Strip Lights inside generator

[devilphrog]

I was thinking of installing white led strip Lights inside of my generator, tied to the panel light circuit. Figure if I could light up the housing in the engine bay and around the generator head I could do spot checks for leaks etc. during operation at night. What do you think?

 

[stugpanzer]

Sounds interesting....can't wait to see what you come up with. On another note could also use the convenience outlet for more lighting too.

 

[devilphrog]

I was thinking the same thing as well, but was brainstorming about keeping things self contained within the unit. I figure it would be a 20-30 dollar project all in

 

[Demoh]

Agreed, a roll of 12v led strip lights are cheap and readily available, either run 2 chains in series or find 24v lights. My only complaint about those lights is the adhesive so I always try to affix them mechanically.

 

[Light in the Dark]

Do we know how much available power there is in that circuit?

 

[devilphrog]

No idea, haven't even looked yet at the circuit, got other projects going on. It appears that a 24v strip light pulls around 40 watts of power. I'm assuming that the circuit should have that available as I converted the panel bulbs to led from incandescent bulbs. More research on my behalf needed

 

[Farmitall]

I thought about doing the same thing.

My plan is to run an inline fused wire from the positive battery cable at the starter to a switch mounted inside the engine compartment, then to two LED lights, one on each side of the engine compartment, and a RED indicator LED through a spot on the outside wall to indicate lights on.

I would avoid hooking it up to the panel light circuit only because I would keep the panel lights on when the generator is in use. No need to energize the inside lighting if not needed. By connecting at the positive battery terminal at the starter(WITH A FUSE IMMEDIATELY AT THE CONNECTION) there is no worries about the amount of current drawn by a couple of multi LED lights.