MB Flourescent light bulb question?? November 22, 2007, 12:41:53 pm Yahoo Message Number: 86199Can anyone tell me if the flourescent light bulbs are some special kind that works on the house battery or if I can just go to my local Home Depot and replace a burned out bulb from regular stock? My dinette light in my 2001 MB has a burned out bulb, it looks like a small standard florescent tube to me, but I just want to be sure.Thanks in advance!Bonnie 2001 MB who never did finish my travel tales from the Colorado Plateau...I'll get back to it soon, I hope..at least the parts I think are interesting to some beside me.[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: Fw: MB Flourescent light bulb question?? Reply #1 – November 22, 2007, 01:44:16 pm Yahoo Message Number: 86201"Can anyone tell me if the flourescent light bulbs are some special kind that works on the house battery?" Nope, they are standard 18"/15W tubes available at any hardware store. They're able to run on 12V because each fixture contains a mini-inverter to boost the voltage up to 120V. (Which is why if you ever have to replace a fluorescent fixture in your LD, you'll pay $50-$60 instead of the $20 or less you'd pay for ordinary 120V fluorescent fixtures.) By the way, if you're shopping for replacement tubes, this is a good opportunity to buy "warm white" tubes instead of the "cool white" ones that came with the coach. Warm white tubes give a much friendlier, more pleasant light. :-)Andy Baird http://www.andybaird.com/travels/
Re: Fw: MB Flourescent light bulb question?? Reply #2 – November 22, 2007, 02:18:16 pm Yahoo Message Number: 86202Bonnie,Besides replacing a tube with a new one, try taking out and reinstalling it or swapping a couple of tubes. Sometimes the vibration of the rig will develop a poor contact at the tube end. We had an instance of that on our rig. A fix with no new parts is nice!Alex Rutchka '05 MB, SE #4