LED lighting for the interior of a T25

[cedricuk]

Hi all,
 I'm looking at the different ways people have added LED lighting to the interior of their T25s and was wondering what setups have worked well.
 I'm particularly interested in low-power lighting for areas such as the kitchen/worktop, cupboards and general interior space. LED strip seems like it could be useful where you want more even illumination without taking up much room.
 For anyone who has fitted LED lighting to their van, how did you approach the wiring and switching? Did you run it from the leisure battery, and did you use separate fuses for the different lighting circuits?
 I'm also interested in whether anyone has found a good way of mounting the strip so it stays secure in a van environment, particularly around areas that see more heat, moisture or movement.
 What would you do differently if you were installing the lighting again?

[mioba]

What conversion have you got.

I have a westy.

Replace the festoons that illuminate with the doors for LED - thats a significant upgrade in itself.
Replace the dash bulbs with led (campervan culture) massive upgrade.

You can run the new lamps (above your kitchen) from the power and grounds of the door lamps. Thats how it is done on the westy - same fuse 3.

look on the likes of ebay for 12v led caravan camper - lots of options.

Always remove the fuse or better the -ve on battery when doing electric work.

There are many posts on the subject if you search the forum, BY forum and the samba.

I personally have never liked the roll strips of led. Some do some dont.

I was in 2 minds to replace the original westy floros with led earlier this year. I did not bother as the floros are 8w and the led 5w.

Make you you get the correct colour led. Some if the ice white stuff is hard on the eyes.

Good luck and post back!

[silverbullet]

4000 k is daylight colour temp, not too harsh. 3200 k is warmer, more like tungsten filament if you want you light to be a litttle more cosy.

[cedricuk]

What conversion have you got.

I have a westy.

Replace the festoons that illuminate with the doors for LED - thats a significant upgrade in itself.
Replace the dash bulbs with led (campervan culture) massive upgrade.

You can run the new lamps (above your kitchen) from the power and grounds of the door lamps. Thats how it is done on the westy - same fuse 3.

look on the likes of ebay for 12v led caravan camper - lots of options.

Always remove the fuse or better the -ve on battery when doing electric work.

There are many posts on the subject if you search the forum, BY forum and the samba.

I personally have never liked the roll strips of led. Some do some dont.

I was in 2 minds to replace the original westy floros with led earlier this year. I did not bother as the floros are 8w and the led 5w.

Make you you get the correct colour led. Some if the ice white stuff is hard on the eyes.

Good luck and post back!

Thanks, that's really helpful. Replacing the original festoon bulbs sounds like a sensible first upgrade, and I hadn't considered how much the colour temperature can affect comfort inside the van. I'll have a look at the existing fittings and wiring before deciding what would suit best.

[cedricuk]

4000 k is daylight colour temp, not too harsh. 3200 k is warmer, more like tungsten filament if you want you light to be a litttle more cosy.

Thanks for clarifying the colour temperatures. A warmer option sounds more suitable for relaxed evening lighting, while something closer to daylight might work better for practical tasks. It's useful to consider how the light will feel inside a relatively small space.

[clift_d]

Something around 3500K-4000K tends to be the most colour neutral - they’re generally marketed as ‘Cool White’. Daylight lamps tend to be lot bluer than that with a colour temp of 5600K-6000K, which most people will find to be too stark to be relaxing. Warmer temperatures around 2700K correspond most closely to older incandescent lamps.