Led hood lights

[Kjhadfield]

Like many, that needs to do any work under the hood in the dark, wonder why it wasn't included. I'm tired of the poor lighting, the flash lights and maybe on occasions a lighter.

I have seen the 3 projects listed on mysporttrac but have a few questions for understanding.

I have purchased a 19" led strip, specs say volt range 9-14 & 1.1 watt per foot (which means @ 19" I'm looking at 2.2 watts…so does that mean my fuse should be 3amp or 5?). I also don't really want to power directly from battery for this small led (save the direct power for high power accessories, I'm thinking), so instead was thinking of the add a fuse/circuit. Thoughts? I don't know how it works but would like to tap into a empty slot that hopefully has 12 constant (my thinking on constant is I can do work with key out and lights can be on). I want to eventually put a door ajar switch or whatever they are called so I can have lights come on auto on hood up. But till I can find 1 I have a switch that I was hoping I could use, it's a 2 pole and 10 or 15 amp?

I want to make sure I have the wiring diagram right too or how I think it should be wired. The red wire from led goes to 1 prong on switch (does it matter which 1?) and attached to the same prong a wire going to the add a fuse? Do I just ground the black from LEDs and then ground the 2nd prong on the switch? The more I think about it, Something about that doesn't seem right to me…which Is why I come asking for help.

I can't wait till I actually hook these up and thanks for any help I can get

 

[Maniak]

Quick answer.. 2.2 watts @ 12v nominal is less than .25 amps.

So, you could add it to an existing fused circuit and it wouldn't even notice. IF you wanted to put it on its own circuit you won't need more than a 1 amp fuse and you'll still have enough headroom in current draw to add another 2 ft.

~Mark

 

[Kjhadfield]

Thanks for the amp conversion! I wasn't able to find a 1 amp in a mini but only a 2 or 3, using a mini add a circuit. Is it a bad move to have it that much or just overkill but won't cause harm? I really wanted to just use a empty slot but I tried testing with a multimeter and I have no idea what setting I need to test or what to look for, yet.

The way I had thought it should be wired was also wrong. The red from led goes to 1 prong on switch and the other prong goes to the add a circuit. Then black to ground.

Thanks for you help

 

[partsman48210]

if you have a power surge at that low of amperage its not going to hurt anything except the led itself. I wouldnt worry if you used a 2 amp fuse.

As far as a switch you could keep everything under the hood by adding a mercury switch. you can find one a the junk yard or just go to the nearest auto parts store and pick one up pretty cheap. Mount it under your hood near the light and when you open the hood it will come on. Let us know how it works out

 

[Kjhadfield]

Thank you. I have heard about the mercury switch but also that is can turn on if parked on a hill. If that's true, that's not a good option for me as my driveway is a hill. I most likely will use a door switch of sorts but for the mean time use a toggle.

I took off the hood insulation and cleaned the hood and measured for wire lengths. My next step is hopefully find a constant 12v on a empty fuse slot, need to figure out how to check this. I'll wrap n tape the wires in loom prior to fishing it inside the hood, already fished in my pull threw cable threw the desired holes.

I have started taking photos that I'll post when done.

 

[Gadget X]

Is there a factory light under the hood now? If so, you could just tap into that with your led strip so that it would come on automatically when you open the hood.

 

[Kjhadfield]

I wish there was as that I can do…easy as pie. I did some more reading and it looks like to test the fuse slots I need to put black lead to chassis and red lead into the fuse slot and with the meter set to dc and wait/hope for 12v (constant). If I can't find a powered empty slot then I'll have to piggy back off a current fuse, which will be fine if that's my only option minus a direct connect to battery (which I def don't want to do)

Thanks

 

[Kjhadfield]

I have ran my wire threw the hood, hooked up the add a circuit…so in further looking, there is no empty fuse slot that's powered. I just looked in the slots and there were no contacts so this left me to find a suitable fuse to tap into (which couldn't be any more than 10 amps). Not that many to choose from but I picked the PCM memory fuse. I then tested the lights and everything worked. I had to cut into the lid for clearance and exit of the wire. Since I was short on time it's not neat like I want so I'll go back in and clean it up and add photos.