Was wondering of anyone could recommend a light for camping? I'm looking for something that will hang from the ceiling and probably run on electric as so far I've only had battery operated ones and they've just not been bright enough to light the tent up. (Were great when I only had a small tent)
Have looked at what's available but want to know what others like.
A good cheap light if you dont want anything fancy is the Kampa/Sunncamp awning light comes with 5m cable, hanging hook, pole clips for awning/internal tent poles and a low energy bulb which can be changed for a higher wattage one if you want. The difference between these and the battery LEDs is amazing, lights up the whole of our 6 berth tents, bright enough to read and give out a nice warm light and with energy saving bulbs dont get hot Kampa light
Post last edited on 30/12/2012 18:05:28
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We just had a cheap and cheerful one that lit up our tent fine (our tent is 4 person with a main area in the middle). It hung on the tent hook at the top of the main area and lasted the whole time we were there (we had charged it beforehand as it has mains adapter) but for emergencies it is windup too. It cost £15 (I wasnt gonna spend anymore) and its not too big. http://www.grasshopperleisure.co.uk/gelert-12-led-wind-up-mini-lantern-with-mains-plug-1736-p.asp
This is the one we had and it did the job just fine!
Very easy to make yourself, I used a BulkHead light fitting that has a polycarbonate lense, cost about £4 added to that a regular shaped bayonet bulb 105watt but Halogen type so gives out 150watt of light,the bulb was around £2.
OK a brightness of 150watt is way to bright for most uses, at around 1800 lumens!, so added an inline rotary dimmer which cost about £10.
The lantern is fitted with 22mm pipe clips so clips onto my 23mm tent poles very snugly, gave it 7m of two core cable and a plug, job done.
So for under £20 we got the perfect lantern, that gives of a lovely glow on dim, and lights the whole place up when on full tilt.
Not seen anything on the market like it, but it sure works a treat for camping, and only uses less than half of an amp, so fine on EHU.
Got all the parts from CPC at Preston, apart from the Dimmer that was a new item of Ebay.
We use a clip on light with a low energy bulb (the type which has a plastic outer covering the bulb) - something like this and this.
If you want dimming capability, you can get plug-in dimmer switches like this for a few quid - you just need to make sure the bulb you use is suitable for dimming as not all are (halogen bulbs are generally OK, but other low energy ones tend not to be).
Have a quick look on eBay as I suspect you'll find it cheapest there.
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Topic: Camping light / lantern
