So I copied the idea I saw from another mud member. Contacted him to find out the source of his lights. Got the lights in and rewired them. He only used one little "pod" of which each one has four LED's on them. I though that since I am a sucker for brights shiny things, that I would do four pods on each side. Two for the front and two for the back. After ball parking the length of extra wire and some really crappy soldering and heat shrink, I spiral wrapped the wire in the middle. Hindsight says it would have been a good idea to put the spiral wrap on before doing the soldering, but I can't do anything on this truck without screwing something up! I wanted to tuck the lights up as high as I could in case I decided to use my sliders again. So I tentatively drilled a hole for each pod into the body between the frame on the door. Four holes in total on each side. I am paranoid so I put some silicon on each screw as they went into the holes. I zip tied the wires to the left over AHC and frame. They are pretty far up there which limits the spread of the light these things put off, but I think it's good enough. I'm not comfortable with putting them any lower for fear of something hitting them.
These little pods are really cheap. A 9 volt battery will make them shine pretty bright. They are supposed to be waterproof. I guess they are usually used inside big lighted signs on the side of stores. You know like Wal-Mart or Target. I still have a bunch left over from the string. I only got the driver side done tonight before I had to give kids baths and put them to bed. At least the crappy iPhone pics can show the difference between the side with the lights and without. They only come on when I unlock with my keyless or the doors are open.
I have an idea to use some more of the pods on the roof rack and tail gate as a way of flood lighting the area around the truck. This will be run from a switch that is already wired and waiting next to the steering wheel thanks to the previous owner. It might end up turning on a couple of these pods and about 3 feet of LED light strip I have left over. Gotta figure the wiring on the strip. My idea is when the hatch is up, I can flip the switch and have plenty of light on the tailgate and behind the truck for doing so many activities!
Sorry I didn't link to the build thread I copied this from. And I'm pretty sure I messed up the typing. I posted all this from my phone as I am trying to get my 2 year old to go to sleep. Parent of the year! Brentn is the user name of the guy I copied. His LX is setup a lot like I want mine to be! Probably going to copy the iPad setup too!
These little pods are really cheap. A 9 volt battery will make them shine pretty bright. They are supposed to be waterproof. I guess they are usually used inside big lighted signs on the side of stores. You know like Wal-Mart or Target. I still have a bunch left over from the string. I only got the driver side done tonight before I had to give kids baths and put them to bed. At least the crappy iPhone pics can show the difference between the side with the lights and without. They only come on when I unlock with my keyless or the doors are open.
I have an idea to use some more of the pods on the roof rack and tail gate as a way of flood lighting the area around the truck. This will be run from a switch that is already wired and waiting next to the steering wheel thanks to the previous owner. It might end up turning on a couple of these pods and about 3 feet of LED light strip I have left over. Gotta figure the wiring on the strip. My idea is when the hatch is up, I can flip the switch and have plenty of light on the tailgate and behind the truck for doing so many activities!
Sorry I didn't link to the build thread I copied this from. And I'm pretty sure I messed up the typing. I posted all this from my phone as I am trying to get my 2 year old to go to sleep. Parent of the year! Brentn is the user name of the guy I copied. His LX is setup a lot like I want mine to be! Probably going to copy the iPad setup too!