LED Cabin Lighting

[joseph.syc]

Just thought I would share a couple of pics of my latest project on Timbuktu. I installed LED strip lighting in both the V-berth and the main salon. They are mounted on the reverse side of the trim.

Total cost: $52 (I already had wire and connectors and screws on hand from other projects):

$28 LED strips (2 strips 16 feet & $14 each from Amazon)
$20 toggle switches ($5 each)
$4 project boxes ($1 each)

Each strip was cut in half with left over lengths, so I have four separate light banks, each with its own on/off switch. They are tied into the cabin light circuit via the bus bars in the closets in the v berth. I used a cool white strip in the v berth for better reading and a warm white in the salon for ambiance.

Cool White LED strips

Vberth LED.jpg (63.29 KiB) Viewed 3429 times

Warm white LED strips - port side

Salon LED.jpg (79 KiB) Viewed 3429 times

Warm white LED strips - starboard side

Starboard LED.jpg (71.24 KiB) Viewed 3429 times

[gamayun]

That's really beautiful! Thank you for posting. My F38 is too dark and I will need to something similar. Better still is how little you had to spend on the project. It looks great.

Can you also tell me how you did your curtains and the mounting hardware? It's funny how few Freedoms I see with curtains....

[joseph.syc]

Thank you! I was amazed at how much light these little LED's put out.

I will add that Amazon will offer a dimmer for the LED's. I bought it, it was a piece of junk, did not work, and was returned without any problems. I may invest in a better dimmer at some point; I did the wiring in such a way that it will be an easy upgrade.

Here is the link to the warm LED string:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005GL ... UTF8&psc=1

I am not an amazon employee nor will I profit in anyway should anyone buy this; just a satisfied customer.

The curtains were done by the PO. The curtains have little slugs sown into them top and bottom. The slug tracks appear to be just screwed into the inside of the cabin top. Next time I'm at the boat (this coming weekend probably), I'll take and post some close-up photos.