Interior Lighting suggestions Please

[Jordan O]

Hi,

I get to pick up my Scamp 13 ft. from the trailer shop tomorrow after waiting 2 months for the new axle to come in from Dexter! (Just hope it is all done correctly ) In the meantime, I have put together my "To Do List of Projects".

First up will be rewiring the entire trailer and replacing all the current exterior and interior lights and getting it and my TV compatible; replacing the rotted floor section(s); and fixing any leaks.

As I prepare to run electrical for the interior, I am trying to decide on what kind of lights I might want and was wondering what other people have done and liked for interior lights. I will be using LED lights since I run off of solar.

I will have lights over the kitchen counter, over the bed/dinette (I have upper cabinet there) and over front couch (I also have an upper cabinet there). I want enough light to read and work on projects, but not sure if puck-style lights would be best, or directional lights, or strip lights, or something else.

Would love to hear what others have found that they have liked or not liked and why.

Thanks much!!

[AC0GV]

If you are just changing the lamps and not the complete fixture search the lamp number with the letters LED after it. (ie:194 LED), color temperature will also be a choice and for the outside order red and amber as the location dictates.

[Nicolas]

I agree with ACOGV. If the original fixtures are okay, buy the LED equivalent bulbs. That is what I did where the lights were okay.

Under the sink cabinet, I bought a centre push button round flat LED light that wired in to the 12V system (they are like the mini battery sort that you glue in place but bigger. Saves having to sacrifice cupboard space that occurs with pot lights.) Always best to find lights that can sit on the surface.


Places like Princess Auto in Canada and Harbor Freight in US carry an assortment of LED options and sometimes at a greater saving than the RV dealerships. I bought my taillights (7” LEDs) that look almost like the original from Princess Auto.

[LyleB]

[QUOTE=Jordan O;756097]Hi,

I get to pick up my Scamp 13 ft. from the trailer shop tomorrow after waiting 2 months for the new axle to come in from Dexter!:

I guess this is why Scamp suggested I buy the axles from them. They keep them in stock. I ordered the axle on Monday, had it by Friday via FedEx. They also walked my local shop through the process of. Converting from welded on to bolted on. Made certain that everything was done properly. My shop said they gave them several valuable tips.

Just a heads up for others.

[Snowball]

Hi Jordan,

I thought long and hard about lighting when I got my '82 burro in 2016. In the end, I put a thin strip of LEDs under my cabinets (I cut the channel to length, put in the LED strip and snapped on the cover for a totally custom look), and puck lights along the ceiling (please ignore the ceiling panel...bane of my existence at the moment!). All are colour changing. All work with a remote and the on/off switches just inside the door. I *love* them. Not the cheapest option, but well worth it in the long run, I think, and much enjoyed by my teenage boys and their friends.

Whatever you decide, I'm sure it'll be lovely.

[alan H]

Snowball
I’m interested in what you did
Can you provide mfg/where you got them and cost

[Baxter]

I bought this from amazon (and got it even cheaper on Prime day)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MGZ52RD

I put two under the overhead cabinets I have at each end, and two under the kitchenette upper cabinets. They all run off the remote and work beautifully. They're so thin, you'd barely notice they're there at all.

I just cut off the AC adapter and wired them right into the 12V system.

[Snowball]

Hi Alan,
I got my supplies from Advance LED supply in Glendale, CA. They are fantastic to deal with and offer lots of advice. The puck lights were each ~$25 and the track under the cabinets was ~$80 all in. The remote control was ~$20 and it controls both sets of lights. The control boxes (one for the pucks and one for the strip light) were ~$20 each. As I say, not cheap! But I've been working on my snowball little by little, and a few dollars here and a few more there make the pain less acute. The lights themselves are certainly less expensive if you have the white only version (they have both daylight or warm white), but as snowball is parked in our backyard & is our boys' hangout spot, I wanted a bit of a wow factor.

[rick in arvada]

The big advantage of strip LES lighting is that they are dimmable.

[Baxter]

These days the pucks are too. They all are, if you choose correctly.

[David B.]

While you are running wires for new lights, put some INSIDE the cabinets and storage areas, with switches that active them each time you open the door. I also placed LED strip lights inside our refrigerator... what a nice thing to have.
Dave & Paula

[Jordan O]

Thanks everyone for all the great suggestions and info about what you did with lighting in your eggs! I really appreciate it.

I would just do new bulb in the current fixtures, but I don't plan on keeping them. As far as I can tell, they are the 40+ yr. old originals and not all are in great shape. Plus I want to have different lights in different places than where the old ones are located. But, yes, that would be a quick and inexpensive fix if they would take LED bulbs.

Snowball, love what you have done with your lighting! Thanks for the pictures too! Your little Burro looks adorable. I am thinking of doing something similar to what you did under the kitchen cabinets. I also love your light switch Command Center on the side of the closet - very convenient. I hadn't thought about lights down the center of the ceiling though! That is quite an interesting idea that I will definitely have to consider!

I would love to have my lights dimmable - cuz don't all "chicks" have mood lighting inside their eggs?

Baxter, thanks for the links to the lights you got. I will take a closer look at those.

Dave and Paula, thank you also for your suggestion about wiring for lights inside the cabinets. I had thought about doing that and have been on the fence between that idea and just using the battery push-puck lights. But lights in the front and back overhead storage cabinets would be helpful since they are kind of deep and dark. I'll definitely be putting a light in the closet, just not sure what and where.

LyleB. - I had called Scamp about buying an axle from them and having it shipped but it was considerably more expensive to go that route than to have the shop order it for me. I also inquired about taking my Scamp up to Backus, MN and have them put it on for me, but they said they wouldn't do a trailing arm axle on my old model Scamp. Besides, I wasn't comfortable towing it that far nor could I afford to make that trip.

[Anthony P.]

I installed two 6" LED strip lights, one on either side of my trailer. They are compact and very bright. 12" strips were too bright. I got them at Riverside Electronics Warehouse. They were very inexpensive. They are not dimmable and require a separate switch.

[rodolphemyint7]

if I were you, I wouldn't sweat so much and just use an LED strip

[wilburtmcgroarty49]

Hello everyone, I am also doing some work to improve my "bedroom" in the house, so the topic of lighting also interests me. I want to buy myself something like a ribbon of light to put around the bed's perimeter for a more comfortable stay in the relaxed area. I recently found an option on https://www.vont.com/product/smart-s...-strip-lights/, and I liked this option. However, I still don't quite understand exactly how I need to arrange delivery and whether the borders with Canada are open. Does anyone have information about this?