12V LED lighting

Mike

December 23, 2013

Converting my van

I fitted two LED down-lights but then decided I needed something brighter for working, reading, whatever so I used a £8 Ikea lamp (in picture above) and attached it to the chest of draws – its really useful. The two LED down-lights take just 0.8W each and give a warm but fairly directional light – straight to the floor whilst the lamp uses a 4W cluster LED with MR16 fitting

I thought I may get away with buying standard light fittings (much cheaper) but the profile is huge once the bulb is fitted. I ended up buying low profile lights intended for marine and automotive applications

smd-LED-light — I was impressed with the look of these compared to some other motorhome lighting

flush-light — Head room is tight, I cant be doing with knocking lights off with my head. These should be good though

labelling-wires — Wiring time using 2.5mm2. I used masking tape to label things

fishing-wires — This was always a ‘make it up as I go along’ project which means I have to put the wires in after I fit the cladding and insulation. I found this great way of getting wires from one anywhere to anywhere though.

light-switch — I thought it’d be nice to have a proper house light switch (also cheap).

lightswitch-van1 — I mounted the 3 gang switch at the sliding door entrance. I used two switches for the lights and one is spare.

van-LED-downlights — Feels like a boat. Excellent!

E27-MR16-converter — I was looking for ages for a 12V LED bulb with an Edison screw until I came across these adaptors on Ebay. I did wreck the first bulb because I accidentally plugged it into the mains – always chop the plug off first!

I hope this has given you some ideas for your campervan conversion lighting. If you have any questions or you are stuck on your positive and negatives then ask in the comments…