Need Advice on LED Puc Lights

[Re-Pete]

I'm remaking a 29' 1992 Airstream Excella. I'm planning on installing LED puc lights instead of the old lights I had. Any advice on spacing?

[rmkrum]

Depends on how high they are above what you want to light up. For example, our 22 footer has six (two rows of three) that light up the main aisle, three over the kitchen under the cabinets, and three under the cabinets over the dinette. I’d suggest getting a few, powering them temporarily and seeing what area they cover from their intended location. Ours seem optimal for us.

[Re-Pete]

Originally Posted by rmkrum

Depends on how high they are above what you want to light up. For example, our 22 footer has six (two rows of three) that light up the main aisle, three over the kitchen under the cabinets, and three under the cabinets over the dinette. I’d suggest getting a few, powering them temporarily and seeing what area they cover from their intended location. Ours seem optimal for us.

Thanks for your reply. Just guessing if say the inside height is about 6'9". I'm pretty sure I've measured it and have it written down. Kind of hard at the moment though, as the shell is on supports and the frame is next to it. [emoji2]
I like your suggestion of powering them and checking the lighting effect to come up with advantageous placement. Can't really do that after the skins are in place, but I guess doing it before hand will be close enough. I'm a ways from that point, but I'm waiting on replacement metal, so I'm doing some pre planning.

[rmkrum]

Ours are spread out evenly over the intended areas, except the kitchen counter where 2 pucks are in the larger area, and one is to the left of the stove over the sink. Also think about which ones you want on each switch. We find a desire to have more switches to control task lighting. No sense in lighting whole kitchen counter when you are just doing dishes, for example. And we wish we had dinners on some of the lights for maneuvering at night to the bathroom from the bed, for example, without turning on all six aisle lights to full brightness. More stuff to consider.

[Streamracer]

Since you are rebuilding, you might look at also adding indirect lighting using rope lights. I've added them over the lockers in the bedroom , the kitchen cabinet lockers and the wood valances over the windows in the living area. Also added remote on off switch with dimmers. They are all 12v and can be gotten on ebay for under $20 total. Look nice at night with very little power use.

[The Twinkie]

Take a car battery in your bathroom, close the door!
After hooking up a puck light using some clips and wire....turn the light off to see how much light each LED gives out. Increase your number of LEDs until you get the amount of light wanted?

[Re-Pete]

Originally Posted by rmkrum

Ours are spread out evenly over the intended areas, except the kitchen counter where 2 pucks are in the larger area, and one is to the left of the stove over the sink. Also think about which ones you want on each switch. We find a desire to have more switches to control task lighting. No sense in lighting who kitchen counter when you are just doing dishes, for example. And we wish we had dinners on some of the lights for maneuvering at night to the bathroom from the bed, for example, without turning on all six aisle lights to full brightness. More stuff to consider.

Totally good point. I've been thinking about night lighting for the bathroom run, Plus I do like to have individual control over lights and lighting. I also agree that dimmers are the way to go.

Originally Posted by Streamracer

Since you are rebuilding, you might look at also adding indirect lighting using rope lights. I've added them over the lockers in the bedroom , the kitchen cabinet lockers and the wood valances over the windows in the living area. Also added remote on off switch with dimmers. They are all 12v and can be gotten on ebay for under $20 total. Look nice at night with very little power use.

I've actually used Rope lighting out side. I like your idea. Care to post some pics? Links?

Originally Posted by The Twinkie

Take a car battery in your bathroom, close the door!
After hooking up a puck light using some clips and wire....turn the light off to see how much light each LED gives out. Increase your number of LEDs until you get the amount of light wanted?

That makes a lot of sense. I'll definitely give that a try.


Has anyone found any master controls for lighting and please share if you have and please post product links.