I have seen people get the 56021441 light and 56051176AB harness, and wire it into the fuse box

 

I am actually in the process of doing this. I purchased the kit with the mercury switch and after getting it decided it looked too cheesy to install so I went another route. I am now using a water proof LED strip and am just going to run it off a small rocker switch in the engine compartment tied into the fuse box under the hood. I will post a picture in just a little bit........

 

Thats what I was thinking would be the best route

 

Here is what I did. I used a color changing waterproof LED strip, but only wired it for blue. My switch is still on order, so I have not mounted that part yet. Make sure you use a fuse on your +12v.

 

That looks good, I was not aware that you had to fuse the Led strip ?

inline fuse ? what value ?

 

That looks good, I was not aware that you had to fuse the Led strip ?

inline fuse ? what value ?

For the type of strip I am using yes it would need to be fused (really need to fuse any +12 feed). A 1A fuse should be fine for this.

I purchased the LED strip from superbrightLEDs dot com superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/top-emitting/wfls-x-series-weatherproof-high-power-led-flexible-light-strip/1466/
(didn't want to post a direct link - add www.)

This does not need a controller and runs directly off +12v

 

Where did you get the LED strip light from ? I know its waterproof, but will it hold up to engine and sunlight heat. Under hood gets pretty damn hot in the summer. I had installed a strip LED light on my front bumper of my suburban and just the average sunlight made the clear plastic fog over and then lost a couple of led's. Ended up ripping it off.

 

Where did you get the LED strip light from ? I know its waterproof, but will it hold up to engine and sunlight heat. Under hood gets pretty damn hot in the summer. I had installed a strip LED light on my front bumper of my suburban and just the average sunlight made the clear plastic fog over and then lost a couple of led's. Ended up ripping it off.

So far so good, I have actually had it installed under the hood for about 5 months now (just need to finish wiring it up as other projects have taken priority) but finally ordered my switch this weekend. All LEDs still work perfectly.

See link in above post for source.

I do need to note that I used 3M heavy duty trim tape in place of the standard tape on the back of the LED strip as heat may become an issue with the standard tape.

 

I have led lights under my hood, I went the route of adding a controller which I wired to the positive lead and found a nice ground spot close by. I used velcro and zip ties to attach the controller to the side of the fusebox. I used 2 different colors of lights and have had them on for over 6 months now, and have not had any issues with sunlight/ heat from the engine etc.... I had purchased a spool of LED from E Bay and the other color I had to pay retail prices (PeP Boys) as I was having a difficult time finding it anywhere.

This is the controller I bought, it is a Logisys Corp. 4 Zone Multi Mode 12V Remote Control (RM08)

3 of my friends have had similar setups in there Challenger/ Chargers for over a year and have not had any lights burn out and no fading or other issues described. We all used the normal tape which comes with the lights as well as using some zip ties when possible.... everything sticking very well for all of us.

I kind of like the idea of the remote controller as it lets me do so many different things with the lights instead of just an on and off.....

good luck with whatever you decide.