Heat damaged fixture

[#1Remembories]

I just got back from a weeks camping. While away, one night I went to the back of my trailer to open the grey water valve on my 2 year old Whitehawk 23mbh! I turned on the switch for the rear light because it was pretty dark. I went to the back and noticed the light was burned out. Well no big deal I thought and figured I'd get a new bulb and replace the old one when I get home. I took the yellow coloured cover off to take the old bulb out and noticed that the plastc behind the bulb had melted. Fortunately it didn't melt through the plastic to the wall of the trailer. The light was never used much, but enough to have melted the plastic under the bulb. Taking the picture to the dealership and see what can be done.

[us71na]

That looks similar to our outdoor light by the door on our skylark. The original bulb burned out, fortunately with no damage like yours. I replaced the lamp with an LED panel that I picked up at camping world that had the same type of base. I get 10 times more light and no heat.

[DocBrown]

This is why we replaced all of our bulbs with LEDs. We couldn't believe how hot these things get with the standard bulbs. We have one on our slide above the couch and it would make me sweat if I sat there with the light on.

[northwindone]

I mostly switched my bulbs over for the efficiency when boon docking, but the huge amount of heat the incandescent bulbs put out can be disconcerting.

My current Jayco (2006) has white metallic shields under the bulbs so there wasn't any damage like that and the lenses still looked new, but my old '77 Layton had several fixtures with melted lenses. But once again they had metal shields under the bulbs. I figured they did it for both heat and to reflect light back out. I replaced the lenses and installed LED bulbs on that old one too. (Between that and a furnace with no blower, a single deep cycle battery would easily last us 3-4 days while winter camping.)

I can't believe they wouldn't put metal shields behind the bulbs on the newer units before the switched to LED, they save a few pennies but could costs the owners their entire rig, or worse. Plus the shields/reflectors just help the fixtures put out more light, which is especially helpful on outdoor lights.

[#1Remembories]

Thanks, I'm going to make the same fix! Glad something worst didn't happen!

[vcbice]

The problem with incandescent bulbs is corrosion of the cheap sockets used. As they corroded the resistance increased. Increase in resistance means more heat generated until you get what you see. If you go into older units especially, you'll see light fixtures with brown spots in them from the heat.

I would replace all with LED's. There are LED 'bulbs' that fit most of those bayonet fittings, or, you can buy a new light fixture with LEDs (these are a bit more efficient).

[#1Remembories]

Thank you, the lights affected are on the outside for low light underneath the front stairs and the back at night. They both have a yellow lens to defuse the light. If I put in the LED bulbs, I'm wondering if it wouldn't be too bright.

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