Our Name's In Lights.......

Happy Saturday afternoon everyone.  We are happy to report after a long day yesterday, Rob got Trisha's mom home safely from the hospital after  her hip replacement surgery.  She's doing fine, and after not one but two stiff drinks after supper last night, so is Rob.  HAHA.

The title "Our Name's in Lights,"  refers to one of our pod mods Rob did before the first trip of the season.  We used it at both the Charleston Trip and this past weekend at the T@B rally.  Check it all out below.

Here's our camping name sign as it has grown to be.....

This really looks great, thanks mostly to Rob's cousin Sharon.  The name sign with our names on it was from last year's Blue Ridge Rally.  The name sign with Jackson's name she made after Jackson asked Rob where his name sign was?  The final sign for Pod was a craft project from this year's Blue Ridge Rally.

The only problem was you couldn't really see them after dark.  

So in the cold, non-camping season this past winter, Rob came up with a mod.  You'll notice the spot light the base of the sign in the picture above.  

This is a cheap, low voltage spot light from Rob's favorite store Lowes.  He says to make sure to get the 12 volt ones.   To that he attached a regular male plug like you would put on a lamp.




Rob got this idea while he was replacing a light bulb on the low-voltage system at the house.  He realized the Pod already had a low voltage DC system installed.

To connect the light to Pod's power, he then installed a cheap female outlet end to the battery.  He did put a small inline fuse for safety.





Then to route power to the light he used several cheap extension cords he bought.  Now you can use heavier duty cords, plugs, etc.  But these did work just fine in all the rain we had at Big Meadow this past weekend.


The advantage of using these type cords is the multiple outlets on the end.  This would let you add several low voltage lights as needed.  Just be sure to use low wattage lights.  

Here's a picture of the final result at night.  It's not the best picture, but gives you a good idea.  Rob attaches the light to the sign holder with a clip, but it could be put out in front of the sign, etc.  

This was a super easy, inexpensive mod.  We really like it because we can leave it one all night with minimal power draw.  Plus, it doesn't light up a large area so it's neighbor friendly.





Thanks for checking by today.  We now have 11 campers attending the 2013 North Carolina r-Pod and Friends Rally in June.  The list includes r-Pods, a T@B (maybe two), and an Airstream.   Plus, we may be making a quick weekend trip to the North Carolina mountains in a couple of weeks.  It really depends on the weather.

Until next time, stay safe out there....-R,T,&J.