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Engine Bay Light

8K views 62 replies 12 participants last post by  cobaltftw 
#1 ·
Hey all,

It seems like every post I make lately is on LED's... Anyway, I was wondering if anyone has ever put a light in their engine bay. I'm not really looking at cosmetic as much as functional. I'd like to do one, primarily so I can work on my care wherever/whenever and still have my hands free.

I'll probably try to get one in there soon. Input would be awesome.
 
#4 ·
Acoutu, is it effective in the dark for seeing the engine bay?
 
#6 ·
If I was to do it again I'd mount it on the underside of the hood firing down
Yea that's what i was thinking. it'll illuminate the whole engine!
 
#7 ·
I didn't want to run off topic in Acoutu's showff, so I'll post about this here instead. I was looking at adding a hood pin, but I thought there might be times I don't want the light on when the hood is open, maybe I'll add a toggle instead.

Bronx, what do you think about LED location? I'd want to make it fire down too, but I'm not sure adhesive would do so well in the long run in that heat. Any brilliant ideas for how to attach it? Magnets maybe?
 
#8 ·
Magnets would probably be your best option with high temp epoxy to the back of the light strip.
 
#9 ·
Yea putting it on the underside of the hood is definitely a better idea as acoutu stated, magnet mounted leds sound fun, i'm sure they are sold somewhere, but how big of a bump will it take until it falls off alone, going to need a pretty strong magnet maybe.
 
#10 ·
You can get 60 lb load magnets at a hardware store (probably special ordered) and then just epoxy them to the led. Probably would be more effective to start that way.
 
#12 ·
Just run the wire down the latch on the drivers side and you can wire right into the box. either glue them down or I would just zip tie it onto the support. You can't see it with the hood closed anyways.
 
#13 ·
Bronx, in response to your question on the other page, the wiring I used is (-) on the hood pin, and thought I thought I taped a wire for the (+), turns out I just added a ring terminal to the LED (+) wire and fastened it under the booster terminal (it just unscrews with a 10mm socket)

I'm really liking the magnet idea. To add to it, you could get a solid backed LED strip and then you would have a built in work light you could detach and stick in hard-to-reach areas as well. Coby7 posted a link to one on ebay in another thread here somewhere. I think it was aluminum backed for support....if so, no glue needed! Just strong magnets.
 
#16 · (Edited)
#17 ·
#19 · (Edited)
Acoutu, keep that underhood strip and add one in the front. Nobody limits you to one strip. lol

I might do this since I have like 50 feet of LED strip left over but I will use a fuse tap and a mercury tilt switch (already ordered)

New 5pcs Glass Electric Mercury Tilt Switch 0.3A/20V 101# | eBay

---------- Post added at 10:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:54 PM ----------

I think I posted twice somehow, sorry!

---------- Post added at 10:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:55 PM ----------

Acoutu don't mean to correct you all the time, it's my old teaching habits that keep hauting me. Just tell me to shut up if I go overboard with theories and facts.
 
#20 ·
A mercury tilt switch will do? Active the lights when at a certain angle? That's a total guess so dont kill me lol
 
#21 ·
Yepper, Just tape it or silicone or gooy putty it at the angle you want the strip to come on. I mean it might come on in a big bump but you won't see it so who cares.
 
#22 ·
That's a genius idea
 
#23 ·
Well I didn't invent the switch but I will use it for sure!
 
#25 · (Edited)
OK guys interrested in this idea.... Today it's raining here so instead of moping around or spanking my monkey, I decided to do that mercury tilt switch project that we had discussed. So got all the parts together and the soldering iron out. The front of the hood has a sloped part which seemed to be the perfect place for these. Here's a little slide show of what I did and a couple of videos.



Click for slide show
Image hosting, free photo sharing & video sharing at Photobucket


Video 1

Video 2

Video 3
 
#26 ·
wow you make it looks easy, it probably is, to people with knowledge
 
#27 ·
Remember Acoutu saying that if he was to do it again he would put them in front, I'm not stubborn, I listen so I put them in the front. But I will only know tonight if it's enough, I might have to cut into the harness to add some to the back. But not much going on back there. If it lights up the fuse block I should be good.
 
#29 · (Edited)
Took about 20 minutes to prepare on the bench and an other 20 to install and make it neat. A lot of it spent taking pictures and videos and looking for proper tools. Visegrips are useless for some jobs.


Can't wait for darkness now.
 
#30 ·
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