For the OCD or purists in the crowd, you may not want to read this post. It may even be illegal. As I mentioned before, the backup lights had no socket left to replace the bulb into and the canister in the mounting base was so rusted there was nothing to screw the lens onto. I searched the local auto and tractor stores and online sites with no luck finding a replacement. So in the spirit of my enterprising father, I used some things not meant for the job, including a tuna fish can. See the step-by-step process in my web album.

I’m still working on the back up lights dilemna, but I did get 10 marker lights replaced with new LED lights this weekend. There were many challenges with getting the old ones off and the new ones on due to rusted, broken screws and rivets and inexperience. The good news was that they all tested positive for voltage.

The LED lights are not as easy to mount as the old style ones, especially since I was going to do it with connectors or twisted wire caps, but there’s NO space behind the flush mounted ones. The lower ones have a mount, so four of them were done nicely, the rest were wired with electrical tape and heat shrink tubes. You can see the pictures from the 1970’s Airstream type marker lights installation if you’re interested.

The trailer has not been plugged into a vehicle since Fletch delivered it 3 years ago. I guess its not surprising that only 4 of the 20 running lights work. The left blinker and tail light works, but not the right. The backup lights didn’t work at all. The picture below is how I found it when I took off the lense – do’ya think thats why? There is no socket remaining on either side. I’m debating whether to jerry-rig (as opposed to jimmy-rig) a closed unit that I found at Northern Tool or re-wire a socket.

I made a list of the bulb numbers based on the owners manual for running, tail/blinker, backup, and license plate lights. I was able to find them all at Advance Auto (bought a few at Camping World since I bought out the entire stock of running light bulbs at Advance).

Craig finally found a blog that overlaps our obsessions, his being gardens and mine being Airstreams, and the irony is the title of the blog is not related to either topic: Tales from the Microbial Laboratory. It sounds like Pam is using her trailer as temporary housing and might just get the Airstream bug. She had a couple of good solar links which encouraged me to consolidate my solar resources:

• Solar posts at DigitalRV forum (batteries, monitor)
• Off-grid RV Lifestyle Consultants
• Solar extra @ Airstream Life
  

It also reminded me that I hadn’t received my Srping ’07 issue of Airstream Life. I think I let my subscription expire. OH NO! I’ll be taking care of that ASAP.