Protection, safety & consumption display

Updated 9 October 2026Lighty

Lighty protects itself and your wiring out of the box. These protection functions are permanently built in and adjustable:

  • Electronic fuse: Lighty measures the current and switches off if there is too much current. You never have to replace a blade fuse for the individual light channels. A second, fast cut-off in the hardware adds another layer of protection.
  • Overheating protection: if it gets too warm inside the device, Lighty switches the lights off. Once it has cooled down, you simply switch on again.
  • Protection against too high and too low voltage: looks after your battery and your lights. It is off from the factory, and you switch it on in the dashboard.
  • Stays off until you reset it: if a fuse or the voltage protection has tripped, the lights stay off until you reset the trip in the dashboard. So nothing keeps switching on and off.
  • Safe off state: if there is a fault, the light goes off, never permanently on.
  • Reverse polarity protection: if you swap positive and negative when connecting, nothing happens.
  • Surge arrester: catches short voltage spikes in the electrical system.

In total Lighty switches up to 20A. This means your light channels are properly protected without you having to install additional fuses for the individual lights.

You see what each light uses

Because Lighty measures the current anyway, there is a useful side effect: over time Lighty learns what each individual light draws and shows it to you in the dashboard, without any additional sensors. So you can see at a glance how much power goes on light in the camper.

Nothing is lost when you disconnect

If you disconnect the power supply, all settings stay stored in the device. When the power is back, the lights stay off at first. When you switch on, every light comes back with the brightness and colour last stored via the SmartKnob. On a Lighty fresh from the factory, that is 100%. A brightness you only dimmed at the push button is not stored. You do not have to set anything again.

Related questions

What can I control with Lighty?

Lighty controls all the lighting in your camper over 5 independent channels. Everything is possible, from a single white strip to full RGBWW lighting with colour plus warm and cool white. Or you connect up to five individual lights, such as kitchen, bathroom, bed left, bed right and outdoor light, each on its own. You set colour, colour temperature, brightness and entire light scenes just as you like.

Does Lighty work on 12V and 24V?

Yes, both without any changes. Lighty works in the range from 9 to 36V, so it is just as much at home in a 12V panel van as in a 24V motorhome.

Do I need a SmartKnob for Lighty to work?

Not necessarily. From firmware 0.4.7, a new Lighty responds to its push buttons straight away, without any setup. With Lighty Extension, each of the five push buttons switches its own channel. A short press switches, press and hold dims. With just one push button and no Lighty Extension, you switch channel 2. Even if your SmartKnob ever fails, your push buttons keep switching and dimming. The SmartKnob adds colours, white light (warm white and cool white as one light), scenes, the dashboard, automations, the wireless push buttons and the double tap for all lights.

How is Lighty connected, and what is in the box?

Connection is deliberately kept simple: power and light channels go into high-quality Phoenix lever terminals, almost tool-free, safe and reusable. You wire the push button to the supplied pluggable spring terminal connector and then simply plug it in. In the box you will find Lighty, four mounting screws and the pluggable spring terminal connector for the push button.

Which LED strips work with Lighty?

Lighty controls single-colour and multi-colour LED strips with shared colour channels, meaning normal single-colour strips as well as RGB, RGBW and RGBWW strips. Addressable pixel strips (such as WS2812), where every LED is controlled individually, are deliberately not supported. Lighty is not designed for them.

How many metres of LED strip can I connect?

What counts is not the length but the current: Lighty handles 20A in total. For example, a COB strip with 14W per metre draws about 1.2A per metre at 12V. Two strips of 3m each come to roughly 7A and fit easily. Several strips may also share one channel.

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