I used the HitLights from their site or Amazon for my pickup's bed topper . It's a bit of a learning curve to splice the ends of the led strips but overall not a hard job . All mine are soldered but they do sell specific splice plug setups the link the strips together . Be warned , they must lay in a flat , straight line or you risk cracking the copper SMD electronics backing strip over time . This is the reason for splices , just use those for corners and jump over them . I've got about $45 in the topper project including two 300 per 5 meter strips (low density), a few power plugs and a dimmer rated for the load . Pay attention to the draw rates , generally the low density 3528 led chips draw 1.5 watts per foot and are the narrowest available - the 5050 strips are super bright and twice the width . If you plan to run a dimmer , make sure it's rated to handle the total wattage of what you end up installing in total feet of length . Each 5 meter strip is the limit you can run in length - in other words , if you run multiple rolls each roll has to be fed the 12v power separately . Otherwise , the first strip cannot carry enough wattage to power the second one and may burn out . On the topper project , I just fed the two strips at a central point so each has a full 12v supply point . It's also worth noting that these strips get very slightly dimmer at the far end , just the nature of voltage drop vs length of run .
On a roof cap , I'd split the distance in half and use either side-firing leds (single density 3528smd is plenty bright) or use the standard firing 3528smd's and let it reflect off the cap if it's coated in bed liner material or Lizard Skin type coatings . You just need a nice , flat run to put the strips into , not all too sure the channel would work since the bolts/nuts would be in the way - probably the surface towards the outside edge of the glass top above those bolts/channel , facing inward . If the surface is rough you may have to use additional mounting tape that is thicker for rough surfaces . A lot of stuff to consider for this type of project , but none of it is too difficult to learn - this old guy did it and got it right the first time .
I can post up some pics if you like - there are a ton of ideas out there on the 'net . My Cruiser has several 1 watt led's fixtures that are sort of a wide pattern led flood . When you open the door at night - it's a bit too bright but also lights up the area around the rig on the ground , lol .
Sarge
