My wife got me a set of Truxedo under rail bed lights for Christmas. They really brighten things up at night when the cover is on. I installed them this morning.

Here's the strange part-I tapped into the tail light circuit to power them. My thought is this-I didn't want to run battery power all the way back there for constant power, I didn't want to tap into the charge circuit in the trailer connector because I would always have to turn the ignition on and I didn't want to use an upfitter because I only have one left and that's reserved for on-board air system.

Tapping into the tail light circuit was easy because it is right there at the back of the bed. The bed lights are switched so they don't come on every time the tail lights are on. I can hit the unlock button on the remote which turns the tail lights on and then hit the switch for the bed lights. If I need them on longer than the entry circuit allows, I can just go and turn on the tail lights, no ignition key needed.

Very easy install, took about an hour. They come with 3M adhesive tape already on the back of the light pods.

Here are a few pics:

Switch located just inside the left side of the bed above the extender:



Looking down into the stake pocket-I left some excess wire to remove the switch easier if I need to replace it:



Lights off, it's daytime so this comparison doesn't have too much effect:



Lights on:

 

Very nice! I agree with your thinking in tying this into the tail lights. The momentary on is a good thought and like you said, if you need them longer you can just hit the HL switch.

 

And, I can never leave them on and chance a dead battery-just thought of that. They turn off with the tail lights whether the bed light switch is on or off.

 

Exactly what I was thinking. Only downside to that is if you've crawled in at night and are digging for something and the tail lights time out...

 

Lock/unlock again, assuming you have the keys with ya.

Clean install though, would love some bed lights (adding to my wish list).

 

Mine are tapped into the tail lights. Just hit the unlock button and you have light for 30 seconds or something like that. Chances are if the truck is running and you need to get in there at night the lights are on anyway. It is not a perfect solution, but it works fine for me and it is much easier than running a dedicated wire.