LED strip under awining mount

grizer wrote:
We went camping with some friends last weekend. Their new camper had led's built into the end of the awning roll. The light was perfect, not too bright, lit up the area under the awning perfectly. The wife loved how easy it was to make Margaritas under them, compared to our yellow porch light.

After getting back from camp I started looking for lights, Most RV sites were charging $80+ for a non-permanent LED solution. I started to look around at what other people have done (at that point I still wanted to do something on the roller side of the awning). One thing that really struck home, if it starts getting to windy for the awning, the lights will get covered when you roll the awning in. I decided to mount on the side of the camper.

I ordered a strip of LED lights from Amazon. Also a RF remote and receiver for $5 that plugs into the lights I ordered. The remote lets me dim, brighten, change colors, change effects, and speed of the lights.

Mounting to the side ended up being a great choice. I was able to tap the LEDs into my porch light (this lets me shut them completely off).
I was worried about the wind ripping the lights off while towing. I grabbed a tube of Silicon and generously applied to any surface that might get grabbed by the wind.

Don't trust the double sided tape that came with the lights. You can grab a roll of industrial strength tape for $10. Be careful it is permanent when it sticks to anything.

Photos

Youtube Video

The video is set to private. I actually considered running mine to the amber light, but my camper is brand new, and couldn't bring myself to start ripping off sealant to tap into the light. There is an outlet right behind that wall too, just behind the microwave, I could have just kept it 110v and plugged it in there, and mounted the controls inside. As it stands, mine works well so I'm not going to change it.

My light is behind the awning, so when the awning is rolled in, it dosen't put out much light, but does emit a great glow around the camper, so it's a perfect night light. If I roll the awning out 6 inches, it brightens up the area. So even in brisk wind, I can roll the awning out a tiny bit, and still have light.