A repeat client of Pinnacle Autosound contacted us about getting a Dodge lighting upgrade for his Challenger. We talked with him about our different lighting options and put together a package that fit his needs. He loved our suggestion and booked his appointment.
Vehicle Accent Lighting Improvements
When we started installing lighting on vehicles years ago, it was neon lighting. Even today, we still have clients asking for neon lighting! We are thankful, though, that we have a better option to give them, in LED lighting. LED lighting has revolutionized automotive lighting capabilities. The original neon lighting consisted of glass tubes filled with neon gas, sleeved in a protective plastic tube. As you might guess or experienced for yourself, they were not very reliable. It did not take much to hit one of the tubes and cause it to crack. In addition to the fragile tubes, the transformers to raise the voltage to energize the tubes were known to fail. While they looked really cool at night, they were a headache for installers.
The new trend in lighting we mentioned is LED Lighting. This type of lighting uses small Light Emitting Diodes to generate the light source. The LEDs are far more reliable than neon tubes. The reliability is great, but one of the best attributes of LED lighting is the RGB feature. Most LEDs used for lighting are R(Red), G(Green), B(Blue). The three-color component allows the user to select many colors from a single kit. In the past, neon tubes were only available in a single color because the gas that filled them had to be mixed into one specific color. Now LED RGB lighting can provide the user with 10’s thousands of lighting hours and virtually any color they can think of.
Dodge Lighting Upgrade
Now that we have shared some history of lighting let’s jump into this Dodge lighting project. The client wanted good coverage under the car, as well as some footwell lighting on the inside. We used one of our LED Glow kits that have a provision for controlling not only the outside lighting but also the inside with one app.
Underneath the car, we attached two longer strips, one on each side of the car. We secured these to the car and reinforced the mounting with several wire ties. Then we installed two shorter tubes, one at the front and one at the back of the car. Our goal is always to keep the tubes hidden so that the only thing people see is the radiated light.
Inside the car, we used two 12″ long strips under each side of the dash. These lights will serve to light up the footwell areas of the car. The inside and outside are treated as different zones in the lighting app so that the client can turn them off independently.
Cleanup and Delivery
Our final job on this Dodge lighting project was to clean up the areas of the car we had contact with. We stock the Gtechniq line of cleaning supplies to clean the outside and inside of the cars we service.
When the client came to pick up the Challenger, he couldn’t wait for it to get dark so he could see his new lighting!
If you have a Dodge, or other vehicle and would like more information on adding accent lighting, stop by with the vehicle or contact us here.
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