Awning Lights - How to?

Okie1 wrote:
Bought a led strip off E-Bay for around $20.00 and stuck them on bottom of rail that awning hooks into, wired it into porch light. We can use them with the awning in or out and they work great. Been on for over two years with no problems....

I think I like this method the best, so do the LED light strips work right off the 12 volt system? I guess I do not need to purchase anything other than the strip?

I am probably jumping the gun, we have not been out yet with the Motorcoach, first trip is this weekend to Holiday Trav-L Park in Virginia Beach, I guess I can walk around and look for others where I can see in person.

Bought a led strip off E-Bay for around $20.00 and stuck them on bottom of rail that awning hooks into, wired it into porch light. We can use them with the awning in or out and they work great. Been on for over two years with no problems....

Same here. Just make sure the lights you get are for outdoors.

Bought a led strip off E-Bay for around $20.00 and stuck them on bottom of rail that awning hooks into, wired it into porch light. We can use them with the awning in or out and they work great. Been on for over two years with no problems....

We always hung lights on our manual awnings, but when we purchased our Outback it came with a power awning. Ours can be tilted down, enough I can reach the roller and still attach lights. But the electric awning is more subject to wind than the manual, so if if gets windy it means taking lights off, then on, then off, then on before retracting the awning. Too much work.

So now we just use rope light on the ground. Much simpler. If we need actual light under the awning to read or do something, we flip on the white scare light on that side, do what we need, and then turn it off and enjoy the ambiance of the rope lights. Besides, the rope lights don't kill the mood of a good campfire as the light is low to the ground and not shining from above.

Every one does it different, for us, we like just the ambiance. We actually like it dark.

This is how I did it. I wanted a clean install that would not require me to have to setup/plugin etc...
Link

Occasionally I might hang a rope light from the awning roller tube but most times I don't bother as the awning can't be rolled up with the lights still in place. If I cared enough I'd probably do what most others would do these days by installing a self stick LED light strip to the body of the trailer just under where the awning attaches to the trailer, therefore allowing the awning to be rolled up at any time.

I've owned both manual and power awnings and the fact you say you can't reach the power awning roller tube in order to hang lights suggests to me this awning offers little or no tilt ... if so, you'd be better off putting your time & money into modifying the awning so it does tilt, otherwise it will be essentially useless to you. That's why when we bought a trailer a few years ago with a power awning that wouldn't tilt and couldn't be modified so it could tilt I had the dealer replace it with a good ol' Dometic 8500 manual awning that would. Power awning design has improved considerably in the intervening years and we now own another trailer with a power awning that does tilt so rain water can't collect on it and cause it to sag as otherwise would be the case.