Thanks to some guidance in this thread I have completed a very satisfactory, sleek, and stealthy work light installation to the front side roof grab bars and the rear of my Grenadier.
The three work lights used are the Stedi Micro V2 7.8" LED flood lights. I picked mine up here from
Napa.
Here's how I connected everything:
1. I am powering all three lights through the right front roof power connection. No issue, since one light draws 1.3A at 12v (
specs). This starts by adding a DTP female connector to one of the female DT pigtails that comes with one of the Stedi lights. This will be connected to the DTP roof power outlet, and then to a three way split DT cable. I purchased
these from Amazon and used one in this install. You'll also need to pick up a set of DT connectors to complete the cable runs from the three-way split cable to your work lights.
2. For the two lights mounted to the front roof grab bars, I used these
NiLight Bar Clamps. I chose these because I figured I could use them to mount the work lights in such a way that they do not extend past the roof gutter. Also - I searched long and hard, but never could find the Stedi 1" (22-30mm) clamps shown in this
post above by
@Shopkeep in the U.S. (in the end, I think the NiLights are the superior solution, because they are a smaller form factor). A complication arises with the NiLight clamps, however, since they are sized for M10 bolts and the Stedi light bracket is sized for M8 bolts. So, I picked up some
10mm M10 to M8 sleeve adapters and some
20mm M8 bolts and used M8 lock nuts. Using this combo allowed for the slim profile install I had hoped to achieve:
I used the slimmest rubber insert in the clamps, and, as you might imagine, actually attaching the clamps to the bar is a fiddly exercise, since you are up on a ladder and rotating the clamps down to get a bite on the bolts with an allen wrench and squeezing them together to get the bolt started, etc. So, take a deep breath and be patient during this stage. It can be done and is worth the effort, because the install does indeed keep the light within the perimeter of the roof gutters:
3. For the rear light, I found the ideal place to mount it at the rear of my RTT (Alu-Cab Gen 3R). I noticed the two holes near the edge of the center structural bars:
After some r&d, I figured out that
12x3/4" Sheet Metal Screws would fit the hole perfectly. So, I bought an Aluminum bar from Lowe's, measured it out, cut it with a jigsaw, marked, and drilled holes for the tent bars and for the Stedi light mount, primed and painted the bar matte black with Rust-Oleum rattle cans, and mounted the light with the screws
and with strips of 3M VHB double side tape for insurance:
4. Now to the cables. The split DT cable is 20AWG, so I stuck with that for my runs. I found this
cable easy to work with. I know I did not always want to have all three lights on at once, and that meant I needed to figure out how to add some waterproof inline switches. I went with
these. Now, they did not qualify as "waterproof" for my use case out of the box, since the holes at the ends were too large for the cable I selected, but, after some more fast and furious r&d, I found this
perfect fit silicone tubing to use as a shroud around my cable. Next step was putting them together, and note, I was able to use the two other DT pigtails from the Stedi worklights during this process.
Snug fit with silicone tubing section added (spinning the silicone tube helps seat it along the way):
Wiring everything up:
Also, to further enhance the waterproof-ness of the switches, I added some
Permatex Sealant along the edges of the switch before connecting it:
5. The next step was to figure out where I wanted to mount the switches and measure out the remaining lengths of cable I needed to run, add the appropriate DT connectors, and route for neatness. I found a great place to mount the switches for the side grab rails - and that was right on top of the plastic roof rail with some 3M VHB tape, and I mounted the rear switch to the right structural load bar using VHB tape.
End result
Left Side:
Right Side:
Rear:
The switches work great and I'm more than happy with the throw of the lights. Boom! Let's set up camp.
axiaalloys.com
www.leitnerdesigns.com
