The “best” way of installing golf cart LED roof lights depends on your preferences and your particular golf cart’s roof. Roof lights near the outer edge of your golf cart’s roof can create some great looks. And there’s no right or wrong way to go about it (although we have a strong preference that the LED strips can NEVER be seen). But installing the lights (and hiding them if that’s your preference too) can present some challenges. For lights that can chase, wires can be run left and right so that chasing mirrors along each side or configured to chase around the entire cart in one direction. In either case we recommend running the wiring up one or both of the front roof support bars and then out near a corner.
High quality strips have adhesive strong enough to adhere to any flat surface (like a metal rail) and the adhesive on ours is actually so strong it is difficult to remove the strips without breaking them once installed. However, our preference is to NOT mound strips externally to anything where they are visible. We see it a lot and we have IP67 strips that can run literally underwater, but we prefer the strips to be invisible when not in use. For that reason we offer a number of different types of channel products and diffusers. For roofs like the 2 and 3 rounded track models of some popular aftermarket part companies, we have standard sizes of LED tubing with diffusers that fit them. You simply run the strips into the tubing and the tubing into the track. When the lights are off all that can be seen is black or white (your choice) diffuser lens facing downward from the channel. When the lights are switched on, the light effects are bright and visible illuminating the entire downside of the channels and tubes bending the corners.
A few carts like some popular OEMs have sideways facing rectangular metal tracks. Sideways is fine (the LED strips run sideways in the round tubes so that they can bend the corners), but these tracks often have a couple of bolts all the way through them (for the roof supports) blocking your ability to run the strips neatly in the track all the way around. Some solutions we’ve seen include using separate strips before and after the bolts with wires coming up both the front and back roof supports to achieve it with two sets of lights. Another approach is to simply come out of the track (exposing some strip briefly), up and over the support, and then back into that track. But that violates are no strip visibility preference. So we found some hardware that allows the roof to attach only to the outside back of those tracks leaving room for strips. You can check them out here. And finally, we of course have some diffuser cover we’ve made to fit these tracks to the little LEDs can’t be seen when the lights are off.
We’ve also messed around with a few laser devices that project lights in motion all over the roof, fiber optic sets that create starry sky looks, and other applications, but that’s another topic unto itself.
