21c cabinet lights

[Captain Hibachi]

We decided during a recent trip to add some lighting to the overhead cabinets in the kitchen and dining areas of our 21c. There were two goals here: better illumination inside the cabinets so we could more easily find stuff in the jumble up there, and also have some nice ambient lighting through the frosted glass panels. I think it turned out pretty well! There is an app for on/off and controlling brightness and color.

 

[Captain Hibachi]

I had used Lamomo LED strip lights (ordered from Amazon) for some projects in the house and really liked them, so decided to use them for the cabinet lighting. It was tough to measure exactly how long the strip needed to be. I ended up with a 32' strip - the 16' didn't quite cover the entire length of the cabinets. It didn't miss by much, and it's questionable whether anyone would have noticed, but I figured I'd rather be safe.

There was one complication caused by this - the 32' strip needs 24v, and the power drop in the cabinet is 12v. I had to add a 12v to 24v boost converter to handle this.

To run the LED strip, I needed to drill a few holes in the thin panels that separate cabinets. I also was adding a strip light under the outside awning, so used Wago 221-413 connectors to connect the power up. White duck tape was used to keep wiring out of the way.

I didn't take a lot of photos during the project, but these should give a good idea of how things proceeded. Overall, this wasn't particularly difficult, and required maybe $60 worth of parts and a few hours. Going with the 16' strip would have saved about $20 or so.

 

[Genebuilder]

Nice job, Captain Hibachi. Gives me ideas for my 23 F1.

 

[RambleOn]

Nice! I like the look and may do the same. I love the ideas I get from this group!

 

[Larry_19]

Looks great. one question are they powered on/off by a switch or your phone?

 

[Captain Hibachi]

Looks great. one question are they powered on/off by a switch or your phone?

The lights have a controller that has a power switch and a way to change the lighting pattern, but I use the app on the phone. The app gives much more control over the color and brightness.

 

[Shadious]

I had used Lamomo LED strip lights (ordered from Amazon) for some projects in the house and really liked them, so decided to use them for the cabinet lighting. It was tough to measure exactly how long the strip needed to be. I ended up with a 32' strip - the 16' didn't quite cover the entire length of the cabinets. It didn't miss by much, and it's questionable whether anyone would have noticed, but I figured I'd rather be safe.

There was one complication caused by this - the 32' strip needs 24v, and the power drop in the cabinet is 12v. I had to add a 12v to 24v boost converter to handle this.

To run the LED strip, I needed to drill a few holes in the thin panels that separate cabinets. I also was adding a strip light under the outside awning, so used Wago 221-413 connectors to connect the power up. White duck tape was used to keep wiring out of the way.

I didn't take a lot of photos during the project, but these should give a good idea of how things proceeded. Overall, this wasn't particularly difficult, and required maybe $60 worth of parts and a few hours. Going with the 16' strip would have saved about $20 or so.

I’d be interested in hearing about your strategy for running the awning lights. I’d like to add them as well and really want to do minimal hole drilling!

 

[occer]

I went the cheap easy route, while at Camping world they had these on clearance. They work mostly.

Bright Basics Wireless Remote Control LED Puck Lights, 6-Pack

Bright Basics Ultra Thin Wireless LED Puck Lights give you ultra bright lighting up to 100 lumens with a cool white glow.

www.campingworld.com

 

[Donna D.]

I went with wireless, LED, USB rechareables. Thanks to seeing the ones Dianne Graham put in her trailer! Totally cool. Open the cabinet door, the light comes on, shut the door, light goes off. I'm very, very pleased.

 

[Shadious]

We had a lot of 12 volt drops added by the original owners and we added switched lights in all the cabinets. They are LED and super bright.
Here is the link:
12v LED Interior Light Bar，CT... Amazon.com

 

[Brian North]

I went with wireless, LED, USB rechareables. Thanks to seeing the ones Dianne Graham put in her trailer! Totally cool. Open the cabinet door, the light comes on, shut the door, light goes off. I'm very, very pleased.

We use the same ones from Amazon. Although the last batch we got seem to run down the battery quickly.

 

[Brian North]

I’d be interested in hearing about your strategy for running the awning lights. I’d like to add them as well and really want to do minimal hole drilling!

I’m am also interested in mounting a light strip under the awning, but am concerned about how to keep from damaging the interior side of the insulation and wall finish inside the cabinets.

 

[vermilye]

Make sure you can turn off any automatic cabinet lights if you plan to camp in cold humid areas. leaving cabinet doors open can reduce condensation on the outer walls and keep things stored dry. For that reason I use switched lights rather than automatic ones.

 

[NCopp]

I did the same thing in our new E23. I used products from Inspired LED and previously used their LED strips in our E19. I didn't want another phone app so used their Multi-zone wireless remote (12v). I split the cabinets into 3 areas (front, side, back) using the voltage drops I had installed ETI. Then used 3 of their Multi-zone wireless receivers. You can turn all on at once and dim all, or a zone at a time and dim only that one. You can order a long flexible LED strip (various brightness choices) but I just had them make 7 strips of the lengths of our cabinets. They have connectors of various kinds also. We just did bright white, we didn't want a lightshow...

 

[Donna D.]

Make sure you can turn off any automatic cabinet lights if you plan to camp in cold humid areas. leaving cabinet doors open can reduce condensation on the outer walls and keep things stored dry. For that reason I use switched lights rather than automatic ones.

The ones I posted are motion activated. They'll actually go off if the cabinet door is left open and no movement inside the cabinet. I didn't want to run a bunch of wire.

 

[Captain Hibachi]

I’m am also interested in mounting a light strip under the awning, but am concerned about how to keep from damaging the interior side of the insulation and wall finish inside the cabinets.

We just got back from a lengthy trip to West Texas (including a visit to McDonald Observatory - highly recommended!), and the lights worked very well.

There are battery powered LED strips that you could use to keep from drilling but we wanted something more permanent. The plan was also to trim things out nicely, but looking at these pictures.... well, not so nicely trimmed, but everything is hidden so I guess it's OK.

After many measurements, and several deep breaths, I drilled through the shell into the cabinet interior. Fitting the wire through the hole required cutting off the connector that attached to the LED controller to keep the hold as small as possible. Inside the cabinet, I resoldered the wires to an extension cable, then attached that to the controller. There are probably better ways to handle it, depending on the exact LED strip you choose. I added some silicon caulk while feeding the wire through the hole, the theory being that this would help fill the hole, then put more caulk around the hole. It's very tight under the awning so this was mostly pumping out the caulk, smoothing it out some and then hoping for the best. No leaks yet, so I guess I did something right!

On the inside of the cabinet, I ran the wire from the hole in the insulation up to the trim piece, then covered the loose wire in white duck tape. All the wiring and the LED controller went in the rear of the cabinet, held in place with painters tape. This all held during our West Texas trip, but if the painters tape comes off I'll replace it with something better.

 

[Ron in BC]

After many measurements, and several deep breaths, I drilled through the shell into the cabinet interior.

After the first dozen or so holes you'll stop holding your breath. It gets easier with time.

Well done for your first mod.

Ron