eddiebx
New member
Are you going to at least give us a hint? Did your tarp finally rip? ARB awning? Super high tech carbon fiber fishing poles? :violin:
ANTMAN'S Thread
- Thread starter Antman
- Start date
Are you going to at least give us a hint? Did your tarp finally rip? ARB awning? Super high tech carbon fiber fishing poles? :violin:
4ShoreRunner
New member
No more sleepless nights! Is that thing mounted already?? 
Antman
Elite Member
Nonoyesno.
Great minds think alike :thumb:
Did Pat call you too?! Lol
Cocky bastard.
No more sleepless nights! Is that thing mounted already??
Gonna be a while! I'm not sure what going to do yet.
Not that fragile!
Hellamatic
New member
What breed is the awning? Adding one to my rig is on the short list of upgrades for the summer.
Titanpat57
Senior Member
Train roll on..
Tuesday's gone...
Tuesday's gone...
Antman
Elite Member
ARB Awning LED Lights
OK, as I alluded to earlier, I received an ARB 2500 awning as a Father's Day gift!
The "ghetto awning" ,as it has become known, works fine but the ARB sets up/down a bit quicker and it's just plain cool.
After racking my brain for some cool mounts that are easy to use, I just decided to get the GOBI mounts for the awning. It kinda kills me that they charge almost $100 for these, but a lot of thought went into the design and I like that they can be taken on and off easily. Typical GOBI style they are "In the mail" :rockthrow:. I can't mount the awning yet, but that's not stopping me from the MOD I wanted to figure out...
SO...I threw a couple of screws into the back wall of the garage and slid the awning into place for some work.
Before I get into this one let me say I'm not sure how this will hold up in the long run. The reason I used the plugs I did was for convenience and ease of replacement. I'll update after this camping session!
On to the MOD!!!
I decided to mount an LED strip under the awning. I could have gone with a full 8' strip, but my goal was ambient lighting not blinding, UFO landing light. I settled for a 60 LED strip- 39". The LED's have 3M tape on the back so mounting wasn't a problem. Peel and stick...
Now we need to add the "cool factor".
I wanted to power the lights with a coiled cord that could be stored easily, replaced easily, was cheap and durable. Enter the phone cord. Yup.
I picked up a couple of these adaptors at the Depot (they have the same thing at Radioshack) to plug the phone cord into. One will mount under the hood, the other on the awning. First the awning:
This can be pulled apart into 2 pieces- then I snipped the wires.
This is the mounting location:
Little Dremel work and it fits right in there...
I combined yellow/red for positive, and black/green for negative.
Now for a place to mount the switch and hide/protect the wires.
I used some 3/4" square aluminum tubing I had laying around. It fits like it was made to go there!
Drilled some holes to mount the switch and made some grommets to protect the wiring. The wires come into the end of the tube- to the switch- and then exit the back of the tubing. The wires headed to the light are behind the square tubing because I wanted the tube to remain empty (more on that later).
Here's how it fits together:
***CONTINUED
OK, as I alluded to earlier, I received an ARB 2500 awning as a Father's Day gift!
The "ghetto awning" ,as it has become known, works fine but the ARB sets up/down a bit quicker and it's just plain cool.
After racking my brain for some cool mounts that are easy to use, I just decided to get the GOBI mounts for the awning. It kinda kills me that they charge almost $100 for these, but a lot of thought went into the design and I like that they can be taken on and off easily. Typical GOBI style they are "In the mail" :rockthrow:. I can't mount the awning yet, but that's not stopping me from the MOD I wanted to figure out...
SO...I threw a couple of screws into the back wall of the garage and slid the awning into place for some work.
Before I get into this one let me say I'm not sure how this will hold up in the long run. The reason I used the plugs I did was for convenience and ease of replacement. I'll update after this camping session!
On to the MOD!!!
I decided to mount an LED strip under the awning. I could have gone with a full 8' strip, but my goal was ambient lighting not blinding, UFO landing light. I settled for a 60 LED strip- 39". The LED's have 3M tape on the back so mounting wasn't a problem. Peel and stick...
Now we need to add the "cool factor".
I wanted to power the lights with a coiled cord that could be stored easily, replaced easily, was cheap and durable. Enter the phone cord. Yup.
I picked up a couple of these adaptors at the Depot (they have the same thing at Radioshack) to plug the phone cord into. One will mount under the hood, the other on the awning. First the awning:
This can be pulled apart into 2 pieces- then I snipped the wires.
This is the mounting location:
Little Dremel work and it fits right in there...
I combined yellow/red for positive, and black/green for negative.
Now for a place to mount the switch and hide/protect the wires.
I used some 3/4" square aluminum tubing I had laying around. It fits like it was made to go there!
Drilled some holes to mount the switch and made some grommets to protect the wiring. The wires come into the end of the tube- to the switch- and then exit the back of the tubing. The wires headed to the light are behind the square tubing because I wanted the tube to remain empty (more on that later).
Here's how it fits together:
***CONTINUED
Last edited:
Antman
Elite Member
Remember the square tube is empty? The 12' phone cord stores in there when packed away.
Now for the mount under the hood. I used this jack and modified the wires a bit. I covered all the connections with liquid electrical tape before finishing up. I also plastidipped the cover. I held the rattle can farther away than normal to give the top a textured surface just for kicks...
This is the path for the cord to get under the hood from the awning. It slides right in there and isn't pinched at all with the hood closed.
Overall I'm pleased with this setup. We'll see how it holds up though.
I'll get pictures of everything set up when I get the brackets!
Happy Modding!
Now for the mount under the hood. I used this jack and modified the wires a bit. I covered all the connections with liquid electrical tape before finishing up. I also plastidipped the cover. I held the rattle can farther away than normal to give the top a textured surface just for kicks...
This is the path for the cord to get under the hood from the awning. It slides right in there and isn't pinched at all with the hood closed.
Overall I'm pleased with this setup. We'll see how it holds up though.
I'll get pictures of everything set up when I get the brackets!
Happy Modding!
Last edited:
Titanpat57
Senior Member
So...
it looks pretty cool with 124' of phone cord draped all the the truck ....:faint:
:happy:
Good job buddy...the cool factor is over the top....I'm gonna post my ghetto light when I get home....I can't be out-ghettoed
it looks pretty cool with 124' of phone cord draped all the the truck ....:faint:
:happy:
Good job buddy...the cool factor is over the top....I'm gonna post my ghetto light when I get home....I can't be out-ghettoed
eddiebx
New member
Pat are you talking about candles?? :behindsofa:
But seriously, it never ceases to amaze me what this guy can dream up when re-purposing things to mod his 4runner with.
Super clean work Antman!! :clap2:
jangoforhire
New member
This is awesome, but I'm confused, every time I try and answer your awning all i get is blinded in the face. Whoever keeps calling either doesn't want to talk or I'm doing something wrong....:shrug:
Haha great work this is really well done!
Haha great work this is really well done!
Alex T4R
New member
THAT'S GOOD STUFF!!! I knew I'd be getting replies like that anyway.
Update- Soon as I finished the writeup the brackets came!
Mounted up and working great...
Nice work Jeff. I like how in ^^ this picture the neighbor and his dog stopped to look at your awning.
Antman
Elite Member
Thanks!
Yeah- all the neighbors give me curious stares- I'm THAT guy.
When I was finishing up today, the guy next door came over and said: "Where the hell do you come up with this shit?" We had a good laugh about it!
Antman
Elite Member
Yes. Just pop the hood feed the cord through, plug it in and close the hood.
