Ideas for flood lights on the inside of the rear doors.

Destructo

New member
Hi guys. I'm looking for recommendations on lighting up the area in back of my van where we cook. I'm hoping to Mount some flood lights on the inside of top part of the rear doors above the windows. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.2017-06-18 13.03.27-1.jpg
 

luthj

Engineer In Residence
I find adhesive backed LED light strips to provide great light, and are very unobtrusive. Amazon has great selection. You can get them on 15ft rolls, and cut to length, then solder a on leads where needed.
 

brianjwilson

Some sort of lost...
All depends on what you want and how much you want to spend. If you want something fairly inexpensive with a built in switch and it can rotate up and down, you could try these.

https://www.westmarine.com/buy/west-marine--led-interior-rail-light-12-l--12642328?recordNum=86

They are available in 6", 12", 18" and maybe larger? I used the 6 and 12" lights in my sailboat and they fine. Not crazy bright, but 12" would easily be enough to cook with and they draw very little power. It is nice to be able to aim the light a bit. You could get crazy and mount some rigid flood lights but I think that's overkill for what you're wanting to do?
 
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southpier

Expedition Leader
looking at your driver's side door, would a high flood put your work area in shadow? maybe a body mounted light and then task lighting around ye olde chopping block?
 

mapper

Explorer
I put a cheap 12v LED puck with and a simple switch on the top of the hatch in my Astro Van. I think I paid like $20 total for the puck and switch. Best $20 mod ever. Wired it to my house battery with simple tiny wires. It isn't super bright or fancy but, honestly, it is frequently brighter than I, or my friends, actually want while camping. I can lower my hatch some to limit the "throw" of the light. But honestly, I'm learning that for cooking I prefer to use a small, rechargeable, goal zero latern with magnetic base instead. BUT having the rear light mounted and handy for many tasks (including packing the van) is invaluable.

So my advice is this. Keep it simple and don't go too bright. Having some light is nice but don't blind yourself, your friends or neighbors (if in a campground). You still gotta see the stars!
 

pyrate

Rollin' along
I highly agree with including a red or maybe even amber light as part of the package. Less harsh and they don't attract bugs as much.
 

Bikersmurf

Expedition Leader
IMG_7032.JPGIMG_7033.JPG

I bought one of these on clearance at Walmart for $9 as an interior light. If you can find them, they are aimable, throw a ton of light, are neat & compact, and even have a switch.
 

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