led light strips under awning

[vanillagorilla]

2014 springdale 303bhssr

wanting to add the 16ft light strip to the side of the travel trailer under the awning. installing will be no problem. my question is where do most people wire it in to get power if it has a remote to control the lights. I thought about the amber light by the door but want to keep them on separate when needed. any help will be appreciated.

[PARAPTOR]

Originally Posted by vanillagorilla

2014 springdale 303bhssr

wanting to add the 16ft light strip to the side of the travel trailer under the awning. installing will be no problem. my question is where do most people wire it in to get power if it has a remote to control the lights. I thought about the amber light by the door but want to keep them on separate when needed. any help will be appreciated.

If I recall one member did exactly that, he stuffed the remote and wiring into the outside porch light, Do not recall if his remote was RF or IR. Yes using this method porch light will be on with LED strip unless you removed the original porch light bulb. I have yet to install mine on either awning. I am not a remote person and want mine on separate switches. One awning I have figured out how to do, however on the second I have yet to figure how to get the power to that one. Do not want to drill any holes in the side of the RAPTOR.

I would suggest doing a search for say led lighting, external led, awning led to find that method.

[wahoonc]

I am in the process of getting one mounted under my 10' awning. I am not a huge fan of remotes (they quit or I lose them). My game plan is to put a water proof junction box under the edge of the awning. It will be terminate in a cabinet that I can fish wires down the bottom to a switch I have already installed on the end of the cabinet.

Aaron

[cjm]

I simply drilled a hole through the wall, into a closet in the front bedroom. Pulled power from a light and hid it all above the door to the closet.

Works great!

[homer3]

Anyone have any pictures of at night. Curious as to how much light is actually put out.

[cjm]

I haven't got any photos., but with the awning out (it reflects of the white underside so is brighter with it out that in) if the dimmer is on high we can read, and can dim it down to basically candle light.

[HappyCamperMN]

We had the dealer mount an LED light strip under the awning. Their first attempt at wiring was underwhelming so asked them to re-do more professionally... Where we ended up was they drilled a hole to the interior and then tacked the power cord along the wall and into a cabinet. The cord is visible yes, but it's up out of the way and looks professional.

[homer3]

Question; so R they hard to install. Is there some sort of double sided adhesive tape that adheres to exterior wall. Do they get in way of awning when rolling up for closure??

[cjm]

They are easy to install. There are ones with double sided tape... avoid them. They are enclosed in silicone, but not sealed at the ends, or very well overall. They are not good for heavy rain. Get an IP68 rated one which will have the same silicone covered LEDs inside of a plastic tube - they are fully waterproof or as near as you are going to find, except for the ends which you seal with silicone. These ones you run a bead of silicone under the awning track and stick the tube in it.

I've used both ones, the silicone one lasted 18 months, the other one has been 2 years and is still perfect. Spend the little bit xtra.

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by cjm

They are easy to install. There are ones with double sided tape... avoid them. They are enclosed in silicone, but not sealed at the ends, or very well overall. They are not good for heavy rain. Get an IP68 rated one which will have the same silicone covered LEDs inside of a plastic tube - they are fully waterproof or as near as you are going to find, except for the ends which you seal with silicone. These ones you run a bead of silicone under the awning track and stick the tube in it.

I've used both ones, the silicone one lasted 18 months, the other one has been 2 years and is still perfect. Spend the little bit xtra.

Great advice!

I use the self stick ones not in the tube for storage compartment lighting, inside cabinets etc. I had purchased a 16' roll to use for the outside lighting, but figured out real quick that it was not the best option, so sprung for the stuff in the tube instead.

I use 3M VHB double stick tape to put them one. I don't trust the stock stuff.

Aaron

[wesaysoracing]

I recently installed a 12 foot LED light strip on my bullet , I ran the power wires along the top of the light strip to my amber light , I drilled a small hole in the amber lights base, ran the wires thru the hole and inside to my electrical panel where I installed a switch, I also installed a 1 foot one on the frame behind the steps and tied it into the step light wiring ,that really lights the steps up

[Biff]

Originally Posted by homer3

Anyone have any pictures of at night. Curious as to how much light is actually put out.

I don't know how good they show up but here is a photo.)





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Biff]

Originally Posted by Biff

I don't know how good they show up but here is a photo.)





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Here is a little better photo.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[I.plod]

The thread where Iplod drills a hole in the trailer. Let the pearl clutching commence!

I installed our LED lights up under the awning and pulled the power from the amber porch light. After I removed the amber lens I found the pigtails for the light fixture to be too short (even with a soldering iron). And things looked a bit crowded up there for the white remote box.

What’s behind the wall? A kitchen cabinet! What’s in the kitchen cabinet? Power! Not tied to the ceiling light switch, the sink light was the closest and best tie in.

Bravely, I drilled through the light housing and positioned the white remote box inside the cabinet, and pushed the remote sensor out through the hole.

Bravely, I then cut the white extension line for the LED lights, and pushed that through the light housing from above (not shown in picture) and into the camper.

Declining to cut wires I found crimped wire nuts above the sink light and tapped in there.

I shortened the white extension cord, stripped and soldered the wires back together to the female connector.

Since the power for the kitchen sink is independent of the amber light no switches were needed. The remote control for the LEDs controls the light strip.

All holes were filled with heat resistant silicone, but I’ll keep an eye (and a keen nose) on it.

And! They work!

[Sherwood]

I ran my LED light strip right below the awning also. I ran the power wires down the awning track and into our outdoor kitchen where there is an outlet. I have less than 6" of power wire showing between the awning track and outdoor kitchen. That way I don't have to drill holes and such. I also used 3m double sided auto trim tape instead of the junk that came with the lights. Works great!

[B&T]

For easy replacement of the light strip I used Gardner Bender 10-Pack Nylon Mounting Base for Cable Ties to mount the light strips. They can be found at lowes.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_292684-1781-...der&facetInfo=

[Bill & Deb]

Originally Posted by vanillagorilla

2014 springdale 303bhssr

wanting to add the 16ft light strip to the side of the travel trailer under the awning. installing will be no problem. my question is where do most people wire it in to get power if it has a remote to control the lights. I thought about the amber light by the door but want to keep them on separate when needed. any help will be appreciated.

First thing, do you have a manual or electric awning ?
Mine is electric.
I installed two types LED strip lights 16 footers each, one RGB remote and the other a pure white. Both are the 5050 type leds which are brighter and they must be of the waterproof nature. I also ordered two 15 ft. RGB extension cables.
I then ran the extension cables down the arm sleeve that has the awning power cables plus it has a removable cover. At the point near where the awning power goes through the wall I put another hole in. In my case there is a dresser in the bedroom. From there I was able put a hole down into the storage area and the rest was easy. It is hard wired with a pair of fuses to the RV battery thereby eliminating the crappy power supplies.

Cheers
Bill

[mjeronimo]

In one of my posts I have some pics of my install. I added 2 small push button switches so I could one or the other or both.

[RLHarrell]

This is the first project I took on with our new Alpine 5th wheel. Not only did I install new LED awning lights. I did so at both the awning front as well as the wall side.

That worked out so well I also ran LED's along the passenger side of the undercarriage along the frame from the front to the back. This worked out really well as it now illuminates the ground without casting any real glare from the lights. I didn't trust the taped backing that came with these LED's so I used a controlled amount of gorilla glue. I have hauled the rig several four times since we bought it in Dec. and so far no movement or problems.

I was able to hide all the wiring from both the awning and the undercarriage by carefully tucking it under a seam in the underbelly insulation sheathing. I mounted a power strip to the drivers side main beam and ran the power into the control center of the docking station.

Rather than mess with the cheap remotes that come with these foreign made lights I found an app on my phone that works great.

It took a little time, but I can now create a Christmas light show, or show my kids school colors at any of their university tailgate parties.

[cospilot]

i installed my own and as the above posted stated i went into the porch light. i actually ran my 4 RGB and ground wire strip with an extension from the closest end of the strip. the strip itself is mounted under the awning bracket that holds the awning to the trailer. so the lights are up against the outside wall under the awning.
with an extension ribbon wire i extended the 4 wires back alongside the strip itself back to the porch light.
folding the ribbon wire at a 45 degree angle made it come 90 degrees sreaight down and behind the porch light.
i filed a small notch in the back of the porch light fixture and ran the ribbon wires through the hole and into the cabinet where the control panel is for the slide outs and lighting ect. there are plenty of 12 volt circuits in there.
since my camper has only 1 slide out and 1 blank switch cover i drilled a hole in the switch cover and mounted a switch so i can cut all power to the strip when not in use. since the RGB controller remembers its last setting on power up i can turn the lights on and off with this switch without having to use the remote. we only use the remote to change the color or the modes.

next since my IR sensor wire was not long enough to reach back outside, i cut the wires and resoldered an extension in between so i could mount the IR sensor behind the porch light cover and the RGB module behind the main switch panel on the end of the upper kitchen cabinet. this allows easy access by removing the screws of the switch panel. i basically just tossed the RGB controller in there and let it fall inside the cabinet with all the rest of the wires. i just drilled a hole in the porch light aluminum backing plate to bring the IR sensor close to the back side of the amber porch light cover.

since the porch light was sealed with white silicone i re applied the sealant and re mounted the porch light with all the wiring in place.
i also used the sealant to stick the ribbon wire to the side of the camper and cover it a bit as well as seal it. so i do have a white bead of silicone running from the awning bracket to the top of the porch light for about 4.5 inches and because it's white you can't really see it anyway..

the IR remote works perfectly right through the amber lens.

if you look for my previous posts i put some pictures up on another thread.

but the way i did mine if i ever wanted to remove all traces of it, i could just take everything out and re seal the porch light, clean off the sealant and you would never know it was ever there. i did not drill any holes and just stepped into existing porch light circuit. also replaced the porch light with an LED unit while i was at it.