Another interior lighting system

[Gina D.]

I used gels in the lenses of my flourescants in the 13. It helped quite a bit. I think you'll be happy with it.

[Brian B-P]

..You could by bunches of the 4" ones from my source and stuff them in your own fixture, sell them for 1/2 the price of West Marine and still retire early...

Go for it Gina... you've got a market right here among FiberglassRV members.

Seriously, a marine supply store is not likely the cheapest place to buy anything, and this is a specialty product likely with lots of distributor markup. The cheap tubes are cheap because they are produced somewhere in Asia in massive quantities for a currently popular fad. Popularity really helps pricing!

[Gina D.]

I do enough sahwdren during the day.. I am not in the market to be in the bidnez beyond my steady paycheck and bennies.

I would say these tubes are inexpensive, not cheap. My 13 had them bouncing down the road for hundreds of miles with no effect. The new owner is pleased as punch with them as well.
They were a strong selling point, as they will be if I ever get rid of the 17.

I have one more set to install, and another set of LED Domes for the bathroom, as soon as I find the easiest wire route so I can put the switch on the outside of the bathroom. The domes are waterproof. My switches are not.

[Donna D.]

I'm gonna stuff this info into this topic, since battery usage seems to be a concern! The info comes from the CasitaForum

Dirt Cheap Battery Monitor, Nothing fancy here ...

[Brian B-P]

I would say these tubes are inexpensive, not cheap...

Sure, that might be a better term.

[Kurt & Ann K.]

Gina,
On the subject of lighting, the picture of your McMansion is very nicely lit. How did you accomplish that much light?

Kurt & Ann K.

[Gina D.]

Kurt,

It was as is, with just the cold cathodes. I purposely turned off the flash so I could show how bright it is.

Keep in mind that it will be brighter in a Burro due to the white reflective walls. These ones seem brighter to me than the ones in the 13. They are mounted in a different spot and are more out in the open, with more surface area to reflect.

The 13 had them stuck right over the stove and they light the kitchen, but the shadows and blockage from the cabinets prevented them from lighting the whole trailer as brightly.

Here are the same lights in the 13. Quite a difference.

[Kurt & Ann K.]

Gina,
I pretty much figured that was the case indoors. How about outside? I'd have used lights all over the place to achieve that well lit a picture.
I'm impressed!

Kurt & Ann K.

[Rusty01]

Donna D, I was unable to access the Casita forum from the link. The message says that I do not have permission since I am not a member. I want to know about the cheap battery monitor.

[Donna D.]

That surprises me....Gene runs the same software as Michael uses to run FiberglassRV and we have tons of guests.... I'm sorry I can't copy the text and pictures, that is a no-no according to CasitaForums rules...but try this...

Go to the home page: http://www.casitaforum.com/

Click the "Enter the Forum" Button
Click the "Electrical Systems" topic
then click " Dirt Cheap Battery Monitor, Nothing fancy here ..." by AZCharlie

all the info is in this topic

If you still can't view the info, let me know and I'll get in touch with the webmaster and ask if I can post the info here.

Good luck!

[Gina D.]

Kurt, I thought you were talking about the cold cathodes pic, which is NOT in this thread

here they are. The LED domes are on behind me as well.

As far as outside, I would imagine you would have confused airplanes trying to land in your site.

BUT, you would have to absoluetely water proof them. They draw very little current wise, but they DO run on 120v or higher (Depending on the inversion) and the lines running to them do not appear to be too well protected for this. The end caps on the tubes are more decorative than anything else, tho they do serve the purpose of not allowing little fingers to get zapped. I had one come off once, it wasn't glued on very well.

[Kurt & Ann K.]

Gina,
Sorry if I confused the issue. I didn't really want to start another topic since lighting was already being discussed. I was referring to the FGRV intro outdoors shot of your "first outing..., sunset on the So. Calif. coast".
If the camp site was lit by your flash alone, it would appear that you have a very powerful flash. Could cold cathodes have been used for fill?
I thought someone else might be interested in your very successful photography methods. My curiosity got the better of me but I don't want to kill the subject by sidetracking it.

Kurt & Ann K.

[Gina D.]

Oh THAT one..

nothing special, just the stock flash from my digital camera.

The backlighting was cheating tho, thats actually smoke from the Windy Ridge fire a couple weeks ago. I was about 3-4 miles from it as the crow flies.

At sunset, it looks cool.

[AZCharlie]

:Click the "Enter the Forum" Button
Click the "Electrical Systems" topic
then click " Dirt Cheap Battery Monitor, Nothing fancy here ..." by AZCharlie

all the info is in this topic

If you still can't view the info, let me know and I'll get in touch with the webmaster and ask if I can post the info here.

Good luck!

I can send you a copy of the original photos I used for that post. Send me your email by PM if you don't find another way to get the thread.

[Kurt & Ann K.]

Gina,
Thanks! Spectacular photo. Your equipment sure did a great job both lighting and recording the scene. The sunset backlighting capturing the effect from the fire truly is cool.

Kurt & Ann K.

[david john]

gina i got some cold cathodes and now im lost exactly what is the inveter and how do i wire theas in to my 12 volt wires and where do i add a switch. thanks dave k

[Gina D.]

David,

The invertor is the box looking thing that should have come with your kit. It is about the size of a cigarette pack, a little thinner tho. Blue or Black plastic.

Did you get a kit or just the bulbs?

[david john]

i got the kit so i plug the lights into the converter. then what wires do i use out of the converter. can thease be hooked op to 120 wires> david k

[Gina D.]

David, no. You have an INVERTOR. It takes 12vs and makes it into 120. (or more)

You connect it to your 12v system, and it will power up.

what color are the wires you have?

[BradBev]

Gina,

Do you have any idea of the amount DC current the inverter draws? I need to reread this thread, I'm not sure if you're saying this is an alternative to LEDs. The specs on the eBay source you referenced say 5ma but that's got to be the AC current to the bulbs.

I'd never heard of the CC bulbs until I got involved with a project to replace the CC blub in a notebook computer. (That's what provides the backlight for the screen.) Was a pain to replace but we got it working.

Brad