Re: Lighting question..
I use these strips on my boat. They come in a variety of styles, uncovered, weather resistant, and water proof. The water proof ones use an external cover.
These LEDs can be quite bright when connected to 12 volts. However, you can easily cut the strips into shorter segments (usually 3 LEDs per segment). There are pads at each cut point to solder additional wires on. Since the LEDs draw very little current you can use fairly thin wire (24 GA). This makes running the wires very easy.
I generally use one segment as one light. Where I need more light I just use more segments. I have these lights as courtesy lights, lights in storage compartments, to illuminate the boat sump, and to light the engine area (outboard).
The strips are self adhesive, but I usually put a couple of dabs of 4200 on each strip to be sure they stay were I put them.
You can get R-G-B LEDs and a controller that lets you set the color you want. You can also have constant colors or cycling colors in various patterns.
I also replaced the incandescent bulbs in my nav lights with short segments of white LED strips.
Ordered on line, the LED strips are about $8/foot in single quantities. If you order in longer lengths the price is better.
For all the lights on my boat (16') I used less than 2' of LED strip (including the nav lights).
