FX4_Fanboy

Hey guys. I installed some LED light strips under my back seat and in the front foot wells of my 13 SCrew FX4. The lights i installed have multiple colour and brightness combinations as well as a strobe and fade option. Nothing i did was permanent either in any way. I was thinking of doing a bit of a How-To thread here i anyone is interested. Over the next few days I will be posting some pictures and explaining what i did, as well as what you will need. The reason i say easy in the title is because I had no idea what i was doing and managed to pull it off... just mightve taken awhile longer than needed. Anyways here is a crappy picture of the back seat to give you an idea of whether or not you are interested. Thanks all

SuperFly03

Nice. I have been wanting to do something subtle so I can match my FX4 to my GT500's ambient lighting.

johnftexas

Here's another vote for your how-to! Thanks bunches.

Toddman38

iTrader: (5)

Why only pics of the rear & not the front foot wells? You need to hide the black wires coming out of the Sill Plate better!

2tall67

Def +1

Thinking about this as my next mod as well. Would like to see what you used for lighting, how you mounted them, how you wired them in, and where you got everything.

Thanks!

FX4_Fanboy

No pics of the front because when i took that one i didnt have the front in yet. and im sure theres a better way to hide the wires, just for me i can live knowing that majority of people dont give a hoot. main thing i wanted here was easy install as well as removal if neccesary and so if the wires stick out a bit then allwell haha

FX4_Fanboy

Ok again sorry it will be a little longer before i get a full post in. Here is a few pictures of the kit i used and then the wire i used.Kit:
Wire (4 strand light gauge phone wire i think, correct me if im wrong)
So this kit include five strips which are cuttable at certain places and still maintain function. You will notice that the kit is used for home decoration and other fancy stuff and so comes with a 110v wall plug which converts it to 12v. What i did was cut the adapter off and then wired and soldered on a regular 12v plug.

Now we have power and can start placement and then fish the wires.
For placement the back seat and the drivers side where i have them are practically invisible. Passenger side is slightly noticeable, but as soon as you turn on the lights it will simply dazzle them and they will forget all about it.

FX4_Fanboy

So here is the drivers side. if you look under the dash there is a little ledge there which is perfect for this.
Just take a strip hold it in place where you like it, you can even hook it up and test it out. a full strip should fit here. What i used to stick drivers and passenger strips in place was some 3M automotive tape. I do recommend not fixing them in place until all the wiring is done but either way they are just able to have the wire fished to them and then plugged, just make sure you have it orientated the correct way. For the passenger side i had to cut the strip so it would fit. I just used a fine tooth pull saw. Now the reason it is a bit more visible is because of the felt piece that is on the upper of the footwell so the closest solid place to put it was sadly a little visible.
For the back seat it was the easiest. i bought some construction grade velcro from home depot and used the hook side of it and attached it to the back of the light. then you can stick it to the bottom of the seat. Holds well and i havent had one fall off, and if it does then you have a fever and the only prescription is more velcro.
As you can see in the picture of the back seat i ran the wire around behind the brackets that hold the seat and left slack so that both seats can still be lifted and what not.

FX4_Fanboy

Before i fished the wires i used sheathing to cover them because i didnt want anything getting damaged and also it is black. The stuff i used is the same as what Ford uses for their wires that move alot under the seats i believe. All that i did for fishing the wires was fairly simply, aside from actually getting them into the center console itself. For the front i fished the wire behind the panel on the passenger side of the console and then put it behind and closed it back up. Did the same on the drivers side.
Here is a picture of the panel and where the wire enters behind
Now where that panel meets the next one is a bit trickier. I decided to just used a flat screwdriver to pry the panel slightly and tuck it under until i got a fair distance in between the seat and the console. "hidden"

For the back seat i started with the light above the subwoofer (if sony can call it that...) then fished down and behind the bracket then up to the light on the bigger seat.


then from the two lights strung together i fished down again behind the bracket nearest the driverside rear door. Then i tucked it under the sill and then under the next part of plastic that runs vertically. then exited at the rear of the drivers sill and ran under the floormat/seat to the console.


The main reason for getting everything to the back of the console is there is and entry hole there where i fished all the wires into. To do this i removed the console flip up lid to get it out of the way and make things easier. to actually fish the wires to this hole i found the easiest way was run a piece of small plastic water line (just big enough to fish all the wires through it) from the hole down to the carpet and out the back. Then i pushed all the wires through into the console and pulled the pipe out.
Here is where the wires enter


And where they come out in the console


Once in the console you can hook everything up and plug it into the 12v outlet then test it. If all the colours work and are all uniform then mount the lights, and should be good to go.

FX4_Fanboy

For the actual wiring it is pretty straight forward if you have some idea about connections and soldering. Before i began i made a key to make sure i got all the wiring matched up. Its very easy for there to be confusion as there are alot of connections to make. make sure you dont lose this key also as it will screw you over completely and also any mismatched wires will make the LED colors different from each other.
Here is my diagram

Basically as long as you have all the symbols matched up and good soldered connections in the end everything will work out.
Now here is a picture of where i found it to be ok to cut the lights and for them to still work functionally. As long as you keep the three LEDs with the three little things in between them together in the grouping showed in the picture they should work out.