LED Lightbar Backlighting DIY

I know, me too. I bet they'll come out with them eventually. I have 5630 LED strips for bed lights and even a strip under the rear bumper to light up the floor when camping and they are bright as hell! I absolutely love them!

I also have some 5050 LED strips and they are bright... just not as bright as 5630. Not exactly sure how you are planning on running/placing your LED strips but why not use the RGB strip in the LED bar, then the 5630 white you already have around the truck as rock lights? The newest 5630 strips are narrower then when I purchased my strip - so you could easily install them inconspicuously all over the place.

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That would be great. Thank you.

The light that you purchased from Amy, is that the Patriot series?
http://www.offroadamerica.us/product-p/p3d-32.htm
Her Instagram has her linking the site above as her US store.

 

that was the plan.. to use my 5630 for rock lights, bed lights, etc.. but now I am wanting to run RGB strips.. was thinking I could kill 2 birds if i just went with RGB all around.. turn them to white when i need the rock lights.. but i dont know how negligible the difference in 5050 to 5630 white is..

basically.. if the white on the 5050 RGB strips is enough light for rock lights.. i would just do those for everything.

 

I see. Well, it does depend on the LED strip as well. some are brighter than others.
I ordered these two led strips when I was trying to figure out what i'd use for my bed lights. They are both 5050 LED strips. The white pcb strip is not as bright as the black pcb strip. The difference between the two is noticeable. The difference between the white 5050 strip and the 5630 led strip I ended up using on my bed light setup is very noticeable.
Keep in mind these are strictly white LED's, not RGB. I seem to recall that I read somewhere that RGB strip's white light is not as bright as a strictly white LED strip. Throw in the 5050 vs 5630 difference as well and I guess there should be a noticeable difference in white light output.



I say, keep the 5630 LED strip (white) for rock lights and don't switch to a RGB. How often do you think you'll use your rock light strip in a color other than white? Plus, down the road (no pun intended) when they begin offering RGB strips with 5630 LED's, you can switch if you feel the need.

 

thats what i was wanting to hear.. I'm keepin em then..

well. i wanted to add some more color to the truck besides just the LED bars/pods/halos.. so i thought under lighting might be cool.. especially if i could kill the 2 birds thing.. would use em for meets, car shows, out wheeling.. whenever.

but if i still do the RGB in the roof bar, the pods front and rear, and my headlights.. that should still look good.. and kinda go together better/make more sense, since it will all be "lighting" components that have RGB in them.

 

Ok guys, I tested my actual light out tonight looking down my buddies street. SOOOOOOOO much brighter than i was thinking!!!!!!! This bitch turns the night to day!!! Here is a video just to show you really how bright it is, and the different strobe patters that come with the "Strobe Harness" I also bought (for $20) from Amy. (Do not mind the camo santa hat with the antlers lol)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUKkLGJeEaE

 

I guess you can say I'm a... Deer in the headlights

HAHAHA!! My life is sad...

 

Hahaha, nice. Does that have a fast strobe setting like a normal strobe? Also, I guess you'll have to wire the controller to a hot lead that is on all the time to control the lightbar from out of the truck if its not running

 

@ "holy crap! That might kill someone!"

 

It doesn't have a constant like on off strobe like normal strobes, but it has the slower strobe. The video didn't really show it but it will strobe real fast, then slow for a second, then fast again.

And it came with a hot and ground that hooks straight to the battery, but it has a built in fuse holder. So, the truck doesn't have to be on at all. Just make sure you don't kill your battery!!

Right!! Way brighter than i thought it was going to be haha. (watch out dumb ass bay area drivers)

 

Thats why I NEEEEEEEED IT.

 

Lol, yeah, that'd be difficult to forget you left on when you get out of truck.

 

Mehby

 

Subd. Cool idea!

 

Has anyone tried turning the actual light bar on with a solid color on with the strip? Does it give the lightbar light a different hue of color?

 

Good question.

 

I have not

 

I have done it, and the light bar light is WAAAAAAY too powerful to show any of the color at the same time. Although, when I turn my light bar to strobe and my RGB Light Strip is on, you see the color in between the strobing pattern. Looks freaking sick!!! (I personally like putting the strip to the rainbow mode, where it cycles through all the colors, with the strobe on. Because in between each strobing pattern, it's a different color)

Once I get it all installed, i'll make a video for you guys!!

 

Yea, I figured the light of the led bar would wash out the color led strip. Just wondering, thanks! Maybe with a smaller or single row light bar it might come through a little better but I doubt it.

That's pretty cool. Yea, post a vid.

 

Video incoming from kevinbrown44

 

Let me know what everyone thinks!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAWERHKx4cQ