From: John De Armond
Newsgroups: rec.outdoors.rv-travel
Subject: Re: 12 volt wireless switch
Date: Sat, 31 Dec 2005 21:23:30 -0500
Message-ID: <eueer1ta744slc1ahebk0tu3fd1ip42n29@4ax.com>

On Sat, 31 Dec 2005 13:28:52 -0500, "Steve Wolf" <news@w8iz.com>
wrote:

>> Your remarks got me going on another slant.  I don't need the light to
>> read.
>
>Ah, a youngster.
>
>> I need it to see in my clothes closet,  and I can run the wires into there
>> from a cigarette lighter outlet  I installed to play my shortwave
>> receiver.
>> More than one way to skin a cat.  Grin
>
>Some RVs use an automatic button switches that turn on the light when the
>door is opened.  I have a problem with that as if the items on the top
>closet shelf become disheveled and touch the light, I'd rather be sure it is
>off.  I melted some plastic from a bag carrying other items and that could
>have easily led to a fire.

I chose another option.  I've replaced almost all the lights in my RV
with fluorescent or white neon.  In my clothes closet I put several
runs of white neon on the bulkhead above the door after painting that
surface white.  This makes wonderfully diffuse light that is, with the
type phosphor I used, color correct so I can sometimes manage to make
my colors match :-)

Along a similar vein, taking advantage of the rapidly falling price of
HID lamps and saving some battery power, I replaced my 55 watt halogen
reading lamp with one of these cute little HID (high intensity
discharge) lamps:

http://www.trailtech.net/motorcycle_hid_parts.htm

This cute little lamp, a miniature version of the HID headlights being
installed in some upscale cars, draws almost exactly 1 amp from the 12
volt line while producing at least as much light as the 55 watt
halogen did.  Even better, it is fairly rich in UVA which makes pages
printed on fluorescent paper (almost everything except newsprint)
really pop.  It really gives my tired old eyes some relief.

Steve, you'd really like this, as the coefficient of nerd is quite
high :-)

I originally bought one of these to use on my electric scooter where
power consumption is a BIG DEAL.  I liked it so well that I bought
another for the RV.  Those of you who do off-roading at night should
take a look at the helmet mounted versions elsewhere on the site.
Slicker'n day-old grits!

John