Annoying nose & awning lights on all night!

[mrmom]

Might be starting something here, but just want to get opinions on why some folks think they need to leave on their super bright awning or nose lights all night. This also goes for the strings of those clear light bulbs that people string up between trees. Some people (us included) like to sit out at our campsite at night and look at the stars. Hard to do with these ridiculously bright lights on nearby.

Thoughts from others on this issue?

[us71na]

Originally Posted by mrmom

Might be starting something here, but just want to get opinions on why some folks think they need to leave on their super bright awning or nose lights all night. This also goes for the strings of those clear light bulbs that people string up between trees. Some people (us included) like to sit out at our campsite at night and look at the stars. Hard to do with these ridiculously bright lights on nearby.

Thoughts from others on this issue?

I agree. We camped near a trailer that had bright awning lights that ran throughout the night. It was like being next door to a major highway accident with all those flashing emergency lights.

[RPR]

Guess some people like to bring with them the atmosphere of all the street lights and other lights from their neighborhood with them and don’t like to step outside and see the stars. Lol

[Tunce the traveler]

Look at the (bright) side as you can now see who’s letting their dog crap in the front of your trailer.
BTW, I hate those lights

[TxLoser]

This annoys the heck out of me too. I’ll submit this though. I’ll now give some people a pass based on the fact it’s easy to forget the awning light if you have black out shades in your trailer and light controls behind a cabinet door. Also, the genius engineers that designed my trailer tied the over light in the front storage to my front cap/lower curb side LED’s. So, if want light in there at night the cap lights are on. If I get something and walk away quickly I could forget them as well.

I think most just think it looks cool. I find them useless and annoying.

[JKyle]

I have the double beam LED cap lights 22rb Jay Feather.

I almost forget I have them. A few trips into the season my sister asked me about them. We walked up from and I turned them on. OMG! They were SO BRIGHT! I was pointed to the street with campers across from me (about 9:30pm). I immediately turned them off and hoped I didn't surprise the neighbors with what looked like spot lights.

I use my awning light in the early evening, while I'm doing chores/cooking etc etc. But once it's time to settle in with a fire...they get turned off.

Sometimes if I need a 'night light' while outside, I'll leave open my passthrough door and pop the lighten, inside.

[Ann-Marie]

You leave them on so you can see where to aim your gun when being attacked by a terrorist.
However our light is motion activated so it saves the battery load when boondocking.

[Mikemc423]

Originally Posted by RPR

Guess some people like to bring with them the atmosphere of all the street lights and other lights from their neighborhood with them and don’t like to step outside and see the stars. Lol

When we would go family camping when our kids were young, I would get a site as far away from my sister and family as possible. I would ask her why she left the city only to bring the city lights with her.

[Lake Huron]

Here's my .02...
Our trailer has all kinds of lights on it. If people around us have a bunch of lights on I'll keep mine on. Our awning lights can be annoying so I tilt the awning down so the don't light up the entire campground. We have lights on the top front of the cap that I'll turn on but I won't keep them on in the dark very long, just too bright. The outdoor kitchen has lights in it and depending on what's around me I may keep them on or turn them off. Even if they are off I have a led strip that illuminated the inside of the odk and don't annoy surrounding people. My steps lights are connected to the awning lights. I installed led strips on the top side of the fold up steps and put them on a different switch. I'll keep those on all nite along with the pinbox lights for safety reasons. The pinbox will knock someone out or kill them if they run into it hard enough. The steps lights I installed laminate the steps enough to not be annoying to anyone but light up the steps enough if we have to go out at dark we can see where we are stepping before we fall on the ground a break a hip or something.
I try to be considerate of the others around me but there's a lot of people out there that are a bunch of me me's. It's all about me...

[Hollander Mutthaulers]

Bright lights, loud outdoor TV/music, people who think they can play a guitar or kokopelli flute, barking dogs...

Well, some poor dogs are okay - Louisiana campground was on the other side of a wooden privacy fence from a kennel, would've been nice to know at check-in...

On the other hand, we like trains, a low rumble or distant horn is kind of nice, kinda like the faint odor of skunk on a warm summer eve, but we were at a U.P. camp that had a hidden track very near the outer perimeter sites, we held our breath as we watched across the way where a couple diesels pulled a line of cars really close to a trailer, could've almost torn off those annoying awning lights

[LuckyDuck]

One of my biggest pet peeves, right up there with outdoor speakers and nasty dogs. I understand lighting up your site when you’re boondocking, but we tend to stay in safe RV parks and campgrounds, some with fairly close sites. Awning lights and, worse, those large round LED lights outside the door shining at your windows all night are obscene. If you’re that afraid of being away from home and your porch lights, stay there.

[COCJ]

We go camping to get away from the noise and lights of civilization and also like looking at the stars. Leaving on bright lights just ruins it. Same goes for people who run their generators for hours on end. That's why 95% we are boondocking somewhere.

[Terronaut]

Oh my gosh I’m so glad to see this post, I thought it was just me. This is my BIGGEST pet peeve in RV parks, nose lights are not decorative, they’re for hooking your rig up (or disconnecting) after dark - and that’s it. LED’s blind me from a hundred + feet away and ruin any chance of dark skies and star gazing. I joke with my girlfriend that these are the same people that used to hang CDs from their rear view mirror back in the late 80s, you know, because they were shiny.

[Jerry713]

Originally Posted by mrmom

Might be starting something here, but just want to get opinions on why some folks think they need to leave on their super bright awning or nose lights all night. This also goes for the strings of those clear light bulbs that people string up between trees. Some people (us included) like to sit out at our campsite at night and look at the stars. Hard to do with these ridiculously bright lights on nearby.

Thoughts from others on this issue?

I do think the front cap lights aren’t necessary. I don’t see the purpose of them. The awnings lights are different if those people are or will be going in and out of their camper. I think it’s only fair to turn off all exterior lights when they go to bed but many don’t. Some forget. I’ve definitely forgot and left my awning lights on all night before.

Lights, fire smoke, dogs barking, etc. are all part of what happens when different lifestyles come together. We just roll with it.

[K Holbrook]

I’m surprised that no one has suggested talking politely to your neighbor. I suggest if you do that, approach them from a humble standpoint and ask “I don’t suppose there’s anyway you could turn off your exterior lights say at 11:00. Then say something like “It would really help us sleep because it’s really bright in our camper”. Then thank them graciously. Don’t be afraid to speak up. You might be surprised. What’s the worst that can happen… if they say no, you can say something to the park ranger, if that doesn’t work then you can at least know that you did your best.

[TaftCoach]

I don't want anything to leave my campsite. No noise, no lights, no sounds, no smells. And admittedly some of those bother me more than others. Kids having fun in the outdoors, I didn't mind the noise. Adults that want ALL the neighbors to enjoy their music? Not so much.

I agree that many times chatting with the neighbors clears this stuff up.

[JFlightRisk]

Our TT is older, and pre-LED, so out patio light is old school #912 bulb behind a yellow lens. Our awning lights are a couple of strings of vintage 'Man in the Moon' blow mold lights from the late '80s when CW had normal guy fun stuff in their catalog. Those each take a 5-watt C7 Christmas light/nightlight bulb and are mostly half hidden behind the awning valence.

Not glaring light at all, and always connected to a remote/timer that shuts off about 10:00 pm. We don't wish to be kept up, nor want to annoy our neighbors at all.

[Lake Huron]

Originally Posted by Hollander Mutthaulers

On the other hand, we like trains, a low rumble or distant horn is kind of nice, kinda like the faint odor of skunk on a warm summer eve, but we were at a U.P. camp that had a hidden track very near the outer perimeter sites, we held our breath as we watched across the way where a couple diesels pulled a line of cars really close to a trailer, could've almost torn off those annoying awning lights

Funny you should mention the train thing. There is a KOA over here on the east side of the state in Tawas/Oscoda. There is a set of tracks that a train rolls south on around 10pm and back north around 11pm every nite M-F. The campsites on the east side of the campground are so close to the tracks you could throw your shoe at it and hit it. Most campers come to the east side access road to watch it go by. All the little kids wave but can't see the wave back because it's dark. So I fixed that problem. The next year we went there I installed a set of train horns on my truck. Our site was right along that road and the tracks. As the train was coming so we're the people and I warned them I would get the train to honk at us but they needed to plug their ears because these things I got are no joke! Lol!
The kids were all waving their flashlights at the train and getting no response back. About 3 sites before our site I lit my horns off and I think that poor engineer shat himself! Every time we go there I'll start it off with a little toot-toot and always get a toot back and some good waves to the kids. They love the interaction.
So that is my signature whenever we leave a campground. I'll at least wait until we pull out of the camp road and on the main public road and give a good bye honk.

[Ghostqix]

The blue front cap lights on our 2019 Whitehawk are way too bright. Consequently, we only use them when unhooking the trailer after a late-night arrival, and only if we need more light than the electric hitch jack provides.

We do turn on the awning light a few times during the evenings, primarily when we're outside with the dogs for them to do their business. Then they go back off again.

I've made two modifications to reduce the need to turn on the awning lights so much.

• Install a light on the inside of the outdoor kitchen door that shines down on the stove top when the door is open. No need to turn on the awning lights when checking something on the stove.
• Replace the on/off awning light switch with a center-off three-way switch (on/off/on). Switching up turns on the awning lights and the step light, which reproduces the factory behavior. Switching down turns on the step light only, leaving the main awning lights off. This is handy for finding our way from the fire back inside for snacks/refills/bathroom/etc.

[JKyle]

I did realize, IN THE MORNING, I had watched the entire Dances with Wolves movie the night before with the exterior speakers, accidentally engaged.