Finally finished LEDS - cupholders, console, and bed lights

The thing with this is I need security. How do I secure it so it doesn't get stolen?

I commute to college with hooligans, although one has to pay for the parking garage, so that weens out the bad people..mostly.

EDit: I suppose I could take it off everytime..thats annoying.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-Foot-Fibe...pt=US_Radio_Comm_Antennas&hash=item27d9c4fa3f

Found that one. I want a thicker one so less stress on the wrap-around of strips

 

Quick disconnect.

 

Yeah lol just edited my post

 

I put both of mine in when Tailgating. I DO NOT leave them in. Even fans will steal other fans shit

Mine are in 2 "sleeves" that I mounted in truck bed. Then I just unclip the 2 wires and throw both whips in the backseat. Pain in the ass....kinda....but I don't care.

 

Both antennas in the "sleeve" thingies....L brackets I guess......

 

I guess I'll do similar, but different mounts since i have a cover. That's annoying that people steal shit cause I'd rather just leave them on there and hook them up to my underglow lights.

Found disconnects: http://www.ebay.com/itm/TRAM-217-3-...8&pid=100005&rk=6&rkt=6&sd=371252473654&rt=nc

 

Mine are hooked into my underglow. I just undo my wires and it's good. Underglow still works after unhooking antennas.

I even had the top L bracket a little loose so I could lift antenna up a little just to where it comes out of bottom L bracket , then rotate antenna (while in top L bracket) towards cab of truck and it lays down. Problem is....still gets took!!!!

 

Yeah, the underglow will work, it'd just be cool to have it fade on like my underglow does since its grounded with the dome ground..but I guess I'll just put them on for when I'm driving in the snow or to a friends house or event like you do.

 

Just waiting to see if the antennas thread matches the disconnect that I want..3/8" x 24 thread

 

I smile every time I see pics of those whips. They are really cool. Very original for sure.

The only problem is if I did something like that to my truck someone would probably call the fire department or make a UFO report (Unidentified Fiery/Freeway Object)

 

Haha yeah. Where did you get the rest of your orange LED strips?

I think you said sbleds

 

I just completed my LED's in the cup holders with a couple of modifications.

1. I built the circuit below so I can dim the LED's. Where I live it gets very DARK and without dimming them it would be overbearing. The circuit is adjustable, and can be modified easily to have the adjustment pot external to the board. I also encased the board in a project box to protect it. Everything fit beautifully to the right of the shift lever. IF you want to make yours variable, without the 555 circuit, you might be able to use the 12v line on one side of the shift lever bulb, and the variable line to the other side of the bulb. As an interesting side note, the 555 circuit is (basically) what is behind your variable dash "dial" and is used to control all LED's on the dash. I wanted my cup holder LED's to be separate from the dash variable lighting so they stay the same brightness all of the time.

2. I found blue LED's that had a flat top. This allowed me to put them flush against the inside wall of the cup holder and then epoxy them in. No protruding edges and totally water tight.

3. I used Radio Control cables with connectors going to the project box just in case I needed to remove the cup holders or the console parts in the future. Radio Control cables are three wire cables. One is ground, (common between all of the LED's), one is for the variable LED's, and the other is 12V for the LED's that I don't want variable. (behind vent at bottom of rear console) This leaves a very neat package and very few stray wires. I wound up using 4 R/C cables total. One for power, (made sure to have the plug end different than the other 3!), one for the front cup holder/cubby area, one for the single cup holder at the shift lever, and one for the rear LED's (cup holder and vent on bottom of rear console). The power cable is tapped into the 12v power going to the shift lever bulb. I purchased 4 R/C extender cables which provided the lengths I needed and also provides the necessary male / female end on each end.

4. I reversed the position of the LED on the rear cup holder, (as shown at the beginning of this thread where it says "capped bottle only"), and made it face forward since I didn't want the LED to be irritating to my rear passengers. The rear of the console part that houses the storage bin easily pops off and allows you to drill for the LED.

5. I placed an LED dead center above the front cup holder/cubby area so it shines down on that area. I used a LED holder for that so it looks professional and is almost flush mounted. This LED was the most difficult to position and place, but wasn't impossible.

 

I'm looking to install the LED's in the cupholders, behind the console and under the seats. I want it to be dimmable but I don't want it on the main dimmer switch. Does anyone have a suggestion on a particular dimmer to use/install?

 

Out towards fern ridge

 

I have a new whip project with these lights I got the other day

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Supernight-...750?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a8e9ba74e

http://youtu.be/CXKhcwN8plA

 

The post directly above yours has some suggestions. From what I understand, you cannot "dim" LED's like normal lights but need to build a circuit that will cycle the power on / off so fast you cannot tell. By adjusting it to be "off" more than on, it effectively dims the LED's.

Not sure what truck(?) you have, but my 05 has two wires going to the shifter lamp. One is constant 12v, the other comes from the "dimmer" in the dash and does what is mentioned above. You might be able to connect the anode (long wire side) of the LED to the 12v line, and the cathode side to the other wire and it "should" dim for you at the same rate as the other LED's in the dash... BE SURE TO PUT A CURRENT LIMITING RESISTOR IN SERIES ON THE LED! (go to http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz for a simple series/parallel array wizard. Snoop around on that site for information about LED's) Does not matter which side. (anode or cathode) I have had success doing this on other projects in my truck.

(Sorry, re-read your original post. You will have to build a dimmer circuit if you don't want it on your main dimmer circuit)

Lowes (and I'm sure others), sell an assortment of "telephone splice connector" (Ideal #85-960) which work great and fit the wire size in "my" vehicle.

 

These are actually all amber not orange. The 5mm wide strips inside the headlights and the side mirror lenses I got from SBL. I got most of the strips behind the grill from Autozone. I got a couple of these from Vleds but they are nowhere near as bright as the Alpena LED strips from Autozone.

 

Ohh alright. Interesting, I'd never think autozone stuff could be that good. But I do want an exhaust tip from them

 

Thought I would post a schematic of what I did. It should be easy to follow if you take a good look at it. I'll post pictures if requested, but nothing much to look at. Hope it helps

 

Why not just buy a dimmer module/controller?