So, like many others I thought the LED awning lights were WAY to bright and felt the need for a dimmer. What I wasn't willing to do was change them out for a set of multi color/flashing wireless remote controlled disco lights. I have those hanging out on the end of the awning
I also wasn't willing to mount the dimmer switch anywhere but in the control panel next to the switch. I figured if I needed to, I would find a point to tie into the awning lights inside the trailer and run the power and ground leads directly to the control panel to hook them to the dimmer. I figured at the same time I was doing this, I would separate the step lights from the awing lights.
Let me preface this by stating that in my camper ('17 24RBS) the awning/step lights, 2 lights above the counter area in the wood panel on the ceiling and the main living area ceiling lights are all on the same fuse/circuit. All three of those switches are in the control panel.
First step, pull out the control panel and untangle the rats nest of wires. I should have taken pictures of how stuff was set up before I started pulling wires and testing/cutting. I didn't because 12V is not rocket dentistry and I wasn't thinking about a write up when I did it, I was thinking drink margaritas and make this work!!
So what I found. Coming into the control panel was a pair of wires that were tied in a knot and the +12V (black) went to the bottom of all three switches in the control panel. Ok, those are feeding power to switches. Simple enough. The ground (white wire) however was attached to another white wire that seemed to loop through the control panel but was not attached to anything. This white wire also had two other white wires scotchlok'd to it. There was also a looped through black wire but it had a scotchlok connector on it and it was attached to the output side of.....you guessed it, the awning/step light switch.
I pulled all the connections to the white wire apart. I grabbed the looped through white wire and the looped through black wire and cut them in half. I temporarily tied one half of the now cut white wire to the white wire that was knotted to the black wire. Then I applied +12v to one half of the now cut black wire. No joy. I applied +12v to the other side of it and the awning lights came to life but not the step light and my suspicions were confirmed. I taped this pair of the cut in half black and white wires together. I did the same test on the remaining half of the cut wires and of course found that they controlled the step light. Sweet I had my lights separated and I had a ground wire that ran directly to the awning lights and a source ground all in the same location.
At this point, there were two untested pairs of wires left. Through the same procedure, I grouped the main ceiling light wires together and the wires for the two lights above the counter.
I now had 4 pairs of wires. +12V and GND source wires and a pair for each set of lights. With everything grouped together but disconnected, I checked every other 12 volt item in the trailer to make sure none of them shared a ground with those that I had disconnected. Everything else still worked and for giggles, I used a meter and did a continuity test between the awning ground and a couple of other items just to be sure. All good.
So, knowing how it all worked, I stuck it all back together like factory and came here to tell you all that it will work!!!
Just kidding, I did stick it all back together and promptly went inside and ordered the dimmer off of Amazon that most people seemed to be using.
2 days later I'm in the camper about to give the dimmer a shot and it hit me.... hey, the main living area lights are stupid bright two, why didn't you order two of these
I quickly and temporarily wired it up to the main lights and it worked like a champ. Then I undid that and temporarily wired it up to the awning lights and it worked like a champ as well. So, I moved some switch wiring around so that the two overhead switches would be side by side and the eventual two switches for the awning and step lights could be side by side. When wired up, you will have the source ground, the ground of the dimmer and the ground of all other lights that are not being dimmed tied together. The output of the switch that turns on the light will be tied to the positive side of the lights being dimmed and the positive input of the dimmer. Lastly, the ground of the lights being dimmed will be tied to the ground output of the dimmer. I mounted the dimmer and wired it up permanently and all is well.
I will be ordering another double gang switch plate to have separate switches for the awning and step lights but in the meantime, I can flip one switch and have the step light and the awning lights on or I can use the dimmer to turn the awning lights off and just have the step light. I have also ordered another dimmer so that I will be able to dim the main living area lights.
I really regret not taking any pics as I know this explanation may not be as clear as some would like but I think it will at least give you an idea of how it was all set up. Obviously, I am not sure if all models are wired this way. Heck, seeing the build quality on these things it wouldn't surprise me if 2 campers that came of the assembly line one after the other were wired differently.
This is the dimmer I used.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Linear Mode
