LED Lights
2 flush mount 30 LED lights were purchased from Greenlaser.co.nz in before our 2008 summer. Using a hole saw 2 holes were drilled about 150mm to the side of the vents and foam removed to allow light to fit. I removed the vent covers to access the existing light wiring and a piece of stiff wire was pushed from the vent opening to the holes cut on the roof to make a wiring duct in the foam. The wires on the lights were extended and a small miniature switch from Dick Smith Electronics mounted in the vent trim between the 2 existing light fittings. I removed the spring fastening clip from the rear of the lights and used silicone to fasten the lights in place. This was to make the lights removable if required.
We trialed these lights and have now put in
2 more by the second vent.
These are very low current draw so really extend battery life when freedom
camping.
As most of our camping is away from power I replaced 2 lamps in the standard
light fittings with a PC Board that had 20 LED's mounted on it sourced from
here and find
these to be excellent. I will be replacing the rest of them in due course.
They give off a light similar in colour to the fluorescents (nice soft white).
The PC Boards need to be fastened with the likes of silicon rubber as the
supplied double sided tape seems to let go after a while. Use some small pieces
of double sided tape
to hold PC Board up while silicon dries. If you know how to use a soldering iron
then you should not have any problems fitting the LED's
With the addition of the LED lights we can run
TV & Satellite decoder, Lights & Radio and on a sunny day the 85w solar panel will
have the battery fully charged by mid-day when freedom camping. We always
run fridge on gas, not 12V.
You can see the original light on the front left vent lights and the LED fitted
to the right.