My remote has worked fine thus far and stays inside the truck bed.
I make sure to hit the 2 buttons to kill all power to the lights when not in use as well.
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Im rocking the matt gecko kit up and downstairs. While it did take some tweaking to make it work, i was able to add a dimmer upstairs and swapped the front light in the bottom to the back so when i open the tail gate i can cook or work off of it with over head lighting.
Work mode, sorry for the non camping junk
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thatās the best part of owning a gfc I use my truck like a truck all the time and thanks to the GFC I can use it for even more.
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These just launched, has anyone tried them yet?
For those running the hard korr or matt gecko lights, how does the orange and red light do to keep bugs away?
i have a pretty simple set up. Both lights are from goove which is on amazon. they have a ton of different options on styles too. In the tent i have one strip across the high point with the on/off switch on the left. That switch also controls brightness and color. That one is just powered by a small battery that lives up in one of the nets. Lights below are the same system but powered by a bigger goal zero type batterythat also powers our kitchen lights and what ever else we need to charge.
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Finally getting around to putting lights in my tent and Iām looking for tips on how to route the wiring downstairs and the best place to place the switch based on everyoneās experience. Iām a little concerned about placing it on the ceiling and it getting compressed and switched on when closing the tent.
Iād like to use the t-slot channels on each side of the tent upstairs and route the wiring down towards the hinge of the tent. Where does everyone place their upstairs switch?
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Not sure what you drive, but in my Tacoma I put the downstairs switch near the tailgate where the cubby/outlet is so it can be easily removed and replaced if I ever feel like it. I also have power ran to that cubby that is always hot which is what I connect the lights too.
As for upstairs I ran two 5V led strips to the hinge of the GFC which can plug into any power bank. I did this so I donāt accidentally ever leave the lights on and drain my battery. Switches are technically here at the hinge but I also have remotes that came with the LED strips so I can set timers and change colors easily.
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I think I found the best place on the V2, which is the triangular upper cross brace on the back window. It works super well from inside and out, and itās easy to find in any weather or lighting conditions. Pure muscle memory. Itās also possible to reach it easily from the tent with one of the floor panels removed.
Hereās my post on lighting. I donāt think my homebrew buckpuck driver setup is the right thing for most users, but you can read/see my thinking about everything including dimming, switch placement, quality of light, etc.
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ill post a photo of mine tonight
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My downstairs lighting just showed up today and Iām super stoked about how itās going to turn out.
I wanted to be able to switch between cool and warm white and also have red light so it doesnāt attract bugs and dim. I picked up an LED strip with cool white, warm white, and RGB and this three-color dimmer on Amazon and just wired up the positive, two whites, and red. Super simple and easy to set up and use.
Just testing it out on goal zero right now and post once I get it installed in the truck soon. Under $80 all in with the diffusers I have coming in and gets me exactly what I wanted and should get around all 4 sides of the camper. The lights seem good quality, definitely not as blue in person as the camera shows. Hopefully, it all holds up!
Dimmer: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008GY6WM2/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Lights:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KQVGJ5F/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s02?ie=UTF8&th=1
Diffuser Channels (havenāt confirmed these actually fit up in the camper yet but they should):
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Nice set up. Been looking for a physical color controller and dimmer like that forever. Last thing I want was the remote controlled ones where Iād just loose the remoteā¦ā¦
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Does your phone have a āslow motionā video mode? Would you take a video of these LEDs in slow motion mode? Iām looking to see if they flicker at a very high frequency. Still havenāt done the lighting in my tent and this would be a nice off-the-shelf solution.
I just installed my downstairs lights, and am really happy with how they turned out. I used rgb+cct led strips with aluminum channels and diffusers. I wanted the flexibility of changing white color temp and also using red/amber for warmer months. I also really didnāt want to see the individual LEDs, and the diffusers did exactly what I wanted there. I designed and 3d printed my own end caps and mounts for the channels so the angle can be adjusted (really useful for the rear hatch lights), and they work with some existing ring mounts for my cargo net where we stow bedding. Iāve only used them a couple nights so far, but theyāre a total game changer.
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@mrbroll looks great, which diffusers did you go with and are whatās your led density? Iāve got 60led/m and you can clearly see the dots with shallow diffusers I have.
Thanks! I used thishttps://a.co/d/6H76dtf channel/diffuser combo. My LEDs are 5050 60/m 24V strips. But they alternate RGB and tunable white chips instead of all-in-one, so theyāre technically more like 30/m. I went with 24V, so I could use thinner gauge wiring and go around the entire canopy while keeping the voltage drop in check. My house power is 12V, so I just used a 240W voltage converter for that, which is whatās sitting right next to my fuse panel in the picture.
@mrbroll thanks, I was considering the deeper channel but couldnāt figure out a good way to mount it so went with the shallower one but it just doesnāt give the spotless look. I donāt have mine installed yet so Iāll prob swap out for the ones you used. Would you mind showing me how/where you mounted them up and would you be interested in selling me some of the mounts you made?
Just sent you a PM. We can follow up there.