austinjenna wrote:
Here is where/how I did mine:
I bought the LED light strip from Ebay from a seller named PITALAM for $20.00.
They are ‘5M 5050 SMD LED RGB Waterproof 300 LED Strip Light Lamp + 44Key IR Remote’ You need to make sure they are the waterproof ones for outside. It came in a 15ft roll and you can cut them shorter at every 3rd LED. There is a little mark along the strip that shows where they can be cut.
They are12Volt powered, so either wire them directly to something off the trailer or you will need a power brick if you want to run them off a 120 outlet.
I needed an extension for the LED strip since I ran mine down the awning arm. If you have an electric awning there is a plastic cover that pops off the arm that has the motor on it where the power cord for the awning motor runs down. I just ran mine down to the bottom of the arm so I can plug in the controller. The LED extension cord is a 2.5 meter also from Ebay from a seller named sunrisedevelopment 2011 for 6.00
‘2.5M extension cable connector 4pins plug for led strip lights RGB5050’
For power I just ran some wires from the battery to where the controller would be and put a in line fuse in.
So far its been up there about a month and the tape has held up. I cleaned the track first with rubbing alcohol before attaching the tape to it. The extension cord that runs through the awning arm and attaches to the light strip up top, I did put a glob of caulk to hold it there and then just coiled up the rest under the awning arm cover so the other end just sticks out under the awning arm. When I am setting up I plug the controller into the end sticking out a pick and the power cord in and I am good to go.
This sounds about exactly like the installation I just did. I upgraded to 3m auto trim tape (cheap at walmart) instead of trusting what was on the LED strip. Used the 2.5m extension cable and ran it down the inside of the awning vertical rails, under the easily removable cover that was already there covering the awning power cord. The extension cable only has one "plug" end, the other is bare wire. I used the "plug" off of the trimmed end of the LED strip to add a second plug to the extension cable, trimming it to the perfect length beforehand.
The LED controller is trim-taped to the side of the RV right below the awning vertical rail, and power comes out the bottom and is routed along under the trailer. I used about 10" of surface mount plastic conduit from home depot to cover the exposed wire. Looks great.
The extension cable and use of a power plug will allow me to remove/replace the LED controller easily if it ever goes south -- and it indeed looks like the weakest link.
Once everyone does this mod I'm going to wander around the campground with my remote and surreptitiously switch them all to "disco" mode ;-)
