Camper shell lighting suggestions?

Can you provide a photo so i know what to look for. No sams club in my area.

 

Has anyone used superbright led kits or recommend a similar kit. Can find them around 40 bucks on superbright led but not sure what size.

 

I've got a

$23 MICTUNING 2Pcs 60" White LED Cargo Truck Bed Light Strip Lamp Waterproof Lighting Kit with On-Off Switch Fuse 2-Way Splitter Cable Compatible with Pickup RV SUV and More

set of these on my ARE shell. They were $25 and have adhesive backing, which I used to attach to the top of my window frames. I tweaked the wiring harness that came with it to fit my needs. I just run these straight from my aux fuse box in the engine bay with the switch in the bed, I didn't see a need to be able to turn them on from the cab, plus they draw so little I also didn't relay them either.

 

What lights did you buy for your shell?

 

If you are running a constant power wire from the battery, do you have to ground these LED light strips?

 

Yes the lights can be grounded near the bed mounted switch.

 

I grounded my trunk stuff to a stud near the left tail light where the tail light was grounded. bunch of pictures of my setup in earlier in this thread, I believe.

 

I see you cut the plug from the light strip and pulled back the covering to expose the wiring. I was curious if there is always a groud wire under the main cover of these LED strips.

Any chance you can provide a prouct list of LED strip, aluminum strip, frosted cover etc?

This would really help!


Thanks!

 

After an intense 2 second search...

Aluminum LED strip mounting channel: https://www.aspectled.com/collectio...uoyi2gIV0zaBCh3rdQrcEAQYASABEgI7nPD_BwE#tab-1

(There were not any singles on Amazon)

But I still have the question.. if i want to use the remote, where do i cut and splice the wire coming from the LED strip? After the controller box (which is usually the white box)? If that is the case then the output of that box is a round female for a cord with 3 prong male on the other end. So are there still the power and ground wires in there?


Like these -

LUMINOSUM LED Strip Lights RGB Kit, 16.4ft 300LEDs SMD5050 Waterproof, with 44-key IR Controller and DC12V 5A Power Adapter and 1 Connector for Home Décor

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01A..._QL65&keywords=rgb+led+strip+waterproof&psc=1

 

How long do the batteries last?

 

two choices. use your own RGB dimmer like I did, and directly connect to the LED strip with ground, red power, green power, blue power, or plug the black+red+green+blue wires into that little white brick, and connect 12VDC (and ground) to the white brick's power connector, and use the remote to pick colors, on/off, and various color cycle modes guaranteed to drive your GF/wife nuts

again, review my posts of a few pages ago, I show the whole thing temp hooked up on my kitchen table with a 12V battery for a temporary power supply, thats how I prototyped it.

 

@mattgecko Kit for the bed. Bright as shit for the late arrivals to Mojave Road.

 

actually, I cut a 1 meter piece from a 10 meter roll of the RGB tape.... there's a mark every so often where you can cut them, and it provides 4 solder pads on the flexible circle base, corresponding to ground (black), red, green, blue. you need fairly thin wire (22 or 24 gauge?), and a temperature controlled soldering iron with a very thin tip suitable for surface mount kinda circuit board work. with trial and error, I determined it worked bests if I tinned the gold contacts AND the wires before I soldered them. I used very thin quality rosin core lead-tin solder. you have to be careful not to blob too much solder on any one wire so it doesn't bridge.


I believe I used this RGB tape...

$15 SUPERNIGHT LED Strip Lights, 16.4FT 5M SMD 5050 Waterproof 300LEDs RGB Color Changing Flexible LED Light Strip for Bedroom, TV Back Lighting (Not Include Power)

https://www.amazon.com/SUPERNIGHT-Waterproof-300LEDs-Changing-Flexible/dp/B00DTOAWZ2

and this r/g/b dimmer, because I wanted manual control.
http://www.usledsupply.com/shop/rgb-3k-manual-slide-control.html

 

here's the tape...


see the cut places, every 3 LEDs.

thats one where the wires broke, because it wasn't properly secured. I need to redo.

here's one with the silicone layer trimmed back, ready to be soldered...




and oops, I think the tape is +12, R,G,B not ground,R,G,B. so the r/g/b wires are grounded to light that color...

 

I apologize if my questions aren't clear enough because I was pretty tired yesterday.. so I appreciate your patience.


My Goal: To use the standard wiring and remote that comes with the LED strip.

My Question: Can I cut the household prong plug off the output wire from the controller box to expose a power and ground wire?

In Reference to your statement below.. are you implying that there is a power and ground wire in the plug wire?

"plug the black+red+green+blue wires into that little white brick, and connect 12VDC (and ground) to the white brick's power connector, and use the remote to pick colors, on/off, and various color cycle modes "?


I am referring snip and slice to the Power Cord in the attached picture

 

I cut off the OTHER plug, the one that goes to the RGB controller, thats 12V and ground, and wired that to the truck's 12V system... I don't use the black power brick at all.

 

Ahh so before the power inverter. I will try this!

 

On my taco, I ran a fused 10 gauge wire (way overkill for lighting, but I was planning on installing several cigar plugs and USB chargers in back, although I never did) from the battery all the way down the left frame rail to the left tail light. I wrapped the wire in expandable loom, and clipped/tiewrapped it to the inside top of that frame rail. when you remove the left tail light, its in a sort of metal compartment, I put a 1/2" hole in the forward-facing side of that metal compartment, put a rubber grommet around the hole, and ran my power wire, a ground wire, plus a wire tapped off the brake light through that grommet, and connected those to a 3 position Delphi Weatherpak connector...

 

oh, you could tap 12V power at your RV connector, but thats only juiced when the vehicle is running. and, I wouldn't use the power to the 120VAC inverter, as thats only powered when you switch it on at the dash, not very convenient, I want my camper lights to work any time I turn them on. anyways, that inverter is inside the cab under the arm rest/console (or at least, thats where it is on my gen2). plus the inverter draws quite a lot of power, its not something you want to leave on for hours.

 

So how did you end up attaching it to the roof?