Camco 42656 Stars Party Lights - 8 ft RV Patio String

Camco's 42656 Party Lights are the kind of thing you clip up once and end up leaving out all season. You get an 8-foot strand carrying 10 lights, each one wearing a little star cover that throws a soft, friendly glow across the awning, the patio, or the campsite table after dark. It's a simple set, and that's the point. Plug it in, string it up, and the site feels like yours.

These run on 120 volt AC, so they plug into a standard household outlet or your rig's shore-power outlets, not the 12-volt house battery system. That's worth knowing before you hang them. If you're boondocking off the batteries with no inverter, you won't have power for these. But at a powered site, a campground pedestal, or back home on the porch, they light right up.

The plug carries built-in overload protection. There's a fuse tucked in there that gives out before a fault turns into a bigger problem, and Camco packs a spare fuse in the box along with two spare bulbs. So the first time a bulb burns out or the fuse lets go, you're not driving to town for parts. You just swap and keep going.

Each strand ends in a connector, so you can hook one set to the next and run a longer line down a long awning or around a gazebo. That's handy, but don't get carried away. Every string light run has a limit on how much you can chain end to end before you overload the circuit, so keep an eye on the total load and follow what the packaging says for your setup. When in doubt, run two separate plugs instead of one long daisy chain.

The set is UL listed for both indoor and outdoor use, which is exactly what you want from something that's going to see dew, a little rain, and a lot of sun. Outdoors, keep the plug and any strand-to-strand connections up off the wet ground and out of standing water. A quick loop of the cord over an awning arm keeps the connection dry and takes the strain off the wire.

Hanging them is easy. Use the wire as a guide, not as a structural cable. String lights aren't built to hold their own weight over a long unsupported span, so give the run a support point every few feet, whether that's an awning channel, a hook, or a length of guy line you tension first and clip the lights to. That keeps the strand from sagging into a droop and keeps tension off the sockets.

Bulb replacement is straightforward. When one goes dark, pull the bad bulb, drop in one of the spares, and the strand comes back to life. Keep the two spares Camco includes with the set, and grab a couple extras when you see them so you always have one on hand. The spare fuse works the same way. If the whole strand goes dead at once, the fuse in the plug is the first thing to check before you assume the string is done.

Who's this for? RVers who want a little atmosphere at the site, folks decorating a deck or patio, anyone who likes a warm string of lights for a party, a holiday, or just a quiet evening outside. The star covers give it a bit of character without going over the top. And because it's a compact 8-foot set, it coils up small and tucks into a storage bay or a bin when you break camp.

Take a minute when you pack them away. Coil the strand loosely rather than kinking it tight, wipe off any grime, and store the spare bulbs and fuse right with the set so they're there when you need them. Treated that way, a simple set like this rides along for years of trips.