Gang,
Ever since I saw a new Newell with under coach lighting, I have wanted to do that to my coach. I have not looked under the new coaches, so I don't know if they are strips or individual fixtures mounted around the coach.
The effect is amazing. (Yes, I asked the factory and they said it would cost $8k!!!!!)
Has anyone done this?
Cheers,
bill
I did this to my motorcycle and my Miata - very cool and does not take a lot of lights for the effect.
A strip of water-proof LED lights from Amazon/eBay (get the multi-color ones with a remote) can be wired in directly to the 12v system (use a fuse of course) - the attachment points are the tricky part. I figured I would run mine down the underside just below the bay doors but you definitely want it so that you don't see the light directly - the 'glow' comes from not seeing the bulbs. This would be very cool in the bays and simple since there are 12v lights already in there...
Yes, I agree on the bays. The existing lights are not very bright and some strip LEDs would be much better.
Where I am stuck is how to mount the LEDs in such a way that it will be maintainable yet durable. I installed a boat underwater LED in a garden fountain it was expensive and only came in blue, but was built to work on the hull of a boat.
It uses the water for heat dissipation so would not work under the coach.
I'm going to continue researching and will post what I come up with.
the lights I bought on Amazon came with plastic hangers (although I immediately lost them!)...
(10-23-2015, 04:23 PM)bikestuff Wrote: [ -> ]Yes, I agree on the bays. The existing lights are not very bright and some strip LEDs would be much better.
Where I am stuck is how to mount the LEDs in such a way that it will be maintainable yet durable. I installed a boat underwater LED in a garden fountain it was expensive and only came in blue, but was built to work on the hull of a boat.
It uses the water for heat dissipation so would not work under the coach.
I'm going to continue researching and will post what I come up with.
Bill try this site they have about everything for your project.
https://www.superbrightleds.com
You have my interest now in this subject: I tried setting my lights (not mounting them) on the concrete under the coach on the driver side and then viewing from the street (down a small 10' hill) and you could see the lights very well but they were not 'glowing' as you could still see the bulbs. I noticed that the whole underside of the coach looks like it is foamed so not sure how to run the lights other than to make stainless hangers and maybe enclose in a plastic tube. If someone makes a diffuser 'tube' then that might work better....
I am thinking the same way. (Wish I would have looked to see what the factory did). Anyway, I am concerned that road gunk will cause problems so I wanna enclose in a channel or tube of some sort. The idea I like best is to mount a series of LED pucks, but that would probably not produce a smooth pattern under the coach.
I am not wild about the little credit card remote controls, and would eventually mount or re-use a switch on one of the panels in the coach.
the one thing about those little remotes is they allow you to change the colors and or have a pattern of colors change automatically. if you dont care about that, then an on off switch is fine
the changing of colors only works of course on RGB led strips
tom
Tom,
My assumption is that I will have to use the remote (or a mobile app) once to set the color then I can simply turn on it will remember what I set. Have you done this already? Any pointers would be appreciated.
cheers,
bill
I used my Logitech Harmony remote along with my iPhone to learn the different colors (had to manually learn them) for my indoor RGB LEDs and it worked fine but picking up the credit card remote and clicking a button was easier than picking up a phone, looking up the app, finding the lights and changing the colors... There are also dimmer buttons on the remotes. I did some research and you can make your own luminescent / flourescent colored tubes with LED lights but not sure about multi-colored. You basically use a flourescent marker and rob the dye from it - Youtube has videos about it. This would give you a real 'glow' ...