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LED Lighting Questions
Posted: Tue May 08, 2018 1:27 pm
by ATX Cobalt
I purchased eight LED light strips for my boat recently and want to mount them above my six cubby openings and under the dash/glove box to light up the foot rest areas. Any comments would be greatly appreciated!
Question #1: I noticed there isn't an opening of any kind on my two bow cubby areas. Do you just drill a hole from the storage compartments and run the wires that way?
Question #2: There isn't any opening under the passenger glove box area as well. Should I drill through the area under the stereo storage compartment?
Question #3: Does the self adhesive stick ok to the fabric covered cubby areas?
Question #4: Any tips on how not to get the fabric all wound up on my drill bit if I decide to drill through these areas?
Question #5: I was planning on running them off a bus duct, but would like to hear some ideas of where to mount it on my boat?
Re: LED Lighting Questions
Posted: Thu May 10, 2018 10:15 am
by slideruleracer
[1] On mine, I did drill a hole to run the wire. I'll take some pictures tonight.
[2] Not having a 200, I'm not sure I follow what you're asking. What are you trying to run here?
[3] I used E6000 to hold the mounting clips of my led rope light against the vinyl and it appears to be OK. But it hasn't seen the rigours of use on the water yet, so I can't confirm.
[4] Start with a small bit and then make some cuts in the vinyl with a knife from the small hole. Then you can peel the vinyl back a bit for drilling the larger hole. Then, after the hole is done, you can try to tuck that extra vinyl through the hole for a cleaner look.
[5] Not sure I understand what you mean about a bus duct.? On mine, I have the RGB controller connected to one of my auxiliary switches. The controller is bluetooth controlled, so I'm mounting it under the dash for now.
Re: LED Lighting Questions
Posted: Thu May 10, 2018 8:59 pm
by Big Block Power
ATX Cobalt wrote: Tue May 08, 2018 1:27 pm
I purchased eight LED light strips for my boat recently and want to mount them above my six cubby openings and under the dash/glove box to light up the foot rest areas. Any comments would be greatly appreciated!
Question #1: I noticed there isn't an opening of any kind on my two bow cubby areas. Do you just drill a hole from the storage compartments and run the wires that way?
Did you crawl into the cubbies. They run the factory harness along the top sides of it. You can fish it any where from there.
Question #2: There isn't any opening under the passenger glove box area as well. Should I drill through the area under the stereo storage compartment?
Did you take out the access panel that covers the bank of the radio in the cubby. I fished mine between the dash and side panel.
Question #3: Does the self adhesive stick ok to the fabric covered cubby areas?
Make sure there's no cleaner on it when you stick adhesive to it. It probably won't stick long
Question #4: Any tips on how not to get the fabric all wound up on my drill bit if I decide to drill through these areas?
Drill backwards.
Question #5: I was planning on running them off a bus duct, but would like to hear some ideas of where to mount it on my boat?
No clue what that is. Run it to a controller.
Re: LED Lighting Questions
Posted: Thu May 10, 2018 9:55 pm
by notstock4long
ATX Cobalt wrote: Tue May 08, 2018 1:27 pm
Question #4: Any tips on how not to get the fabric all wound up on my drill bit if I decide to drill through these areas?
If it's a carpet type of fabric, I have found that pressing a small square of wood against the surface and drilling through both helps to keep the fibers from pulling.
Re: LED Lighting Questions
Posted: Fri May 11, 2018 9:52 am
by slideruleracer
Here's the detail of my front strip light mounting both from down low as well as from the passenger perspective. Planning to have power to the controller this weekend, so I'll post some shots of the lights on by the end of the weekend. You can see the hole I added to run the wire from the strip light to the cable and hose routing space (which is shared by the storage area underneath. I ran that strip light around the whole bow front to the speaker on the other side using the aluminum mounting clips that came with the strip light. Unfortunately, the mounting holes for the clips would have to go up into the cushion, which wouldn't work very well..so before I modified them for putting screws through the side walls, I decided to try to use E6000 adhesive. We'll see how well it holds up. I have 7 clips holding the ~92" strip light in place
Re: LED Lighting Questions
Posted: Wed May 23, 2018 7:25 am
by ATX Cobalt
slideruleracer wrote: Fri May 11, 2018 9:52 am
Here's the detail of my front strip light mounting both from down low as well as from the passenger perspective. Planning to have power to the controller this weekend, so I'll post some shots of the lights on by the end of the weekend. You can see the hole I added to run the wire from the strip light to the cable and hose routing space (which is shared by the storage area underneath. I ran that strip light around the whole bow front to the speaker on the other side using the aluminum mounting clips that came with the strip light. Unfortunately, the mounting holes for the clips would have to go up into the cushion, which wouldn't work very well..so before I modified them for putting screws through the side walls, I decided to try to use E6000 adhesive. We'll see how well it holds up. I have 7 clips holding the ~92" strip light in place
Thanks for the pics, very helpful.