LED overhead lighting?

[zuren]

I'm curious to see if anyone has come across something I'm looking for. The rear area of my van has adjustable reading lights in the ceiling that work okay for the rear cargo area and the rear bench seat. The new kitchen unit I'm building is behind the passenger front seat and is in the shadows from those 2 lights. I would like to get some type of flush mount, LED strip up there like this one to illuminate this forward area when getting in the kitchen storage, cooler, etc.:


http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|65136|739053|760445&id=1607497

This one would work but ideally I'm envisioning something more low profile than this and maybe in a black housing to match most of the housings/trim in the van. It needs to be LED, surface mount and have a switch built-in so I only have to run 12v to it.

Hopefully the pic below gives you some idea. Anything forward of the bench seat and behind the steel partition (seen on the left side of the photo) is not well lit at night. The overhead reading lights above the bench are spot lights and don't articulate far enough forward to be useful for the kitchen area.

Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[nranger05]

I was in a West Marine store last weekend and they were setting up a new section of LED lighting. You might check there. I've had good luck with LED down lights for the floor area of my camper.

nranger05

 

[4x4junkie]

My problem with LED lights (such as the one in your pic) is nearly all of them have that cold glaring bluish colored light which (for me anyway) causes nothing but eyestrain.
I know you said you wanted low-profile, but I'd look for a way to maybe use a MR-16 tracklight fixture from a home-improvement center. LED MR-16 halogen-replacement bulbs can be had in "warm-white" and "cool white" (neutral white) versions that are more like incandescent and fluorescent lighting, respectively. They run directly on 12 volts (at home you'd normally use a 12-volt transformer with them) and might even be a little cheaper too, I've seen 20-35 watt-equivalent (~200-350 lumen) LED bulbs for around $25 or so, didn't notice what the fixture itself costs though.

 

[HenryJ]

Just an idea here. How about indirect lighting?
I had a similar situation in our trailer. Overhead lighting left the lower cabinets and floor level stuff dark and shadowed. My solution was inexpensive and has worked well.

Zip-ties are pinched under the counter top and the switch installed next to the radio. The LED flex light strips can be found for about $6 now and the switch $2.
I would be tempted to attach one of these strips under the front of that back seat and see how it works. The amount of light they throw really is impressive. I have one on the back of my truck used as a back up light and one on the back of my trailer too.

If that is not your "style" or doesn't work for you, maybe a rope light along the edge of your cabinets?

Just ideas.

BTW, I have changed all the overhead lighting in my Avalanche and Trailer to LED. The light output is greatly increased and the power demands greatly reduced. Win-win. I really like it. The light color is different. IMO, better. Closer to sunlight. You get used to it and soon you don't notice. Much the same as the old incandescent>halogen>HID>LED headlamp thing. Have an open mind. You really don't NEED yellow light

 

[4x4junkie]

That is an excellent idea also (indirect lighting).

BTW, I have changed all the overhead lighting in my Avalanche and Trailer to LED. The light output is greatly increased and the power demands greatly reduced. Win-win. I really like it. The light color is different. IMO, better. Closer to sunlight. You get used to it and soon you don't notice. Much the same as the old incandescent>halogen>HID>LED headlamp thing. Have an open mind. You really don't NEED yellow light

lol
This has nothing at all to do with one's mind being open or closed... Some people's eyes simply just don't work well with the bluish-white light put out by some LED products, so that's why I threw that out there (such light is waaayy beyond the color of sunlight to me).
"Neutral-white" (or sometimes "natural white") LED lights (those with a color temp around 4000-4300°K) would probably work extremely well for a lot of people. They are not "yellow" like a warm-white (or incandescent) light is (comparatively speaking), yet aren't so blue as to be bothersome.


Edit:
I just went looking for MR16 light fixtures... Maybe these aren't as practical an option as I thought it would be (I had made all my own fixtures for mine). Ones I'm finding are the wrong base type (use 120V bulbs), or have transformers built-in driving up their cost so I guess you'd have to modify something slightly if you went this route (shouldn't be difficult if you know how to solder though).

In case anyone isn't familiar with 12V MR16 lamps:

Original halogen type
http://www.homedepot.com/Electrical...splay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&storeId=10051

LED-replacement
http://www.homedepot.com/Electrical...splay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&storeId=10051