Use tap lights to illuminate dark RV spaces

By Gail Marsh
How many places in your RV could be improved with a little more light? Good news! You can easily light up those dark spaces with very little effort and not much money either. Tap lights are my choice when it comes to illuminating those dark spaces. These little lights have really improved over the past few years. They’re easy to install and use.

Today’s tap lights

If you haven’t checked out tap lights lately, you should! Now these handy, battery-powered lights feature LED bulbs that shine much brighter than the original tap lights. The LED bulbs with 55 lumens or more will help you see into the back recesses of your RV and enable you to make use of previously unusable space. Tap lights are versatile and portable. Some lights can be fastened in place with a simple screw or two. Other lights come with self-stick adhesive for quick application. Here are some places where I’ve used tap lights in our RV:

• Inside cabinets: Your RV may feature lights inside the storage cabinets. Ours does not. Some cabinets are illuminated by the RV’s ceiling lights, but for those that aren’t, I installed tap lights.
• Under sinks: I store most of our cleaning supplies under our kitchen and bathroom sinks. Since placing tap lights under the sinks, I can easily see what supplies I have and what products I need to buy on our next run to Walmart.
• As a night light: Our grandkids love camping with us. The littlest one still wants a night light. We use a lower lumen tap light near her bunk and everyone sleeps better.
• Inside the under-the-bed storage: There is so much space under our king-size bed! But honestly, the space was not practical until hubby put a tap light under there. Now we no longer have to balance a flashlight with one hand and scrabble for that sweatshirt at the same time!
• Above bed pillows: I like to read in bed. The problem is our RV bedroom lighting. There are two lights in the ceiling at the end of our bed. They are not positioned to help me read and they shine in hubby’s eyes and keep him awake. So I put a tap light above my pillow. It’s perfect!
• Inside closet: Yes, our RV has a closet light but when clothes are hung on the closet rod, they cast shadows on the closet shelves making shelved clothing difficult to see. That’s another place we put tap lights (one for his side and one for mine).
• Inside control panel: Our control panel is in the space between the kitchen and the hallway. The hall light doesn’t light the panel, nor do the kitchen lights. So we purchased a smaller tap light and put it inside the control panel. Now we can easily spot blown fuses without dragging out the flashlight.
• RV basement: We have a lot of things stored in our RV basement. Even with the original RV basement light, hubby had trouble finding things without a flashlight. (Storage boxes blocked the light.) Now we have two additional lights (tap lights) in the basement and it’s as bright as Las Vegas! Well, almost…

Today’s tap lights have so many features compared to their predecessors. Now you can buy tap lights in different colors. Some are dimmable, too, while still other tap lights come with a wireless remote! If you worry about forgetting to “tap off” your light, worry no longer! Some tap lights feature an on/off timer. So, what are you waiting for? Order some tap lights for your RV now! You’ll find a wide assortment of them here.