Swap LED lights to color controllable, or just a sunset red

[DanielBoondock]

I’m light sensitive and at night can’t stand bright white lights. I love the LED light scheme Oliver’s have (considering getting one), but would ideally like a white (daytime) reddish (nighttime) switch, or just reddish. Any thoughts on the feasibility? What kind of light figures are these, just 12V screw on I suppose, does anybody have a picture or more information? Thanks!

 

Dan

[Steph and Dud B]

Which lights are you referring to? Interior or exterior?

[topgun2]

Also - 

What year and model of Oliver do you have or are you referring to?  Different years of Olivers have different lights - both inside and out.

Bill

p.s.  note that you can add this type of information to your signature as both Steph and Dud B and I have done at the bottom of our posts.

p.p.s.  another way to tackle this issue would be to install a "dimmer switch".  An array of these can be found HERE.

 

Edited Sunday at 12:38 PM by topgun2
added detail

[Corvus]

I changed the interior courtesy lights to red for the same reason plus it helps preserve night vision for night sky observing. For the exterior lights I covered them with a dark amber film. One day I want to add the dimmer to the interior white lights too.

[jd1923]

5 hours ago, topgun2 said:

What year and model of Oliver do you have or are you referring to?  Different years of Olivers have different lights - both inside and out.

Good point Bill. We both commented to the hitch question and now this one. I found that @DanielBoondock has been an OTT Forum for 3 years and his profile states “don't own a RV or Travel Trailer.”

First, I would suggest first buying an Oliver, new or used, and until then you’re overthinking details that may not matter when you actually get into Oliver ownership. We found ours in local Craig’s, had NO idea what one was and 5 days later it was paid for and delivered home!

Also, viable points from  Bill is first add a signature and that different hulls have different standard and optional equipment.

Re the Courtesy Lights, one thing I noted at the Texas Rally, new hulls have extremely bright exterior courtesy lights! Without any actual lumen meter, I would say that ours are less than half the brightness! We love ours as-is but I would certainly have to replace them if we had the newer bright ones, no like!

To answer your question directly, yes these are 12v LED lights, mounted by 2 screws with a center hole for the wiring. You’d truly need to buy your Oliver first and measure the distance between the screw holes prior to shopping for new ones, since the mounting pattern could have also changed through the years.

[ScubaRx]

54 minutes ago, jd1923 said:

To answer your question directly, yes these are 12v LED lights, mounted by 2 screws with a center hole for the wiring. You’d truly need to buy your Oliver first and measure the distance between the screw holes prior to shopping for new ones, since the mounting pattern could have also changed through the years.

Or, you could just drill new holes.

[Patriot]

On 4/20/2025 at 2:26 PM, jd1923 said:

I found that @DanielBoondock has been an OTT Forum for 3 years and his profile states “don't own a RV or Travel Trailer.”

Yes, sharp eyes JD, and why I have chosen not reply. 😎

Edited Monday at 11:03 PM by Patriot

[jd1923]

1 hour ago, ScubaRx said:

Or, you could just drill new holes.

Bad Scuba! 🤣

[Corvus]

Deleted

Edited Monday at 02:37 PM by Corvus
Statement could be misconstrued too easily

[DanielBoondock]

4 hours ago, jd1923 said:

Good point Bill. We both commented to the hitch question and now this one. I found that @DanielBoondock has been an OTT Forum for 3 years and his profile states “don't own a RV or Travel Trailer.”

First, I would suggest first buying an Oliver, new or used, and until then you’re overthinking details that may not matter when you actually get into Oliver ownership.

I’m in the home stretch of deciding which trailer I’m going to buy. By the way, I’m not ‘overthinking’ as you say - my retina have very little pigmentation by some quirk of genetics, being outside without sunglasses can be painful, so yes before plunking down near six figures I’d like to be sure of my purchase and that changing out the lights wont’ be a major deal. One of the trailers I’m looking at has that as an option already. 

Thanks for the replies and sorry for missing some details, yeah this is interior lights mostly, but exterior would be great too but not too bothered about those. 

6 hours ago, Corvus said:

I changed the interior courtesy lights to red for the same reason plus it helps preserve night vision for night sky observing. For the exterior lights I covered them with a dark amber film. One day I want to add the dimmer to the interior white lights too.

Coincidence, I have a 12” Dob I build I also plan to use when I can get some dark skies. Thanks for the tips. By the way I like your user name, you haven’t happened to have read Fall by Stephenson have you? 

[Chukarhunter]

21 hours ago, Corvus said:

For the exterior lights I covered them with a dark amber film.

I did the same thing adding the film to my exterior porch lights shortly after I brought my Ollie new in 2020.  Many owners have done the same thing.  It is one of the easiest, lowest cost, and most satisfying mods I have made.  It only takes a few minutes to apply the film to the lights and the film is durable.  The lights still look as good as new after four years.   The porch lights also attract fewer flying insects now.

[Corvus]

15 hours ago, DanielBoondock said:

Coincidence, I have a 12” Dob I build I also plan to use when I can get some dark skies. Thanks for the tips. By the way I like your user name, you haven’t happened to have read Fall by Stephenson have you? 

Thanks, I have not read the book, I'll look into though. I chose corvus for the species of birds that I admire and encountered often in my travels.

I had a 12" dob for a few months, it was just too big for me to enjoy transporting routinely, plus my brain does not tolerate spikes very well.

The courtesy lights I used have been discontinued. This was the title on Amazon: "Partsam 2pcs 3" Clear/Red LED Oblong Courtesy Light Yacht Marine Boat Stair Accent Deck Garden Usage Waterproof"

The film I used on my outside lights is made by Lamin-X.

 

 

 

[topgun2]

How many of these 4x8 inch strips of film did you use to cover the porch lights?

Bill

[jd1923]

17 hours ago, DanielBoondock said:

I’m in the home stretch of deciding which trailer I’m going to buy. By the way, I’m not ‘overthinking’ as you say - my retina have very little pigmentation by some quirk of genetics, being outside without sunglasses can be painful, so yes before plunking down near six figures I’d like to be sure of my purchase and that changing out the lights wont’ be a major deal. One of the trailers I’m looking at has that as an option already.

Sorry about the condition of your eyes. I can write a half page list of health items, but fortunately my eyes are very good.

What I mean by overthinking, it make your TT decision on overall. This is such a detail. I have made 20 mods to ours and I could change out all interior and exterior Courtesy Lights in 2 hours. I purchased an older Oliver at about 60% the cost of new. Then I add to it what we wanted and options are unlimited!

We've got to know, what is your choice B alternative? Let us know that and we could give you at least 10 reasons to go Oliver! Maybe you don't want to though since most of us advised do NOT get an EV tow vehicle. That would be a bad mistake as likely going another TT direction would be as well. 

Best wishes to you. We hope you make the right choice in an Oliver. Of course we all have that certain bias here. I also hope you continue to add value to our wonderful forum. 😂  

[DanielBoondock]

6 hours ago, jd1923 said:

Sorry about the condition of your eyes. I can write a half page list of health items, but fortunately my eyes are very good.

What I mean by overthinking, it make your TT decision on overall. This is such a detail. I have made 20 mods to ours and I could change out all interior and exterior Courtesy Lights in 2 hours. I purchased an older Oliver at about 60% the cost of new. Then I add to it what we wanted and options are unlimited!

We've got to know, what is your choice B alternative? Let us know that and we could give you at least 10 reasons to go Oliver! Maybe you don't want to though since most of us advised do NOT get an EV tow vehicle. That would be a bad mistake as likely going another TT direction would be as well. 

Best wishes to you. We hope you make the right choice in an Oliver. Of course we all have that certain bias here. I also hope you continue to add value to our wonderful forum. 😂  

No worries, but let's just say I'm a physicist/engineer so curing myself of overthinking is like curing a Soprano of her voice 😅

And anyhow I've been debating this the last five years so I'm down to the fussy details so don't be surprised to see me ask more oddball questions, but this is the home stretch. I'm retiring in a few years, and the schedule is I can get the truck this year and trailer next. The lineup has been Escape, Bigfoot and Oliver. The Ollie was my first choice, but I left it for the Bigfoot due to the Ollie size. But recently with the tariffs making Canadian trailer purchases interesting, I took a look again at Ollie and realized 'heck a true 24' 7' wide would be nice and easier to deal with'. And I'm tall, my head brushes the Bigfoot ceiling, but the Ollie is a great 6' 7" or thereabouts. Finally I'm an old sailor and love the fit/finish.

So basically I've made probably a final decision which is the Ollie 👏but my wife still has to decide 🤔... main problem is I don't see any Ollies nearby (N. Ca). I'd probably buy sight-unseen, but getting her in one would help.

[DanielBoondock]

By the way I've heard that red outside lights - in addition to not killing your melatonin for a good nights sleep, and your sensitivity for the stars, also apparently (or supposedly) isn't a bug attraction like a white lights is 🤷‍♂️

[Mike and Carol]

2 hours ago, DanielBoondock said:

So basically I've made probably a final decision which is the Ollie 👏but my wife still has to decide 🤔... main problem is I don't see any Ollies nearby (N. Ca). I'd probably buy sight-unseen, but getting her in one would help.

If there aren’t any Oliver’s living in your part of N CA, there might be an owner or two passing through on a trip.  We’re planning a trip to Lassen and Redwood in August, then up to Crater Lake and the OR/WA coast.  Mike

[Chukarhunter]

On 4/21/2025 at 8:41 AM, topgun2 said:

How many of these 4x8 inch strips of film did you use to cover the porch lights?

One strip is enough to cover all four porch lights with enough left over to cover the bottom outside lights as well

[Corvus]

21 hours ago, DanielBoondock said:

By the way I've heard that red outside lights - in addition to not killing your melatonin for a good nights sleep, and your sensitivity for the stars, also apparently (or supposedly) isn't a bug attraction like a white lights is 🤷‍♂️

The red light seems to be as good as amber to reduce insects attracted to white light, like moths. We keep only the interior red lights on to transition in and out of the camper to minimize the number of moths slipping through.

But mosquitoes are more complex with studies showing they may be attracted to longer wavelengths like red (warmer) more than shorter wavelengths like blue (cooler) or even white. Light is not a primary attractant like carbon dioxide and body temperature so the color around us may not make a big difference. My experience is that I see plenty of mosquitoes when using red or amber lighting. So I don't rely on lighting to help with the mosquitoes.