Miami Son
Banned
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2012
- Posts
- 240
- Reaction score
- 13
- Location
- Port St. Lucie, FL
- Ram Year
- 2012 Ram 1500 Sport Crew Cab
- Engine
- 5.7L Hemi
Been wanting to do this since I got the truck. No desire to make the scoops of my Sport hood functional, but wanted to do something to make the truck a little different. LEDs are from Super Bright LEDs online. The rest is from Radio Shack. It took me much of the afternoon to do this mod and I am still waiting for the silicone to dry so I can reinstall them tomorrow and wire them up. Haven't decided if I want to put a switch on the radio console for them or just wire them so they come on with the headlights. Might look cool to have them be the only lights on.
After removing the plastic inserts (pretty easy, but you have to drop a portion of the hood blanket on each side) I used an automatic punch to dimple the plastic. It's a good idea to do this so your holes are perfectly centered since the honeycomb is at a slant. Otherwise, the LEDs may not line up properly in the hole and be cocked. This will cause the light output to be uneven.
Here you can see the holes all drilled (13/64") so they are completely in the flat of each honeycomb. I decided to only do the middle honeycomb row (9 LEDs) because they are very bright and I wanted this to be an accent lighting, not overwhelm the truck. Too much light on the hood could be an annoying distraction when driving at night.
I proceeded to glue the LEDs into their respective holes using a gel-type of super glue. It takes a few minutes to set up and gives you time to make sure they are all straight in the holes and protruding the same depth into the plastic. This is important to make sure the light output is the same.
View of the mounted LEDs from the front.
The wiring is fairly simple. LEDs should always use a resistor to drop the voltage down to a safe level (3.3v-3.8v for these). I used one resistor (150 ohms) per 3 LEDs wired in series. This is better than using a single large resistor and wiring in parallel because you can dissipate the heat better with 3 resistors and the nominal voltage will be more even this way.
A quick test with a 9v battery. These things are pretty bright. Staring at them straight on will blind you, trust me.
A coat of silicone to seal everything and prevent shorting of the electronics or leakage of water into the engine bay. This stuff comes out white, but dries clear. I put quick-disconnects on each one so it is easy to remove an insert if necessary. I also made up a Y-cable that I will use to power them.
Can't wait to see them hooked up and working. I think I may do something similar with the lower valance on the front. Pics to come...
After removing the plastic inserts (pretty easy, but you have to drop a portion of the hood blanket on each side) I used an automatic punch to dimple the plastic. It's a good idea to do this so your holes are perfectly centered since the honeycomb is at a slant. Otherwise, the LEDs may not line up properly in the hole and be cocked. This will cause the light output to be uneven.
Here you can see the holes all drilled (13/64") so they are completely in the flat of each honeycomb. I decided to only do the middle honeycomb row (9 LEDs) because they are very bright and I wanted this to be an accent lighting, not overwhelm the truck. Too much light on the hood could be an annoying distraction when driving at night.
I proceeded to glue the LEDs into their respective holes using a gel-type of super glue. It takes a few minutes to set up and gives you time to make sure they are all straight in the holes and protruding the same depth into the plastic. This is important to make sure the light output is the same.
View of the mounted LEDs from the front.
The wiring is fairly simple. LEDs should always use a resistor to drop the voltage down to a safe level (3.3v-3.8v for these). I used one resistor (150 ohms) per 3 LEDs wired in series. This is better than using a single large resistor and wiring in parallel because you can dissipate the heat better with 3 resistors and the nominal voltage will be more even this way.
A quick test with a 9v battery. These things are pretty bright. Staring at them straight on will blind you, trust me.
A coat of silicone to seal everything and prevent shorting of the electronics or leakage of water into the engine bay. This stuff comes out white, but dries clear. I put quick-disconnects on each one so it is easy to remove an insert if necessary. I also made up a Y-cable that I will use to power them.
Can't wait to see them hooked up and working. I think I may do something similar with the lower valance on the front. Pics to come...
