Okay so before we begin I must say, I ASSUME NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR MISTAKES!!
LEDGLOW will not honor the warranty once this mod is done to their LED bars, so if you break it you buy it!!
This DIY is not for the faint of heart. LEDGLOW will not honor the warranty once this mod is done to their LED bars, so if you break it you buy it!!
And if you don't know how to solder, get some practice before attempting. There is no soldering directly involved in this DIY..HOWEVER, the LEDGLOW tube wires are delicate and can break off the solder easily.
Supplies Needed:
VERY New Blades for your X-Acto knife
Dremel with cut-off wheel
Small phillips screwdriver
Small blade screwdriver
Regular sized blade screwdriver
Shoe-Goo
Electrical tape
Popsicle sticks
Super-glue
Duct Tape
Wire
Soldering Gun with pencil tip/Solder/Flux
Calipers
Yard stick
12 Volt power supply (not necessary but helps)
So, let's begin:
Here is the unit I purchased
Take it outta the pack and test them to see that they all work...
Get ready to dremel....
Cut off the end...but be gentle and go slow. You are going to be cutting the clear tube only so that it can be slid off.
NOTE: DO NOT CUT INTO THE BLACK LED BAR INSIDE
Cut off the other side....
Now here is the delicate part of this operation. Set the dremel to low speed...You can see from the picture the very edge of the black LED bar. You will be cutting into the end cap, parallel to this edge. Do not cut very deep a little at a time....If you've used a dremel before you'll be able to 'feel' when it breaks through the plastic, RPM's increase and there is no drag. Cut both sides and go slow when getting to the wire. If you blast through the plastic like Rambo through your mom, don't fret you shouldn't hurt anything.
After you have gently cut through both sides of the end cap, pry it apart with a blade tipped screwdriver. And gently dislodge the wires from the remaining half of the cap. Small blade screwdriver comes in handy here
Now get the superglue and put a dab on the wires right where they meet the solder (in a sense locking those wires in place for now) and wait for it to dry. Then slowly and gently start peeling the 'factory' glob of glue off the wires. You wanna do this so that they can lay flat later on.
This picture shows the top one done and bottom one unfinished
All done....
Now solder the broken wire(s)...cuz you know you will break some!! And tuck the wire around the back of the bar and tape that end with electrical tape to help secure it.
Test them to make sure they work (12V power supply is handy here)
NOTE: NEVER carry the LED bars by the bar, always pick them up by the wire...TRUST ME!!!
Now, it's time to start cutting the headliner....(NEW BLADE, even if you just cut your wrists with it!!!!)...So take out the headliner (instructions elsewhere) and put it on a big table, the dining room table worked quite well for me. Place headliner cloth side down, we are going to be cutting from the back.
I measured the LED's to find out just how wide I needed to cut the slit.
I used this thing my wife has to measure and cut cloth for quilts....You don't need one to do this but it helped me alot.
Measure the LED bar from last LED to first, not the entire black bar, measure out your cutting area by this number. Find where you want to place the LED's and draw out your lines. The first line is the length and then measure 4.7mm and that is your height. I used a place of electrical tape so I didn't have to remember the length.
Now grab your X-Acto and 'score' the box you just drew out...it will be hard so apply some pressure...use your straight edge to get a clean cut. Once this is done. tear off the 'skin' of the piece you cut and dig out the guts (foam)...I used a chisel, but small screwdriver works just as well. I recommend doing them all at once, but change your blade after they are all done.
Now with a new blade...we are going to cut out the cloth portion of the slit. So, place a hard surface on the cloth side of the headliner and hold it in place...or press down the headliner (it won't break) so your cutting on a solid surface DO NOT CUT DIRECTLY ON YOUR TABLE!!! (I'll leave this for you to figure out how your going to do it.) and start cutting....ALOT of pressure here!!!! The sharper the blade and harder the pressure the better!!!
Now that's done...
Finish all of your slits and flip over the headliner to clean up the edges and trim a little. Now that I've done this...I recommend small 'toenail' scissors for this job...my big Fiskars couldn't get 'in there' very well.
Flip the headliner back over and cut out the 'countersink' for the LED bars to fit in...So measure the total length of the black bar and measure out that length, then your width is going to be about half an inch. We are going to be scoring and removing 'guts' just like we did earlier except we will not cut into the cloth. Draw out your lines and cut (it doesn't have to be neat because nobody's gonna see it anyway.
Now look at the picture above and you will ask yourself how am I going to 'shore' up this gap....I will explain that later on in this tutorial so don't worry it will be ROCK-SOLID when we are done.
DIY - Headliner LEDGlow Install
Linear Mode
