Using Really Right Stuff Mini Ballheads to Mount Cineo Matchbox Lights in my Sprinter Van
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Below, 3 Cineo Matchbox lights are mounted inside my van, each adjustable from 0% to 100% output, each using 12V DC (the rightmost light I’ve used a battery to avoid a wire). I find I prefer the 4200°K remote phosphor panel, so the middle light I’m going to swap out that panel from the 5500°K to the 4200°K panel to match the other two.
The total effect is very pleasant (almost perfect daylight lighting), amply bright, and highly flexible. Way better than those downlights one sees in Sprinter vans which have poor color rendering and poor coverage and shine in ones eyes (bad angle).
Also (hard to see) is a Luxli Cello mounted pointing up so no eye-glare; this is very nice for a red light at night so as to not ruin night vision if awakening at night and it can be controlled with an iPhone (and it can produce just about any color from 0% to 100% brightness). Very good for last minute stuff before sleep where I want my brain to prepare for sleep without being stimulated by daylight. It can be a very faint night-light or a quite bright red illuminating much of the interior.
Messy? Yeah, but I’m running on dollar fumes, but in spite of my strict budget (excepting the 10 kilowatt battery system, last year) I still was able to insulate the van thoroughly and very effectively. The stuff on the windows is Reflectix @AMAZON (very effective for sun and quite inexpensive). In other places, wool cloth provides window coverings and insulation within the many nooks and crannies. I’ve pretty much decided that I do not want a finished-off board-and-carpet interior, which eliminates all the magnetic facilities (I use a lot of magnets to hang/mount things) and requires planning in advance where every light will go (and worrying about wiring failures after time bouncing down very rough roads—rip open the walls = no thanks). And I want the Cineo lights for their lighting quality. And... I don’t give a darn that it doesn’t look “pretty” like the brochure shots of fancy $150K to $200K Sprinter vans, most of which are cramped with features I don’t want and won’t use.