Touch Light Replacement

[Boilermaker Chemist]

Like many others, I had to replace one of my touch lights because it went “wonky”. For the replacement, I purchased the 3000K Obeaming RV Interior Ceiling Dome Light 4.5 Inch from Amazon: 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZZDM19W?ref_=ppx_hzod_title_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1_1&th=1

In the hope that it might help others, here are a few things that I observed during the repair.

The light that failed was over the sink. Since the original light was fastened with rivets, I used a 1/8” drill to remove the old rivets. Apparently there is another layer of fiberglass inside the overhead cabinet that would have had to be removed to get access to the rivets. So I just used a needle punch to push the rivets out of their holes without bothering to retrieve them.

After removal, I cut the wires close to the old light. The wiring was about 20 gage, so I used small wire nuts to connect the new light. Note: make sure you rewire based on polarity and not color. In my case, the black wire on the old light was positive but the black wire on the new light was negative. I wrapped the connections with silicone tape to prevent the wire nuts from loosening up. There was enough room to stuff all of the wiring back in.

As luck would have it, the mounting holes on the new light were a nearly perfect match to the old one, so no new holes needed to be drilled. I used 1/8” x 3/8” rivets to fasten the new light in place.

I like that the new light has its own push button switch. Hopefully that will help prevent it from getting “wonky” :-).

 

 

[Galileo]

23 minutes ago, Boilermaker Chemist said:

I like that the new light has its own push button switch. Hopefully that will help prevent it from getting “wonky” :-).

Not sure if this is the same one we bought. Also from Amazon (where all good things come from) and has a physical pushbutton as well. As @Boilermaker Chemist notes - a real ‘switch’ means that when the power is off - it’s off. With the touch light, they’re always “on” and waiting to sense your finger. 

We had some weird ‘on’ conditions on the same (over the sink) light that preceded full failure: flickering, inconsistent operating, half-brightness. That kind of behavior always worries me. 

Maybe it’s obvious, but the most frequently used fixtures are the ones failing. I wouldn’t expect that with a “switch” that shouldn’t “wear out”. Of course, the second most commonly-used light - over the dinette - is showing signs of failure. Luckily, the package from Amazon had two lamps. 

Replacement as @Boilermaker Chemist describes are similar to my experience - except I did soldered splices with heat shrink tubing to insulate. 

[Tom and Doreen]

You will appreciate the "memory" feature whereby they remember their last state, dim level, night light, on/off, etc..  With the original touch lights I would have to turn off all of the ones that I didn't want on whenever I turned the master power switch on when arriving at a campground.  The new lights remember their previous setting. 

[Boilermaker Chemist]

5 hours ago, Tom and Doreen said:

You will appreciate the "memory" feature whereby they remember their last state, dim level, night light, on/off, etc..  With the original touch lights I would have to turn off all of the ones that I didn't want on whenever I turned the master power switch on when arriving at a campground.  The new lights remember their previous setting. 
 
Haven’t had a chance to test it out on the road yet but that IS a good feature, thanks for pointing it out. 

[Galileo]

8 hours ago, Tom and Doreen said:

You will appreciate the "memory" feature whereby they remember their last state, dim level, night light, on/off, etc..  With the original touch lights I would have to turn off all of the ones that I didn't want on whenever I turned the master power switch on when arriving at a campground.  The new lights remember their previous setting. 

The ones I got don’t have that. They’re just a simple on or off. 

[Ronbrink]

The Obeaming model I installed doesn’t have a physical button, but rather a center touch feature for on/off, as well as dimming and color selection. Wiring in my instance was simple; black to black, white to white. The wires were crimped and taped in my installation. I was pleased to find the overhead cabinets had routed channels to better conceal the wiring. Although the rivet holes matched these new lights, I choose to use screws rather than rivets; a piece of wood skewer was snapped off in each hole as filler for screw securement. I also decided to replace all of the former touch lights to forego any further issues. I’ve throughly enjoyed these lights for the past year and very pleased with the added ambiance of the blue color. They also operate as Tom @Tom and Doreen describes with “memory” when using the master power switch. 

 

Edited 1 hour ago by Ronbrink