Slick awning lights for Zip Dee awnings
The manual Zip Dee awnings have no easy way to attach lights to the outer awning tube. I found I could make mounting tabs by folding 5 lengths of 1 nylon webbing in half and sewing a box about 3/4 by 3/4 to secure the two ends together. Punch a 1/8 hole in the center of the box to accept 1/8 aluminum pop rivets. Unroll the awning to its lowest point and drill 5/32 holes near the ends of the awning tube up under and to the outside of the solid awning flap and pop rivet one of the webbing tabs in place on each end. Now drill holes and attach flaps evenly at about 24 spacing. These tabs will hide nicely under the solid awning flap. To make them easier to access, attach one of the small stainless steel braid wire key chains that screw together at the ends onto each flap. They add practically nothing to the rolled diameter of the awning, wont corrode over time and yet make it easy to use small carabiners to attach any kind of light you wish.
i used the 40 plus foot outdoor led light strings made for patio lighting. Theses are 120vac powered strings with a nice looking cob style screw in LED light bulbs that provide a nice very warm, almost retro looking amber ambiance that compliments the mood lights used by the converters on many late 1990s and early 2000s coach conversions. I found them at Costco but have seen them in most home stores. The whole string only draws 15 watts so power draw is negligible and the total light output is just right with no need for a dimmer. They have a bulb socket every 24 and each has a small mounting hole. I found carabiners the same diameter as the mounting holes so it is fast and easy to mount the lights to the stainless steel braid key chains attached to each tab.
l install them so the last bulb is right at the entry door, then wrap them around the Zip Dee diagonal upright so guests will not bang their head there. Leave plenty of slack so when you raise the awning to its full upright height the cord will not foul on the mechanism. Clip the string across the length of the awning and down the rear diagonal so guests will see that as well. That places the plug on my coach in a convenient spot to plug into an extension cord plugged into one of the shore/gen/inverter powered outlets in the third bay back (tool bay in my coach).
It it takes less than 10 minutes to mount or dismount the light string. Slick.
