LED strip / ribbon lights

[fourstringfletch]

Looks like there are a few cheap options now for LED lights that would be great for general illumination inside your rig. I'm currently looking at buying a 5 meter roll to light up my camper shell and tailgate area. Please share your wisdom / experience.

Right now I'm pondering the choice between SMD 3528 (easier to wire) and 5050 (brighter/higher wattage) models.



The photo above is from this simple article: http://www.articlesbase.com/electro...ce-between-smd-3528-and-5050-led-3224179.html

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Guri]

I bought the SMD3528 (similar) in ebay and I installed it in my camper shell and my roof tent. It works grate and give a lot of light and really low power consumption.
Good stuff and reasonable price.
Good luck.

 

[Westicoast]

I have a led light strip over the kitchen in my Westfalia. I’m quite happy with it. I would have to look back at the model numbers to get the specifics. But mine is the warm white waterproof strip with the self adhesive on the back. I have it hooked to a capacitance touch dimmer. I also have a nice swivel led light fixture over my engine bay that can be powered by 8-AA batteries or off my lighting circuit in the camper. I use the size M (5.5mm) coaxial power connectors for my lights so I can just pull this off vehicle power and attach it to a battery pack if by chance my work in the engine bay is related to a dead battery. The engine bay light is the more atypical cold white of LED lights. The pictures show only a little difference but in real life the warm white is much more natural looking. I cleaned the mounting surface with alcohol before sticking the led light strip over the kitchen and I have not had any problems with it coming loose. 3M molding tape is wonderful stuff if you do not want to buy the light strips that have adhesive already on them. I got all mine and the dimmer from superbrightleds.com . There were some cheaper options directly from China but not so much cheaper that I wanted to wait for the extra shipping time. I spent about $75 on everything. Just the strip I could have done for under fifty shipped. But I don't even hesitate to turn on the lights when we are camping.

These cell phone pictures don't do it justice. I rarely use the light strip at full brightness when we are camping.

My touch dimmer. Attached with 3M molding tape.

And my engine bay/reading light for the bottom bunk.

With the engine lid off.

 

[highdesertranger]

westicoast i know all new vehicles are like this but i have to ask, is there an engine under all that junk? boy i am glad i do not have to work on that. highdesertranger

 

[Revco]

Look into sign lighting. We use LED's in all sorts of signs these days and they come in a wide variety of colors, sizes, lumens, etc.

 

[fourstringfletch]

Great ideas guys, thanks.
I did order a 5m roll of warm white 3528 lights. Found them on ebay, shipped from within the US for $10.50! 300 lights per roll seems like a good balance between total lumens and lower wattage (24w/5m roll).
It'll take me some time to get them installed in my frozen truck (I'm in Telluride, CO without a garage), but I'll circle back when I get some photos.
Thanks again!

 

[Westicoast]

westicoast i know all new vehicles are like this but i have to ask, is there an engine under all that junk? boy i am glad i do not have to work on that. highdesertranger

Allow me one or two LOL's for this one:xxrotflma. My vehicle is 29 years old. Its not quite as complicated as it looks. Its a boxer engine so everything but the exhast ports and the oil filter are on the top side. It's very easy to work on.

 

[Arclight]

I built a custom controller for mine. It's based on the Arduino microcontroller on a custom board.



More pics here:
http://imgur.com/a/T9XHk

Project details:
http://www.accxproducts.com/wiki/index.php?title=Miscellaneous_Projects


I'd be willing to make up some more of these if there is interest. I have mine programmed to cycle through different lighting modes from separate push buttons in the camper or the cab, from opening the camper shell, and to turn off after 60 minutes.


Arclight

 

[Yudda]

Very nice work.

 

[arone]

Led lights are very common illuminating signs know a days, it is good to see the different coloring lights around. You are trying to decorate your car , according to my suggestion you should use SMD 3528 strip, because the energy consumed by SMD 3528 LED strip lights is a fraction of that consumed by incandescent light. The voltage per SMD LED works out to 2-3.6V, while the consumption of current is to the tune of 0.02A-0.03A. This makes SMD LED strip lighting highly energy efficient. Also it is easy to wired.

 

[kevint]

I put some in my Kamparoo. They use very little power.

I wired mine through one of these


http://www.ledssuperbright.com/led-dimmer-switch-12v-p-123/gclid/CPSP3oL2tbUCFY9AMgodgWQAkA

I often do not need the LEDs at full power. When dimmed, they only draw a fraction of an amp. I can leave a dim light on in the tent in the evening while using very little power.

 

[tibfibber]

yeah, I'm going this route in the Tiger. ledssuperbright seem to be a pretty decent vendor, but I'm pretty sure that LEDwholesalers on amazon has the same PWM Dimmer for $6.50...

5 meter roll of 3100k 2026ww is $13.88

 

[kevint]

I'm pretty sure that LEDwholesalers on amazon has the same PWM Dimmer for $6.50...

Yea. I had googled LED Dimmer and posted the first link I came across for the model I bought. I'm pretty sure I didn't pay $28 for mine.

 

[owntmeal4life]

i bought some to run under my fenders for my 2dr jk just havent gotten around to putting em in been very busy since the birth of our son 9 months ago :snorkel:

 

[fourstringfletch]

Well the warm white 3528 roll is going to be perfect I think. Should be brighter on the truck because I was testing with 11.6 volts.
Here's a test with a 1-meter strip, lashed to some VW molding.

Light is 1 m from green skis, both photos are f/4.0, 1/8" shutter, iso 400.



60 w incandescent bulb:


4.8 w led strip: (4.6 at 11.6v actually)


I have a neat idea for a dimmer in the mail... and I think I will rarely run these at full power after seeing how bright they are.