Light Up Your Life — On the Patio

Dream Lighting LED fixture was surface mounted and hard wired in the same location as the factory incandescent light. Its 720 lumens of light bathe the entire patio (and more) with cool lighting; LEDs are also dimmable.

Patio lights come in all shapes and sizes, and many are too anemic to illuminate a large area.

Many RV manufacturers have transitioned to LED strip lights mounted to a track below the awning roll, but unless the awning is extended, some of the potential light is blocked by the rolled-up awning material. The Dream Lighting LED Heavy Duty Awning Light Bar (now that’s a mouthful) is compact and will illuminate the entire patio and more — and it sells for only $28 (https://amzn.to/3vzltnM).

While there are numerous fixtures floating around the Internet, this model passed muster with us (more than 1½ years of service) — so much so, that additional units were installed, replacing the round “scare lights” on the corners of the fifth wheel.

The stout metal body is waterproof and compact. This fixture has provided years of interrupted service and makes a viable replacement for the round scare lights commonly founds on RVs.

The metal body measures 8 x 1 5/8 inches and, when surface-mounted, only protrudes 1¼ inches from the sidewall. There’s notable heft to this fixture, which contributes to its durability, and cooling fins built into the waterproof housing dissipate heat from the LEDs while providing a “techy” look. It must be hard wired into the RV’s 12-volt DC system, an easy task if you’re replacing an existing fixture. If this fixture is replacing the strip lighting, you can route new wire along the strip rail (which may not be pretty) or remove the strip light and use the space in the rail to conceal a two-wire cable. In both cases, power can be picked up from the source at one end of the strip light. If there is power on the other side of the wall where the light fixture will be mounted, wiring can be fished to that location and a new switch can be employed.

The LEDs in the fixture provide 720 lumens of cool light, projecting a 40-degree downcast beam — and the LEDs are dimmable, which is nice for after-dinner lounging when too much light spoils the ambiance.