SO MANY little lights at night

[VBistro]

Does anyone have an easy way to dim the brightness of all of the indicator lights in the cabin -- the radio, propane/CO detector, refrigerator, charging cables, cradlepoint...there are at least 6-8 indicator lights that are only made worse by reflecting off of the shiny white interior of Ollie. I don't want to eliminate them altogether (otherwise I would just cover everything in electrical tape), but I would like to reduce the effect in a way that looks clean and purposeful -- the way it is now, I don't even need to use the courtesy lights to find my way to the head in the middle of the night!

[Steph and Dud B]

Search for LED Dimming Tape. Here's an example: LightDims Original Strength - Light Dimming LED Covers and Light Dimming Sheets for Routers, Electronics and Appliances and More. Dims 50-80% of Light, in Minimal Packaging. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CLVEQCO/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_23QKMHRXF291XRET77YH

[JohnL]

If you can't sleep due to ambient light, try a blindfold. It works day or night without modifying your Ollie. Many comfortable versions are available. 

[VBistro]

2 hours ago, JohnL said:

If you can't sleep due to ambient light, try a blindfold. It works day or night without modifying your Ollie. Many comfortable versions are available. 

Do you have a recommendation?  I've never used one that didn't make me feel claustrophobic.

 

mb

[JohnL]

If you've tried them and they make you feel claustrophobic a blindfold isn't the solution to your problem. My wife uses some generic version when she dons her CPAP for the night. It works for her. 

[John E Davies]

That dimming tape looks great, I might try it. You can kill the power to the radio and the “inside the window” antenna completely, in my hull 218 there is a switch type breaker in the rear “attic” cabinet, I don’t know where yours is. Please add your Hull number to a signature so we don’t have to ask.

When I added extra USB charge ports, I intentionally picked versions that have no LEDs, they are very hard to find. All those lights are not just a nuisance, they create a parasytic electrical load, that runs down your batteries. The fewer there are (or the more you can switch off manually), the better, when you are boondocking.

John Davies

Spokane WA

[VBistro]

14 minutes ago, John E Davies said:

That dimming tape looks great, I might try it. You can kill the power to the radio and the “inside the window” antenna completely, in my hull 218 there is a switch type breaker in the rear “attic” cabinet, I don’t know where yours is. Please add your Hull number to a signature so we don’t have to ask.

When I added extra USB charge ports, I intentionally picked versions that have no LEDs, they are very hard to find. All those lights are not just a nuisance, they create a parasytic electrical load, that runs down your batteries. The fewer there are (or the more you can switch off manually), the better, when you are boondocking.

John Davies

Spokane WA

Thanks, John.  I didn't even think about the little LED lights when we bought the USB charge ports.

I'm not too worried about battery drain - we got the Platinum package. But they do annoy me, so I need to get them under control.

[SeaDawg]

Within this long thread from a year ago, there was a discussion about the  dimming stickers Steph and Dud linked. Looks like @WhatDa found them to be useful.

"TV Led (it turns on when the TV is off), Zamp Panel, Stereo Display/time, USB port LEDs, Microwave Display, WiFi Booster LED, and awning LEDs up front.  We used 1 or 2 dimming stickers on each of these.  TV got a blackout since it projects straight down on curb side - just had to be careful as the IR receiver for the remote is right next to the bright blue LED."
 

 

 

In our older Elite we have a stereo switch that turns the panel light off. The dometic fridge lights bothered me when we had the dometic, but didn't bother my husband. Our solar monitor goes dark when the sun goes down. Tv is usually unplugged. The lights under the small dinette don't bother me.

 

[ADKCamper]

Thanks! The dimming stickers look interesting & worth a try!

We have an Elite with less solar / battery capacity, so phantom current draw is more of an issue than it is for the Elite II's.

We replaced the factory USB charging outlets with higher capacity ones with no LED; less phantom current draw and faster charging.

We put a rolled up pair of socks in front of the surge protector display in the upper rear attic compartment 🙂

We also added an in-line on/off switch to the TV in between factory power cord and the jack on the TV, which was very bright and in-our-face all night since we sleep "sideways" in the smaller Elite. It kills the light when we're not using the TV, is easy to turn on/off, and eliminates yet another phantom current draw.

 

[topgun2]

Can you tell us where you got the switch - Amazon?

Bill

[VBistro]

11 hours ago, SeaDawg said:

Our solar monitor goes dark when the sun goes down.

Yup!  This one got me on our first night in Ollie. Sun barely peaked up, and the zamp lights came right on!

[ADKCamper]

Switch was indeed from Amazon.Its rated for 12VDC at either 5 amps (according to Amazon) or 7 amps (per the packaging), so make sure that's consistent with the current draw of your TV or whatever other device you're switching...

Not exactly heavy duty, but easy to replace if/when it dies... just unplug it and put the original power cord back into the TV power input jack.

https://www.amazon.com/button-switch-universal-driving-lights/dp/B07G17HWW8/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=JIANFA+Car+Push+Button+Switch&s=industrial&sr=1-2

Edited December 6, 2021 by ADKCamper
Add'l info

[ADKCamper]

These are the connectors I used to avoid cutting the TV's OEM power cord and also to make the whole switch assembly easily connector-removable:

https://www.amazon.com/Pigtail-Female-Connectors-Security-Adapter/dp/B07C7VSRBG/ref=pd_sbs_328_2/147-5472012-5513723?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07C7VSRBG&pd_rd_r=4d4a4233-ce04-4370-a00b-c599dcee81af&pd_rd_w=auQA9&pd_rd_wg=FsjF2&pf_rd_p=52ff3488-8ecd-4341-9663-52e4fb00f500&pf_rd_r=TX8N0D8R7FK6E6ANGQS2&psc=1&refRID=TX8N0D8R7FK6E6ANGQS2

Not exactly heavy duty either... the wire is very fine and definitely not 18 AWG as the Amazon listing claims. Works with the Jensen JTV24DC 12v television in our 2018 Elite. If you have a different TV, you may need a different connector or beefier wire size...