Which LED lighting for my van (internal illumination)?

[DTJ]

I've got a van set up for camping trips and I want to add some lighting in the rear compartment.

It probably does not have to be bright enough to read by, but enough to say eat and do other things.

I've not had any experience with LED strips - the ones that appear to be self adhesive and was thinking maybe one or two 2m lengths might do the job.

Are they any good? The ones I have looked at on eBay don't seem to specify the current draw. Something like this:

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/4x-12V-Waterproof-White-1210-LED-Strip-Lights-Bars-Camping-Caravan-Boat-Car-1-2M/111703264251?epid=1789350541&hash=item1a02088bfb
or this
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2M-3M-5M-600-LED-Strip-Lights-Cool-Warm-Natural-White-12V-Waterproof-Car-Camping/262905244006?hash=item3d365fa966:m:mZ7_dmxbnl5qWqwye-v7TrQ





I'd be running the LEDs off a 7Ah  to 12Ah 12V SLA battery. They'd be on for perhaps a maximum of 2 hours per evening.


Any recommendations?

[Audioguru]

Sellers on ebay know nothing about the cheap Unbranded/Generic junk they sell so the current needed and how long the LED strips last is questionable.

[DTJ]

Sellers on ebay know nothing about the cheap Unbranded/Generic junk they sell so the current needed and how long the LED strips last is questionable.

Yep, there's plenty of junk on eBay but there's sometimes some gems. I was hoping someone here might have used some for bench lighting or something similar.

[GerryBags]

Have a look at electroluminescent strip, wire and sheeting for internal lighting.

https://lighttapeuk.wordpress.com/tag/electroluminescent/

[Kjelt]

12V led strips have resistors per 3 leds so you throw away 25% in to heat.
Aren't there special 12V led bulbs in campershops or something like that?

[mark03]

Have a look at electroluminescent strip, wire and sheeting for internal lighting.

How efficient are EL devices compared with good white LEDs?  Assuming ideal drivers for each and a reasonably sized space being illuminated.

[DTJ]

For posterity....

I ended up going with one of these:

http://www.altronics.com.au/p/x3251-natural-white-12-volt-led-aliminium-strip-light-0.5m/

With one of these dimmer switches:

http://www.altronics.com.au/p/x3234-12-24-volt-led-strip-light-inline-dimmer-controller/


It works well, the dimming is pretty linear etc.