Tech Tip
For me, super-bright white lights are too much, so I installed LED smart light strips on both the inside and outside of my motorhome. I added some under the counters and under the dinette. I also added some in the bathroom so when I’m taking a shower, I don’t have to get a sunburn from the overhead light.
I used two different systems, LifX (www.lifx.com) and Philips Hue (www.philips-hue.com). Both are “smart” lights, so you control them from an app on your phone. With many colors to choose from, you can create a mood for everything. They have preprogrammed settings, so at Christmas you can have them blink red and green. I don’t do this, but you also can set them to change with the beat of the music. You can program them to come on at a certain time, so if you’re not home, people will think you are.
They come in various lengths. For instance, Philips Hue offers an initial 80-inch strip of lights, and then you can add 40-inch strips on to the end. If the strip is too long, you can just cut it to length. The 80-inch strips with a power supply cost $80, and the 40-inch extensions are $25.
It takes maybe half an hour to install them, although I like to hide all the wires, so I drilled some holes on the underside of my cabinets, ran the wires up through, and tie-wrapped them so you can’t see them. That took a couple of hours.
They attach with a simple 3M adhesive strip. The outdoor versions are waterproof and held in place using mounting hardware. They’re also a little more expensive because of the waterproofing. The outdoor 80-inch Philips Hue strip costs about $90, but I think those things would work at the bottom of the ocean.
— Gary Shatzer, F510646, Naples, Florida
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