Two flexible shaft LED lamps.
A whole day of heavily overcast, dark rainy weather at the Double Cabin Campground east of DuBois, Wyoming kept me inside the Alaskan all day this summer. My entertainment was reading a Walt Longmore novel by the light of my small battery powered puck LED flashlight. Even with my back to the front window at high noon, there was not enough ambient light outdoors to decently illuminate the text in my paperback book. That was the day it dawned on me that a 12 volt LED reading light wired to my huge solar-rechargeable Group 31 AGM battery was a necessity for the Alaskan.
After perusing Amazon for flexible shaft 12 volt LED lamps, I chose two: a thin small one for reading and a larger brighter one for cooking. The reading light is a 12 volt DC Cool White LED Mini Gooseneck Pilot Light with Switch 240 mm sold on Amazon.com by Britta Products for $27.95. It is Britta model number MGLS-240mm-Switch-CW-12V. It is 10.5” long and has a pushbutton on-off switch on its head for convenient operation. Its focused beam works wonderfully to illuminate any book while reading. When not reading the lamp can be swung over the sink for washing dishes or pushed upright out of the way.
I drilled the ¼” diameter mounting hole in the galley countertop behind the manual water pump so I could illuminate my books while resting in bed sitting up against the driver’s side wall. There is a second plywood panel underneath the countertop, so from inside the cabinet below the sink I had to drill a 1” diameter hole in that lower panel with a wood drill bit in order to reach the threaded bottom of the lamp base so it could be properly tightened. Driving around in my truck loosened the single nut that came with the lamp, so I later bought a second metric nut and lock washer to double-nut the base tight against the bottom of the countertop. So far that has held fast.
The larger cooking lamp is a Gooseneck 12 volt Map Light - Chart Light Warm White (3800K) also sold on Amazon.com by Britta Products for $39.95, model Gooseneck-27006-WW. It is 15.75” long and has 12 ‘5050’ LEDs in its head, where the on/off switch is conveniently located. I screwed this lamp’s angled mounting bracket into the wall behind the cooktop, from where it arches forward along the lowered ceiling above the stovetop to illuminate whatever is cooking. Raising the head up slightly illuminates the closet opposite and the whole interior generally.
Both LED lamps are wired to a small terminal strip located high on the rear wall inside the storage compartment underneath the sink. A separate 14/2 gauge power wire runs from the terminal strip down to the floor, forward inside the lower closet then along the floor underneath the center drawer to the passenger side lower cabinet, then rearward to the fuse box above the AGM battery. I have a 5 amp blade fuse in this circuit.
Either lamp by itself sufficiently illuminates the interior for getting ready for bed or doing other chores during night time. Their amperage draw is minimal and the large AGM battery powering them is recharged every day the sun shines. These LED lamps are a wonderful addition to the Alaskan.
Edited by Denver Alaskan, 11 January 2017 - 10:38 PM.