Interior lighting

Life on the Road Electrical: Batteries, Generators, Solar, etc...
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hi there vanlifers! I recently bought a fully built out van, second battery, interior lights etc. At the moment, a week into life on the road, I’m just getting my head around things. The interior lights are 12v 2.8 watt and don’t create much light. This is fine most of the time but sometimes you just need some proper light to find stuff and read. I’m in Canada right now considering changing things up. I’m guessing I need a higher wattage output for brighter lights. Does anybody have any advice?

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We have Christmas lights on batteries (AAA), and a led light on batteries (also AAA) that might be a cheap solution

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Hey, we’ve just converted an old school bus and we used led flexible strips found on eBay they also run on 12v too.
Ive attached a photo below just eBay led strip lights.

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Greetings!

I have lots of lights, none of them hooked up to my system. They are all portable so they can be taken where needed.

I have 2 very bright solar LED lanterns that are charged via their own solar panel, via ciggy plug, via hand crank, or via shore power. The light is totally adjustable from very bright, all the way down to something similar to a night light mode. These are capable of lighting up a good sized camp site.

Next, I have 2 smaller LED lanterns that are powered by AA batteries, that are also fully adjustable.

I’ve got a couple of those UFO large, maybe 6" LED lights from Walmart, that also use AA batteries, and I have them velcro’d to my ceiling.

I have a couple of kerosene lanterns, one super bright one with a mantle, and a dimmer one without the mantle.

And last but not least I have a head lamp that directs light exactly where I need it.

You can’t have too many lights, but portable makes them so much more useful. LED’s throw a lot of light, but use very little power. You might be able to replace your current bulbs with LED’s to give more light while using less power.

Cheers!

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Wow! if I do this thing with my van as I am not expert should I call electrician?

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I’d consider leaving the low-level lights in place for ambience, and using stronger light just where you need it, along the lines of Van_Dweller’s recommendations.

I have a LED strip but use the Luci light and a cheap rechargeable visor light more than anything else. Recently I picked up a reachargeable headlamp that has red LEDs for better night vision preservation and stealth. I don’t really like the strap type, so eventually I’ll find a visor style one with red leds.

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LED bulb replacement is a drop-in thing. Like changing a lightbulb in your house, kinda, only much smaller and might require a screwdriver. Safe to do on your own.

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