LED tape in camper shell not working

I picked up some LED tape to replace the dim little light inside my camper. The led strips hardly light up at all after I installed them. When I test them on other circuits they are super bright.


The voltage on the wires in the camper is reading 11 volts, which I think may be the route of the issue.

I really want to avoid running lines all the way back to the battery but I don't see many options.

Any ideas?

 

Where are you pulling power from? If there is a light already installed back there it has to be hooked to something. I ran a 14gauge wire all the way from the interior fuse block and used an add-a-fuse to tap in. The ground point is also critical. Sometimes a truck bed is not well grounded. I have encountered this kind of low voltage issue when the bed is mounted on rubber isolators.

 

the best way is to go back to the the battery. i did what ^that guy^ said. heres some pics of my bedlight mod

 

I ended up running a new line from the battery. I was trying to splice into the existing the light that was in the camper. It pulls power from the trailer and brake light harness. No idea how it was loosing a volt.

The existing circuit required the headlights to be on in order to have power. In the end it is more helpful to be able to run it without the headlights, so I guess the extra effort was worth it.

No i just need to find a flush mount switch.

 

yea all of my lights/cb radio are wired directly to the battery, that way i can have them on whenever i want them. glad everythings working good now. were are you gonna put the switch?