Girard Awning LED Lighting

[rrueckwald]

A brand new Girard installation I saw recently had an led light strip mounted in the groove/cavity/slot in the outboard edge extrusion of the awning. Looked great. This cavity was designed for sliding a screen drop along it, but removal of the end caps, and having to remove it for each retraction made it useless. The LED strip was a really nice use of the slot, so I duplicated the installation.

The cavity is a "T" kind of slot 3/8" wide and 3/8" deep. Most tapes are 0.39” wide and would not fit. The tape used was 0.31" from lightingever.com, SKU # 4100058-WW, non-dimmable, waterproof, with adhesive backing.

There are probably better ways to install this, and I don't know how Girard did it, but I stuck the strips to some 1/8" plastic sheet cut in strips, pushed them through, then pulled a 1/4" polypropylene rope (for no water absorption) through behind it with a messenger cord. This was to keep the strip from bouncing in the slot and dropping out.

Girard ran the cased wire bundle (I used 16-2 marine wire from West Marine) through the outboard arm, but on the top of the inboard arm. I ran it on top of both. Used white tie-wraps that are not too visible. You have to be careful of interference when closing, and enough loop at the bends to avoid straining the wire.

The pictures aren't great, but you get the idea. When the awning is extended, the led strip gives enough light for the patio, and when retracted, lights up the area next to the bus very well, better than the patio light.

[Randy Dupree]

Now lets see them turned on Ron!
Hehehe! just kidding,they really look nice,good job!

[rrueckwald]

Kinda hard for an amateur to take flash pictures of lights. You have to sort of imagine it.

[Randy Dupree]

Its good Ron,really,its good!

[markbragdon]

Good job, Ron. It makes me wish I had a slot in my ZipDee awning. Green LEDs would look great there.

[Randy Dupree]

Hey mark,just glue the LEDs on the tube,it will still roll up just fine,the fabric with roll right over the lights.
But,you will have to use a cordless extension cord for power.

[NoGas]

Ron - Great implementation! Did you wire them into the porch light? Use a power converter or straight to 12V of the porch light? Did you consider adding a remote or color changing LED function, or was the tape width a problem?

Last weekend I went to a free RV show at Phoenix stadium to see all the latest innovations (and because I’d never seen the inside of the Cardinal hangout). One of several mods caught my eye. Took pictures below and put the project on my to-do list. Note the cable routing and how nice LED’s look.

PS - the stadium is impressive especially from the field level. However while the stick & plastic diesel coaches were flashy & glamorous, I can’t say much for their junk construction
.

[rrueckwald]

Originally Posted by NoGas

Ron - Great implementation! Did you wire them into the porch light? Use a power converter or straight to 12V of the porch light? Did you consider adding a remote or color changing LED function, or was the tape width a problem?

Last weekend I went to a free RV show at Phoenix stadium to see all the latest innovations (and because I’d never seen the inside of the Cardinal hangout). One of several mods caught my eye. Took pictures below and put the project on my to-do list. Note the cable routing and how nice LED’s look.

PS - the stadium is impressive especially from the field level. However while the stick & plastic diesel coaches were flashy & glamorous, I can’t say much for their junk construction
.

Van,
I ran the wire through the wall over the door to a switch next to the awning control, then to its own cb on the overhead 12vdc cb panel. The patio light wiring is not too accessible on the inside.

Girard had a "U" shaped strip screwed to the top of the arm into which the wire had been pressed. That is hard to do with the awning there, so I just used three white tie-wraps on each of the two arms. Not pretty, but fairly unobtrusive.

Tape width was an issue. The slot inside dimension is 0.325, smaller than most led strips. The strip I found was 0.31.

Varying colors? Naaw. Thought that was a fad that would quickly lose its charm. Nice for an RV show, though.

From your pictures, it looks like they stuck the led strip to an outside surface. I don't trust that adhesive, from practical experience, so I thought inside the slot was perfect as the adhesive doesn't matter once the strip is in place with a backer strip behind it.

A fun project, but I seemed to create far too many self-inflicted issues on that one. It took way too long, but I like the results.

[rrueckwald]

Here's how I did the wiring.

[iamflagman]

In 2016 at Key West Mark Bragdon with very little help from me added a strip of LED's under the drip rail on my 'Bird and then earlier this year another strip was added continuing to the rear. It has been a love - hate relationship with the 3M adhesive that came on the strips, the front strip came loose but was secured back in place using 3M body side molding tape purchased at Oriely Auto Parts, the forward light now has decided to not light up completely but shows just a very dim light but the rear strip is still working great, it has been frustrating.

Originally Posted by iamflagman

It was add LED lights to the Finn's Inn Express with expert assistance from Mark Bragdon on the outside a LED strip was added under the drip rail, I had seen this done on a few 'Birds and liked the idea, they are wired into the outside porch light and they really light up the outside.

This photo is not an exaggeration of how bright they are.

To help me during those trips to the bathroom at night, I had a section of the outside LED strip left over, so I mounted it under the wire cover above the commode and wired it into the water pump switch, this SHOULD help me see where I aim.