93 EV Weekender Cabin Florescent lights converted to LED

[markcm2]

I just upgraded a few of the lights in my 93 EV weekender to LED and I'm very pleased so I thought I'd share.

First I changed the stock incandescent 39mm "Festoon" lamp located in in the threshold of the sliding door at the bottom of the B-Pillar. The stock lamp drew about 380mA, the LED replacement was about 30mA and much brighter. The Lamp was about $4 for a pair on Amazon Prime. This was a direct swap so no guide provided.

Next, I rebuilt the rear cabin lights which are the long Fluorescent lamps, one located over the pop-up table on the driver and the other near there rear on the passenger side. These originally have the florescent Philips 11watt (11W PL-S 11W/827/4P ) lamp. Mine didn't work but 11watts at 12 volts is essentially 915mA (.9amps).

This is more of a share than a DIY thread but... here is a rough guide as you can use many different components so some of my reference of (cut, glue, drill...) may vary depending on what materials you have at hand.

*Buy some COB (COB= "chip on board") LED boards (I bought some 20mmx50mm 36 emitter 6000k units from Amazon)
*Buy a PWM variable motor speed control (these work for LED level control too)(I bought the 1803BKW from Amazon)
*Remove the whole lamp assembly from the Van
*Remove the fluorescent lamp from the assemble
*Flip it over and pry the cover off the end where the electronics are
*Remove the solder from the two large solder dots, these are connected to the switch and holding the board in the housing (I used solder wick)
*Pry the electronics out
*Remove the switch
*Cut a piece of thin black plastic slightly larger than the hole left from the switch you just removed and glue it on from the inside
*Fix the LED's to the Lamp assembly (Mine came with 3M tape pre attached)
*Wire the LEDS in parallel
*Drill a hole in the plastic you glued in for the potentiameter to pass through
*Hot glue the circuit board in the cavity where the old electronics were
*Install the potentiometer in the hole you drilled
*Connect the last LED of the series to the output of the controller board
*Connect some wire to the input of the variable level PWM controller, route out of the Lamp housing
*Put a dab of hot glue on the wires to hold them in place and create a strain relief for the wires exiting the lamp housing
*Connect the wires to the original power/ground wires in the Van
*Re-install lamp housing in van ceiling

Here are some pictures:

Here is the light on the lowest setting which as I recall was less than 50mA, it is a very soft light, perfect for night time (picture taken at midnight, it was otherwise pitch black out)

Here is the light on the brightest setting which as I recall was less than 300mA, this is quite bright, it seemed like day time (picture taken at midnight, it was otherwise pitch black out)

[boostin20v]

Thanks for sharing! Any chance you would provide links to the specific items?

[markcm2]

[jjvincent]

For the later EV's that light in the footwell is that plug in one. The housing is the same as in a MK3 Golf or Jetta. Mine is JB Welded back together because it was falling apart. Plus, it was pretty dirty and the light was not doing anything useful at all.

The front light that's a festoon, I ended up gluing one light next to the other (they are staggered) and then soldering wires in between. So, there plenty of room for two bulbs in there. Now that thing is pretty bright as compared to what it was. That with the drivers map light pretty much lights up the whole front of the van.

I ended up using those festoon bulbs in the back of my Jetta (since it came in a 5 or 6 pack, I needed to do something with the others) for the dome lights. Even that thing is nice and bright when you open the door.

As for a rear light for the hatch, a mercury switch would work fine. Those are pretty common for the alarm industries so I have a feeling they are easy to get. The rear power port and rear light have 12V from the coach battery that you can tap into.

Only reason I have been doing this is because it seems that the older I get the dimmer bulbs are and my arms are not long enough for me to read.

[Zeitgeist 13]

I'm a little confused about what you're calling a festoon lamp. My rear footwell lamp appears to be a toggling lens with a pop in bulb like those found on some older Mercedes dash panels. The toggling rocker switch portion is broken, so it doesn't work. Are those footwell lamps used on other models?

[edit] I just soldered in a bridge between the contacts in order to allow the light function, but it no longer has a toggle. It's still way too dark back there.
_________________
Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[IdeaNerd]

After using the fluorescent stock Weekender cabin lights quite a bit recently, I had the same thought regarding making something dimmable and LED-based to swap them out. Thanks so much for posting this. Nice to see, and helpful!

[mastersryan!]

cool thanks for sharing!
_________________
1993 VW Eurovan MV Weekender 2.5L 5cyl 5spd 230,xxxmiles and counting!
2018 VW Tiguan SEL 2.0T 4Motion

[markcm2]

[jjvincent]

I finally got around to posting some pics of what I did with my lights:
I converted them to the LED's and here's a pic of the further one as stock and the near one LED:

Another Pic:

A pic during the day (you can see the LED's in it):

A pic of the 2 way switch. Position 0 is off. Position 1 is where it operates with the doors. Position 2 is just like it is stock. I tapped into the front light and then ran an extra wire to each light. So when I when I have the front light to where it comes on when I open the doors, the rear lights come on too. When I switch the front light on with the doors closed, the rears come on too. In the end, when the front light is on and the rears are on position 2, the rears are on. It even has that delay to stay on for a bit when you close the doors. I did use a relay because I have no idea how much amperage that front light can handle.

[jjvincent]

For the light, I bought one of these per fixture ($16.95):
https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/pcb-board...utes/10828

Then one of these connectors per fixture ($0.45):
https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/bar-strip...nector_cps

One of these switches per fixture ($1.74):
http://www.digikey.com/products/en?keywords=R1966DBLKBLKBF-ND

Here's the new light in the fixture:

I also filled in the hole where the original light connector went through (on the right side of the pic) with some old white plastic trim I had from when I put new siding on my house.

Since you can cut the PCB boards, I only needed one per light, pretty much cut in in half. It has a connector on each end. Same for the connector wire. Only thing is, you just got to watch the polarity because one is reversed (it no big deal because one won't light up then and you flip the wires).

With the two position switch, you could put a third strip on there and have one strip light up with position 1 and two strips light up with position 2. It could then be dim or bright. Instead, I used the switch for door and front switch activation of the lights.

As for glue, I just used Loctite Quick Grab Construction adhesive (you can get it at Home Depot) because I've been doing lots of construction around my house. It actually works great and is white.

[Zeitgeist 13]

Thanks for sharing that info. It's kinda weird that VW didn't do that from the factory.
_________________
Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[jjvincent]

What is really weird is that it took me 13 years to actually do it. When I bought it back in 2003, I was going to put a switch in the front and then run two grounds to the back to make the stock fluorescent lights come on with the doors. I never got around to it until the one light was acting funny even after i changed the bulb. Then finding out how much it would cost to get a replacement, I went this route. In the end, way better than what was in there. Plus it draws less amperage over the stock lights.

With the way it is now, I'm going to look around and come up with a few more lights for the rear so when I open the rear hatch, I can have a light that is switchable just like the rear ones are. When I bought those rocker switches, I got a few extras. So, I'll have something by spring.

[Zeitgeist 13]

I'm presently gathering all the bits n' pieces to convert my lights to LED, but was wondering the best/easiest route to get the door switched grounds to both lights.
_________________
Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[jjvincent]

[Zeitgeist 13]

Since I'm already planning to pull the rear overhead trim piece to install an additional LED light over the hatch cargo area, do you think I can tap into the latch triggered ground at that junction?
_________________
Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[jjvincent]

That'll work.

[Zeitgeist 13]

Ok, I just got done converting the two aux. fluorescent lights to LED strips with solid and switched grounds. I really love them. Since we use ours as a daily hauler, this was seen as a necessity during the long dark winter nights around here.

As a tip for future installs, the switched ground from the hatch runs directly over the aux. light on the passenger side. It's wrapped in the gooey black fabric and is a single black wire inside. I found this out after futzing about inside the rear hatch, since I couldn't figure out a better way to determine which wire was which without diving into the source at the latch.

Also plan on desoldering the factory light switch from the circuit board on the backside PRIOR to removal of the board. Other than that, it's a really easy mod with solid results you'll appreciate immediately.

Thanks to jjvincent for the inspiration and guidance.
_________________
Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[jjvincent]

It is pretty nice to have those lights come on like that. There were so many times over the years where the van was pitch black and with the kids getting in, it was just a pain (especially when they had car seats). The other thing is that the LED lights draw about half of what the stock lights do.

[57 Zwitter?]

I got all the parts and am ready to do this retrofit to my 2 westy lights, My question is, will the 2 led strips in each fixture be too bright and will I want to go back and install a dimmer ? Thanks for the great write up and info!

[markcm2]