How important is camping lighting to you?

[BrooksErickson]

Hi all,

I thought this is an important discussion: How important is camping lighting to you? For me, when camping good lighting is essential. It sets the mood, illuminates the dark and allows it to become an even more enjoyable experience. I currently use lanterns, but I am also playing around with LED lights too.
So tell me why lighting is important to you whilst camping and what product do you use at the moment?

Happy camping!
 

[folivier]

If you're truly afraid of the dark then please stay home. Or at least don't park next to me. Don't try to make your campsite into your home. BTW there are stars and constellations up there. If you turn your lights off you can actually see the Milky Way.

[TXiceman]

I for one like the dark nights and stars.  The folks that drag out several hundreds of Watts lighting and spend all night inside with the lights on are just plain rude.  Like above, please stay home if the dark offends you or at least do not park near me.

I also feel the same way about outdoor TV and sound systems.  I like the sounds of the birds and the wind in the trees.

I do not mean to offend a new camper, but you asked for our opinions.

If you want to see beautiful night skies, go out to Davis Mountains State park in west Texas.  You get lots of amateur astronomers out there and they will not hesitate to ask you to kill the outdoor lights.

Ken

Edited February 24, 2021 by TXiceman

[orca]

I don't have a problem with my camping neighbor having dim lights on so they don't trip while walking their camp in the dark.  I do have a problem with people lighting their camp so much that it lights the inside of my trailer and leave them on all night!  Another pet peeve is people that have an outside TV and crank up the volume so the whole park can hear it.  I understand that everyone camps differently but one should not force their style on everybody in the park.

[NDBirdman]

Keep it dark outside.  I don't even want to see your inside lights without your blinds down.  We enjoy the night sky, watching night life around us (not meaning ppl...).  Even when sitting outside in our SnB, our lights, inside and out, are off.  We don't even enjoy a campfire at night, it's all light pollution.  This is mostly why we boon-dock, AWAY from others that are light-rude!

[Kirk W]

We do leave a small light on outside when away from our RV after dark. A great deal of the question relates to where you are parked. Nothing is life is simple so perhaps it is time to have a no lights section, like we have no smoking sections? 

[Nwcid]

It depends on where I am camped what lights we use.  Typically we do leave the porch light on.  We also do not typically camp where our lights would even be seen by anyone else.....

 

[2gypsies]

The 'small' 5" porch light is plenty of light for your patio area.  Your eyes adjust to darkness.  

This comes to mind what a national park ranger said to another camper when the camper refused to turn down their music when we, as volunteers, asked them to turn it down:  "Your campsite is yours.  Anything you do that carries over to your neighbor's site is out of line including lights, noise and walking through their site".

Also, the high, large 'security' lights shine straight out to the neighbors.  

[sandsys]

If you have outside lights we may watch you to see what you are doing.

Like Kirk, I also left a porch light on if I was going to be coming home after dark but I turned it off as soon as I went inside. Friends had lights under their awning but those light didn't shine far enough to invade a neighbor's space--just enough for us to see where we set down our drinks. We did put a lantern on the table if we were going to play cards after dark but we didn't stay up late even then.

Linda Sand

[mptjelgin]

Another vote for dark skies!!  I am very annoyed by the current trend of adding decorative LED accent lighting to RV's and then having the owners leave it on all night because they think it looks good.  The big "scare" lights that shine directly on the adjacent trailers are even a bigger issue for us. 

The night sky is a wonderful thing, and being outside in an undeveloped area at night is a treat. As Interpretive Hosts we have led many night walks, full-moon walks, etc. where folks are encouraged to leave their flashlights off and rely on their night vision and other senses. They are a big hit and have hopefully encouraged some folks to adopt the "dark skies" model of outdoor recreation. 

[Twotoes]

I live in my RV full time. If I go out at night I leave the outside door light on so I can see to unlock the door and go up the steps. Once inside I turn it off. It’s left on for my safety. I also have an outside TV. I enjoy watching my outside TV, it gets me outside rather than sitting inside all the time. If you want to star gaze just walk a few feet away from the camp ground. I shouldn’t be prevented from enjoying myself to accommodate you when you can move and I can not move my TV. I do keep my sound down, especially after dark, so as not to annoy my neighbors. 

[2gypsies]

2 hours ago, mptjelgin said:

The night sky is a wonderful thing, and being outside in an undeveloped area at night is a treat. As Interpretive Hosts we have led many night walks, full-moon walks, etc. where folks are encouraged to leave their flashlights off and rely on their night vision and other senses. They are a big hit and have hopefully encouraged some folks to adopt the "dark skies" model of outdoor recreation. 

We did you do this?  We did it as hosts at Lost Dutchman State Park, Arizona.   It's an awesome experience!!!

[Chalkie]

Many years ago when my parents lived in the Colorado mountains a group of inner city Boy Scouts visited sponsored by a neighbor. In typical fashion all the neighbors pitched in to provide quarters and meals for the boy with daily day/evening/night activities where all the boys got together. One night before lighting a bon fire they had the boys sit in the dark. All of a sudden one of the boys jumped up and pointed to the skies and asked what he was seeing. It was the Milky Way, something he had never seen with the light pollution of the city. 

We rarely turned on outside lights as they drew in a bazillion bugs! Same applies today. I hate the bugs drawn by the outdoor lights and I hate the light pollution. 

[fpmtngal]

I once camped in a park with someone who had a security light bright enough that my day/night shades weren’t dark enough to block it. Luckily they only stayed 2 nights, i thought they might have just forgotten to turn it off the first night, I had a hard time sleeping and would have mentioned it to them if they had stayed a third night.

I don’t have a problem with awning lights in the evening, they usually aren’t that bright and people usually turn them off when they go in.

But then, I do use solar rope lights around my trailer when I’m camping in certain spots in Arizona, I call them my “rat lights.” A friend of mine had a problem with packrats once and it was expensive to repair. Packrats don’t like light so the thought is having a string of lights (mine are not bright) will keep them away. Leaving a vehicle’s hood up is supposed to help keep them from nesting on your engine. My friend has not had a problem since using the lights, and I’ve never had a problem. But I only use them when I’m camping in packrat territory.

While I don’t watch a lot of TV, I usually use Bluetooth headphones. I won’t bother anyone else and no one will bother me.

[mptjelgin]

58 minutes ago, 2gypsies said:

We did you do this?  We did it as hosts at Lost Dutchman State Park, Arizona.   It's an awesome experience!!!

We've done it at Bastrop SP (Texas) and Farragut SP (Idaho).  It is an awesome experience and while kids really love them, we often have parents who do it (hiking at night w/o lights) for the first time in their lives and are equally impressed. 

[Kirk W]

1 hour ago, 2gypsies said:

We did you do this? 

I lead night walks at Harriman SP, Idaho in 2004, at Imperial NWR back in 2005, at Joshua Tree NP in 2007, and many times in WY in my years as a Scoutmaster. 

[Customer1]

Lights are wonderful when I need to see for some particular activity. Once that activity is completed, darkness is preferred.  LED flashlights and headlamps are very useful.

[sandsys]

4 hours ago, Customer1 said:

LED flashlights and headlamps are very useful.

When I was in an RV park that offered evening bingo I used an LED headlamp when riding my TravelScoot home so people could see me coming. Being electric, my Scoot made no sound to warn walkers I was approaching.

Linda

[Kirk W]

On 2/24/2021 at 6:13 AM, BrooksErickson said:

For me, when camping good lighting is essential.

While this has not been the friendliest series of responses, please do give us another opportunity as most of us really are pretty friendly. Were you looking for advice on a particular type or brand of light? In general, I think that most of us are going to LED lighting because it gives much better light while using less electricity. 

[chuckbear]

I'm with the others. Nothing is more annoying than bright lights burning half or all night in a campground. I really hope you are only going to need them while doing something outside at night and not needing to be seen from space. Chuck

[Vladimir]

16 hours ago, fpmtngal said:

I once camped in a park with someone who had a security light bright enough that my day/night shades weren’t dark enough to block it. Luckily they only stayed 2 nights, i thought they might have just forgotten to turn it off the first night, I had a hard time sleeping and would have mentioned it to them if they had stayed a third night.

I don’t have a problem with awning lights in the evening, they usually aren’t that bright and people usually turn them off when they go in.

But then, I do use solar rope lights around my trailer when I’m camping in certain spots in Arizona, I call them my “rat lights.” A friend of mine had a problem with packrats once and it was expensive to repair. Packrats don’t like light so the thought is having a string of lights (mine are not bright) will keep them away. Leaving a vehicle’s hood up is supposed to help keep them from nesting on your engine. My friend has not had a problem since using the lights, and I’ve never had a problem. But I only use them when I’m camping in packrat territory.

While I don’t watch a lot of TV, I usually use Bluetooth headphones. I won’t bother anyone else and no one will bother me.

Lights do NOT deter packrats.   Popping the hood does keep them from nesting on the engine.

I put a wildlife camera under RV's and cars that had the solar lights and caught several pack rats out strolling under the lights!!! 

BTW.....get a wildlife camera and put it out at night.  It will solve all sorts of mysteries.

Here is a video of lights and packrats filmed by a guy that runs a business eradicating packrats.  He is NOT a fan of lights as you can tell by the video.  He could make a lot of money selling worthless lights!!!

The wildlife camera is infra-red.  The flashing white light is a LED a 5000K color temperature.  That is why the light appears so faint on the video.  It is very bright, but the wildlife camera does not pick up it since the camera is blind in that part of the spectrum.

Funny video, well worth watching.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOdt4G2uVAQ

Nighttime lights are pretty much useless for security as well.  

We lived in a very rural area with a "security light" on at night.  I finally found where to shut it off.  When the light was on at night it lit up the house and told everybody that there was a house up that gravel road.  Once I shut off the light, that gravel road became hard to find and my house totally disappeared at night. 

Same when boondocking. 

 

[Twotoes]

I disagree with the above post. The video shows a flashing light. I use a rope light which is a string of lights which stay illuminated. I had many pack rats enter my motorhome before I used this string light. Since I began using a rope light two years ago around my motorhome completely surrounding it, I have has zero pack rat problems. The lights are not bright enough to be annoying to my neighbors and stay on 24/7. Rodents will not walk across a lit rope light day or night. 

[mptjelgin]

Vladimir has posted this strong rebuke of light deterring packrats before, and like most things the real answer is probably "it depends".  I've seen night camera shots of dozens of rats in a small area, and yes, it is unlikely that lights will 100% deter rodents in areas where they exist at a very high density. 

But several NWR's that we've volunteered at with packrats (Wood Rats, actually) have recommended lighting beneath RV's and vehicles. Over decades of time, with countless intern and volunteer vehicles, not to mention refuge vehicles, they have determined that lights deter rats. Is it 100% effective? Undoubtedly not, but overall is seems to work pretty well. And we have personally seen an instance where an intern chose not to bother with lights under their vehicle and had damage due to rats. Other vehicles in the same parking lot with lights were undamaged. Good enough for me...

[Kirk W]

4 minutes ago, mptjelgin said:

But several NWR's that we've volunteered at with packrats (Wood Rats, actually) have recommended lighting beneath RV's and vehicles.

We have had that same experience. Clearly there are staff members at more than one NWR who do not agree with Vladimir.

[NamMedevac 70]

Many years ago a very rude fifth wheeler at a Texas COE campground left all their outside scare lights on all night after hosting a loud party next to me.  They were showing off new rig and tow vehicle.  I knew from their loud arrogant attitude would be waste of time for me to say anything to them so I complained to the COE campground host not far away who saw and heard everything and they were told to be gone the next day.  They had planned to stay full 3 day holiday weekend. Gone camper gone.  I enjoy being mean to mean people.  Sweet payback.  Being tolerant of rude people only encourages them to continue their rude ways to everyone.  Still here and Happy Camper at 74 years young.     P.S. That is job of C host so they tell me.

 

Edited February 26, 2021 by NamMedevac 70