Ideas for LED light tape

Ordered some LED light tape for the truck with plans to put some in the shell for more light in the bed and the others under the cab for puddle lights wired to the dome light so they come on when the doors are unlocked with the remote. Each pack was supposed to contain 30 inches of tape but the packs I received are 10 feet each. I'll put some of the extra under the hood and under the dash (to light up the foot wells) but where should I put the rest? I'll have an extra 15+ feet of this stuff.

 

In my truck?

Seriously though. 15ft extra is a lot. You already have all the places listed I would choose.

How are you doing the wiring for under the hood? I don't work in the engine bay during the night very often, but I do wish I had light in there when I do.

ETA: Where did you order it from?

 

I was thinking a pressure switch under the hood so they come on when the hood opens. I don't do much wrenching in the dark but in the event that I need to it'd be nice to have the light.

I ordered them off Amazon.

 

I also did center console..glovebox..
Little 3mm flush bulbs in cupholders..
But then I'd keep extra of the led strips for replacements

 

I also backlit grill with strip inside oem grill

 

@EatSleepTacos

 

I don't have anything like that in my Tacoma but my BRZ came with the Subaru footwell lighting in blue when the rest of the interior lighting was red.. no idea why. I got those exact same strips in red to remove the blue light and tied in to the same circuit.

The tape on the back of them sucks and they'll eventually fall out of place even if you prep the surface. I got some 3M VHB 4910 tape and just stuck it to the back of the LED strip and put them back where I had them. Yours may have better adhesive but mine were awful. The strip looks the exact same though.


FYI, if you tap into the Tacomas lighting circuit you can dim these easily.

On my gauge set I have LED lighting and have it dim with the factory PWM control. You have to tap into both wires from the control. I used two fuseholders and put a fuse in both wires feeding the gauges. One wire will always be 12V to the body of the truck, the other wire will vary between a few volts to 12V to the body of the truck. If you have it dimmed pretty far, both wires will be close to 12V when measured from the wire to the body. A fault in either wire would cause issues. I have mine fused at 1 or 2 amps I believe, I've only got 2 LED's so they don't pull anything, the LED strip like you have doesn't pull much either. That's exactly how my BRZ is set up for what it's worth. Dimming the strips in the footwell or wherever you want in the interior would be ideal because they're pretty bright.



https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/company.../3M-VHB-Tape-4910?N=5002385+3293242444&rt=rud

Got a 1/2" wide 15 foot long roll of the tape on Amazon for around $15, good stuff and it's clear.

 

Brightness also has to do with size of led's and #of leds on strip too
35/28 wasnt bright enough for my taste.
So i used 50/50 and 56/30 rgb in my grill.
I have controller to dim them but never use it.

 

You could rig some up in the rear seat bins is the only other place I can think of.