Jeep Cherokee Forum

Jeep Cherokee Forum (https://www.cherokeeforum.com/)
-   XJ Cherokee Write-Ups (https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f51/)
-   -   Under lights, LED strips (https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f51/under-lights-led-strips-131120/)

wapozzi 04-05-2012 06:47 PM

Under lights, LED strips
 
I wanted to run some under lights for wheeling at night. Did some research and figured the LED strips from Ebay would be best. They are flexible, can make them any length, and out of the way. Heres a link to what i got. http://www.ebay.com/itm/170809891082...84.m1497.l2649

Tools needed would be:
-Soldering iron
-Electrical solder
-Mounting hardware (I drilled 2 small holes and used zip ties for now, soon to be bailing wire)
-Wire (I used 18 gage wire)
-Electrical connections
-Shrink tubing for sealing the solder points.
-Basic wiring tools
-In-line fuse, i used a 5 amp fuse, these don't need much power to run

Now for the fun part. Best thing I found to do was to first solder wire onto the + - points of the led strip. I would run the - to the body and run the + to a switch in the cab. At the end of the strip i would run just the + wire to the next strip to save on wire and clutterness. I would also test out each strip before moving on to ensure my connections were ok.
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/member...0-imag0268.jpg
The LED strip is cuttable every 3 LED as you can see in the picture with the line with scissors.

Then next would to be to shrink tube the end to seal it up.
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/member...2-imag0270.jpg
Yes i used only one wire cause that was my hot wire leading to the next strip of LED's.

Next would be to measure out the length you need your strips to be.
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/member...8-imag0266.jpg
I would start from mounting the starting point and run the strip back and mounting till I found the best ending point and trimmed.

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/member...7-imag0265.jpg

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/member...6-imag0264.jpg

This is part of the strip next to the frame ( sorry phone wont zoom out any more)
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/member...5-imag0263.jpg

After all that, I ran the main wire to a switch inside the cab.

This is how it looks with only half done, still need to finish the rear, but its the same concept.
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/member...4-imag0262.jpg

Brighter than i though they would be and cheap, out of the way, and easy to replace and splice in new sections of LED if anything does happen to them.

All these pictures were taking it though the mud. The last one was also the night of the install and they still shine bright with a film of mud on them. :thumbsup:


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 07:44 PM.


© 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands