Gary RV_Wizard
Site Team
I've been playing around with Led strip lights for decorative effects. Perhaps I've gone a bit overboard, but we have had decorative lighting in all our coaches, both permanent and stuff we can change with the season or holiday. Led strips seem well suited for this sort of thing, providing lots of options, fairly simple installation and low energy cost and heat.
I got a Revolution brand RGB (Red/Green/Blue) led strip to try out. It is 16.4 ft long (5m) with 300 leds and has a controller that can alter the shade of the three primary colors and provide a variety of automatic change patterns. In this type of strip, each led device actually has three tiny light sources (one each, red, green & blue) that can be on individually or in any combination, which allows the controller to blend colors to change the tint and fade or blink independently to provide a variety of effects. We like "smooth", which provides a continuous fade from one color to another.
I cut the strip into two pieces and placed one section across the top-forward edge of the dash and the second several inches lower across the forward looking part of the dash, near the bottom of the windshield. The two sections are connected with a short wire splice device, which I bought separately. The flat led strips are actually long flexible circuits boards, so they don't bend sharply, nor do the make right or left turns at all. The splice connector enabled me to create two parallel strips without a curving loop of lighting to make the 180 degree turn. The strip comes with an adhesive backing (a 3M brand sticky tape) which makes for an easy install except that it would not stick at all to the grain-textured vinyl covering of the back side of the dash. I had to mount two thin strips of wood molding, painted to match the dash material, to provide a surface it would stick too.
The RGB strip is powered by a 120vac/12vdc converter which is plugged to a timer-controlled outlet strip I had previously mounted at floor level under the dash. This timer strip runs whatever deco lighting we have in the windshield area, timed to be "on" from dusk to around 11 pm. A nice feature of the led strip controller is that it remembers its setiing, so when the timer switches it back up, it simply restats the colors and patterns previously set.
For the next part of the project I got two warm-white, 300 led strips, also 16+ feet long each with a sticky back. These were mounted to the bottom edge of the moldings that run along the ceiling at either side of the lounge area, above the slides. These provide a fair soft general lighting from above that is pleasant for entertaining or tv. I powered these direct from one of the interior 12v circuits (the power for the satellite dome) that was handy to the area and placed a standard toggle switch in an overhead cabinet where it would be convenient but unobtrusive. For the moment both strips are on a single switch but I can easily add a second switch if we decide we want individual control.
The photos below don't do justice to the effect but will give an idea of the results. The windshield lights show two color examples but the actuallity is a continuous slow change from red to blue to green that passes through every shade in between. Kind of mesmerizing to watch!
I got a Revolution brand RGB (Red/Green/Blue) led strip to try out. It is 16.4 ft long (5m) with 300 leds and has a controller that can alter the shade of the three primary colors and provide a variety of automatic change patterns. In this type of strip, each led device actually has three tiny light sources (one each, red, green & blue) that can be on individually or in any combination, which allows the controller to blend colors to change the tint and fade or blink independently to provide a variety of effects. We like "smooth", which provides a continuous fade from one color to another.
I cut the strip into two pieces and placed one section across the top-forward edge of the dash and the second several inches lower across the forward looking part of the dash, near the bottom of the windshield. The two sections are connected with a short wire splice device, which I bought separately. The flat led strips are actually long flexible circuits boards, so they don't bend sharply, nor do the make right or left turns at all. The splice connector enabled me to create two parallel strips without a curving loop of lighting to make the 180 degree turn. The strip comes with an adhesive backing (a 3M brand sticky tape) which makes for an easy install except that it would not stick at all to the grain-textured vinyl covering of the back side of the dash. I had to mount two thin strips of wood molding, painted to match the dash material, to provide a surface it would stick too.
The RGB strip is powered by a 120vac/12vdc converter which is plugged to a timer-controlled outlet strip I had previously mounted at floor level under the dash. This timer strip runs whatever deco lighting we have in the windshield area, timed to be "on" from dusk to around 11 pm. A nice feature of the led strip controller is that it remembers its setiing, so when the timer switches it back up, it simply restats the colors and patterns previously set.
For the next part of the project I got two warm-white, 300 led strips, also 16+ feet long each with a sticky back. These were mounted to the bottom edge of the moldings that run along the ceiling at either side of the lounge area, above the slides. These provide a fair soft general lighting from above that is pleasant for entertaining or tv. I powered these direct from one of the interior 12v circuits (the power for the satellite dome) that was handy to the area and placed a standard toggle switch in an overhead cabinet where it would be convenient but unobtrusive. For the moment both strips are on a single switch but I can easily add a second switch if we decide we want individual control.
The photos below don't do justice to the effect but will give an idea of the results. The windshield lights show two color examples but the actuallity is a continuous slow change from red to blue to green that passes through every shade in between. Kind of mesmerizing to watch!
BUT...did you put any lights underneath the chassis ;D
