Tuesday, May 21, 2013

And There Was Light

Flying solo always presents new challenges.  I had asked for help to convert some of my interior vintage trailer lights to LED as I was afraid to do it myself. I had an incident as an 8 year old of spinning around a metal awning pole that was not grounded properly on a vintage trailer. the electrical charged grabbed me and I couldn't let go.  So I have always given a wide birth to any thing electrical. 

Also, I am generally not very good about asking for help as I think I should be able to do anything.  I had bought new lights on sale at Camper World for a really great price .  After waiting and waiting, I went out  a few nights ago and I just did it myself.....

Once I figured out what a ground wire was and which one it was in the vintage trailer...(all the wires were black!) I put it together easy peasy!!  It puts out a warm yellow light at a fraction of the wattage of the previous lights. This is very important as I plan on spending a considerable amount of time off grid and I like doing crafts reading and puzzles. The lights before all put out a dim light which was enough to find your shoes but not enough if you wanted to do any of the close up work.

I'm looking ahead to the days when the nights and darkness are long.  It is bright enough to do anything I want and with the new lights, I can choose to have on as little or as much as I want without significantly dimming others.  I have left a couple of the incandescent ones so that I can choose a softer light if I want but so far when they are on I just want to watch the watts burn. The solar is holding with my usage just fine.  I off course am not using the microwave but I can watch a couple hours of DVDs , charge everything I need and have had plenty of lights.  The LED lights are perfect!


 Here is one of the before lights














Here is one of the lights I put in.



I put one of these double LED lights in the central area and one in the kitchen area.
I didn't turn the LED lights on.... I didn't want to blind you!!



Here is one by my bed.... Looks good don't you think!!


 
I am as pleased as punch!!  What shall I tackle next!!
I count my lights as a major success!!

Makes a gal proud!!

6 comments:

  1. I would count that as a fear conquered! Well done! How did you figure out which one was the ground wire? You are an inspiration. I like the new look.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sometimes we have to over come our fears and you did great.
    the lights look great too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Proud of you! See what you can do with a little confidence. Looks good too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love that you are going off in a vintage travel trailer! It looks so cozy.
    Box Canyon Mark

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sherry, I starred at it for a long time... realized that one of the wires was attached to the metal back plate. Figured out it was grounding and it was.

    Yep Donna and when lacking confidence a healthy dose of determination usually gets me through.

    Jo, I've been facing a lot of fears both rational and irrational. It feels good.

    Mark I love my little trailer. It is like a comforting old friend. The old ones have so much personality. Watch me go!1

    ReplyDelete
  6. Good for you! That's the first thing I did when I got to Quartzsite last year - I replaced all my bulbs with LEDs. I didn't want to worry about the lights draining my battery when dry camping. I usually only have on one light at a time. (But all I had to do was PLUG them in - take out the old and put in the new. I didn't do any electrical work.)

    ReplyDelete