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06-14-2019, 12:44 AM #1
Motion-activated Exterior LED Light mod
These are solar-powered motion-activated lights that I installed last year.
You folks that only stay in RV parks probably won't be interested in these because you don't want to blind your neighbors, but we boondock for weeks, sometimes months at a time, in the middle of nowhere. I got these because sometimes when we are out camping in remote places we get spooked by a noise outside and by the time we fumble around, find a flashlight (get your pants on) whatever it was is long gone. More than likely it’s just a coyote or a rabbit, not Bigfoot, or even worse, a person up to no good.
Anything moving within about 50 feet of our camper, at pretty much any angle, will set off the motion sensors in these lights. The lights stay on as long as there is motion and goes back out 30 seconds after no motion is detected. You can use a pin to turn them off in case you’re staying somewhere with neighbors close by. But most of the places we boondock, there’s either no one for miles or at the very least we’re a few hundred yards from the nearest RV, so these suckers are all turned on.
Each of these pods has a small solar panel on top so there’s no batteries to replace and you don’t have to drill holes in your RV to run wires! I installed one next to the door, one over each LP storage door and one just under the rear kitchen window, so there's one on each side of the trailer. They came with screws for mounting them to the walls, but since I didn’t want to put holes in our trailer, I used Gorilla brand double-sided tape. 2 inches of this tape holds up one pound. I used 2 strips about 4” long on each light pod which is overkill but we’ve been full-time for 14 months now and they’ve survived the Pacific Northwest and Arizona and everywhere in between and won't budge! But we still haven’t seen Bigfoot.
https://amzn.to/2WE9VfZ
Resistance is Not Futile, It's Voltage Divided by Current.
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06-14-2019, 01:15 AM #2
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Thanks for the write up! I've been looking for something since I saw a gentleman with a few lights like this on his class A in Monterey. On each side of the slide outs and some by important storage compartments. I just ordered some.
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06-14-2019, 03:23 AM #3
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- Oct 2017
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- Rural Central NY
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Ed,
I do agree, great mod. For others considering this, please take note of two statements he included: not so useful in RV parks, and you can turn them off using a pin!
We returned to our trailer Memorial weekend to find last year’s obnoxious campers had moved into the 3 sites next to us- 8 feet from our awning, sewage pipe cap off and hanging, rear leaking water constantly, music blaring, 20’ canopy set up along the road, dogs running all over the CG, cars parked right next to our fire ring. Three big 5ers, all circled at the very perimeter of the 3 sites so the most real estate was available for their annual “Corn Hole” tournament. Mind you, this trailer was dropped in front of us by Dad’s minions, as neither the daughter’s nor the SIL’s vehicle was capable of towing it. The last straw for us was one of these lights-they are really, really, blindingly bright!!! When I went around the trailer to ask if they could turn it off, they all jumped up, as if I were a larcenous intruder, and SIL says, “Uhmmm, that’s SOLAR, I can’t turn it off.” (Read-motion activated, and because it was dusk, it was blinking bright, dim, bright, dim, right in our eyes as we sat on our patio.)
Our view:
The rest of the campers in the area wanted to throttle them. To add to the chaos, on Saturday, another relative arrived hauling a pop-up, wove in and around everyone else to park the 4th trailer on the 3 sites! We locked up the trailer and went home. Most CGs are nice friendly places, except on holidays, when they seem to turn into zoos.
NBruce and Nancy
2018 Imagine 2150rb
2011 Silverado 1500 5.3L
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06-14-2019, 08:45 AM #4
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We mostly boondock so I really like the idea and want to get a few for our Reflection. I would think installing them higher would give more light and pick up more motion. No?
Last edited by dennysbabe; 06-14-2019 at 08:47 AM.
Dennis & Phyllis Manley
2018 Reflection 27RL, 2008 Silverado 2500HD Duramax 6.6 LTZ
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06-14-2019, 09:39 AM #5
DMB...you just cost me more money...thanks!
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06-14-2019, 09:40 AM #6
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Nice addition!
2019 F250 Lariat
2020 Solitude S 2930RL
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
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06-14-2019, 09:59 AM #7
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06-14-2019, 05:17 PM #8
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I have been thinking about a set of these mounted with 3M Dual Lock so they can be mounted or unmounted at will. This would also facilitate multiple location choices. I like the idea a lot but also like the idea of not having them at times.
Jeff and Jen
2016 F250 CC Lariat 4x4 6.7L, Firestone Airbags, Pullrite Superglide
2017 Solitude 310GK, a little solar, a little lithium, disc brakes and a few suspension mods
Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. - Ben Franklin
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06-14-2019, 08:23 PM #9
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Thanks for the link to these. I've been using some battery powered lights that are similar, but they chew up AA's fairly quickly.
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06-15-2019, 07:18 AM #10
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One of our GDRV friends has 6 or 8 of them. He sets them out on the ground around his camper. Not sure if he does this for mice or intruders but you can't get close to his rig at night without them coming on.
RedLocation - Wherever the road takes us...Full-timers
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