Let there be LIGHT!

**MoonShadow_1911** · 08-02-2022, 04:38 PM

Back story: The wife wanted more light in the shoe shelf in the closet so she could actually see the shoes. Originally, the was a pair of blue LED lights for the top shelf. Great for not killing night vision; sucks for seeing anything in the closet.

NOTE: I had all the parts on hand from other mods. Namely the pantry LED strip mod.

Mod: Today, I got to work, pulling down the blue lights (they are held in by a rubber grommet) to see if I could find the Wago connector they were connected to. I probed around with my bore scope cam and found a crimp connector instead. Well, crap! I tried to fish the connector out the little hole, but to no avail. The other end of the wire wasn't long enough, or tacked down somewhere (which I doubt). I decided to cut the wire and just crimp all of them in series. So, off to the races I go!

I measured the LED strips and cut them at the appropriate places. I grabbed the "not so quick" crimp connectors for the LED strips and fought with it for the better part of 30 minutes. I gave up and stripped the end of the 24 AWG wire and pushed it into the little metal jaws with a small standard screwdriver. (Side note: Did you know any time something has the word "quick" in it, it's usually not!)

I then drilled holes in the back left corner of each shelf, thinking it would be easy to just poke the wires through the hole. NOPE! There is a shelf support that I drilled behind! (At this point in time, I'm thinking to myself, "Self, this might have been a whole lot easier if you just took the dang shelves out of the wall. It's just a couple of screws, right?"

I'd already drilled the holes, so I kept plowing forward, like the stubborn donkey I am. Finally got the wires through the holes and tied down with zip ties that have the screw retainer. I tightened the zip ties BEFORE I screwed them to the side wall... One of the was too short and the other two were too long... REALLY?!?! Ugh. I gently tugged the wires until the were the correct length and was able to get the short one anchored down.

All in all, it took me a little longer than I thought it would, about 2.5 hours, including cleanup and putting the shoes back. (I hope they are in the right order the wife put them in!)