RGB LED Speaker Rings and CupHolder Rings DIY

[Roush611]

 Can someone who's done this shed some light on the wiring they did for each cupholder?  I started this last night  and came to an abrupt stop trying to figure out the best way to wire this together. 

[ctvandy23]

I have not started my boat yet but I have everthing purchased.  I bought RGB wire and a bunch of connectors and y-splitters so I could daisy chain from one speaker to the next.  I bought the XK Glow smart phone controller, which has two separate zones.  

[Fffrank]

Can anyone help me with this? I bought 16 cupholders and the strip LEDs.... Having an impossible time trying to figure out how to run the wire to the LED strip....

 

The cupholder fits snug enough that there isn't any room to make the strip longer and angle it through the hole.....  Did you guys  cut the LED slightly smaller and then solder a wire on to the end??  Anyone have better photos of the final product and how they wired?

[Cmb396]

7 hours ago, Fffrank said:

Can anyone help me with this? I bought 16 cupholders and the strip LEDs.... Having an impossible time trying to figure out how to run the wire to the LED strip....

 

The cupholder fits snug enough that there isn't any room to make the strip longer and angle it through the hole.....  Did you guys  cut the LED slightly smaller and then solder a wire on to the end??  Anyone have better photos of the final product and how they wired?

Look up led strip connectors on eBay or Amazon. They clip on to the nodes of the LED strip and have two wires coming off them. This is what I used on speaker and cup hold rings. No need for soldering, which I've done in the past and is a huge pita!!

[Fffrank]

57 minutes ago, Cmb396 said:

Look up led strip connectors on eBay or Amazon. They clip on to the nodes of the LED strip and have two wires coming off them. This is what I used on speaker and cup hold rings. No need for soldering, which I've done in the past and is a huge pita!!

I have the strip connectors but there isn't enough clearance to get the cupholders back in the hole if I use them (or any other method I've found)

One thought is that I'm using waterproof LEDs and they have a thick rubber coating. Did you guys use the non waterproof versions?

[Cmb396]

^I have water proof strip as well. Mine are snug, but have room for the connector and wire to feed thru.

Hit the inside of with a dremel and notch it a bit for the wires to fit thru maybe?

[Fffrank]

4 hours ago, Cmb396 said:

^I have water proof strip as well. Mine are snug, but have room for the connector and wire to feed thru.

Hit the inside of with a dremel and notch it a bit for the wires to fit thru maybe?

Could you try and take some photos of yours?  I'm wondering if maybe I have the wrong cup holders.  Any link to the ones you're using?

[Cmb396]

I bought one from Blast led, and used that as a template to make my others. I bought a 4x4 sheet of opaque lexan and had speaker rings and cup holder rings hydro blasted from it. 

Boat is in storage, or I would get some pics for ya.

[Fffrank]

Anyone have a link to the cupholders that they used for this?  I'm thinking I used a larger size and that is my issue.  

[DOJOLOACH2]

On 12/26/2014 at 11:20 AM, shawndoggy said:

Most run on 12v natively. Just wire through a fused switch to batter and your are done. On your axis you can tie in through your interior lights circuit.

I've read through this thread a few times and still am having trouble where to plug into the powersource... I have a switch picked out but inorder to use that fuse properly do I splice in at the switch directly? In other words in our malibus are the fuses before or after the switch? Boat I question is a 97 echelon and ive ran 22 gauge runner wire for doing parallel lights.

If I decide to run off a separate switch what fuse size do you recommend? I calculated 2.5 amps for 14.5ft of rgb led

Edited March 13, 2020 by DOJOLOACH2
Typeo

[granddaddy55]

@DOJOLOACH2

I've read through this thread a few times and still am having trouble where to plug into the powersource... I have a switch picked out but inorder to use that fuse properly do I splice in at the switch directly? In other words in our malibus are the switches before or after the switch? Boat I question is a 97 echelon and ive ran 22 gauge runner wire for doing parallel lights.

If I decide to run off a separate switch what fuse size do you recommend? I calculated 2.5 amps for 14.5ft of rgb led

 

if you use  a controller wired to switch, i forget  it either came with fuse or we installed an autozone one, you can fuse the controller directly ,  i didn't use any dash harness for any stereo component or stereo switch power and ground or rgb power or ground (all remote straight from batt) to avoid all system and light noise

if you use a controller the minimum distance from all RCA’s is 2.5-3 ft

and lights can be run in series, no need for parallel

Edited March 13, 2020 by granddaddy55

[granddaddy55]

oops

Edited March 13, 2020 by granddaddy55

[MLA]

12V LEDs need to be wired in parallel, not series. 

[DOJOLOACH2]

28 minutes ago, MLA said:

12V LEDs need to be wired in parallel, not series. 

I've got them in parallel but you recommend running straight off battery with on off switch? Im also debating getting a secondary switch panel to mount under the driver arm rest

[MLA]

@DOJOLOACH2

Simply stating that 12V LEDs need to be wired in parallel. Wired in series, they will not light. Going further, it would be an impossibility, to wire 4 conductor RGB LEDs in series. 

Given the low current draw of LEDs, I see no reason to wire battery/battery switch, direct. Perfectly safe to wire to the existing helm BUS B+ and B-. 

[DOJOLOACH2]

22 minutes ago, MLA said:

@DOJOLOACH2

Simply stating that 12V LEDs need to be wired in parallel. Wired in series, they will not light. Going further, it would be an impossibility, to wire 4 conductor RGB LEDs in series. 

Given the low current draw of LEDs, I see no reason to wire battery/battery switch, direct. Perfectly safe to wire to the existing helm BUS B+ and B-. 

 

If I look at the wiring diagram for my echelon '97 will I see this BUS on there? Sorry I'm not savvy on electronic components and their abreviations.. this is a learning experience to say the least.

Also so no fuse then

[MLA]

Your LED controller and the strip's B+ need to be fused with the proper rating. 

[DOJOLOACH2]

1 minute ago, MLA said:

Your LED controller and the strip's B+ need to be fused with the proper rating. 

Ok I'm probably looking at 5a for the controller and 2a for b+. Thanks. 

[justgary]

11 hours ago, DOJOLOACH2 said:

Ok I'm probably looking at 5a for the controller and 2a for b+. Thanks. 

I'd use a 5A fuse if you calculated a 2.5A load.

[DOJOLOACH2]

Do you have any recommendations on quick connectors going from the rgb silicone strip to the 4 wire rgb?

All the quick connects I've purchased have failed to make connections. Now I'm soldering to the lead lines but no way am I going to solder the wires to the actual strip.

The kind that I have tried have prongs to cut into the rgb and they ain't cutting it.

[ctvandy23]

On 3/15/2020 at 3:05 PM, DOJOLOACH2 said:

Do you have any recommendations on quick connectors going from the rgb silicone strip to the 4 wire rgb?

All the quick connects I've purchased have failed to make connections. Now I'm soldering to the lead lines but no way am I going to solder the wires to the actual strip.

The kind that I have tried have prongs to cut into the rgb and they ain't cutting it.

Note sure if they have them but check out SuperBright LEDs.  I’ve always had good luck with them!

[DOJOLOACH2]

On 3/17/2020 at 6:51 PM, ctvandy23 said:

Note sure if they have them but check out SuperBright LEDs.  I’ve always had good luck with them!

I m ight try them next time, thanks. After spending 50$ or so on various connectors off amazon I settled with electrical tape, heat shrink wrap, silicone, and a soldering gun. 

[Ronnie]

I've used these without any issues.

[DOJOLOACH2]

Funny because I did too, with 22awg rgb wire it didn't make a connection. It was very frustrating!!

[Ronnie]

You need to spread the ends of your 4 wire to match the “Saddles” that the wires sit in.