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Meffrig's avatar
Meffrig
Explorer
Jan 22, 2014

Multi color LED awning lighting kit ?

I am doing some research on adding the LED lighting kit (under my awning) on my Class A motorhome. It doesn't look too hard to install by yourself. Any ideas on this would be appreciated.
  • I did this also to our MH last Spring. Like mguay and a few others mentioned, I went with the 15' length of 5050 SMD waterproof lights. Can be had on Amazon and other places online for around $20. Do NOT buy them from Camping World - They sell exact same lights at a RIDICULOUS mark-up, around $70 IIRC.

    I also installed ours directly underneath the awning roller, up against the coach like others mentioned. There was a channel along there under the awning roller that seemed like it was made just for this light strip, worked perfectly. Was also enough cavity inside the awning arm to snake the wire for it down through there, and have it come out right at the bottom of the arm. To hook it up, I just pull the wire out from the storage bin, connect it to the connector at the bottom of the awning arm, and use the remote to turn it on/off. I had to buy an extra length of the wire and some connectors to do this, but it worked out great.

    Have some adhesive caulk of some kind handy, and plan on using it at the ends of the light strip. The 3M adhesive the light strip comes with is good and holds well, but the ends WILL peel off shortly after you put it on. A small dab of adhesive caulk on each end solved that.

    Provides great light outside, and is totally adjustable - Can make it one of several different colors, fade it in or out, make it as bright or dim as you want, etc. DW always used to like putting 'tacky lights' on the manual awning we had with the TT, but we did not want to do that with the power awning on the MH. These lights are what we did, instead. Highly recommend this, if you want some more light outside, but don't want to fool with having to constantly attach and remove lights from the awning roller.

    Oh, one other really nice thing about using LED lights like this: They do not attract mosquitos and other flying critters, like conventional lights do. :)
  • I chose the warm white style, instead of the multi-color. Spend a bit extra and get the brightest you can find, which is also dimmable. Then you can adjust them as the situation requires when outside....

    Our coach has a Girard Awning, so I stuck them underneath the edge alonf the wall of the coach. Then I ran the power cord in behind the entry light and wired it inside the coach, behind the inverter control panel. The remote works from outside or inside, perfectly.

    I can have the lights very bright for playing cards, reading, etc, and can turn them way down for "mood lighting" most other times.
  • I installed some last year. Got them from eBay out of China. They were like $20 for a 15' length. I used 5050 SMD waterproof ones.
    I stuck them to the exterior wall just below the awning rail. The lead was way too short so I had to lengthen it. I ran the power down the awning bracket with the lead to my power awning and then in the coach through the same hole. I was fortunate that it ended up in the basement so I grabbed power from a basement light and installed the control box there. When I want them on...I open the basement door and point the remote in there and let it rip.
  • You mean Christmas lights? That's what us Rednecks call them in June and July.
  • They come in two types. Make sure you get the water proof type. 5050 comes to mind.