Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I'm trying to plan out the lighting in my CT - I would love to have recessed lighting in the ceiling.

Halogen is bright - but hot
LED is no so bright - and stays cool

If I put in enough LED lights will it help? Or should I just stick to a few halogen lights?

More importantly - I would LOVE to see pics of what you all have done.
Thank you!

I bought my LED lighting from marine supply places. I have 3 overhead lights on a switch and 2 more lights with independent switching above my desk. I can have all the lights on at once and draw about .8 amps. It is plenty of light to read by. My two desk units can also switch to red lighting for when I am doing astronomy stuff. You can see some pictures on my album.

I went with thre e 12v Double Pancake Interior lights and I'm happy with the choice.
I also have one 110 spot lamp inside for a reading light. There's two LED nightlights that dim on receptacles too.
Here's an older pic

I decided to go with LED lighting because of the low amp draw and cool temps of the bulbs. The ones I purchased were called Kaper II (I bought 2). I'm just in the beginning stages of my build but I tried one out on the ceiling and man it was bright! The two I have will light up the conversion easily although I will be adding a couple of others (undecided on which ones) for reading and such. Hope this helps.

Pilgrim

We used a mix of 12 and 120v lights. We have 2 hardware store "Boob" lights on the ceiling, with 2 60w bulbs each. I also installed 2 double lens 12v lights on the ceiling, and 2 single 12v lights, to eliminate dark spots in between, and light the floor and step inside the entry door. 1 12v porch light at the man door, and 1 over the ramp for a cargo light. We use the 12v lights more than I thought we would. The 120 is nice, because they are on a remote control dimmer. We never used the remote feature in our house, so I yanked it out of the wall, and stuck it in the trailer. It's nice for watching tv, before bed. (Yeah, I know. Camping and watching tv, the sad state of modern America) Long story short, the 120v is no big deal. If I had known how well the 12v lighting worked, I might not have bothered. I would avoid halogen at any cost. Those bulbs are a fire waiting to happen even in a house, in my opinion, and trailers are not even close to fire code for a house. I love some of the LED stuff coming out, it just wasn't in the budget. As soon as the prices come down some more, Ill likely replace all the 12v bulbs with LED. I may also try my hand at building my own. That's my .02c worth. Regards, Kyle

I went with some DIY LED lights. There is a thread about LED lighting over in the other forum. I wired them up so either two leds are one or all four. So if power isn't a issue I can have more light. Or if I'm running off battery I can save power and only run 2 leds per light. I like them pretty good. They are brighter then the plug in replacement LED bulbs.

8ball, your post is what gave me the idea of building my own. Great DIY job!

Hmm, that looks kind of familiar:



LED Linky

Bruce

bdosborn wrote:Hmm, that looks kind of familiar:


LED Linky

Bruce

Yep thats was in the thread. I used that same style round lights and I went of the first page you found http://www.campgen.com/ledarticle.html for the LED parts. www.dealextreme.com They have any kind of LED you could want and several different drivers. LEDs are much cheaper and brighter then the plug in LED bulbs I've seen.

The star emitters are my favorite LEDs. They have much better color rendition and last a lot longer than the single LEDs.

Bruce

Wow, very impressive

I had not even considered actually building my own. Well done. I, however am handicapped and I'll be lucky to get the wiring right, so I'll pass on the DIY stuff. I'll be lucky to get my husband to work on it as it is.

Pilgrim - I'm anxious to see yours installed, my goal is to make them as seamless in the ceiling as possible.

Astrotrailer - looks fabulous! Are there any particular marine supply stores online you buy from?

Thank you everyone for your fabulous photos!