Lighting our new TT

[bazaarsoft]

We just recently bought a TT and am looking forward to doing a lot of traveling. One thing that we noticed on our first trip out is that the inside lighting is, well, pretty horrible: the dome lights are bright, glaring, direct, and frankly extremely unattractive. For instance, when watching TV, it's pretty much impossible to do anything but turn off all the lights. I can imagine if we were sitting in the living area chatting with guests, the lighting would be very distracting.

After spending a few hours looking online, I've yet to find anything to replace them that look reasonable. When we designed our house, we went to great efforts to make sure that there was mostly indirect lighting - it's warmer and less distracting. I was hoping to find some low-profile fixtures to replace the dome lights where at least part of the light was indirect.

What are others doing about this? Or do I just have unreasonable expectations?

[the_happiestcam]

JiminDenver wrote:
In our trailer we replaced all of the lights with LEDs' The ones that directly replace the incandescent bulb are just as bright or brighter too the point of being uncomfortable except in task areas where bright light is needed.

I noticed that too, so I removed both incandescent bulbs from each fixture and only added one LED - works fine.

[retired-tech]

you could try finding lower wattage bulbs for the fixtures as well. there is a bunch of different bulbs that will plug into most any 12 volt fixture.

[HeyJude]

Chuck&Gail wrote:
Since we rarely boondock, we installed some additional 120 VAC lighting that we liked. Works great.

I would like to replace my bright lights with home lighting, how did you go about it? Like in our living area, I would like to put some low profile lights?

[bazaarsoft]

limbery wrote:
Bazaarsoft....how did you fasten the rope lights around the slide?...I'm thinking of putting some new LED strips along the top edge over the cabinets above my kitchen in mine...it would be easy to get to the electrical receptacle in the cabinet beside the microwave (where it plugs in and there's a free plug-in)....figured I might as well go for the LED right away....They're the best thing that's happened to RVs in awhile IMHO....

That's the beauty - I didn't have to since they can just sit up on the slide and tuck into the groove I mentioned. They do make rope light clips that have a small screw that mounts the clip into the wall, etc. I use those in my kitchen toe kick in the house.

I'll caution though - the ropes can also be kinda glaring if you can see them directly - I suspect the LED strips would be as well. I suppose you could put them on a dimmer to help with that if you can't find a way to conceal them.

I'm considering adding some short angled crown molding above the door that would allow me to put a short length there as well - which is right beside the cabinet where my microwave outlet is, so that one is definitely useful to me as well. Have to watch the added weight, but the molding shouldn't add much.

And I totally agree - LEDs are really going to change how we think about lighting in general.

Thanks woodglue. Just the first of hopefully many ideas. No doubt many wont work out so well... 😉

[WoodGlue]

bazaarsoft, looks like you did a great job there!

WoodGlue

[limbery]

Bazaarsoft....how did you fasten the rope lights around the slide?...I'm thinking of putting some new LED strips along the top edge over the cabinets above my kitchen in mine...it would be easy to get to the electrical receptacle in the cabinet beside the microwave (where it plugs in and there's a free plug-in)....figured I might as well go for the LED right away....They're the best thing that's happened to RVs in awhile IMHO....

[bazaarsoft]

First, a big thanks to everyone who chimed in. Great feedback for my first post on the forums.

My first experiment actually went very well. When building our house, we found that using rope lights up under the toe kick in the kitchen added some really nice indirect lighting (as does some halogen up lights on top of the cabinets).

After looking around a bit, I noticed that there's a decent sized lip around the framing of the slide out. In fact, there's a groove that's pretty much exactly the size of a rope light running the length of the slide behind the trim. So, I got 24' of incandescent rope light and tucked it into that groove. I've been monitoring how hot it gets when tucked into the groove - it may end up getting too warm and weakening the plastic/rubber insulation there. If so, I can replace it with LEDs which will be much cooler.

The biggest problem was where to plug in - the only outlet in the area was under the table. Fortunately, it was pretty straight-forward to run wire from the current plug around under the bench seats to the far side of the slide out so I just added an outlet on the back side of the dining booth. We don't plan on boondocking so we'll be at power pretty much everywhere - though we do want to be energy conscious so we will eventually replace with LED ropes/strips (probably once they come down in price more). The rope light uses about 61W so it's not a huge draw for the length of time we'll be leaving it on.

Taking pictures of low indirect lighting is challenging for obvious reasons, but I've tried to give a feel for how it looks below. I first did a pict with the flash on so you could see the full trailer, then one without the flash to show roughly how the lighting looks. It's brighter in the pict than it really is, but hopefully you can envision the effect. Forgive the disheveled look - I still have a bit of work to do so I haven't put everything back together (and I'm waiting for a replacement door for the cabinet).



Cost for rope lights: $27. Cost for parts to add a new plug: $14.50 - I likely would have done that anyway given the limited plugs.

[WoodGlue]

Well, if you had a Lance Travel Trailer blah blah blah blah LOL

Scared ya didn't I?

Truthfully, any RV can be made to look nice with a few nice lights or maps placed around. I use a couple of nice desk lamps and they throw out just the sort of warm ambiance that I was looking for. Got them for $9.98 each at "WalMark"

OP, just keep looking and you'll find something that suits your needs!

WoodGlue

[WandaLust2]

bazaarsoft wrote:
We just recently bought a TT and am looking forward to doing a lot of traveling. One thing that we noticed on our first trip out is that the inside lighting is, well, pretty horrible: the dome lights are bright, glaring, direct, and frankly extremely unattractive.

They are indeed horrible - glaring and blinding. We almost never use ours except when loading or unloading after a trip and want good bright light. Also when I clean the RV. Instead, I bought a few inexpensive lamps with those silk-like shades that make a nice soft light. They were around $15 ea. at WalMart.

For instance, when watching TV, it's pretty much impossible to do anything but turn off all the lights. I can imagine if we were sitting in the living area chatting with guests, the lighting would be very distracting.

This is true and another reason we don't use ours. Lamp-light is so much better. 🙂

[doxiluvr]

I also do not like the overhead lights and about the only one I use regularly is the one in the bathroom. I also bought a couple small (maybe 12 - 14 inches) lamps and put one on the kitchen counter, and one on the small side table by the recliner and one in the bedroom where we have a small desk/dresser area. So with those and the one on the microwave/range hood, that is about all we use. Course we are plugged into electric all the time and do not boondock. I only use the overhead lights when I have to. Where there is a will there is a way. Good luck with whatever you want to do and enjoy your trailer. Happy camping.

[ZeeLet50]

I changed the bulbs in my trailer with warm white LEDs on the ceiling and used white LED's which has a hint of blue for reading over the bed and under the kitchen cabinets. I would think a tape string of LED's along the under side of the cabinets might give you some good results. They can be dim-able or even change colors. Good luck!

[Shadow_Catcher]

Our trailer was custom built and I do not care for cheap RV lights and found some marine lights that look good use LED's which I supplied.

[qtla9111]

We use table lamps with LED bulbs. We like the look and the light.

[JiminDenver]

In our trailer we replaced all of the lights with LEDs' The ones that directly replace the incandescent bulb are just as bright or brighter too the point of being uncomfortable except in task areas where bright light is needed.
I put LEDs with a 5th of the emitters in the overheads and the make a nice mood effect for eating, watching TV, talking etc.

Some people are very creative with the LED tapes. Cut to length, tuck it in somewhere and hook up a few leads for instant indirect lighting.