Lighting

From Nomad Life Wiki
Baseboard lighting in a van gently lighting the van floor at night.

Lighting in your vehicle's living space is almost always LEDs due to their low power consumption, small size, and variety of colors and form factors.

Older RVs and campers were generally provisioned with incandescent bulbs. Replacing these with LED lighting can reduce power consumption for those fixtures by about 90%. Drop-in replacement bulbs are available for most fixtures if you don't want to replace the fixture itself.

Color temperature

LEDs tend to have cooler/bluer color than incandescent bulbs, which are yellowish in comparison. First learn what color you prefer (expressed in degrees Kelvin) then select LEDs in that range. Some sample color temperatures:

  • 2000K - candlelight, sunrise/sunset
  • 2700K - comparable to 60w incandescent bulb
  • 3100k to 4500 - natural white to bright white
  • 5000K - daylight (scientific standard illuminant)
  • 5500K - bluish white, seen right
  • 6000K - blue white like HID headlamps

Power conditioning

If you have lead-chemistry batteries, some LED lighting can be sensitive to the higher voltages associated with Absorption and Equalization stages. For these setups, LED lighting may need to be powered via a power regulator.


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