One thing that has always bothered Tammy is that we lack a 12 volt light over the kitchen sink.  Tammy’s pretty fond of saying “It’s dark in here…let me turn on the light over the sink”, then she reaches up to turn on an imaginary light and says “Oh that’s right, we don’t have one”.

It is pretty amazing to me that Grand Design never put a light over the sink in this trailer.  We have an Imagine 2950RL, which is a fairly long trailer.  Can lights provide the lighting in the living area of the travel trailer.  They give off a lot of light but do not come close to lighting up the kitchen island if you are working there.  Last year I  made a modification to these lights by adding a dimmer switch because having the can lights on full bright all the time is annoying.  Bright lights are nice to have occasionally, but at night they just seemed entirely too bright.  So now we have the ability to dial down the can lights which is really nice.  The only issue is that we are still faced with the dark area over the sink.

Now let me say that this is a common complaint with our brand of travel trailer.  Many folks have already started adding a light over the sink with many different methods.  A few decided to just put up battery operated lights.  This did not appeal to us for a number of reasons, batteries go dead, and batteries can leak.  Others either wired to the existing light system or over to the vent fan.

We decided the best method was to tie into the power at the vent fan.  The fan is about three feet away from where I wanted to mount the light.   I decided to purchase the same 12 volt light that is mounted over the dinette area.  These lights are available on Amazon; and reasonably priced.

12 Volt light available on Amazon.com

This is a Facon dimmable Eco-LED large Pancake Light with switch, 6 watts and 470 Lumens.  It as a frosted lends and costs $12.00 dollars.  It comes in a variety of finishes from chrome, brushed nickel, beige, white, chrome and bright chrome.  I chose white to match the other fixtures in the trailer.

So let me start by saying I always get a little nervous when I know the potential exists to make things look horrible if the project goes awry.  So I spent a lot of time looking at how I would tie things together before I went any further.  Next I removed the inside vent shroud by removing four screws and then the fan handle and screen.  I could easily access the wires with the fan shroud removed.  I then took a thin wire and pushed it under the insulation guiding it to where light would be located.  This was to insure that I could get wires to a potential location before cutting into the ceiling.  The wire moved with very little resistance.  This was all good news.

Next, I took a small flashlight and placed it in the middle of the sink with a small bead of light focused on the ceiling.  This is where the hole would go to run the wires.  Next I borrowed a hole saw from my buddy frank and slowly cut through the ceiling.  It went better than I thought and in a few seconds I was through the ceiling.

Then I went back to the fan opening and I ran some 12 gauge wire to the new hole that I just cut.  I pulled that wire down and connected it to the wires on the light (with wire nuts).  Then I wrapped electrical tape around the wire nut and down over the wires.   This was to make sure that the wires would never come loose.   Next I went back and connected into the Fan power supply the same way, and then I tried the light – it worked.

Now it was time to mount the 12 volt light to the ceiling.  The manufacturer had not supplied any screws so I went to  the hardware store and bought some screws similar to the type used in the other fixtures.  They were easy to screw in without pilot holes.

Lastly I reassembled the fan screen into the opening and replaced the shroud.  What a difference this cheap 12 dollar modification  has made.

The LED light installed – what a difference.

So if you are lacking a 12 volt light over your sink – this just might be an upgrade you should consider.  Feel free to watch a video of the install on our Travel Trailer Nation YouTube channel: Travel Trailer Nation