VLEDS Footwell Lighting Install

This install was being done at the same time as the wiring of the NSV panel, the LED strip for the switch panel area and the button to turn that strip on and off. Needless to say I had wires all over the place, but I'd still recommend doing as many of these wiring upgrades as possible so you're not having to take your dash and center console apart over and over.

This is what comes in the VLEDS footwell kits. I ordered the front and rear. The kit had 4 little LED strips, about 15' of wire, another 5' of wire with a connector on the end, 6 connectors and a footwell light adapter with connector. The LED strips are all about 2" long or so and there is no protection on them, so be careful with them. They're not super fragile, but without any protection they can get caught on stuff pretty easily and it would suck to have one pop off.


The most useful thing was the footwell light adapter because it made it easy to tap into the dome light circuit. You basically take your current footwell light out and plug the adapter in its place. The adapter wasn't very secure though and came out of the socket fairly easily, so I ended out zip-tying the wires and connector together to keep them from pulling apart.

FYI, if you're purchasing an internal LED upgrade kit, you can skip the footwell LED if you're going to do this upgrade.

The most annoying thing about this kit are the connectors. They are pretty much junk. Three of them ended out breaking on me and I absolutely do not trust the strength of the tiny plastic pin that holds them together. I would replace these with something else. Wiring them was also a PITA. Save yourself the headache and just use something else. In fact, I'd recommend just buying the wired LED strips and adapter, then put on your own connectors.

If you do decide to use what's in their kit you'll have to test that the juice is flowing after each connector you put on. If it doesn't work, you're redo-ing until it does. Seriously. This increases the chance of the connector failing.

Once I got everything working I ran wires around under and around the backside of the center console over to the glove box. From there I ran them back down the center console to the passenger seat, then back under the center console to the driver's seat.

There are not many mounting spots at all under the seats so the best solution I found was to use the elastic straps that hold the seat covers on and kind of wedge it against a plastic frame piece. There are straps on both sides of each seat so this holds it in place pretty well. The fiddly part is getting the wires oriented to be inline with the LED strip so the strip doesn't rotate on you. Once that's done they seem to be pretty secure. I moved the seats up and back and have been driving around on some rough roads today and they haven't moved. I'll update here in about a month or so to see if there is any change.


I sanded the area under the glove box where I wanted to mount the passenger side LED strip with 150 grit sandpaper, then wiped it down really well with isopropyl alcohol. The 3M tape stuck extremely well, but I'll probably go back and add some more to the connectors and wires to keep the stress off of the LED strip as much as possible.


I also sanded the strip under the steering wheel using the same process. The only difference here is that I also added zip-ties to help secure it. My only issue with this placement is that when I have to take that panel off again (which I'm sure I will at some point) I will have to remember to disconnect the LED from the adapter.


Once I got all the strips where I wanted them, I zip-tied all the extra wire together from the seats and glove box and tucked it all away under the center console. I was worried about ruining another of their connectors and didn't have any more at that point. Had I been using my own I would have just cut everything to fit.

All-in-all, the LED strips are pretty decent little units and the adapter is useful, but the rest of the kit isn't necessary. The strips get warm, but not hot enough to melt anything. I had them on for a long time and they never did any damage to anything and could be handled with bare hands. If I were doing this again I'd probably just order 4 of their LED strips and the adapter piece, then use my own 20awg wire and connectors.

Final result:



Album at:
https://www.tundras.com/media/albums/vleds-footwell-lighting.3337/

 

Good job!

 

Thanks, this was honestly more of a pain than I thought it was going to be. I'm actually a little sore from all the weird positions I was in trying to get these things installed.

 

I know what you mean. You almost have to be a contortionist to do the install. That's why I chose easy locations when I did mine.

 

Got any pics?

 

Do they require and wire cutting, or are they plug n play?

 

You'll have to attach the connectors to the wires. You just stick the wires in the holes and clamp the connector down. The connectors are pretty fragile tho and don't hold well, so I'd recommend removing all their connectors and using better ones. Other than running wires and cutting them to add more connectors, there's no cutting of any wires on the vehicle itself.

 

Ok, great. Thanks.

 

Great job @Sas might do this

 

Thanks! When coupled with the other red LED upgrades around the cabin it's actually a surprising amount of light. I was worried it was going to be too dark and wouldn't be useful.

 

Looks good.

 

Looks good!

 

I did the always-on chargers for front and rear and while I have the center console taken apart I went ahead and added the LEDs. Here is a link to the videos..
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5ToQgt_hqoa83H_2OnamsA/videos

 

Wow, you've been busy! That's a clean solution. I need to do my storage bin next.

 

It never ends

 

Thinking about adding one in the glove box.

 

Haha, that crossed my mind earlier today as well. I have some of the LED strip I used for the switch panel left over, but I'm thinking I'm wanting something really low profile due to the limited space, so been kinda looking for that type of housing.

 

I've been using these. For the glove box I'm going to go with white. I'm also thinking of changing the on in the storage bin to white.

$10 Oznium Brightest Light Bolt - Flush Mount 12V LED Light for Bumper, Grille, Cars Interior, Dash, Ambient Lighting, Motorcycle w/Sleek Aluminum Housing & Screw Nut (11 mm Black, Red LED)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01ADHUSRY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

 

I saw those from the link in your video. I'm keeping mine red for night vision and star gazing purposes. If I don't find something slimmer I will probably put two in the glove box (top and side) and two in the console storage facing the passenger seat. I don't like seeing the actual LED's, just the effect from them.

 

Nice write up!! Thanks for this!! It’s on my list.

 

Nicely done!

 

I believe the whole thing just twisted out from the back like the head/tail light bulbs then you can pull out the LED housing.

 

Yeah, it should just pull out. It was a little tight. If you're doing the VLED's install the adapter that plugs into it was little loose for me. Ended out securing it with some electrical tape and zip ties.

 

All ready to go for the Red Light district.

 

You might want to try twisting in different ways. My problem is I can't get it back in properly so now it just hangs. Was trying to do an LED conversion in the whole truck and this was the only thing I didn't have as the dorks at VLED told me that everything is online.