NEW caravan awning LED light project

[@barrycarruthers7866]

You are a clever man Mr Trudgian! I have just repaired a strip of LED lights after watching you solder the wires. Thank you for another excellent tutorial.

[@frky-qx1zn]

I have made my own version of these lights for my caravan awning and had a spare one which I put some magnetic tape to fix to car bonnets and fitted crocodile clips to connect it to car batteries which I use at work

[@grantlindley2145]

I used to make these for night fishing. I used to use a thin tube used by fisher man to store there top sections for there fishing poles. You can buy from most fishing shops for a couple of pounds and they come with caps and can be cut to size easy enough.

[@chrispriddey4594]

Thanks, Dan. I am one who have been with you from the (nearly) beginning. This is a great upgrade and easy for everyone to ‘have a go’. As I think I have said before, you have stuck to your roots and you have a loyal and expanding following. Thank you for all the time you give your channel...appreciated by many 😀

[@qedelec]

I made two 1 metre awning lights after watching your first offering and have been using then ever since. I've not had a problem with the tubes, probably because I stow them in a capped cardboard tube in the back of the wardrobe. To attach them to the awning I have 4 clips that were the packing for our walking poles. I connect them to the existing porch light (which can be disabled inside the cupboard), so switch on from the switch beside the door. The feed is enclosed in the aerial outlet box that was converted so that the roof aerial comes out and back in via a coax plug and socket.

[@lostweekendscaravan]

This is a great idea. I have just replaced the kitchen at home and have some led strip lights left. I will make a front locker light, Thanks Phil👍

[@ForTheLoveOfCaravans]

Nice one Dan... will have to have a go at that. Thanks for featuring us on your channel. The support for channels like ours is very much appreciated. Thank you.... Ian

[@elpresidente8730]

Go to your local fishing tackle shop and get some clear plastic 30mm rod tubes and some end caps. Each tube will make 2 lights, they are lightweight strong and perfect for the job. I made several sets of dimmable lights for my friends and recently made a set of variable colour lights with wifi controllability just for the hell of it ( a bit more tricky to solder up but they work.

[@Lifeat39000ft]

Looks far more professional than the last ones. I will make some of those for sure. It will make my van and awning look like a new van ;0)

[@lorrets9775]

We have the same light , very useful . Came in handy recently to distract the tiny flies away from the door

[@rozeeboy74]

I have just made these lights and they are blinking awesome!!!! Thanks for the inspiration. Rather than soldering things I have just purchased a series of extension cables and it works a treat.

[@clairesouthgate7552]

Can i ask if you can tel me what i need to purchase to make these myself. The stuff on amazon are sold out :(

[@sonjaianhattiescaravanadve4847]

Wish we had seen this video a while ago. We bought a LED light tube last year. It works well but the cost was much more ☹️☹️☹️. Thanks Dan for another great video. Ian & Sonja.

[@CaravanningwiththeCoxs]

Brilliant! Exactly what I needed. I was going to make some. I will make these now. Cheers Oliver

[@Dandle01]

Nice update. They look very smart.

[@florenciosud8385]

Excellent Dan! Just what I'm after 73s G6ATJ

[@HomefromHomewithLinRich]

Great update Dan. I'll get Rich straight on it when he's better!! - Lin xx

[@johncooke2739]

Dan I thought the first lights you did were excellent. These are a next level mate. Will be doing some of these myself.

[@simonlakin5067]

As always Dan a great project. Thanks for sharing. 👍

[@TheCaravanNut]

Interesting project well explained Dan. We use a LED rope light which works really well, it’s very bright though 🤔 Great vlog, cheers Martin 🙂

[@bodyshop1]

I have a 10 Metre rope light too Martin, works great but lights up the whole campsite...

[@TheCaravanNut]

Ours is the same 😂

[@caravantuggers1608]

Dan amazing and inspirational video, certainly sold it to me and will be using your link to purchase the goods mentioned to go in our Isabella awning

[@peteharding1228]

Like this video as I was inspired by by your use of Led`s last time and I thought about fitting an Led strip in the bottom part of our wardrobe at the back of our Alpine 2 (cos its like the black hole of Calcutta , can never find anything ! ) , but wanted to link it into the original light switch and was to afraid I might cock it up . So I`m looking forward to you fitting this light into your wet locker . Thanks for all your help and advice . Pete

[@mwffoto7698]

Awesome as always! May make them for the garage!

[@rileykeatley6636]

We got a new awning light and it's like looking into a full moon at night

[@laptopsid]

We’ve just got a 6 metre cable with a lamp holder on one end with a LED bulb in and a 13 amp plug on the other end. It works perfectly. £6.29 in total.👍

[@rickiwenn3645]

No good when no ehu

[@MWPH]

This winter`s project No. 2 !!

[@simonmcgill2097]

Bugger. wish I'd seen this prior to purchasing the Kampa equivalent. :( Well done. Thanks for info and for future use it WILL come in handy :) Nice work.

[@andrewphillips2349]

I have been waiting for this video, thanks Dan project for the this month.

[@carlrees5574]

Super stuff Dan. wish i had seen this before i bought the kampa light sabor kit...

[@barrywalker2606]

Nice job Dan very neat and tidy 73 M0JOG

[@kevandrews4699]

Nice one Mr T nice up grade .kev

[@CaraVanOlogywithBecky]

Very smart, great make :)

[@Venomator.]

Great job Dan and a useful project very well described and worked through, thank you... 👍🏻 😉 🐍

[@bodyshop1]

them profiles are available from screwfix in metre lengths

[@MrTpimms]

New subscriber here and very new to all of this! Loving going back through the videos to pick up all the tips! Can I ask how you connect this to a power source, does it run from a mains plug? Can it run on the 12v for off grid? Thanks in advance!

[@alanoliver6030]

Many thanks for all your videos, after caravaning for 20 odd years with abreak of the last 8 years I have decided to buy anothe van. I have enjoyed many of your videos on wif,mifi and setting up the tv. But i'd like to ask a question regrading the awning lights, do you connect in series? or parallel?

[@Robinms100]

All parts ordered, i'll let you know how it goes. Forgive my memory from A level Electronics 15 years ago, will chain linking them make them in series and therefore reduce the brightness?

[@Robinms100]

Mine are now fully constructed, my rails didn’t come with end caps though.

[@andyr5029]

A great update Dan. For those that would like extra light when not using an awning is there a way of taking advantage of the awning rail to feed flexible LED tape along it? I've thought of using an awning protector but I'm not sure the LED tape would stick to this very well. Any ideas welcome :)

[@tazarcher3880]

London taxi 1 second in hahaha

[@Lifeat39000ft]

Hi dan just a quick observation I don’t think the Aluminuin trunking comes with the end caps or does it? If not I assume you got them separate. Cheers

[@m4pdy]

This is great, question how have you split the from the psu to each light have you used a splitter. Also have you tried this in a cocoon breeze drive away awning? Thanks in advance.

[@kevinjohn725]

Great

[@luke865]

Did you make the wetlocker light Dan? Interested if you did.

[@PaulClapperton]

Hi Dan, can this be wired directly to a cigarette lighter plug to solely run off 12v?

[@eugenedarvell8470]

Are you going to sell the complete lights ?

[@klchauffeurs4463]

Hi Dan, I was thinking of getting the Kampa LED's but they where very expensive and so I saw this video. So I've now ordered them and as of today I now have 5 fantastic 1 meter LED's - all working amazingly. However, I have a question - I've got Isabella awning with 5 poles - so I could put one LED strip on each pole. But how do I connect all 5 strips - together in a daisy chain?? It may be too many LED's then and not enough Amp to have all working together??? Or should I get 12V tranformers for each and then put them all an 240V extrension lead? Any suggestions would be amazing.

[@gillnicholls9665]

Cleva lad.xxx

[@simonbaxter8001]

Dan, ordered the aluminium extrusion from your shopfront link and they have arrived without end caps?? Did yours have end caps or did you get them from somewhere else? TIA

[@nabarnes]

The power supply you have linked to is rated at 2A. This is not sufficient and could be dangerous for this project. 60 LEDs per metre at 20mA each (this is typical for 5050 LEDs) is 1.2A per metre - essentially meaning that if you're running more than 1.6m of LEDs you're exceeding the capabilities of the power supply. At the very best, the power supply will have a current limiter and drop the voltage to compensate (dimming the lights in the process). At the very worst, the power supply could be cheap rubbish, will overheat and catch fire... 60 LEDs/metre means 300 LEDs per 5m drawing 6A total - at the very least you need a 6A power supply, but I'd over-spec it just to be safe and go for at least 10A. I'd also buy a recognised brand - there is an awful lot of nasty stuff coming in from China and being sold on Amazon and eBay. The other things to consider are the voltage drop along the strip (the lights at the end of the run could be appreciably dimmer than those at the start) and also the current flowing through the strip - 6A is an awful lot for very thin copper traces. If you're going to daisy chain them, it would be a good idea to feed power from both ends and also run a power bus along the inside of the aluminium profile to take the load off the LED strip itself.

[@TheTrudgians]

Hi Nicolas, thanks you for comment, just to correct you on a few points here : There are 300 LEDs in the total 5m run, so 60 LEDs per meter. The total power consumption for the entire 5m run is 40w / 3.3A for a single meter of LEDs it is 8w / 0.7A - Ive just measured one of mine here (the one you see on screen - its current draw is 0.773A on my multi meter), which is well within the 2A capability of the PSU. I hope that helps.

[@nabarnes]

I completely agree (and I did say) that running 1m on that PSU is absolutely fine. My point was about using more than one metre on the 2A power supply. As your figures show, the power supply is under-rated. Your LEDs would appear to be running at 13mA which is surprisingly low, but this means you shouldn't run more than about 3m in one string with that PSU. All I'm saying, and I think we can agree, is that that PSU is not suitable or safe for powering the entire 5m of LEDs.

[@Epkeating]

Thanks for this Dan. I was looking at the Outdoor Revolution Lumi Link system, but this will be as good, but significantly cheaper. As an aside, where can I source the white sockets / plugs etc, as the amazon links only show black? Sorry it is probably my ineptitude that is causing me a problem, but I cant seem to find any colour choice on amazon.

[@andy44646]

Come on dan you’ve watched a lot of blue peter when you was younger didn’t you lol seriously tho dan fantastic, thank you for these videos (why aren’t you on tv🤔)

[@waynehobbs5175]

Hey Dan, I didnt see the cost and description of the clear cover?

[@clairesouthgate7552]

The stuff you listed is out of stock on amazon can you show me which ones i need on ebay please many thanks 👍

[@simonbaxter8001]

If you get the LED strip Dan suggests, they don't come with end caps, but you can get white ones here ... mkshop.co.uk/2x-end-caps-for-linemini-white-aluminium-channel-led-profiles/ they also do silver/grey. Note: they are not cheap when you add P&P, so buy aluminium strips that already have them!

[@stefox8993]

Elephant in the room

[@colinmew6695]

Better 1 light bulb 4m cable 1 plug 1 lamp shade all under £10 much cheaper and just as good.

[@davidmbell]

230v volt though - this is 12v so can be used off the 'van battery when off grid