Drcoffee
Senior Member
Great Idea. Short story. I ordered from Ebay a white LED light strip 22" long to add under-hood lighting to my Lexus IS300, but they sent me a red one. Their mistake so they sent a White one out and said keep the red one. There it sat on my work bench until I saw your thread. Bingo! I had a Ebay LED T10 push base light for my transmission gauge that wasn't as bright as I wanted so it was sacrificed for this project. The bulb pulls out like the small Christmas lights from their base. I soldered some 22ga solid copper wire to the new red LED wires and shrink wrapped the connections. Now the yellow LED bulb base just plugs right into the factory harness. * A big plus is these LEDs are made for 12v current so no resistors are needed. Plug and play.
As you found the long strip of LEDs can be tricky to install in the housing so I used two zip ties to band the lights together. Warm the LED strip in the sun or use a hair drier to make it as flexible as possible before shaping and banding it. This type of LED is water tight and meant for exterior use. They can be had on EBAY for $5. Don't waste money at the big box auto parts store. Left to right and top to bottom, it fit perfectly I the housing. After wiring it up I used clear silicone (not latex caulk) to glue it in place. Frickin awesome.
*Just a side note, years ago I added a flasher to the Cyclops so it flashes 4 times quick when you hit the brakes. it resets after 20 seconds so in traffic, it doesn't keep fast flashing. But its a great safety device and I highly recommend it.
Here's my twist on it.
As you found the long strip of LEDs can be tricky to install in the housing so I used two zip ties to band the lights together. Warm the LED strip in the sun or use a hair drier to make it as flexible as possible before shaping and banding it. This type of LED is water tight and meant for exterior use. They can be had on EBAY for $5. Don't waste money at the big box auto parts store. Left to right and top to bottom, it fit perfectly I the housing. After wiring it up I used clear silicone (not latex caulk) to glue it in place. Frickin awesome.
*Just a side note, years ago I added a flasher to the Cyclops so it flashes 4 times quick when you hit the brakes. it resets after 20 seconds so in traffic, it doesn't keep fast flashing. But its a great safety device and I highly recommend it.
Here's my twist on it.
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