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Syncing Your LED Lights With Music in Your Truck
The trucking industry has grown exponentially over the past few years, with countless new (and old!) companies battling for supremacy on the road. It ain’t exactly Fury Road out there, but there are countless folks behind their wheels trying to leave a mark on the asphalt every day. Hell, you’re probably one of them. If you are, what’s your strategy? What’s your secret? How do you make sure you stand out on every road and at every stop?
Before you answer, let us share one of our tricks: LED lights. And don’t give us that face! We know that sounds underwhelming, but we’re not talking about any boring old dash lights. We know you know those are essential in your line of work, especially if you operate a tow truck. Oh no, not at all! We’re talking about RGB LED lights and syncing them to your favorite tunes! Yes, you can look cooler than you already do. But how?
First Things First
Before we get to the meat of the matter and tell you how to sync your led lights with music, we have to get a few things out of the way. That is, we have to answer a few questions that you’re most likely to have in regards to LED lights and their installment.
First, is it even possible to make LED lights sync with music in your vehicle without going through extensive trouble? The answer is, obviously, a resounding yes! It’s much easier than you think, and it’s often just a matter of plug-and-play.
Secondly, the equipment. That is, do you need some special tools to make it all work? The answer is nope — it’s a pretty straightforward process. You’ll just need a few household items and a controller box with an audio input option. Luckily, most packages include the latter, so you won’t need to spend any extra cash on anything. Of course, some models let you use other kinds of equipment too to make the lights dance, like mics and music players, but you’re probably not looking to turn your truck cabin into a rave party!
Thirdly, why would you even do it? Well, for one, it looks cool as all hell! You do wanna look cool, right? Of course, you do! And second of all, it’ll make you feel cool too. You’ll feel like a new Fast & Furious star on a mission. Amazing, right?
Syncing Everything Up
Okay, enough idle talk! Let’s see how to make LED lights sync with music.
Step One
First things first, grab all the items you’ll need. That includes:
- Scissors (in case you need to cut something, although most LED strips come pre-cut, so you likely won’t need to do it yourself)
- A screwdriver (if you want to place the strips in not-so-obvious places; if not, you probably won’t need a screwdriver either)
- All the cables and gadgets are hopefully included in your controller box/LED strip packaging (e.g., the auxiliary cord, the dial, etc.)
- Cable-managment pins (optional)
Step Two
The second step is simple: take your controller box (music studio unit) and plug it into the cigarette lighter socket. You’ll have to be careful here, though. Namely, you’ll have to see whether your vehicle has a power outlet that turns off once you take out your keys. A simple way to check that is to try charging your phone via the same lighter socket when the vehicle is turned off. If the phone is charging, you are out of luck. Well, your LED lights will work, but you’ll need to unplug them when you are not using your vehicle to avoid killing its battery. Of course, you can always use a different port.
Step Three
Now comes the fun part — actually placing your LED strips where you want them. You probably have a good idea of where you’d like to mount them, but if you don’t, you should take some time to figure out where they’d fit best. Also, take into account that they might be distracting if you misplace them (and that some colors are not legal in all states, so you really ought not to make them super obvious when you’re driving).
Once you’re done setting them up, simply connect each of the strips to the control box. These days, strips usually come connected to the control box already, so you won’t have to connect each of them separately.
The downside of such a setup is that you’ll be space limited. That is, since each strip will be connected to each other and thus to the control box, you won’t have enough room to maneuver them around as much as you’d like. That’s gonna be a problem if you’re in a larger truck, so we recommend getting separate LED strips and plugging each of them in separately.
Step Four
Finally, we come to the most important part — how to sync music with LED lights. This is actually the most straightforward thing in the world. Namely, once you’ve connected all the strips together and to the box, and after you’ve dealt with all the pesky cables and cords, you can start your truck and press the ON button on the control box. If everything is working as intended, the LED nodes will light up. Then, you can choose the mode you want them to flash in.
In this case, you want them to sync with the beat of your favorite music, so you’ll want to select the press the MUSIC button on the controller and use the dial on it to adjust the lights to your preferred color and frequency. That’s it! That’s all you need to know to learn how to get your led lights to sync with music. All that’s left now is to have a blast and feel like a king behind the wheel!