Last week, a friend gave me several strips of LED lighting. The strips are flexible, with LED clusters about every inch or so and places to cut or connect strips every four or five inches. The strips are marked 12 VDC, so I knew they would be usable in the trailer.
LED strip
The strips had been removed from an exhibit, so the self-adhesive backing was used, and in the case of one strip, the backing had been supplemented with RTV to mount it. I hooked a strip up to my adjustable low-voltage power supply (more about that when I write about building the hot-wire foam cutter) and lo and behold those suckers are BRIGHT!
Some quick measurement showed that a full strip of the LEDs consumed about 2.5A at 12 volts. A bit high for running off the trailer’s limited capacity battery, but I wouldn’t be using the entire 8 feet to light the galley. I measured the clear space 0n the underside of the galley hatch and discovered that I could fit 32″ of LED strip without interfering with the existing turn signal lights or reflector mounting screws.
A quick trip to my local TAP Plastics got me six feet of 1/2″ square acrylic tubing which I cut to my 32″ length. I decided on 30″ of LED strip, so I cut the strip to length and slid it into the tube. I mounted the tube with blue “gasket forming” RTV because I know it will stick even when the aluminum skin gets hot.
Here you can see the tube held in place with a couple of clamps while the RTV sets up.
LED tube in place
I scrounged up an in-line switch intended for “insulation displacement” connection in a lamp cord, and soldered it into my supply line.
In-line switch
Another test with the Ammeter shows that the 30″ LED strip draws about an amp when on, which means that when I’m not connected to shore power, I’ll have to be judicious with its use, and have to be sure to turn it off when I’m not working in the galley.
LED strip light
The LED strips are substantially brighter than the eyeball spots, but draw more power than both spots combined. And the color temperature is different. The eyeball spots are intended for reading nautical charts and are balanced toward a warmer white then the strips. We’ll see how much it affects my cooking.
Thanks to my friend, the galley is much brighter and more evenly lit after a quick and cheap improvement project.