Reading light

north

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Dec 1, 2015
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Does anyone have a good idea for reading lights for their camper? We have the king bed option and the lights are not in a convenient place for reading. As a temporary fix, we bought an led light the same as 1/2 of the factory interior lights on e-bay and made a long cord with cigarette plug on the end which we use with self sticking Velcro on the bottom of the front lift arm. Something more elegant would be nice.
 
Not elegant, but my wife uses a headlamp to read, I read almost everything from my iPad these days but do use a small Black Diamond rechargeable hanging from a large binder clip on my side of the lift panel for some light - and I can read by it. I also use the same lantern outside at night, it's handy and dimmable.
 
I also use a headlamp for reading. I tried one of those small LED lamps that clip to the book but found they don't cast a strong enough light and need to be readjusted as you move down the page. I also keep a ceiling LED light on to provide background light as my eyes don't get as tired.

jim
 
JaSAn said:
I also use a headlamp for reading. I tried one of those small LED lamps that clip to the book but found they don't cast a strong enough light and need to be readjusted as you move down the page. I also keep a ceiling LED light on to provide background light as my eyes don't get as tired.

jim
This is our experience as well. We use LED headlamps.
 
Headlamp here. I even use the red light feature so I don't disturb my sleeping wife as much.
 
Outnabout said:
Headlamp here. I even use the red light feature so I don't disturb my sleeping wife as much.
Bingo! Red doesn't mess up your night vision, makes it so you can look out the window.
 
Ebooks

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Wander The West mobile app
 
I got a couple of inexpensive stainless steel LED gooseneck clamp-on lamps at Lowe's. About $17 each, if I remember right. Each lamp had a little plug-in AC power supply with something like 10 VDC output and an inline switch

I replaced the power supply and switch with a 12 V plug and modified the clamp with a center-off toggle switch and a couple of voltage regulators (8 & 9 V). The result is a clamp-on 12 V lamp with 2 brightness levels. On the low setting, it draws less than 0.03 A.

We clamp them on the lift panel above the bed or on the edge of the pull-out bed above the dinette table. We can turn them off while reading our Kindles in bed because they are backlit.

It was a fun and worthwhile project. The middle picture shows the lamp as bought. the others show the switch, etc. that I added to the clamp.

- Bernard



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We got tired of wearing headlamps and dealing with lamp batteries. My 'non-elegant" solution was to reuse some parts. I used the light fixture I took off the rear of the camper, added an adjustable gooseneck camera holding clamp and a 8 ft cord that plugs into the camper 12 outlet. It has a very bright LED bulb. We like it better than headlamps and I can use it when I sit under the bed while wife sleeps above. Chris
 

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Bernard,
It looks like your solution is very close to mine. I also clamp our lamp to the lift bar.
Chris
 

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