Camper shell lighting suggestions?

yeah, thats the stuff!

I'm thinking of mounting them as high as possible to minimize glare.

 

actually, I looked up the power consumption of the RGB strips I have. 1 meter draws 1.2 amps on max bright white, thats 15 watts, which is about as bright as a 45 watt incandescent lamp (fog lamps and low beams are often 55 watts...). I think I may just run a single 1M strip down the middle of the roof, these things are /bright/

 

Did you ever receive a reply to your question about how to stick the lights on the fabric ceiling of your shell?

 

I have stuck some things on my shell fabric using the velcro (hard plastic side). For LED lights I stuck them with double-sided tape to the upper edge of the metal window frame.

 

I noticed my snugtop, the main flat part of the roof is thicker than the rest, and the stock crappy little dome light appears to be screwed into this, so I may just use short small screws to secure stuff up there.

I don't want to use the metal window frames, they are too low, and will glare too much. a 1 meter long 60 LED piece of this tape I have is 865 lumens, thats as much light as a typical high beam :-O

 

I make LED camper kits



Custom install:

 

I went cheap on my A.R.E. shell lighting. I installed one of these:

Purchased it from Amazon for under $20. This battery powered light is surprisingly bright!

$16 LIGHT IT! By Fulcrum, 30017-308 20-LED Anywhere Light, White, Single Pack

http://amzn.com/B00VSKK0V0

 

kewl!

have you done anything with RGB color changing LEDs? Mostly I want to be able to switch from dim red to bright white, but since that ability comes with full color choice, I figured why not use it?

I've already got some high brightness RGB led strips, color controller, etc, that run off 12V, and I ordered some nice alum. molding strips, so I'm probably set already. as I said, 1m of the strips I have, which is 60 LEDs, is nearly 900 lumens on full brightness, at 14.4 watts (1.2 amps at 12V). I do believe thats all the light I'll need/want. actually, I'm more concerned that even the dimmest red is brighter than optimal for a dark starry night.

frankly, what I'd really like would be three slider pots, like audio faders, R,G,B, each hooked up to a PWM dimmer circuit. of course, it has to run at high enough frequency to be flicker free, I figure a few kHz at least. each channel should be able to handle a couple amps of current. like this, only three small sliders side by side, so for white, you just shove all 3 all the way up, for red, just the red one. for warm or cool white don't make them quite level, etc.

$12 TORCHSTAR DC12V-24V 9A PWM RGB LED Dimmer Controller, 3 Channel Output for RGB Multi-Color LED Strip Lights & Single Color LED Strip Lights, Pack of 1

http://www.amazon.com/Torchstar-KBDM-1224V9A-RGB3CN-Controller-Channel-Multi-Color/dp/B008GY6WM2

 

Yes I have made a few RGB (multi color) kits, they use a credit card type remote.

 

yeah, mine is like that but with more buttons

I just measured the current drain of this 1m of superbright tape running off a little 12C 2.9AH lead acid battery. the battery was cool, at 60F/16C, and about 12.1V

there's 8 brightness steps. a single color like red or green or blue, draws 0.05 amps at the lowest setting, 0.1 amp at the 1 click brighter, and between .350 and .400 on high

white is 0.135 A at low, 0.26 amps at +1, and 1 amp at high.

I'm seriously considering powering this off a 12V 20AH sealed lead acid, that I wire to the trailer harness 'batt', so the car charges it, and if I use the lights with the engine off, its isolated from the vehicle battery.

but I'd really like a RGB slide dimmer rather than pushbuttons or knobs.

 

and YES! found this RGB LED controller thanks to another forum member who's google-fu exceeds mine...



MUCH nicer than the stupid credit card remotes I have been playing with.

velcro works /great/ with the snugtop lining. assembled my strip in the alum channel and velcroed to roof. daylight picture coming up in a sec.

 

ok, early twilight pic was *boring*

here's some after-dark pics...

first bunch are all 30s exposures at f/10 and iso400, thats approximately what it looks like when you're dark adapted.

dimmest red:


dimmest amber/orange:


dimmest white:


same, from farther back...


BRIGHT white. eek, almost too bright.


party mode!!

 

slider switch on kitchen table!!



idle current (all 3 off) is about 15 mA. dimmest red is about 30mA, above is about 90mA, brightest red is about 200mA.

btw, my first prototype with 3 vecro tabs of about 3/4" x 3/4" didn't stay on the ceiling carpet when I drove around town, it needs more velcro. I dunno, I might even screw it onto the roof with some sort of clips.

 

correction, after more testing, with a 12.3V supply, my idle (all off) current was 25mA. with this dimmer switch, its only drawing about 600-700 ma with full on while (which is dropping my little 12V battery to 12.05V), while the pushbutton digital controller that came with the LEDs did over 1 amp, but its still plenty bright enough. most importantly, dim red is much dimmer than it was with the pushbutton controller.

sigh, I'm having trouble finding a minibox thats just big enough for the dimmer module.

 

success!

 

Thread revival. This was a really cool idea. Whatever happened with it?

 

it lives in my truck, gets used every time I'm doing anything at night. dim red for astronomy, random colors for campouts. power drain is very low so I can leave it on for hours and hours without denting the battery.

the controller is velcroed to the side of the back of the cap. the black-red wires are to the cap's brake light, which I wired through the same 3-pin connector...

 

Yeah this is super cool. Exactly what I've been looking to do.
Do you have a link to purchase that controller you used?

 

This looks exactl like the one I have, not sure if this is where I got it.
http://www.usledsupply.com/shop/rgb-3k-manual-slide-control.html