LED Lighting options for Awning and RTT

B

bagelsjustbagels

Adventurer
Hello Everyone,
I am on a quest for a standalone LED strip that I can easily mount to my tepui RTT, and another on my 6ft awning.

My thoughts with the awning would be to velco or stitch in a 6ft warm white and the ability to make red waterproof thin flexible strip that is then powered by a detachable or small and lightweight battery at the end of the strip. it would be mounted parallel to the vehicle and abut 3ft into the awning.

As for the RTT. I just need something that can be either warm white or red, and can be left in the tent when I close it up. waterproof is a must, and it would be nice if it could attach to the top Bar of the RTT. 2-3 ft will be more than necessary.

Any input on the appropriate brand or Product would be much appreciated.

-Adam
 
C

calicamper

Expedition Leader
bagelsjustbagels said:
Hello Everyone,
I am on a quest for a standalone LED strip that I can easily mount to my tepui RTT, and another on my 6ft awning.

My thoughts with the awning would be to velco or stitch in a 6ft warm white and the ability to make red waterproof thin flexible strip that is then powered by a detachable or small and lightweight battery at the end of the strip. it would be mounted parallel to the vehicle and abut 3ft into the awning.

As for the RTT. I just need something that can be either warm white or red, and can be left in the tent when I close it up. waterproof is a must, and it would be nice if it could attach to the top Bar of the RTT. 2-3 ft will be more than necessary.

Any input on the appropriate brand or Product would be much appreciated.

-Adam
Click to expand...

Adam I just built a small solar generator out of a 50 caliber ammo box for my Lifetime Tent trailer. I installed weather proof cheap strip LED lighting in the tent and I have a few different lighting options on the trailer. The cheap LED strip lighting I bought off AMAZON works OK but its no where near as bright as the small length of LED lighting I had left over from my Kitchen remodel which I put on the inside of my storage box given its not weather proof. As for the warmth factor that was a concern of mine but I have found that most of the new stuff today is done pretty well regarding that balance between the harsh blue and warmer yellow lighting the cheap LED strip stuff I bought has been OK regarding that. But its really not as good as the more costly stuff I had from the kitchen remodel which is about 3X brighter and a nice soft light. As for power draw the cheap LED strip 16ft pulls about 1.2 amps when lit. The higher quality brighter stuff from my kitchen is only slightly marginally higher on the power draw so from a power stand point I would say you get more for your $ going with the higher quality LED strip lighting material vs the cheaper stuff. As for in tent I used very very simple inline dimmer / switches which work well no complaints.

For the awning I don't have one but I do have some external lighting I built for the tent over the step area etc. I also checked out a fellow campers awning LED lighting set up he did. He used weather proof stick on LED strip lighting and routed the wiring through the awning in a hidden manner and had the strip lighting run along the bottom of the leading edge of the awning. In his case he used multi color LED's and had them hooked to a Key Fob remote which he could control them via dimming - and color etc which actually seemed a little nutty but while the group gathered around his camp area he dimmed them and changed them to a red which really worked well we were all around the camp fire pit about 15 ft away from the awning but with them dimmed and turned red the lights were not overbearing and we could easily see the various drink items, smores makings etc on the table between the awning and the camp fire. I thought worked really well and clearly had some advantages of being able to dimm and also change the color to reduce the effect of killing your night vision around the camp etc.

I do not have colored LED's but!!! I'm tempted to pick up some red LED's to install under the step of our trailer. Its fun stuff to work with and fool with. I used a 9volt Battery to test my connections and polarity etc given LED's are polarity sensitive and the cheap stuff isn't always marked well so your always checking it before you assemble it etc.
 
C

calicamper

Expedition Leader
This is what I used in our tent
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HTXICGK?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005EHHLD8?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s01

The strip lighting I installed by stitching it to the two privacy partitions on each side of the tent each strip has its own switch. Its not super super bright but for sure bright enough. I think with the typical RTT I would be tempted to to locate a strip at the head end of the tent which you could use for reading light - then as you pointed out maybe a secondary strip down the middle for lighting the tent to help you set up during a night time set up. Given you typically get 16ft in a roll I would sort out if there was a spot by the ladder you could mount some to light the ladder up etc. Given how little power they draw your power options could be really super simple or if you wanted to get a little more creative like I did. I have about $250 all in for my ammo box, two small 10watt solar panels, little battery and solar charger. But we also have a little 12volt charging hub we use for small electronics like ipad, gopro cell phone, camera etc. I just set the little charging hub in a side pocket in the tent and we plug various USB plugs into it when we charge stuff. The Ammo box which contains all the guts of the power system is bolted to the front plate of the trailer. But ammo boxes are so damn easy to mount places there are lots of options I'm sure you could think of with that sort of set up.
 
B

bagelsjustbagels

Adventurer
calicamper said:
He used weather proof stick on LED strip lighting and routed the wiring through the awning in a hidden manner and had the strip lighting run along the bottom of the leading edge of the awning. In his case he used multi color LED's and had them hooked to a Key Fob remote which he could control them via dimming - and color etc which actually seemed a little nutty but while the group gathered around his camp area he dimmed them and changed them to a red which really worked well we were all around the camp fire pit about 15 ft away from the awning but with them dimmed and turned red the lights were not overbearing and we could easily see the various drink items, smores makings etc on the table between the awning and the camp fire. I thought worked really well and clearly had some advantages of being able to dimm and also change the color to reduce the effect of killing your night vision around the camp etc.
Click to expand...

This sounds amazing. and is exactly what i had in mind. Now to find a way to execute this!
 
B

bagelsjustbagels

Adventurer
calicamper said:
This is what I used in our tent
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HTXICGK?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005EHHLD8?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s01

The strip lighting I installed by stitching it to the two privacy partitions on each side of the tent each strip has its own switch. Its not super super bright but for sure bright enough. I think with the typical RTT I would be tempted to to locate a strip at the head end of the tent which you could use for reading light - then as you pointed out maybe a secondary strip down the middle for lighting the tent to help you set up during a night time set up. Given you typically get 16ft in a roll I would sort out if there was a spot by the ladder you could mount some to light the ladder up etc. Given how little power they draw your power options could be really super simple or if you wanted to get a little more creative like I did. I have about $250 all in for my ammo box, two small 10watt solar panels, little battery and solar charger. But we also have a little 12volt charging hub we use for small electronics like ipad, gopro cell phone, camera etc. I just set the little charging hub in a side pocket in the tent and we plug various USB plugs into it when we charge stuff. The Ammo box which contains all the guts of the power system is bolted to the front plate of the trailer. But ammo boxes are so damn easy to mount places there are lots of options I'm sure you could think of with that sort of set up.
Click to expand...

Where in cali are you located, or do you have pictures of this? sounds like a great system.
 
C

calicamper

Expedition Leader
Walnut Creek /Lafayette/Orinda area. I have some picts some place crummy shots with old cell phone but I'll see what I can find and post. Amazon had pretty much all the stuff I needed. I used some cheap little weather proof auto plugs sold on Amazon for the tent stuff so I could unplug and remove the tent if needed.
Also put a small ATV LED flood lamp on the back of the trailer only draws 1amp but bright as heck works great for lighting up the camp site with a night time arrival as we get set up.
 
C

calicamper

Expedition Leader
No pictures of the awning set up. It was very simple though. The only fancy bit was the controller key fob part which you can order those on Amazon quite a few to choose from. I bought one but not for color just on off and dim which will eventually be wired to the big ATV flood light on the back of the trailer.
 
dstock

dstock

Explorer
calicamper said:
View attachment 291507
LED switch
Click to expand...

I know it's an old thread but something I discovered about this particular dimmable switch is that if that power is cut to the switch, when power is restored, the lights automatically come on. This of course is no good in a folded RTT scenario. I found a mechanical switch on Amazon that I am going to use to swap it out.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004T9ITQ0?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_1&smid=A325274ZEF9XYZ

I have other lighting and linear actuators that need power even if the RTT is folded, so in the meantime I have pulled the fuse when not in use.

Just thought I would pass along the info.
 
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