GQ LED rear door light

[lachiek]

Hey guys, here's a little project I did to get more light + some 12v outlets into the back of my shorty GQ. I'm very happy with the amount of light and how neat it turned out. I also left myself options to add more LED strips if I really want the Christmas tree effect.

All up it took about 2 hours and I used about $30 worth of stuff I already had lying around. I also ran a single 110 amp 4 gauge power cable with a 60 amp fuse (for now all I need) down the back to run all this stuff plus some reverse lights I am putting in. You can see the thick 4 gauge cable coming into the terminal block behind the jack cover in the photo's. By keeping everything clean, separately fused and accessible I'm hoping it'll be some hassle free electrics.

If anyone wants more details on cable sizes / lengths etc let me know cause I'm repeating the whole setup for a mates shorty next weekend and can measure it all then.

First pics are the before / after with the light installed. The LED strip is part of one of those 3528 SMD 5 meter rolls available on ebay. Warm white.

[lachiek]

The rest of the photos show where I ran the cables etc and where I installed the terminal block, light switch and 12v output in the jack cover.
Really helps when running cable if you use sticky tape to attach the end of the cable to a straightened coat hanger so it's easier to push through.

I just used silicon to glue the 12v socket cause the one I had didn't have screws etc and I wanted it to mount as flush as possible. Notice that every accessory has its own fuse so the system has lots of protection.

[Airstrike]

Mate great job on the sockets and the light.

[MC97GQ]

Nice work mate, very tidy.

[lachiek]

Thanks guys, electrics seem like a confusing area for some users on here so I hope it'll help someone out.

[taslucas]

Beut looking set up. I am one of the people that gets confused by electrics. Lol I know it's not that hard but it confuses the he'll out of me!!!

Where did you get the original power source from?


tappn it

[lachiek]

Hey taslucas. I'll take some photo's from the battery all the way back and post em later to make this more obvious.

Basically I ran a thick 2 gauge cable from the battery across the firewall to a quality fuse holder (epoxy'd onto the firewall) from Jaycar that will support fuses from 30 - 110 amp. The cable then continues into the car through the rubber plugs at the passengers feet then runs up behind the aircon inlet stuff to a x4 port terminal bock epoxy'd to the outside of the aircon inlet (below / behind the glovebox). From this terminal block runs the 4 gauge cable down to the back of the truck inside the left hand side panel ending at the jack cover. Also from the front terminal block I have run a permanent power supply to a dual in-dash 12v power supply.

All this minimises accessory add-on mess at my positive battery terminal, plus reduces fire risk from a road accident or just swinging spanners under the bonnet. Another side benefit is that I can plug a solar trickle charger ($30 from Jaycar) into my 12v socket and it will maintain the battery cause I only use the truck on weekends.

Anyway I'll post some photo's of the rest of the cabling later.

Cheers, Lachie

[taslucas]

Cheers lachie. Sounds a bit clearer. I like the idea of the trickle charge too

tappn it

[msw21]

hay bud looks good how big of a led light did u use mate

[oncedisturbed]

Looks good

[Flo-w]

Thanks for the pictures lachiek! I wish my work looked that neet...

I came across this because I'm trying to figure out how to get a cable from the inside of the car into the door (for speakers). The rubbery tube which houses the existing cables seems to be sealed on both ends.
In your photos it looks like you simply bypassed that tube. Is that true? Have you attached the new cable to the outside of the tube?

[Pukie83]

nice posi
looks clean

[krbrooking]

Looks good mate do you want to come down to melb and fit my keyless entry system for me.

[Devious 4x4]

That looks great. Is that light triggered by a door switch so it turns on when you open the door or do you manually switch it on?

[lachiek]

Hey all, sorry for slow reply, last few months of 2012 were forgettable.

Flo-w, nah I ran all cables through the rubber tube. Sticky tape the cable to the end of some coat hanger wire and carefully thread it through.

Devious, I didn't trigger it from the door, couldn't be bothered. The second last photo shows the 12v sockets and beside it is the switch for the lights.