Bed Reading light ideas

[DeanRIowa]

I would like to install a reading light above the head of our bed. My wife would like to be able to sleep, while I read, so I want a reading light instead of using the overhead light in the bedroom.

Our bed like many has storage cabinet to each side of the bed and overhead the bed. I have an outlet under the side cabinets, no electrical above.

I am not extremely handy thus a full built in light is not in the cards, probably simpler the better.

I would like some ideas?

thanks,
Dean

[Harvey51]

Nice job, Westend. Thanks for the idea!

[westend]

I'll share this for folks that want a down-firing light.

I built these fixtures and lamped them with either 36-SMD LED or 48-SMD LED panels bought from E Bay. They came with adapters. The fixtures I bought at the dollar store and are made for business card frames. I cut a piece of light aluminum sheet that becomes the mounting surface for the LED panel.

Process: Lead wires out of paneling, solder on molex connector, fasten light aluminum sheet piece to ceiling or wall, attach LED panel and connect to wires, slide card holder fixture w/glass lense onto aluminum sheet piece.



The above fixture was an after thought so wires are lead on surface. All my others have the wires under the paneling and for some, I wired in a small toggle switch. I have had no panel losses, no heat issues, and the 48-SMD panels in Warm White are very close to the output of the original incandescents they replaced.

[dewey02]

I ran wiring from my over-bed lights to the wardrobes on either side of the bed and installed these lights I got off Amazon. I was able to fish wires through the cabinetry so no exposed wires are seen. The lamps can pivot, so you can point the light where you want it (and out of the eyes of your sleeping spouse).

Amazon link to light fixture:Clicky

My installation (there's another one on the other side of bed)

[Harvey51]

A few years ago I made a couple of reading lights to go above the dinette seats. We do a good deal of stretching out on those seats for reading on dark evenings and the lights are great. LED of course. Rv.net thread
Incidentally, I never installed a voltage regulator and the LEDs are working great 5 years later.

[Veebyes]

One of those head lights is probably the simplest & cheapest solutions. I have them scattered around almost like I have cheap glasses. A couple in the trailer, one in my house for first light in a power outage, one handy in the garage.

[myredracer]

If your overhead storage has a cavity in it, you can install recessed puck lights. Would need to also install a switch. I did this and removed the standard pancake light and installed a pair of pucks on each side of the bed in order to cover the screw holes. Need to get lower lumen output puck lights for this.

I installed an "aircraft" style reading light in a previous TT similar to bpounds above except that I used a light with two heads on it and mounted it in the center. These are older type lights that use an incandescent bulb and am not sure if an LED bulb will fit due to size?

[DeanRIowa]

some good ideas.

Thank you,
Dean

[Vintage465]

Actually, not sure if anyone mentioned it, but a strap on head light works pretty good for reading at night.

[Veebyes]

Search on map reading lights from marine suppliers.

[Harvey51]

We had a pair of lights similar to horton333's post only using disposable batteries. I never got the mounted. Now we use ordinary dollar store puck LED lights mounted on the wall, which seem to be just right. The batteries last a long time, so not worth the trouble of hooking up to house power.

[mobeewan]

Stick n click lights.
Found in "As seen on tv" section in retail and drug stores.

[westend]

I repurposed some IKEA desk fixtures I found for reading lamps in the bunks. They are a small cone, on articulating supports, lensed, and came with a 10W halogen bulb. I replaced the halogen lamps with LED's. Power is drawn off the trailer's 12V system like the rest of the lights.

I'm thinking these same types of fixture are available on the Internet.

[DarthMuffin]

We use USB reading lights (all over, just google -- like a snake with a USB port one end, LED light the other). I installed USB ports which serve double duty as phone chargers. You could just as easily run it off of a USB battery pack.

[DrewE]

Here's a battery operated IKEA option that might work nicely. The biggest drawback I can see is that it turns itself off after 30 minutes (and there doesn't appear to be a way to disable that from glancing through the instruction leaflet online).