Custom light fixture made and installed

[SLOweather]

In another thread here, I posted about removing the StudioLoft from our Sunstar. The reduction in weight and increased headroom are great. However, the mount left crushed headliner and screw holes in its wake.





Also, there is a dearth of light up there at night, if reading in the captain's chairs, just one sad map light on each side.


So, I decided to fix 2 problems at once: cover the tracks and add lights. I shopped online and found suitable lights on Amazon. Then I designed and made a wooden box out of 1x2 a d 1/4" poplar. Home Depot didn't have a "forest cherry" stain match so I channeled my late grandfather and mixed my own out of Varathane Traditional Cherry and Black Cherry. (~6 to 1).

[SLOweather]

I installed a 3/4 MDO cleat on the ceiling with self drilling screws to hold the fixture.


And, here's also a picture of it installed. The screws that hold the box to the cleat are hidden by the lights.

[SLOweather]

After some observation, investigation, and experimentation, I learned something about those lights that makes them even nicer and explains a cryptic notation in the instructions.





I knew that the touch ring controlled the blue night light, and dimming the the reading light. The instructions say:

Tips: Lamp memories your desired brightness and it stay on last time brightness level when you turn on next time.Dimming range 15%-100%.

I never could get that figured out, because of the way the touch control works. Then, when I was rewiring the lights from my temporary 12 v connection to the new under-dash fuse panel I installed, I noticed that a light that's ON when power is removed retains that setting when power is restored.


So, I have now added a temporary dash switch that controls all 4 lights. Much more convenient than having to stand up and touch the lights one by one. There's a hole in the dash for a matching Carling switch that I'll use as soon as the ones I ordered get here.