Does anyone have any tricks to remove the glass lenses on the overhead halogen lights? I have a new 2008 40' Allegro bus, and cannot remove any of the overhead light lenses. I asked a dealer and got a lot of mumbling, but nothing I could use. I know they're supposed to turn counter clockwise, but I can only turn an occasional (1 in 15) cover.

2008 Allegro Bus 40'

They are snug, but I actually went through ours removing a couple as soon as I got it to see how to remove them.

One trick might be to use a rubber type bottle lid opener to help with the grip. You're right about them simply turning left to loosen, but they are tricky to grip.

Don't touch with bare hands, will shorten life considerable from oils from your hand.

I have at least one tip I can share on how to BREAK the little retaining tabs if anyone wants to know that useless bit of info.

As you can see, I asked this question quite a quite ago. My wife finally found a solution for me after we watched the technicians at Red Bay break a lens with a pair of channel lock pliers. They didn't know how to do it either.

She got one of these at a local grocery store, but I found them at Camping World too. http://www.campingworld.com/browse/skus/index.cfm?skunum=36195

You need to use it with the narrow edge up toward the lens, and ours needed to be spread a bit wider to get it around the outer edge. Push upward hard, and squeeze. Once the lens is gripped a simple ccw turn removes it without a problem. I've removed about 25 light lenses so far without a hitch. It even doubles as a jar opener, so DW doesn't make me keep it in the tool box. LOL

We're replacing the halogen bulbs with LED's.

John

That tool looks like it would do the trick.

Of course, I shouldn't call it a tool, or else you will have to store it in your toolbox.

Just curious, what LED light did you find to replace the 10 watt halogen bulbs and how is the brightness. I had looked around a little bit for options a few weeks ago, but didn't find anything with comparable brightness. The only LED direct Bi-Pin replacements were like the ones below, but only rated at 655 lux compared to about 3700 for the halogens.


LED's might really be of interest to anyone who does any boondocking. The high quantity of halogens in the bus do consume a good bit of energy as well as create heat

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Joe-K,

Joe, I found these, 35263, and they seem to do the trick. http://www.ledlight.com/detail.aspx?ID=305 I tried both white and warm white and like the warm white better. The white is way too much toward the blue end of the spectrum for us.

I also tried the 43243's and did not find them bright enough. http://www.ledlight.com/detail.aspx?ID=226 The LEDs definitely give a different color to the wood interiors. I haven't had a chance to get the good ammeter on either yet but power use should be around 10% of the halogens. Now I'm looking for replacement LED's for the 921 (18W) bulbs used in the sconces, over the table and in the bathroom.

John

Great idea for removing the halogen lens. I also have used a mini rubber strap wrench which I got at wally-mart.

RE: LED, have you done tailights yet? Has anyone been successfull with bright enough bulbs for that?

Lenny, I probably won't bother with the stop/tail/clearance/running lights. We boondock a lot, up to 14 days at a time, so my real concern is power consumption when stopped. I'm also gathering information on how to put the audio/visual, satellite TV and Internet systems on a separate inverter and battery set. We did that on our previous diesel Bounder and found it worked very well.

John

quote:

Originally posted by Pigman:
Joe, I found these, 35263, and they seem to do the trick. http://www.ledlight.com/detail.aspx?ID=305 I tried both white and warm white and like the warm white better. The white is way too much toward the blue end of the spectrum for us.

I also tried the 43243's and did not find them bright enough. http://www.ledlight.com/detail.aspx?ID=226 The LEDs definitely give a different color to the wood interiors. I haven't had a chance to get the good ammeter on either yet but power use should be around 10% of the halogens. Now I'm looking for replacement LED's for the 921 (18W) bulbs used in the sconces, over the table and in the bathroom.

John

I like the looks of those John. I might just have to try some out myself.

Did you happen to try out the 85529, 110 Lumen version? I was wondering if just installing them in the center row of lights might just eliminating needing to use the two outer rows when not connected to shore power.