answer-- From which would I get the most light for the least power? For VW stock, in Winston, an 84 Westy, replacing his single battery-eating incandescent kitchen bulb:

A later 3-bulb incandescent kitchen lamp, the original bulbs replaced with LED equivalents; a still later stock VW fluorescent rig, such as GoWesty and Terry offer for sale, or some kind of custom assembly replacing the stock fixture,

or

Something aftermarket such as this:

http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catalog.TextId?hvar...get=browse

or this:

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_requestid=154332

In particular the strip light,

Or something I haven't thought of yet?

Just bouncing it off your collected wisdom.

Best!

(And if this looks familiar, WHY DIDN'T YOU ANSWER IT IN THE OTHER THREAD?)

[jalopyjockey]

nothing beats leds in terms of power consumtion and loss to heat. however the issue arises that they cant make white light from a diode. maybe you could figure this one out

[msinabottle]

Can too! That first LED light's white--at twice the price of red. I also have a battery-eating Mini Mag-Lite I converted to LEDs. There's a bluish tinge to it, but it's white enough. I also have white LED head lamps, one of those things I never knew three years ago that I wouldn't be able to function without.

Feedback! I swoon.

[levi]

Don't know about everyone else, but my collected wisdom disbanded and ran away......btw your second url aint happnin

[Ericthenorse]

White LED headlamps....I assume you mean on your bicycle...... And technically, they are all blue red or green.. I believe that those are the only colors they can make. All the other colors are made by coating one of the three with a film. My dad(co-head of UC berkley electronic engineering department) was in an uproar because someone recently figured out how to get actual white light from an LED. The LED is still on the blue spectrum, but when it lights, it causes the coating to give off light...... As much as a 100w house bulb. The guy who did it was a colledge student doing thesis work, and it happened by accident.....

Read..... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9777070
_________________
'69 bug--rusty as hell
'91 vanagon carrat-slammed,5 speed,4 wheel disks,17x8.5's

[msinabottle]

That URL changed to:

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/produc...estid=1985

I was looking at that strip light.

Gad... The 'head lamps' to which I refer are those tremendously useful ones on the head bands you can wear while hiking, walking through the basement during a power outage, or working under Winston--if you're me. The light may be blue through a coating, but it comes out as white.

So I'm much better off with LED's than the flourescent, eh?

Best!

[CF]

for me it litterly has to be free . i got a westy flor.lite for $3.00 and some thin lights from a rv for a $1.00 each but for the upper bunk i was looking at this

http://www.rvlifestyles.net/Parts.aspx?id=83400000...e970477600

they also have a fan model

[Caitnop]

I mounted these lights in my vanagon, six of them, with dimmers to turn the strength of the light up and down. Works great, and at full pop you can really read anything the whole inside of the car gets very well lit up.

[Wellington]

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=49356

[billwpdx]

I've been mulling this over and came across a good cheap option. Sylvania makes a hockey puck size, battery run LED light that uses a 3M adhesive. It supposedly is removable without leaving residue. It's supposed to give around 100 hours of use on a couple of batteries.

[lilweasel]

I am going with Marine LED lights made for boat interiors. You can get just about any kind of light you want, get a dimmer and the finished product looks awesome.

[Michael J]

http://store.solar-electric.com/thinlites.html