White LED Strips from AutoMatCentral.com used as ground lighting

Well I decided to use my LED strips from Automatcentral as ground lighting when you open the door, hope you like the write-up


This is what came in the package (minus the pet hair on the hat)


First clean the area the lights will go. They stick on so make sure all dirt is off the area you will stick them.


Next remove the door sill cover and the cover under the dash


put crimp on connectors on the red wire coming from the door switch and on a power wire (note take the connector apart then use a power meter to find the wire with the highest power, in this picture I used a red wire, later while doing the drivers side I found another wire (i believe blue with green stripe but check for your self) that had higher power, the red one had 11.5 amps the blue almost 12.5, when connected to the 12.5 amp power source the lights were much brighter.)


in the seam where the rocker panel comes together under the truck there are little holes, you can fish the wires up through the hole into the holes under the rocker guard inside the truck



stick the lights to the CLEAN area under the rocker (make sure the little LED lights are facing down (wires will be to the front of the truck on pass side and rear of truck on drivers side))


Crimp on enough wire to reach the connectors you crimped on and run the with out of the way or the rocker guard


Connect the red wire from the lights to the power source and the black to the red door switch


make sure the lights work and that they turn off when the door is closed


put the plastic pieces back and move to the drivers side

The drivers side is almost the same except you have to turn the lights around with the wires toward the back of the truck so the lights face down, there is a hole in the bottom of the truck for the wires but none inside, I drilled a hole (it will be covered when the interior is reinstalled



I premiered the hole to stop rust (color doesn't matter, it will be covered)also make sure to protect the wires, I used a wire sheath but you could just wrap in with tape too)

The rest is pretty much the same as the other side


When done you cant really tell they are there



Until it gets dark...




and when even darker




All in all great item, I love them. I didn't think they would provide this much light but they are great!

 

Good idea to use as ground lighting. I think I might get a set to use as lighting in my bed. (truck bed)

 

Yeah I had thougt about that too but decided to go with ground lighting

 

Holy crap! Those are pretty bright for LEDs. Might consider doing the same mod! Thanks!

 

The only thing I might do different next time would be to figure out what wires go to the lights on the door panel and wire them to those, then both sides would come on when you open either door. I'm also thinking about putting in a switch for them so I can turn them on without opening the doors

 

FIY the lights came away from the backing after about a year and then stopped working and I had to remove them... this might have been due to being under the truck and getting moisture in them or something.