Anyone using LEDs for trailer interior lighting?
 

Fitting up a new trailer for my ATV and got a crazy idea to consider LED lighting for interior. First looked at LED fluorescent tube replacements.. too expensive for me. Then I got the bright idea of trying 'LED strips', basically leds on a roll of 'tape' you cut to suit. From what I have seen they are fairly bright. Figured I could run 4 to 6 strips on ceiling, the length of the trailer.

Has anyone done anything like this? If so what did you use, how did it work?

Depending on the strip brightness, it should work great, and LEDs are very low power draw, and dont heat up like a regular lamp does. You could light up the whole trailer with just a small battery for hours !!

yeah.... still reading up, some strips have half the leds of others.
Wanted to stay 12v as much as possible for lighting. Did not want to run the normal 12v bulbs and then have 110v as well. Was going to use 12v fluorescent fixtures but am still leaning towards led strips. Just worried about banging them if unprotected on ceiling.. but have 6 1/2' ceiling.

They do make them in a tube but more expensive and dimmer. Other option is to buy clear tubing that I can fish strips in. Then can use little straps to put tubing on ceiling. May order some test lengths to play with next week to see how they look if I can buy less than a roll. My friends think I am wasting my money but I am looking at max trailer battery time when out in the woods without having to use a generator or inverter to get 110v lighting.

I went to Harbor Freight and got a solar powered security LED light for my dog pen,its great, charges up by day, then the motion sensor turns the light on whenever the dogs come out to eat or get a drink, or I go out to the pen in the dark to take care of them. 36 LEDs make a nice bright light, and no batteries or power cords, just the line from the little solar panel,that you can mount out in the sun almost 15 feet from the light. Check out their website, see if they have some nice LED panel lights that would work for you, heck, even look into a small solar battery charger, then you are getting free recharge all day, for lighting at night !!

would y'all be willing to post some pics so we can see how bright the lumens are on these lights? you've peaked my curiosity and got me thinking about my lighting at different camp sites.:)

I put two 16' strips in the corners of each side of my trailer. I was very surprised just how well they lit up the trailer... as good as you would get from standard 4' flourescent tubes the lenght of the trailer. Best part is they only draw 1.5 watts.

That is a good idea. I'd say I wonder why the camper manufactors don't use LED, but I already know... Money. I use to use LED lights on the front of my jon boat that I ran trotlines with at night. I could flip them forward and they would shine the line as it was coming up so I could see to get fish off, and I could also flip one back so I could see to bait the hooks. This was great because the big spot light drew alot of power from the battery not to mention someone had to hold it and all the bugs at night were terrible.
LED's rock. Cool idea, If I ever go back to enclosed trailers I might have to consider this.

What about ?

Has me thinking about putting something like that in our trailer now.

after Christmas sales are gonna be good for me and the LED lights that i'm gonna pick up for my Toy Hauler. ;). thanks Scootergptx

I've used the L.E.D. lights on the inside of my work van, they work rather well, nice and bright, the white lights are the brightest. And they were easy to install, peel the tape, and stick it where you want it. Plus alot easier on the charging system too. i would recommend them for your application. i picked up a few sets of them at my local Autozone parts store, about $25 Bucks for two 15" strips. And you can Cut to fit them also.

Good luck Bro.