Selecting and Installing Lights and Switches
Lights
At this point in time there isn’t any reason I can think of to not use LED lights. I like the clean look of flush mount lights and I felt they would work well installed in the headliner. I used the same flush-mounted lights for all the ceiling lights which include the reading lights (2) for passenger and driver’s seats, the main load area (2), the bed area (2), and the rear bed reading lights (2). For under the galley cabinet and under the bed platform I chose self-adhesive strip lights because they fit well along the support frame. I chose two higher power load lights for the rear doors to illuminate the rear area for cargo loading and equipment management when the doors are open.
I planned on re-using my factory headliner so after I designed my light placement; I pre-installed the LED lights, switches, and 12v outlets. This photo is of the rearmost headliner panel.
In retrospect, I should have used aim-able lights for the 4 reading lights so that they would only affect a limited space (one person reading while the other sleeps). Otherwise, these lights give plenty of illumination and I especially like having the brighter loading lights on the rear door.
Dimmers
I chose touch-activated dimmers for the reading lights in front and rear as well as the over-bed lights. The dimmer concept was good and they look really cool, but I found these particular models to be finicky; so far two have failed. However, I believe it may have to do with their sensitivity to static which can be pretty substantial in the cold dry air of AK. I had assumed that the housing was grounded with the ground lead, but apparently not. (My dimmers were mounted in the un-grounded plastic panels and headliner.) Currently, I am careful to ground myself on the van metal before I use these dimmers and that seems to be working. I now have plans to put ground wires on the housing of the remaining dimmers.
Switches
For the simple on-off switches I chose a model with an LED indicator light. This should have been pretty straightforward except I had a hard time getting them to work at all. After some frustration and double-checking my install, I finally took them to my workbench/kitchen-counter and find out what they were actually doing. I quickly discovered that the documentation included with the switches was wrong. As I found out in later reviews of the product, I wasn’t the only one having trouble with this . After I figured it out, they have seemed to function okay.
You can see my scribbled solution to the brief, but incorrect, factory instructions. Perhaps you can sense my frustration…. Later, I was able to find the same switch from another vendor and their on-line instructions were correct!
Factory Lighting
Since I chose to retain the factory headliner, I also decided to retain the factory lighting in the rear of the van. This resulted in duplication of lighting, but It also allows for the door-activated illumination in the load and cockpit areas. As with most vehicles the factory lighting can be disabled with the switch on the front console.
Note that I kept all of my conversion wiring and electrical systems independent of the factory systems. Although it was tempting to use some of the factory circuits, I did not think it was prudent to potentially overload the stock wiring or to use devices that may interfere with the sensors. The only connection my system has to the stock electrical is the 12v to 12v system to charge the house batteries while driving.
