12V LED camper van lighting

Planning my camper van lighting set-up

Since I started to plan my van conversion, I put a good amount of thought into interior lighting. I have a solar panel on the roof and 2 leisure batteries, so energy supply shouldn’t be a problem, but I still wanted to preserve energy wherever possible, so I decided on installing 12V LED lighting for my van conversion.

A big part of my lighting set up would be not only for the practicality, but for the mood it sets, so I decided on multiple types of LED lights for the van. Here are the details of the lights I installed in my camper van conversion:

12V LED down lights/ spot lights

These lights are the main lighting in the van, carefully positioned to distribute light in key areas. I decided to go for warm white, so it’s not too in your face. These LED lights are 3.5W, which doesn’t sound much, but trust me they are really bright!

I bought 6 of these LED downlights [Amazon], to evenly distribute light across the whole van: 2 above the cooker/ sink area of the van, 2 in the ‘living room’, and 2 at the rear of the van above the bed.

Since these lights will be in three different zones, I have individual switches for each pair, one switch for the kitchen, one for the ‘living room’ and one for the rear of the van. The switch I went with is this satin matt 3 gang brushed chrome switch [Amazon], which looks great!

LED strip lights with remote control

Now these LED strip lights [Amazon] are purely for mood. I bought 2 rolls of 5 metres each, which will go around the van under a shelf. These lights won’t be seen, but rather they will be hidden behind the shelf and bounce light off the walls to create a mood. These too are warm white, and give a beautiful warm glow.

For these LED strip lights I bought a 12V LED light controller with remote [Amazon]. This not only allows me to turn the strip lights on/ off remotely, but also allows me to dim the lights. An additional feature of this remote is that it has a number of modes, i.e flashing modes, so if you’re  planning a party in the van or want some Christmas lights, this remote can do that too! 🙂

LED reading lights

These beauties are mounted on the wall above your head – one on each side of the bed; they have this flexible goose neck so that you can angle them where you want, perfect for reading a book in bed. they have 2 modes too, anti-glare white, for reading, and blue, for low level mood lighting. These lights look absolutely gorgeous! I also got these on Amazon, sold by a company called Dream Lighting [Amazon].

Final thoughts

I’ve taken energy consumption, practicality and comfort into account whilst planning my campervan lighting set up, and I’m very happy with my choice. If you’re considering these types of LED lighting in your van, check out the links in this post.

If you have any questions or comments, please leave a comment below.