Recommendation For Replacing A Grote 45253 Light With An LED Light On A Pleasure-Way Excel Motorhome

Question:

I want to replace all my ID / marker / clearance lights with LED. Currently they are these: https://www.grote.com/signal-lighting/clearance-marker-lights/thin-line-single-bulb-clearance-marker-lights/45253/ These lamps are 2.75inch between screws and 3.5inch long and sit in shallow recesses in the motorhome shell Pleasure-Way Excel. There is no access behind the fiberglass so the connections need to be dealt with inside the fixture. I can drill new holes, so the screw spacing is not critical. The camper has a fiberglass shell, so the power and ground were brought through the lamp by drilling an extra hole in it. Because of the high dome on the Grote lamps, wiring connections were made inside the fixture. One possibility might be to solder the new lamp leads to the original wires, add heat shrink tubing with glue, then poke the excess cable back into the fiberglass shell. This way, I am unlikely to lose the wires into the inaccessible space. I could buy new Grote fixtures and get LED bulbs with a similar brightness / pattern as the halogen bulb but I would rather marker/ID fixtures designed for LED so that the beam pattern is legal and correct. If you have any small rectangular marker lights that can surface mount and receive two wires from the back please let me know. Photo attached.

asked by: Peter P

Expert Reply:

Though we do have direct replacements for the Grote 45253 light you have, they will be incandescent as well so won't be what you are looking for. With that said, as the spot where a light can mount will limit the size you can go with, I think the Optronics Mini Thinline LED Clearance and Side Marker Light # AL82AB with the # A91BOB mounting bracket will be your best option. This will be a little smaller and you will need to drill new mounting holes as they will be 2" apart, but the overall width of the bracket is 2-7/8" so it will cover the original mounting holes.

expert reply by: Lazer S