Just thought Id toss this little mod I did on the forum

Let me say first this is NOT something I did to replace neon under glow. I did this only for entry and exiting on the truck.

I drilled a few small mounting holes in the frame and wired some 12v lights to flood the area where your feet are when standing next to your car. I used a solenoid / new door switch and wired them to the fuse box so when I open and close the door the whole underside on the truck is flooded with light. After the very first night I found this idea just wonderful. I live on a dark street and I was always getting in and out of the truck next to a curb. Many times I dropped things under the truck or something slid around the cab and fell out when i opened the door. I had a small flashlight in the glovebox just for this reason.

The pictures dont do the mod justice but its all I could do.

Heres the results... And yes I did wire it so I can flip one of my nice toggles up and turn it out when four wheeling at night and keep the door closed.





[IMG]local://upfiles/13208/CC70DECD9E8D43079E0803A6EA1DAF82.jpg[/IMG]
Pic of new door switch - the bottom is the new one.

[IMG]local://upfiles/13208/676D26451BB44ED58D06905E280B440D.jpg[/IMG]
pic in the dark looking at the front of the truck. YOu can see the light flood out. The light on the right looks higher bacause it is shining in the elevated sidewalk. I was **** enought to spend 30 mins making them even on flat land. haha

[IMG]local://upfiles/13208/F0B03060256A4346A5563A712B9CE2B0.jpg[/IMG]
pic looking at the drivers side entry floor plate. YOu can see it flood the ground like daylight. It was alot brighter than i thought it would be.


---- edit well i just looked at the pictures on this forum and it didnt come out that well. needless to say the lights are wayyyy bright and flood the ground about 10 feet out on each side. Ill see if I can get better pictures later...

 

zeek that is a GREAT idea. the pics, even as bad as they are, still make it look like it was worth the effort though. good job.

 

Hmmm

I pulled out my big camera and tried again.

Seems the 1000 dollar camera works better than the 200 dollar one. Still blurry but but the light shows up much better

[IMG]local://upfiles/13208/41E1DFF313754041A6DDE02AD8CC6C39.jpg[/IMG]
This pic shows the light flooding the street

[IMG]local://upfiles/13208/3D743785BFF24669957CFA9F8E42FA24.jpg[/IMG]
This pic shows that it even seems to be lighting up the leaves in the tree

 

Nice, When the sun comes up, take some pics of the underneath so we can see what you installed.

 

my mom just got a 2000 ford explorer, and it has flood lights built into the bottom of the side mirrors, for the same reason. it does work mighty well, good idea you have there man

 

cool zeekxxx, damn you always think of the cool crap before me

 

Great Idea!!

Just wondering why you did an additional switch and decided not to use the existing switch?

I am thinking that the neg ground switch already installed could be tapped and wired to the neg post of a relay switch, which would bypass the need for additional switch?

Though not sure if the switch is negative or positive, If I was to bet I'd go negative

Just a thought

Love the idea though, I think I am going to be on the market for a couple of flood lights

 

how do you keep them clean?

 

I used another switch because if i wired it to the inside lights ( which is always hot and just wating for you to open the door and make the ground ) my inside lights would be go on also. On the off chance I will wheel at night and stick my head out the door to watch the tires. The stupid cab lights would always be on. Lights on in the cab cut down on what you can see out the windshield at night. Kinda like when your kid flips on the light while driving and you yell at him to turn it off..

As for how I keep them clean is a good story. The lights under the truck are just your 20 dollar autozone square lights made by blazer. If you ever buy them know that they leak right out of the box. YOu will have mosture build up and fogging. To combat this I bought a tube of clear rtv silcone. I took apart the light - I mean all the way apart. Glass removed from the housing. I then pulled off the old silcone on the lights. I took my tube of goo and made a huge bead everywhere i could imgaine water leaking in. YOu have to remember when you fly down the road at a good speed the water is being injected in every crack and hole you have in the lights. Well when all was said and done I resealed everything and I have ZERO leakage. As for keeping them clean daily driving is not a problem. (again the lights main function is entering and exiting the truck) When I hit thick mud they will need me to learn over with the powerwasher at the end of the day. I think i wouldnt need them on when mudding. I envision them on for rock climbing or tight trails. Barring all that I can always get out of the truck when no ones looking and pee on them. haha cheers

 

Ron, awesome idea dude. Really come in handy so you can see what your wheeling across at night. I know what you mean, I open my doors and about 5 things fall out and I gotta get the Maglight out to find everything. Sweet!