Under hood lighting

I like the placement of your light strip. Above and behind, as not to "blind" you when looking in and down at your engine compartment.

 

Very well said. I don't see a need for this mod, but it's rather easy to do and cheap, so why not? Manufacturers are taking everything away from us, little by little. Cigarette lighters, engine bay lights, ash trays, grab handles, cubby holes, a dummy light instead of a gauge, etc...

I have a flash light in my truck and one of those head mounted flash lights; plus a fire extinguisher and other emergency equipment.

But back on topic: Cool mod OP!

 

Thank you!
On my previous 14 T4R, I looked at the other under the hood light mods and that was what I saw. Blinding lights to the eyes. That wasn’t what I was looking for. IIRC, there was one previous to my mod and used the prop switch and some that used the push putting button switches. But the main thing was placement of the light.
To me, works perfectly!

 

I got this little pivoting, magnetic 12v Milwaukee work light that is surprisingly the perfect hood light, aims away from ur eyes. 6ah battery long life

 

Got my LED strip lights, tested them by touching the wires to the battery, and all's good. But I have a question about wiring. It appears that the positive goes directly to the battery, and the negative goes to the plunger switch, or is it the reverse? It would seem to make more sense to me that the positive is switched, not the negative, so it's not "hot" all the time?

 

My non-professional opinion: functionally, it doesn't matter, but traditionally it's the hot side you place the switch.

 

I always switch the hot side and fuse it as well.

 

Have you ever used inline fuse holders similar to maybe these, on your hot wires?
Pretty sure I need to fuse between battery and a 6-circuit fuse block I picked up?
*these are 4-8awg

 

^that one takes bigger maxi fuses tho right. Iunno if that's common? you get the idea

 

I would use one of these. A little more expensive but cleaner look.
Blue Sea Systems 5191 Fuse Block Terminal 30-300 AMP https://a.co/d/4p50Kq1

 

Not in my setups.

This is what I use:

 

Hey thank you for this I seen those the other day on Amazon after chatting with you and the boys I think, other thread. But I failed to grasp it's capabilities, clearly haha
no wire splice to my 2ft lead this way

 

@Saker
@Thacrow
You guys got custom shelf brackets thingers eh?

 

Yes sir. There are companies that make similar!

 

i have mine from https://www.powertrays.com

Im really not a big fan of the unsealed bluesea fuse and terminal blocks, but haven’t had any issues either. Mine looks pretty nasty right now

 

i don't know how to link to a specific post on a thread so, its like the 3rd post in my build thread I go over modifying the bracket i got.
https://www.4runners.com/threads/crows-2021-orp-super-white.32685/

Edit: thanks @djwantke !

here's the post
https://www.4runners.com/threads/crows-2021-orp-super-white.32685/#post-469224

 

Good man, excellent.

Click on the post# in the top right corner of any thread reply/post to reset the website in the top bar to that post number specifically. Then if you copy,paste,share the web address and jumps straight to that post in the thread.

 

I hear ya, and thanks for the knowledge. I didn't think about a seal
Problem is like I've said, gosh that's just a lot of CAD to land one.

 

Sick

Thx dude

that a Blue Sea breaker?

 

Both Blue Sea and Blue Fire knock-off brand have same power ratings. Blue Sea being better overall quality materials.
32V DC
30A per circuit/100A per block

But, am I correct in concluding that they are both wired with nickel-clad copper. I read that nickel-clad is better than pure copper in electronics?

Blue Sea

$28 Blue Sea Systems 5025 ST Blade Fuse Block 6 Circuit with Ground and Cover

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B000THQ0CQ?ref=emc_b_5_mob_i
Blue Fire
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07FZ27Z9J?ie=UTF8&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9kZXRhaWwp13NParams

 

Two 12" long LED light strips shouldn't need an inline fuse, right? The wires are pretty thin, don't think they're going to draw all that much power from the battery. Couldn't hurt I suppose, but shouldn't need anything bigger than 10A (or smaller)? I don't plan on running anything else off this power wire except for the two LED strips.

 

you would want nickel clad copper for stuff like that where its bare metal exposed because copper would oxidize and gunk up. different than wires that are protected from the weather.

 

Final answer
I think I'ma save money where I can, guna keep the Blue Life knock off it will be satisfactory for my loads. My circuit with the largest draw is only 96W/8A.
But I did opt to just Buy Now: Bellingham built Blue Sea Systems 100A breaker, on sale as luck would have it.
That's cool they're out of Bellingham, only 40 miles from me

 

No sir, not the breaker.




Eaton's Bussmann Series 285100F-121-S Hi-Amp Circuit Breaker, Type III Reset, 100A, 48VDC
Waytek #:46692

Mfr. #:285100F-121-S

 

Ahh I see, thank you sir.
Looks very similar

I tried to find one of the Eaton's for sale in Canadian channels, but failed to find them. Blue Sea, and some other Canadian Auto store brands will suffice

 

I fuse it with the lowest fuse possible dependent on the amp draw of the item. If the item shorts out, the fuse will burn and not your T4R!

 

I have to go to the local auto parts store and get a toggle switch, so I'll look for an inline fuse as well...

 

Installed the LED light strips, hooked to a small toggle switch on the side trim piece by the battery. Everything went pretty easy, tested the switch to make sure I connected the wires in the right direction to match the markings on the switch, then started installing the light strips, routing the wires, and hooking up the switch. Angle of the light strips shouldn't blind me when I open the hood and turn them on.







After this pic was taken, I wrapped the two wires in electrical tape for a cleaner look:


This pic was taken with a digital camera, no flash, LED strips put out a good amount of light:

 

Like the idea to have light under the hood if I need to work on it at night. So I added the strip like yours and a waterproof switch so I can turn it on when I need it and not come on when the hood is open. Here are some pics of my install.

 

Very functional. This something I need to do, thanks for your posts