How to install LED strips

[lybrian1]

hello i just bought a pair of white LED strip from ebay. i am not quite sure how to wire these. so this is what it think i am suppose to do. i looked under the hood and i see that i have a pair of parking lights which is perfect. i could wire up the LEDs to the parking light but i want them both to work at the same time. so i was thinking that i should take a knife of something and shave off a piece of insulation from the parking light wires and then solder the wires from the LEDs to the exposed portion of the parking light wires. then wrap them up in electric tape. this creates a Parallel circuit in switch both lights will come on at the same time.

agree? this is the only plan i came up with. let me know if theres a better way.

[cjre1]

This sounds good. I would do that. I have done this before on my Nissan 350ZX and it worked very well. LED strips do not take much power to run. Very little current draw, so you can tie into most anything and it will work.

[cjre1]

Once done send some pics. I would like to see it.

Good luck man.

[lybrian1]

thxsome one esle told me to cut the parking light wires then strip the ends of all 3 wires and then solder them together followed by heat shrink. them repeat 4 more times. 2 pairs of + and -. the only problem i have with this is that the wires of the parking lights are really short i dont have to length to cut them then re-solder them

[lybrian1]

This sounds good. I would do that. I have done this before on my Nissan 350ZX and it worked very well. LED strips do not take much power to run. Very little current draw, so you can tie into most anything and it will work.

can you teach me the wiring procedure?

[cjre1]

thxsome one esle told me to cut the parking light wires then strip the ends of all 3 wires and then solder them together followed by heat shrink. them repeat 4 more times. 2 pairs of + and -. the only problem i have with this is that the wires of the parking lights are really short i dont have to length to cut them then re-solder them

The personwho told you this is right. I did exactly this. Cut and splice. It worked out well. So when you turn on your parking lights, the LED strips go on.

Is your strip with a Red, Black and white wire? If so you will follow this pattern on the parking light wires. All should be the same color. Some cars have different colors, if so, then you need to get an electrical diagram of your car to know which wire is hot, ground and netual.

[lybrian1]

thanks the ledstrips and parking lights have 2 wires eachi dont think it has ground

[cjre1]

Very simple. Then one lead to hot and one to neutral. Postivie and Negative. No fuses needed, either.

[lybrian1]

yeah thx cant wait until they come in the mail

[lybrian1]

what type of adhesive do i use?would i be able to use a hot glue gun?

[dividedhighw]

Two quick thoughts:1. To "tap" into an existing wire, you can also use crimped connectors - as you crimp, it bites into both the existing wire and the one leaching the connection (available at Canadian Tire).2. Always use heat shrink instead of electrical tape, if possible, to minimize corrosion-related issues.

Cheers,David

[lybrian1]

oh great idea. what are they called? wire Crimps? i will definitely have a visit to canadian tire to get that. with these crimps does this mean i wont need to use heat shrinks?

[lybrian1]

any info on what type of adhesive i should be using?

[lybrian1]

should i glue the strips on the car with a hot glue gun? i found out the LED strip does not come with its own adhesive

[cjre1]

What about 3M high adhesive? or even a double face tape from 3M. This stuff works well.

[lybrian1]

are these water proof? we are talking about the foam double sided tape right?

[cjre1]

Some are water proof. They cost more but are. They also come in different widths.

[lybrian1]

where can i find 3M adhesive?i tried looking at canadian tire (automotive department store chain in canada) but i couldnt find it then i asked 2 of their workers and they didnt have a clue what i was talking about.

And what type of adhesive tape do i need because i checked on ebay and there are tons of different types of 3M adhesive.
Modified by lybrian1 at 6:57 PM 5/30/2009

[cjre1]

I got mine at Sears. Do you have Sears up there? How about online. Any 3M retailers, mainly for commerical businesses. Here is the site. I used Industrial strength tape.

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/po...tions/

Hope this helps. Let me know.

You are most welcome.

[cjre1]

This is all you need.

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/po...dServ/

Look under automotive, if you like. There are 1,000's of products for you to chose from. All work very well.

[lybrian1]

thanks alot we do have sears department stores here.

[dividedhighw]

oh great idea. what are they called? wire Crimps? i will definitely have a visit to canadian tire to get that. with these crimps does this mean i wont need to use heat shrinks?

I know I bought them at Canadian Tire before, but I can't find it on their site. Here's a link to Radio Shack, though:http://www.radioshack.com/prod...04093

I would still use heat shrink unless it was completely away from the weather, like inside the dash.

HTH,David

[lybrian1]

i got heat shrink from canadian tire yesterday but still looking for 3M double sided tape

[cjre1]

Didnt you use the info that I gave you.

[lybrian1]

yup but i am looking for it locally. i will head to sears soon