When looking at any LED lights, figure out what emitter (diode) they are using. that info will be buried in the specs somewhere. They aren't all created equal, some give out nearly twice the amount of light. Then again, some bulbs (or strips) just have a higher count of emitters. That helps too.

 

I put reflective tape inside my light fixtures today. Mark I Eyeball can't tell the difference.

When it comes to LED specs, it's all Greek to me. I understand the colors (to some extent) and emitter count but if they don't provide a lumen spec I can't tell if it's any good or not.

 

strip lights for outside, I like these. 3 rolls. and cut to fit... I used Gorilla Clear tape over them.. under the awning, under top of steps. on drivers side for hookups. about 2 amps per roll. (1) 1156 bulb is 1 1/2 amps.
5M 600 LED 3528 36W Waterproof Warm White SMD Epoxy Flexible Strip Light 12V - US$14.85


for inside my trailer... they offer many types. I got 2 packs of 10, all 20 worked right out of the box.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/10X-Warm-White-1156-BA15S-27SMD-5050-LED-Light-RV-Camper-Car-Backup-7506-/201109734158?hash=item2ed313030e&vxp=mtr#shpCntId



color of both are OK for me.. no controller was needed.


and way more lights while using much LESS POWER.

 

Chuck, did the roll of LED strip lights come with any connectors? If not, what did you do? Just solder the power wires directly to the strip?

 

the roll comes with red and black wires.. both ends if you want to cut them.

but you can cut them and solder wires to copper pads.

I made up (3) 2 foot strips for lighting the steps..

they run on 12 volts DC... 3 led's or all of them at once.

for the awning of my trailer.. the porch light is 12 feet from front of trailer..

so I cut a 12 foot piece and the remaining 4 foot.. tied both together and mounted them under awning.. with wires dropping down 2 inches into top of porch light.

 

Here are a few things I learned over time about LED's and color placement.

For 'white' lights, look for the light 'color' as measured in kelvin.
- ~3K (3,000) is closer to a standard (not halogen) 12v filament bulb and 25W - 60W incandescent 120v bulbs.
- 5K is a nice sharp white.
- 6K starts to introduce blue and women tend not to like it.
- Descriptions of 'warm', 'cool', 'bright' are rather subjective.


Toward deciding on which bulb to go with:
- Interior: 3K - this is what most people are accustomed.
- Exterior: 5K.
- Fridge: 5K.
- If the seller does not state the color in either K or Kelvin, I keep looking.
- For exterior housings that use a colored lens (red or yellow / amber), get the same colored LED and avoid using white. Putting a white LED in back of a colored lens will result in color shifting. Specifically, white in back of red will give pink-ish and white in back of yellow / amber will give-off canary-ish.

As noted, the 'intensity' can vary from one seller's bulb to another seller's bulb (based on how that seller spec'd the bulb's construction) and shows up as 'lumens' in the literature. While the lumen output is also somewhat subjective (like 'warm') based on the arrangement of individual LED's, it gives a fairly reasonable comparison of one specific bulb versus another. Also, review comments (like in Amazon) usually have at least one person whom compares it to a standard incandescent bulb that was original to the RV in both color and brightness.

One last thing to consider is getting one red LED for in the commode as this is much easier on the eyes in the middle of the night.

 

I need a really dim red one in the bathroom, that's a great idea. It sees probably 80% of it's use when at least one of the kids is sleeping.

 

This is one thing I was eventually going to get around to asking. Since I don't have an inverter I can't just plug in a nightlight to the 110v outlet. How do you have your red nightlight wired up?

 

I simply replaced one of the 12v incandescent bulbs in the commode with a red one. In my case, I have multiple dual-bulb light fixtures (one bulb comes 'On' for 'low' and both bulbs for 'high') and I put a red LED in one of the 'low' positions.

Toward universal application, am sure that every head has multiple 12v light fixtures, so either a 1156 or 912 base red LED should work (depending on what base the fixture uses). In case there is a commode that just has just one 12v bulb or only 12v fluorescent lighting, can easily buy a single 12v bulb fixture, mount it next to the existing fixture, and tap into the 12v current at the existing fixture.

 

Thanks Jay. My configuration doesn't lend itself to a simple solution. The vanity fixture has three bulbs but only a single switch at the fixture. The overhead fixture has two bulbs, but like the vanity, a single switch controls both bulbs. A single wall switch sends power to both fixtures. One fixture along doesn't provide enough light in the bathroom so I don't think I can dedicate one fixture to a red LED bulb.

An additional fixture may be in order.

 

In planning what I'm going to do for adding a nightlight in the bathroom I pulled off the wall switch and the light fixture. See the attached photos.

My thought after pulling out the wires and comparing them to the wires going to the fixture was, "WTF?" None of the wires in the wall match the wires to the fixture. That threw me for a loop. I had planned to add a second wall switch using power from the existing switch. That's not going to work.

Plan "B" is to piggyback off of the black and white wires at the fixture and run power to the nightlight directly from those. That will allow me to turn off the switch at the fixture (so no white light) but still have power to the nightlight when the wall switch is in the on position. Consequently, the nightlight will always be on when the regular lights are on. Not a big deal.

 

From the pictures, it appears the color scheme has ground as white and hot is a mixture (likely dependent on which fuse the hot lead ties to). And agree that a clean install uses the same color wire from one end of the circuit to the other.

If snaking is workable, consider pulling a black wire up to the ceiling for the 'Plan A'. To power the circuit, make a 'Y' for which ever yellow wire is the hot side of the switch and connect the new fixture's switch to the 'Y'. Might consider looking for a 'double switch' as opposed to two single switches as this makes for a cleaner look. For the ground wire on the new fixture, just join it to the white wire of the existing fixture. (Naturally verify that the white wire is in fact the ground wire.)


If 'Plan B' is the choice, consider a 3-way light switch in the ceiling and second 'single light' fixture. With the 3-way switch, the existing wall switch can still power the light(s) and the 3-way switch then directs power to either the white or night light. Both fixtures will share the same ground wire. Just make sure to insulate the 3-way switch as stray voltage can make for fun.

 

I put some time in and installed an LED night light in the bathroom and LED strip lights along the underside if the cabinets.

The night light is getting power from the wires going to the ceiling light fixture. So when the wall switch is on the LED light is on. But I can turn off the ceiling lights and the vanity lights since each of those has their own local switch.

For the under cabinet side lights I cheated and just ran power from the existing light fixture. When the fixture is turned on, the LED strip lights come on also.

The white strip lights are the ones that Chuck recommended. The ones shipped to me had wires only on one end. I figured out how to solder wires to it and I used heat shrink tubing to strengthen where the wires are solders to the end of the LED. If I can solder this stuff together then anyone can. The install is fairly clean but fishing wires through the ceiling and cabinet was the worst part.

I also winterized the trailer. Hopefully I got everything.

 

Well Done. I like it.
I ordered 3 sets then. all 3 had wires on both ends. CHANGES!!!!!


I have not done the inside. YET


but outside.. under awning 16 feet.
under steps. 2x 2 feet
all along the back under the rear window. 8 feet
all along the front under the front window. 8 feet
and just above where the water inlets are.. for nighttime service. 4 feet.


next plan.. install inside rear storage area.. its a pass thru.

 

I added a set of LED strip lights to the underside of the cabinet above the sink today. Two 18" strips enclosed in a cover. Plenty of light for that location. Enough that I'll likely remove the fluorescent bulb in the fixture that is also there. Looks great!

Two posts prior to this one I posted a picture of the strip lights I added under the cabinets. They look super bright in the picture and they certainly are bright. But I want more. The open space I have is still rather dark. I'm looking to add some light in the ceiling, near the existing fixtures. However, I don't want the light to be harsh. I'm trying to figure out if raw LED strips in soft white will be OK or if I should put them in an enclosure that has a cover that diffuses the light.

The light in the hood above the stovetop is horrible. I put an LED bulb in there and it didn't help much. I'm thinking about adding LED strip lights to the interior of the hood. These would be sideview lights. Assuming I can get the strip lights to stick to the inside of the hood (after a good scrubbing to remove the grease) how well will the strip lights stand up to grease and subsequent cleaning?