KrashDH
Top Post Dawg
Hey all,
Well, motivated to be able to see what I'm working on when daylight gets short (and not having to put a flashlight in my teeth), I stole an idea from something I did to my Cummins. Underhood lighting is always really crappy and it's incredible how easy it is to install with great results. I decided I was going to spend the evening wiring this up. Took me around an hour to do everything, the longest was making the electrical connections and wrapping the harness.
I purchased 2x of these because they got decent reviews, they are LED strip lighting, and they are flexible (our hoods have some curves underneath:
Now, these come with a little jammer that you drill your fender for (basically a plunger momentary switch) but I really didn't want that. I didn't need these things blasting daylight every time I opened the hood. So I purchased an inline on-off switch. This is the same one I used in my truck setup as well:
The first thing you want to do is determine where you want to put them. I had originally bought one, but I figured 2 would give me more options if I didn't want to put them directly in the center. If you only want to buy one, there is a good spot in the center for these and the length was perfect. But I opted to stick them to the outboard sides and leave the center free so I could mount my push button switch. I would suggest that you get a roll of that 3M sticky rubber tape (with the red backing). The LED strips come with that stuff, but the quality of stick is never as good as the 3M stuff. Then you can just remove the backing and stick your 3M strip onto their adhesive directly. Here's the lights mounted:
Here's where I mounted the on-off switch. It's mounted on an angle of the hood, so it's not going to interfere with sealing or anything:
Next you have to figure out your wiring. Since these things draw such little current, I just tied them in parallel, then ran a single set of pos+ and neg- wire to my junction (instead of 4 wires). Remember to wire your on-off switch inline with your power wire then to the lights.
This was the start of my wiring adventure. I used Tesa tape everywhere to, to deaden any rattle:
Now you can start running your harness through the hood. You can see in the following photo I took it in a couple sections. To where you see, then again down to the last accessible slot towards the windshield. I just fished it through with wire I had laying around:
Now you can connect to the battery. I ran the pos+ and neg+ wires along the hood release cable, after wrapping them. This path works out nicely:
The hood release cable runs under the hood seal in a slot. Coincidentally, This slot is big enough to run your harness through. Just pop the seal up, lay the wire, then pop the seal back into place. You can also see where I chose to make my connection for when the hood needs to come off again. It's kind of hard to see, but to the right of the cowl, you'll see a small strip of darkness where the wire kind of blends with. When you close the hood, make your harness long enough so that it drops down into that empty space:
To keep the loom in place at the nose of the hood, a couple pieces of Gorilla tape did the trick:
This thread would be worthless without the resulting product images. They were taken in a dark garage, no other lighting on:
It's some of these simple mods that I find the most functional and satisfying, especially when your work area transfers between the driveway, halfway in a garage, or any place you might be. It's great to have light where you need it.
Enjoy!
Well, motivated to be able to see what I'm working on when daylight gets short (and not having to put a flashlight in my teeth), I stole an idea from something I did to my Cummins. Underhood lighting is always really crappy and it's incredible how easy it is to install with great results. I decided I was going to spend the evening wiring this up. Took me around an hour to do everything, the longest was making the electrical connections and wrapping the harness.
I purchased 2x of these because they got decent reviews, they are LED strip lighting, and they are flexible (our hoods have some curves underneath:
Amazon.com: CKEGUO Under Hood LED Light Kit, Universal Waterproof Engine Inspection Strip Lamp with Automatic On/Off for Truck Cargo Pickup SUV RV Boat : Automotive
Buy CKEGUO Under Hood LED Light Kit, Universal Waterproof Engine Inspection Strip Lamp with Automatic On/Off for Truck Cargo Pickup SUV RV Boat: Light Bars - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases
www.amazon.com
Now, these come with a little jammer that you drill your fender for (basically a plunger momentary switch) but I really didn't want that. I didn't need these things blasting daylight every time I opened the hood. So I purchased an inline on-off switch. This is the same one I used in my truck setup as well:
Amazon.com: Kingshowstar 12V Waterproof Push-Button On-Off Switch with Quick Connector for LED Accent Lighting on Motorcycles, Cars, Trucks, ATVs, Golf Carts, etc : Automotive
Buy Kingshowstar 12V Waterproof Push-Button On-Off Switch with Quick Connector for LED Accent Lighting on Motorcycles, Cars, Trucks, ATVs, Golf Carts, etc: Pushbutton Switches - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases
www.amazon.com
The first thing you want to do is determine where you want to put them. I had originally bought one, but I figured 2 would give me more options if I didn't want to put them directly in the center. If you only want to buy one, there is a good spot in the center for these and the length was perfect. But I opted to stick them to the outboard sides and leave the center free so I could mount my push button switch. I would suggest that you get a roll of that 3M sticky rubber tape (with the red backing). The LED strips come with that stuff, but the quality of stick is never as good as the 3M stuff. Then you can just remove the backing and stick your 3M strip onto their adhesive directly. Here's the lights mounted:
Here's where I mounted the on-off switch. It's mounted on an angle of the hood, so it's not going to interfere with sealing or anything:
Next you have to figure out your wiring. Since these things draw such little current, I just tied them in parallel, then ran a single set of pos+ and neg- wire to my junction (instead of 4 wires). Remember to wire your on-off switch inline with your power wire then to the lights.
This was the start of my wiring adventure. I used Tesa tape everywhere to, to deaden any rattle:
Now you can start running your harness through the hood. You can see in the following photo I took it in a couple sections. To where you see, then again down to the last accessible slot towards the windshield. I just fished it through with wire I had laying around:
Now you can connect to the battery. I ran the pos+ and neg+ wires along the hood release cable, after wrapping them. This path works out nicely:
The hood release cable runs under the hood seal in a slot. Coincidentally, This slot is big enough to run your harness through. Just pop the seal up, lay the wire, then pop the seal back into place. You can also see where I chose to make my connection for when the hood needs to come off again. It's kind of hard to see, but to the right of the cowl, you'll see a small strip of darkness where the wire kind of blends with. When you close the hood, make your harness long enough so that it drops down into that empty space:
To keep the loom in place at the nose of the hood, a couple pieces of Gorilla tape did the trick:
This thread would be worthless without the resulting product images. They were taken in a dark garage, no other lighting on:
It's some of these simple mods that I find the most functional and satisfying, especially when your work area transfers between the driveway, halfway in a garage, or any place you might be. It's great to have light where you need it.
Enjoy!
Last edited:
