Build Your Own Truck Under-Glow LED Light Kit
Short of bringing your truck to Boogey Lights® facility in Florence, KY this BUILD YOUR OWN TRUCK UNDER-GLOW LED light kit will give you the best possible fit and finish for your specific truck. This product is designed to fit trucks with a wheelbase of 110 inches to 275 inches. Ideal for just about any type of working truck including pickup trucks, wreckers, box trucks and semi-trucks. Essentially any 2 or 3 axle vehicle with a wheelbase of 110 to 275 inches. The LED light strips used in this light kit are based on our popular HEAVY DUTY LED STRIPS. These Heavy Duty LED strips are IP67 rated and are encased in extra PVC rubber making them ideal for tough, commercial applications. It's the LED strip we recommend for under-glow lights on commercial working trucks.
We encourage you to take time to review the information we have assembled here before making your purchase decision. Our lighting systems offer more options, features, customization and flexibility than you'll find anywhere else. It's important to read the product details to achieve the look you want. Be sure to scroll down, expand each text group section and read the information presented within each group. It's very thorough. Be sure to click on the INSTALL tab too. This is where you'll find downloadable INSTALL DOCUMENTATION and WIRING DIAGRAMS for this kit. These materials contain important installation considerations.
PRODUCT OVERVIEW
The LED light strips used in this light kit are based on our HEAVY DUTY LED STRIPS. These Heavy Duty LED strips are IP67 rated and are encased in PVC rubber making them ideal for tough, commercial applications. It's the LED strip we recommend for under-glow lights on commercial working trucks. Depending upon the length, each Heavy Duty LED Strip contains between 15 and 75 high-intensity super-bright 5050 tri-chip LEDs. No other Heavy Duty LED strip on the market today has more LEDs per foot than Boogey Lights®. The PCB is black, created with 2 ounce copper and encased in industrial grade PVC with 1.2mm of 3M® VHB tape affixed to the back (3M Adhesion Primer is included). Additionally, the end caps have a screw hole allowing these strips to be screwed to the mounting surface for additional holding power. That plastic end cap where the screw hole is can be cut back if needed to fit in tight spots. You'll lose the screw hole of course but it will pick up 1" to 1.5" in overall length. We are not aware of any other product on the market today that matches these specifications for toughness and brightness. You can see photos of the actual LED strip in the photo carousel of this product page.
The RGB and Single color Heavy Duty LED strip width is .50" wide and .25" tall. The RGBA (RGB + Amber) and DUAL COLOR Heavy Duty LED strip width is 11/16" wide (almost .75" wide) and .25" tall. Our Heavy Duty LED strips are available in these five fixed lengths: 12", 22", 32", 42" and 52". They cannot be cut. Sorry, they cannot be produced in longer lengths. Only these five lengths. Each Heavy Duty LED strip has a 36" power lead hard wired to it. The other end of the power lead is bare wire.
HOW TO ORDER
The process to place your order is straight forward. Follow these steps:
1. DOWNLOAD the PDF diagram that matches your truck's chassis from this list:
2. Print out the PDF diagram you downloaded and then write down the measurements for each of the LED segments you want to light on your truck where indicated by HD1 through HD22 AND W1 - W4 (or W6) if you want wheel well lights. NOTE: You do not need to use all LED segments. You can skip LED segments not needed (set to NONE.) See note below on what you need to know about taking those measurements.
3. Using the drop down boxes on this product page, select the KIT CONFIGURATION (Under-Glow only or Under-Glow + Wheel Wells).
4. Select the NUMBER OF AXLES your truck has: Two or Three.
5. Select the LED COLOR you want. More information about the color options are further down on this product page. Scroll down to review.
6. Select the CONTROLLER CONFIGURATION you want. More information about these options are further down on this product page. Be sure to review them.
7. If you want to add the PRE-BUILT LED CONTROL CENTER, select YES to option. Default is NO. More information about this option (including photos) is further down on this product page.
8. Select the LED SEGMENT lengths that match those on your diagram. If you want Wheel Well lights, you'll need to enter those lengths too. You'll notice that HD segments 2, 3, 4, 18, 17, 16, 21 and 10 are pre-filled with LED strip lengths. These are the base LED segments almost every truck will use. You may need to adjust the lengths for these segments of course but assuming you're doing a full perimeter under-glow, most every truck will use these segments. There are additional segments too you may need to use for longer wheel base trucks or more coverage. Note that you do not have to use all of the segments listed on the diagram (many won't). Simply leave the LED segments you don't use marked as 'none'. Reality is these LED strips don't care where they are mounted on the truck. We created these diagrams to help people visualize where the LED strips will be mounted and to track measurements needed to fill the space.
9. Add to cart and check out.
Taking Measurements | What You Need to Know
It's important when measuring your truck to look at the bottom and examine the mounting area you have available. Yes, we know it's a pain to do this but it really is the only way to get a good look and to get it right. We say this because you'll need to make sure you have a sufficient and appropriate surface area to attach the LED strips to your truck. When doing so, make sure the area where you will be attaching the LED strip is clean and smooth. The LED strip MUST be mounted flat against a single continuous mounting surface, in a straight line; it cannot bend around a radius or corners. Plus, the entire strip needs to be stuck to the mounting surface and not span across mounting surfaces. If you do, the strip will almost certainly fail in the spot that isn't affixed firmly to the mounting surface or, the point at which is spans across the two mounting surfaces. If you don't have a smooth, flat, contiguous mounting surface we recommend riveting or screwing plastic L Channel or 1.5" wide aluminum flat stock to the surface and then mount the LED strip to that L Channel of flat stock. More details about this can be found on the INSTALL TAB of the product page. The point is to carefully examine the bottom of your truck when you're taking these measurements before placing your order.
Once you have identified the mounting locations and have your measurements, you're ready to place your order using this product page. You'll notice each LED strip segment on this product page has a drop down box listing the FIVE available lengths for our HEAVY DUTY LED STRIPS (12" to 52"). For those LED segments that don't apply to your truck simply leave them set to 'none'. For each LED segment, select the corresponding LED length from the drop down to what you wrote down on the diagram. It's not critical to have the exact length because the lights are so bright. If there's 5 - 10 inches of space that isn't covered, no one will know by looking at it. The kit includes additional feeder cable to be used to connect the LED strips to the LED controller.
MULTI COLOR CONTROL OPTIONS
RGB or RGBA MULTI-COLOR OPTION: The multi-color RGB LED version provides over 16 million color combinations that you control and includes its own on/off wireless switch. The multi-color RGB and RGBA kits include our GEN2 Heavy Duty combo Bluetooth + RF controller so you can control the lights with your Bluetooth enabled smartphone or the included wireless RF G2 M7 remote control. The CONTROLLERS navigation tab on this product page has additional details. With any of the Boogey Lights® BLUETOOTH controllers you can control your lights with your Bluetooth enabled Android or IOS smartphone. These high-tech controllers are capable of displaying 16 million different color combinations. In addition, lighting effects on the Smartphone controller are significantly more controllable in terms of speed and intensity. Each color and lighting effect is controlled by "sliders" or a color square on your smartphone screen so you can adjust the speed and intensity to get the lighting exactly the way you want it. Our controllers operate on 12vdc. Also, all of our Bluetooth Combo controllers include an RF remote control allowing for quick on/off of the controller. You can operate this controller with the included RF wireless remote OR you can use your Bluetooth enabled smartphone and our free smartphone APP (Android and IOS). Boogey Lights® RF Controllers will display seven colors (steady on + four lighting effects): RED, GREEN, BLUE, WHITE, LIGHT BLUE, BOOGEY LIGHTS GREEN (LIME GREEN/YELLOW), HOT PINK/PURPLE. The lighting effects options for our RF Controller include: DIMMING, BLENDING, BREATHING, STROBING. In the Blending, Breathing and Strobing modes these features can be set to remain on a single color or to cycle through each of the 7 colors. You can also adjust the speed at which this happens. The RF remote control offers SEVEN levels lighting effects (e.g. 7 levels of dimming). For the DUAL ZONE Heavy Duty LED controller, these functions work independently per zone OR both zones together.
Quick Switch: The Quick Switch feature comes standard on our HEAVY DUTY SINGLE ZONE and HD DUAL ZONE LED Controllers (all RGBx controllers). Whatever color LED you have connected to the WHITE output wire on the controller is the color that will display when the Quick Switch is triggered with 12vdc +. The most common use for this configuration is with commercial vehicles who want to be able to instantly turn off whatever color they're running and turn on a DOT compliant AMBER which is on our RGBA LED strips. For these installations, the yellow trigger wire is connected to a toggle switch or other wireless switch that activates the AMBER leds. When the Quick Switch trigger wire is not energized, the LED controller operates the RGBxx diodes normally. NOTE: This Quick Switch feature eliminates the need to use a relay for RGBA LEDs.
Single Zone or Dual Zone: If ordering RGB or RGBA, you have your choice of a SINGLE ZONE or DUAL ZONE GEN2 Heavy Duty LED Controller. As the name suggests, a SINGLE ZONE controller has one lighting zone. All LEDs wired to that zone display the same color and features. For DUAL ZONE, there are two distinct lighting zones. All LEDs wired to Zone 1 operate the same. All LEDs wired to Zone 2 operate the same. Each zone can be used independently or together.
SINGLE COLOR or DUAL COLOR CONTROL OPTIONS
If you're ordering any of the Single Color or Dual-Color LED color options, you'll be presented with the option to add our Dual Zone Controller to the order. This is an option. The default is 'none'. If selecting the Dual Zone Controller with any of the single color or dual-color options, you'll receive our Strobing Dual Zone single color controller. Designed primarily for commercial, working truck applications this heavy duty LED controller is ideal for situations where you need to control (on/off), strob or flash large numbers of single color LEDs. A typical scenario is with wide load truck haulers, wreckers and tow trucks. A typical scenario is with wide load truck haulers, wreckers and tow trucks. The unique dual zone capability allows the lights to be segregated into two distinct lighting zones if that's what you want to do.
For example zone one might be red LEDs and zone two amber LEDs. Another option could be to assign the two zones into LEDs mounted on different parts of the truck (underglow = white, body side lighting = amber). The options are endless. Each zone can be operated independently or together. In addition to ON/OFF control, STROBING and FLASHING, there's a STEADY-ON mode that offers dimming. All of these features are operated using the included wireless RF handheld remote.
Each zone will support up to 1500 tri-chip 5050 LEDs (20Amps) which means a total of 3000 tri-chip LEDs on a single LED controller. The operating modes include strobing, 3 burst flash and solid on. The speed can be adjusted and there's a brightness setting too. All of these features are operated using the included wireless RF hand held remote. This controller includes our Quick-Switch feature which when paired with a simple on/off switch will allow the controller to be turned on/off via a hard wired switch (mounted on the dash for example) as well.
The CONTROLLERS navigation tab on this product page has additional details on this controller option.
SINGLE COLOR VS RGB (MULTI-COLOR)
Single colors are going to be brighter than RGB (multi-color) LEDs. The reason is that in an RGB LED there are three diodes: red, green and blue. The LED controller mixes those three colors to create other colors. For example, equal amounts of red + green + blue = white. In a single color LED, all three diodes are the same color. So in a single color white LED, there are three white LEDs which is much brighter than an RGB led mixed to show white. If you're looking for the absolute brightest color for your truck, go with single color. If however you want to be able to change the colors from time to time, go with RGB. Just be aware that the RGB version of isn't as bright as the single color version. The single color version is available in your choice of one of seven super-bright colors: Amber, Orange, Red, Green, Blue, White or Pink.
RGB / Multi-Color: For RGB led lighting an LED Controller is needed to operate the lights. The controller is what operates the lights and mixes the colors. In addition to providing a wireless on/off capability, the LED controllers offered allow you to control your lights with your Bluetooth 4.0 enabled smart phone and our free smart phone APP (Android and IOS) OR the included RF wireless remote. With the included RF remote you can change between 7 colors (white, red, blue, green, light blue, lime green, pink) and functions of on/off, blending, strobing, breathing, flashing, fading and dimming. You can also use your Bluetooth enabled smart phone to create that custom look with over 16 million different color combinations plus three pre-sets along with color rotation programming with either 2 or 3 color sets. There is significantly more detail on the BLUETOOTH APP navigation tab on this product page. Since our Dual Color products use the RGB chip on the RGBA led strip, it is considered a multi-color product even though you don't need an LED controller to operate.
NOTE: If purchasing RGB, be aware that an RGB LED cannot create the color orange. It can come close but not exact. Why? As mentioned previously, RGB leds have three color DIODES: RED, GREEN and BLUE. It's the mixing of these three colors together that create other colors. The color ORANGE is created by mixing RED + YELLOW. The color YELLOW is created by mixing RED + GREEN. With an RGB LED, there is only one RED diode so it can only be used once. To get something that looks more like orange to the human eye using RGB LEDs you need to mix equal amounts of RED + GREEN (actually just a bit less green since the human eye is more sensitive to green wavelengths). This will give you the color YELLOW. Then, increase the intensity of the RED just a little (or, pull back the green). This will essentially add a little red to the yellow to effectively mix a color that has an orange tint which is closer to AMBER. It's not perfect but it's as close as you can get to the color orange using RGB led lights.
WHEEL WELL LIGHTING (OPTIONAL)
We offer the option of adding wheel well lighting to your under-glow light kit. It can be done for one, two or three axles. Be aware however that not all truckss will be able to accommodate lights mounted in the wheel wells. This is especially true of semi trucks. At least for most semi-trucks, you can usually add wheel well lights on the front steer tires - not necessarily the case for the rear wheel tires. You'll need to measure the amount of clearance you have between the tire/wheel and the fender to see if there is enough room to get into the wheel well to do the installation (without removing the tire/wheel). Assuming your truck has enough clearance to work, the next thing you need to consider is the mounting location. For maximum lighting effect we prefer to mount the Heavy Duty LED strip straight up from the tire and off set a little toward the outside wall of the wheel well. This minimizes the possibility you'll be able to see the LED strip directly and instead, only see the glow from the LEDs flooding the tire/wheel well area. Next you'll need to consider the mounting surface. Is it clean? Smooth? Will 3M tape (promoted with 3M adhesion primer first of course) adhere to that surface? Some trucks are under-coated which can make it difficult to get the LED strips to adhere to the surface without first having to scrape the under-coating away and/or screwing the LED strip to the wheel well at each end. Others have a type of material covering the wheel well surface itself. In this case you may need to cut that material away first to get to the smooth surface beneath it. You'll need to look closely at your truck to make this determination. The last thing you want is for that LED strip to come loose from it's mounting location just above the tire/wheel as you drive down the road. The final consideration is length. How much room do you have to mount the LED strip?
Once you've confirmed the above, make your selection from the drop down options for this product. You'll notice we offer three LED strip length options per wheel well. They're ordered per wheel well. Do not assume that just because a 32" led strip will fit in the wheel well for the steer axle, the same will fit in the drive axle.
Color Options and Considerations
This light kit is offered in eight single color options, seven dual color options and in two multi-color configurations: RGB and RGBA (RGB + amber). For the single color options the LED controller wireless RF remote will give you the ability to turn the LEDs on/off as well as dim, flash, strobe and breath (and change the speed at which those features work). With the bluetooth APP, you can perform these same functions as well as save presets. For the multi-color options, you have the same capabilities however the feature set is significantly expanded since you also have the ability to change/adjust/tweak the colors you want to display. With the included RF wireless remote you can change between 7 pre-set colors (Red, Green, Blue, White, Light Blue, Lime Green/Yellow, Hot Pink/Purple) and functions of on/off, blending, strobing, breathing, flashing, fading and dimming. You can also use your Bluetooth enabled smart phone to create a custom look. The Bluetooth APP allows you to program the RGB diodes of any of our RGB and RGBA strips with over 16 million different color combinations plus three pre-sets. Also, the Bluetooth APP offers 2 and 3 color rotation programming along with two timer features. Click the BLUETOOTH APP navigation tab on this product page for significantly more information on both the Bluetooth capabilities and APP functionality (including a video showing how the Bluetooth APP works)
RGBA: On the RGBA led strip, in addition to RGB, you get one extra diode which is AMBER. That fourth diode on the RGBA led strip can be wired directly to our GEN2 LED Controller which supports RGBx LEDs. As an option, you could also wire that fourth diode to a completely separate on/off switch. Your choice. You could also use the Quick-Switch feature with this fourth diode too. If you select this LED color option, you'll be prompted to make a RGBx Switch selection too. The next text block explains these options.
PRE-BUILT LED CONTROL CENTER (OPTIONAL)
We offer the option of pre-building the LED Control Center with your order. These LED Control Centers make for a professional looking installation. Also makes the installation a little easier for DIYers since the controller wiring is neatly organized and easily identifiable. It's also a huge time saver. Can easily save two hours (or more) when doing a typical installation.
The pre-built Control Center has the LED Controller and power connections mounted to a PVC board. The power connections make it simple to connect your battery power as well as the LED strip power leads via a terminal blocks mounted to the board. Simply strip the end of the battery lead cable and LED strip power leads, push them into the terminal block and tighten the screw. This design also makes trouble shooting easier. The board has four 2" stand offs with plexi-glass mounted on top which keeps the components protected. You can read more about this option on the LED CONTROL CENTER product page. We include some photos below. The LED Control Center option is only available when an LED Controller and/or relays are ordered.
WHAT IS RGB + AMBER (RGBA)?
RGBA is a LED strip format Boogey Lights® developed. It is available in both our Low Profile and Heavy Duty LED strip formats. The RGBA led strip includes our core RGB tri-chip technology using a 5050 RGB LED with the addition of a fourth 2835 diode that is AMBER. Designed primarily for motor vehicle applications, that fourth AMBER diode can be wired to a separate switch on the dash (or tied into a relay to work with existing running lights) that allows you to quickly and easily turn on just the AMBER leds. Then, for those who want the flexibility to be able to display up to 16 million color combinations using the RGB tri-chip, they can do that too. RGB + A provides the best of both worlds. Single color amber plus RGB tri-chip multi-color. The product photo carousel of this product page includes a close-up view of the LED strip design and wiring diagram. Note that due to the addition of that fourth diode, the RGBA strips are a little wider than our standard tri-chip RGB and single color LED strips. Also, the power lead wires use five conductor vs four. For additional information including product specs, click the SPECS navigation tab on this product page.
WHAT IS DUAL COLOR?
The Dual Color LED configuration uses our RGBA LED strip but instead of pairing that LED strip with an RGB LED controller (to mix up to 16 million different color combinations), we hard wire a combination of one, two or all three of the RGB diodes (red, green or blue) along with the AMBER diode to two on/off switches. One switch operates the primary color diode(s). The other switch operates the amber diode. There are a total of seven Dual Color configuration options: RED+AMBER, GREEN+AMBER, BLUE+AMBER, MAGENTA+AMBER, YELLOW+AMBER, CYAN+AMBER, WHITE+AMBER. With a Dual Color configuration you don't need an LED Controller. Instead, you only need two switches (and relays); one to control each color. The primary color is chosen from the available dual color drop down list. The secondary color is always amber. Note: The Dual Color options includes one ON-OFF-ON 3 way toggle switch and two, 30 amp relays.
DOT COMPLIANCE
The AMBER and RED single color LED strips are DOT COMPLAINT. They conform to applicable provisions of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 108 requirements. Click the button below for more information on this issue.
OTHER ITEMS YOU MAY NEED
No two installation scenarios are the same. Not everyone shares the same installation quality goals. Some folks are OK with twisting wires together, others want to solder them. Some folks are OK with running wires where they may be seen or unprotected to save money/time, others want a tidy, clean install without any wires showing. Some folks are OK with mounting their LED strips to whatever surface they can find, others want to take the time necessary to build out appropriate mounting surfaces to provide the best lighting effect on their vehicle. The point is it's not possible to provide all the materials necessary for all installation scenarios and quality goals. Our light kits provide the essential components needed for a high-quality, functioning lighting system. Installation of our light kit to your specific vehicle may however require additional items to make it look and fit the way you want. This is particularly the case with electrical wiring and mounting of LED strips. Before proceeding with your installation we suggest you consider THESE OTHER ITEMS.
Installation Information
IMPORTANT. You must have an understanding of 12vdc power. An essential skill with installation of any Boogey Lights LED products is knowing how to correctly wire the product to a 12vdc circuit. This includes understanding the importance of having a properly sized fuse at the power source, polarity, how to properly seal an electrical connection, using properly sized wire gauge for the load, measuring voltage and measuring the additional amperage draw you're adding. If you are uncertain or unfamiliar with any of these concepts, we urge you to ask someone who has the knowledge to assist you. Electricity is unforgiving.
INSTALL DOCUMENTATION
All of our installation documentation for this product (and all others) is available to download directly from our website (Click to download BYOK TRUCK UNDER-GLOW INSTALL DOCS). We encourage you to download this information and review before placing your order. That way you'll have a solid understanding of what is required (and no surprises). Here are some of the most important installation documents for this product. You will find ALL available documentation in our INSTALLATION RESOURCES SECTION.