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Underhood Lights!


AlabamaDan
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I've always wanted under hood lights.  20 years ago I thought about wiring up my own led string under the hood, but I shy'd away because of a lack of experience with soldering, circuits, etc.  Now you can simply buy a strip that's already built and ready to go, so I decided I had no excuse not to try.  There are sooo many choices on eBay and Amazon, it's a little overwhelming.  I decided to go for one of the more pricey versions hoping it would be worth it and besides it came with the wire and pin switch.  Here is what I got:

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Underhood-LED-Light-Kit-w-Hood-Switch-Size-and-Color-Options-Available/291157773341?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=590308031148&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

The ad claimed they lights were water and ice proof, sealed in a silicone coating.  Ends sealed with marine grade heat shrink.  3M adhesive backing.  I bought the 24" version of high intensity white.  It has a 10' 20awg black wire and a small hood pin switch.  The only thing I needed was more zip ties and a washer.

 

Here is a before pic of the engine bay, in my garage, with the light on.

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I decided to mount it in front of the weatherstripping because it shined in my eyes less, although you'd really be looking down most of the time so who cares.  It might have been protected more behind the weather stripping, but I went for it anyway.  I drilled a small hole in the underside of the hood and fished the wire back to the rear corner.  I pulled the wire through a little fast and it got in a little bit of a bind, but worked out ok.  

 

Next I used an existing hole to mount the hood pin by the battery since the positive would be headed that way anyway.  I didn't have a power distribution block and I figured something this small didn't need a fuse.  I ended up running the positive wire to the fuse box behind the battery.  The negative side went to the pin switch.  Easiest wire job ever.  From there it was just a matter of zip tying up the wire.

 

For less than $20 it is an easy and awesome mod.

 

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And the final result is:

 

26CA1B73-8D67-4324-9CF3-87BA9ED0CBDD_zps

 

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Looks good! LED underhood lighting is one of the most helpful mods I've done to mine.

 

I do recommend putting a fuse on that circuit, especially with the wires going through a hole in the sheet metal like that. A grommet or even just some tape around the wires where they go through the hole isn't a bad idea either. The idea is not so much that the LEDs could draw too much power but that the wiring could rub through or get pinched somewhere and short to ground. Even a crappy in-line fuse should be sufficient for a low-draw system like hood lights.

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  • 2 months later...

Not to thread jack but wanted to chime in on my rig too since your post actually inspired me to do the same set up.

Obviously as you stated it’s not difficult to do and relatively self explanatory. I still need to clean up the line route and add some heat sink to tighten up the wire ends. However, with the install done for the night I thought I’d just show some night pics and give a brief review on those led light strips

I went with the 24 inch, as you did, perfect fit imo

50cc1fea324de9cb7f49c1bd24466071.jpg8171f8c2bc813aab8c1552f677918324.jpg51f4f08d834086e82e4a5fd84e5f0e7b.jpg0eb1b108cd8fc88ce5ea5559a584940a.jpg462e07f90e3fbcc000902ebf1a45cd29.jpg

Again I’ll need to clean up the route and add some tie downs and heat sink tomorrow morning when there’s light out.

As for the strip. Great quality and good bang for the buck. They’re definitely silicone coated as stated and connections between the wire and the strip are of good quality as well. I’ll have the truck up in utah soon and I’ll be comfortable with these lasting.

Thanks for the post and link for the led strip, definitely the visual pictures and write up you posted inspired me to do the same.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 12/2/2018 at 2:17 AM, Jax99 said:

Not to thread jack but wanted to chime in on my rig too since your post actually inspired me to do the same set up.

Obviously as you stated it’s not difficult to do and relatively self explanatory. I still need to clean up the line route and add some heat sink to tighten up the wire ends. However, with the install done for the night I thought I’d just show some night pics and give a brief review on those led light strips

I went with the 24 inch, as you did, perfect fit imo

As for the strip. Great quality and good bang for the buck. They’re definitely silicone coated as stated and connections between the wire and the strip are of good quality as well. I’ll have the truck up in utah soon and I’ll be comfortable with these lasting.

Thanks for the post and link for the led strip, definitely the visual pictures and write up you posted inspired me to do the same.
 

 

Awesome!  I'm glad someone found some value in my post.  I did it for just that reason.  I've learned so much here I felt like sharing.

 

Nice job!

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  • 1 year later...

Resurrecting this thread... DO NOT buy from the ebay seller linked in this discussion. After repeated attempts and photos to show the seller they sent me a blue light rather than white, I had to force a return to them. Seller is a joke.


Sent from my Pathfinder

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Resurrecting this thread... DO NOT buy from the ebay seller linked in this discussion. After repeated attempts and photos to show the seller they sent me a blue light rather than white, I had to force a return to them. Seller is a joke.

I couldn’t get the link to work. I bought this one for our T4R. It’s been on there 18mo in a truck that sits out in Kansas hot summers & cold winters & I’m very impressed with how bright it is and how well the adhesive has held up.1cb3e9fe5fc8fdf5f98c3f6e97b38187.plist3fb5c2e98a4db4cb7771ea29cd67e879.plistea5e64167152ce6b68e12e60d9a026ba.plist

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/291157773341

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Hmm, that does look like the same link. I’ve known other people who bought that on my recommendation and had no problem. To be honest, at $19 for it, given how well it’s held up, I’m probably buying another 3 (one for each of my vehicles). I’ll try & follow up on how that goes.

 

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Hmm, that does look like the same link. I’ve known other people who bought that on my recommendation and had no problem. To be honest, at $19 for it, given how well it’s held up, I’m probably buying another 3 (one for each of my vehicles). I’ll try & follow up on how that goes.
 

Quality is not the issue. The fact that the seller doesn’t take responsibility for sending the incorrect item is wrong. Your color is actually white, mine is blue (I ordered white) and seller claims white. When I forced the return, the seller emailed me back to still tell me I was wrong.

79398f40f4ca6fe031d05b9dedb84cea.jpg


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Yeah, I totally agree you got the wrong color & it’s totally wrong they didn’t refund or send a replacement. Hopefully either eBay or PayPal can rectify it. That said, all eBay purchases are a crap shoot and LED strip quality & adhesive quality are hard to find - this product is excellent. I do think I’ll consider buying my 3 separately as a hedge that I don’t get one order that’s 3 blue. Now if I get 2 out of 3, I guess I’ll consider myself a winner. On the other hand, if anybody has one they’ve used for a year or two & is still sticking well & functioning in that hot environment, I’m open to alternatives. The other strips I’ve bought from Amazon in the past have all been junk.

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11fc291568246ccf49a493b618f1656c.jpg
Just used ours tonight - my Mom couldn’t have seen her winch controls, clutch, power switch, remote plug in or the drum if it weren’t for that light. In fact, I might put a 12” or some small LEDs under the grill cowl to better light it up for her.

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  • 2 weeks later...

For what it’s worth, while ours is going strong a friend has had some issues with the adhesive. I rewired ours this weekend & incorporated another LED strip (11” 6000K) under the front radiator cowl in order to illuminate the winch controls. I really like how it turned out. A fun side effect of the hood lights is that they turn on when you pop the latch- consequently at night they let you know the hood isn’t latched & show you the outlines if the hood to open it. I tried to take a photo but it’s not very good.95c77fd99e58e955a73e2be220e02d48.jpg2b0c084539e32a6e29e11e297e15ebed.plistf3a5e4adb191382ea981ae7fdac2c224.jpg9fbb950d31330863030d57c5b1f91ac0.jpg

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