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Sun Mar 14, 2021 11:45 am

Jake de Villiers wrote: Yes, we still have our original 25 (?) year old UCO candle lantern: its irreplaceable, really.

We also have two UCO Madrona lanterns and one UCO Sitka - very well thought out lamps that provide good illumination without glare.

I'm also a big fan of the Luminoodles: we have two that we use on the awning for general overhead lighting. Add in a three or four USB power packs and life is very good!

We'll use all of it at once to light a late night jam with seven or eight people at a bluegrass festival. Good times!! :D
Yes, Luminoodles! Love them. great for inside and outside for the awning. Here's a shot of them in the "inside mode".

Luminoodle Link: https://amzn.to/3vncTrU
By the way, don't you think my newish rug ties the whole room together? :lol: Near perfect fit with a fridge: https://amzn.to/2OoAOGS

Mon Mar 15, 2021 7:29 am

Vanlife Geek wrote: Jake de Villiers wrote: Yes, we still have our original 25 (?) year old UCO candle lantern: its irreplaceable, really.

We also have two UCO Madrona lanterns and one UCO Sitka - very well thought out lamps that provide good illumination without glare.

I'm also a big fan of the Luminoodles: we have two that we use on the awning for general overhead lighting. Add in a three or four USB power packs and life is very good!

We'll use all of it at once to light a late night jam with seven or eight people at a bluegrass festival. Good times!! :D
Yes, Luminoodles! Love them. great for inside and outside for the awning. Here's a shot of them in the "inside mode".

Luminoodle Link: https://amzn.to/3vncTrU
By the way, don't you think my newish rug ties the whole room together? :lol: Near perfect fit with a fridge: https://amzn.to/2OoAOGS Yes, the rug works nicely!

It took me a couple of trips to realise that the annoying clippy things on the Luminoodles were actually very useful magnets... :oops:

Mon Mar 15, 2021 7:42 am

VG;

All you need to add is a hookah, and you qualify for the Moroccan whorehouse look (sorry, I couldn't resist!). Actually, it looks quite homey!

Cheers

Mon Mar 15, 2021 8:45 am

Jake de Villiers wrote:
It took me a couple of trips to realise that the annoying clippy things on the Luminoodles were actually very useful magnets... :oops: Yes, the magnets work great either inside along where the main light is (on my converted tin-top anyway) or outside on the metal of the van just under the awning.

Ronzo_volvo_guy wrote: VG;

All you need to add is a hookah, and you qualify for the Moroccan whorehouse look (sorry, I couldn't resist!). Actually, it looks quite homey!

Cheers I do have hookah-like devices... it is Colorado after all. All I can say is that Moroccan whorehouses must be really nice, lol.

Mon Mar 15, 2021 9:26 am

VG;

I'm glad you didn't take offense...it was just a stupid remark...OK on Colorado! Please tell more about the TV setup...is the monitor 12V, or are you stepping up to 110VAC with an inverter? Are you showing a program received off-air?...what is your antenna?

Cheers from Connecticut!

Mon Mar 15, 2021 10:14 am

Ronzo_volvo_guy wrote: VG;

I'm glad you didn't take offense...it was just a stupid remark...OK on Colorado! Please tell more about the TV setup...is the monitor 12V, or are you stepping up to 110VAC with an inverter? Are you showing a program received off-air?...what is your antenna?

Cheers from Connecticut!
Absolutely no offense was taken!

My TV setup: It's a 22" SuperSonic brand 12v TV (https://amzn.to/3tkz8ge) There aren't many choices when it comes to 12v TV's. I have a KING OA1501 OmniGo Portable Omnidirectional HDTV Over-the-Air Antenna (https://amzn.to/2OZID5t). But I usually stream using my little ROKU combined with my Jetpack MiFi 8800L (the jetpack has special sauce and is completely unlimited with no caps or throttling. I'm using Verizon as my carrier). The antenna comes in handy on long camps with no internet. I also have a ton of movies on an external hard drive and can play them with my laptop hooked up to the TV via HDMI.

The TV is mounted with a Wall Mount Bracket with Full Motion Articulating Swivel for 17-27" (https://amzn.to/3eDDNpz). It works pretty well, but has loosened up a bit over time.

Most of the little bits are hidden behind the TV:
I also have a little Android TV box which I mainly use for playing Backgammon online, but it has a bunch of other features, too.

The TV is ok, but I'm thinking I'd like to replace it with a 4K monitor. I'm doing a lot of video/photo editing on my laptop (I'm a retired photographer and video production guy), and it would be nice to have a higher quality monitor instead of this 1080p TV. I think there's room for a bit bigger size, like I think a 27" would fit fine. The negatives are that there aren't really any 12V monitors, but I do have an inverter, so I'll have to think about it and weigh the negatives and positives. At least the price of 4K monitors are coming down. For now, this setup works just fine.

I know some people will say I don't need all this in my camper and should just enjoy nature. For folks doing the occasional camping trip I would tend to agree. But I have moved into my van full time, so this is home and I want it to be "homey" as you said. And believe me, I get to enjoy nature more than most!

Mon Mar 15, 2021 10:44 am

VG;

BIG thanks for detailed info on TV setup...I will pass it along to my son (owner of record) for his '87 Waterwesty...he intends to travel and do on-the-road podcasts, webcasts and updates and things, so I expect he will find it a very useful info. We just installed a 100W Solar array (but also a 12V fridge user!) recently, so I expect he is going to become very Watt-aware, and frugal at some point...

Nature is great, and we all love it, but when your vehicle is a traveling home, it must strattle and satisfy a number of requirements...

Cheers