05-26-2020, 07:39 AM
Gurus,
I wanted to share a fun upgrade to the exterior lighting on my coach. My coach was built with the square Ford truck incandescent bed lights as yard lights. A few years ago, I swapped those out for the oval halogen lights that were used on the 04-13 vintage coaches. The oval lights were brighter but got hot and were power hogs.
I noticed on the latest vintage Newell coaches that a trapezoidal light was being used as a ground illumination light. Closer inspection showed that the lights were made by Whelen. Hmmmm what is a Whelen?
Turns out that the light is built for extreme duty on fire trucks. Whelen calls it a Perimeter Enhancement Light. It uses six high power LEDs. It is designed to light up a 10x10’ area. The lights come in chrome and black versions. (Both have plastic housings) I got mine from Sirennet.com. They are not cheap but are made well and should last a long time.
Look at the picture. On the left side is one of the old halogen lights. There are two perimeter lights along with an LED strip that is mounted in the awning. (The LED strip comes from Gerard and slips into a slot built into the front edge of the awning).
So...if you are looking for a high quality, low power yard light...check out the Whelen lights.
The bad news is that the new lights do not have the same hole spacing as the original lights so you will have to drill new holes. I used silicone caulk to fill in the old holes. I also used some fairly strong rubbing compound to buff up the paint under / around the lights. They ended up looking like they were factory installed.
Also...if you get these lights... the wiring is strange. The white wire is the power wire and the black wire is the ground. The old lights used a white wire as ground and a black wire as power. I guess it is a fire engine thing.
Cheers,
Bill
I wanted to share a fun upgrade to the exterior lighting on my coach. My coach was built with the square Ford truck incandescent bed lights as yard lights. A few years ago, I swapped those out for the oval halogen lights that were used on the 04-13 vintage coaches. The oval lights were brighter but got hot and were power hogs.
I noticed on the latest vintage Newell coaches that a trapezoidal light was being used as a ground illumination light. Closer inspection showed that the lights were made by Whelen. Hmmmm what is a Whelen?
Turns out that the light is built for extreme duty on fire trucks. Whelen calls it a Perimeter Enhancement Light. It uses six high power LEDs. It is designed to light up a 10x10’ area. The lights come in chrome and black versions. (Both have plastic housings) I got mine from Sirennet.com. They are not cheap but are made well and should last a long time.
Look at the picture. On the left side is one of the old halogen lights. There are two perimeter lights along with an LED strip that is mounted in the awning. (The LED strip comes from Gerard and slips into a slot built into the front edge of the awning).
So...if you are looking for a high quality, low power yard light...check out the Whelen lights.
The bad news is that the new lights do not have the same hole spacing as the original lights so you will have to drill new holes. I used silicone caulk to fill in the old holes. I also used some fairly strong rubbing compound to buff up the paint under / around the lights. They ended up looking like they were factory installed.
Also...if you get these lights... the wiring is strange. The white wire is the power wire and the black wire is the ground. The old lights used a white wire as ground and a black wire as power. I guess it is a fire engine thing.
Cheers,
Bill
Bill Johnson
Birmingham, Alabama
