LED Strip lighting on the vehicle.

rayra

Expedition Leader
Well I finally got around to re-doing things. The problem area was the tight-radius 90deg corners at the bottom of the hatch. It's too tight for this LED product. You have to basically pinch the inner edge of the curve to make the turn. That could be problematic with repeated flexing, or too sharp a pinch-crease.

I got some Scott's 'Outdoor' double-stick. It's a denser thinner foam, a stickier adhesive. It comes in '15 pound' and '30 pound' and rather optimistically features a metal compass rose seemingly stuck to a brick wall with this wundertape. I went with the 15-lb, because as mentioned previously, I'm cheap.

LED20.jpg



Here's a couple images of the LED strip drooping loose from the hatch in the open position. These are on the bottom edges near the hatch latch mechanisms. I think the hoops are rubbing the strips in this area but I see no damage. And the sheet metal of the latch indentation on the hatch is very narrow there, so the original bonding was pretty poor too. And the corners were popping loose.

LED21.jpg



I started off by unpeeling the strip. Turned it on just to function test, after doing this. Not really being familiar with how fragile this stuff might be.

LED22.jpg



I bought the tape in a 1" wide roll, for use in other projects. The big roll was only twice the very short roll, 2x the price for ~5x as much tape. The light strip is about 3/8" / 1cm wide. So I started off working with 2'L strips, intending to scissor-cut thin strips. Bzzzt. Wrong answer. Of course the super sticky tape can't / won't be cut that way, just sticks to my scissors. So I cleaned a section of my workbench and laid the tape down lightly and cut it with a razor blade. I aimed to make it slightly more narrow than the LED strip so it wouldn't show after the install. And I did it in 18-24" strips for ease of handling.

LED23.jpg
LED24.jpg



Then I applied a couple sections at a time, laying my unevenly razor-cut edge against the plastic interior trim to hide it. I'm deliberately laying the strip on the bare metal of the hatch that mates to the weather gasket on the body. It's the only spot that orients the light the way I want it. And barring a ridiculous El Nino season, water infiltration is not typically an issue in my area. Anyway, I firmly pressed and worked the new tape in place, before peeling off the red protective layer and re-applying the LED strip.

LED25.jpg



And a last function check after everything is back in place. And a bit of the detail, showing how I chose to route the wires. Again there's little water issue around here, I went right over the gasket, in a terrible place. I put some heatshrink over the exposed wires that come pre-attached to the strip. I added some simple in-line connectors, which are hidden behind the D-pillar trim enroute to the added switch in the cargo sidewall next to the factory PowerPort. At a later date I'll rout it properly, drill into the body and use a bulkhead grommet, or cut it into that bellows/boot on the factory wiring routing.

LED26.jpg




Fin
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...or is it?
 
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mowerman

Adventurer
I bought the same roll as in the OP, but I find the soldering very awkward, trying the clean the silicon off to get a clean solder is a Pain.
I also found they peeled off when attached to plastic or vinyl inside the truck, so I dnded up replacing the internal ones with white LED truck marker lights.
The remainder of the roll I stuck to the aluminium bottom of my fox wing, so that when the wing is out they provide light under it. This works well and amazingly they haven't peeled off.
 

rayra

Expedition Leader
Third time's the charm, hopefully.

Finally got my hatch lighting straightened out. Last year I tapped some constant power from the rear PowerPort in the Sub and added a pair of switches on the D pillar, above the factory lock switch. I had the two paris of wires run up the trim adn under the weather seal and in a bit of split loom up by the 3rd brake light.
The LED strip lights typically come with a sticky backing, some brands are actually 3M PSA, or at least made to look that way. The first time I did this it was a continuous red loop. Then I decided I wanted to make it half and half. Then had some trouble getting the right strips on the slow plane from China. Last 'cheap' lights took too months and got sent the wrong colors.
So this time I ordered a different brand, different vendor, fulfilled in the US from prodcut already in hand, so no more delays. Got them both and got them both installed and working at the same time.
I used strips of 3m Heavy Duty double sided tape onto the painted metal of the Liftgate outside the plastic trim. Neither the lights or the 3M tape stick to the plastic trim. The 3M tape stick great to the painted finish and the strip lights then stick to the 3M.

Both halves on, the red arrows are where the power port and switch locations are.

LIftgatelights01.jpg



Camera 1

LIftgatelights02.jpg



Camera 2

LIftgatelights03.jpg


LIftgatelights04.jpg
 
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