Cargo Light
Thread Starter
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Laughing Gas
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 871
Likes: 74
From: Houston TEXAS
Cargo Light
I looked briefly and didn't see this answered so forgive me if I missed it....
Is there a way to turn on the cab mounted cargo light - the one with the third brake light - WITHOUT turning on the interior cab lights ??
I ask because when hitching my 5th wheel at night it would be handy to open rear sliding window, and turn on the cargo light to better see the hitch in the bed as I back up.
But as it is now, the interior lights come on and create glare, making it worse.
If running the light like this isn't possible in stock form, could I tie into the cargo light wiring and hook it to one of the upfitter switches? Or would this energize the entire circuit and turn on the cab lights too?
Or burn the truck to the ground?
What if I removed the stock wires feeding the cargo light and ran it on it's own dedicated circuit on an upfitter switch, separate from the interior light switch wiring all together?
Any input or ideas are appreciated.
Is there a way to turn on the cab mounted cargo light - the one with the third brake light - WITHOUT turning on the interior cab lights ??
I ask because when hitching my 5th wheel at night it would be handy to open rear sliding window, and turn on the cargo light to better see the hitch in the bed as I back up.
But as it is now, the interior lights come on and create glare, making it worse.
If running the light like this isn't possible in stock form, could I tie into the cargo light wiring and hook it to one of the upfitter switches? Or would this energize the entire circuit and turn on the cab lights too?
Or burn the truck to the ground?
What if I removed the stock wires feeding the cargo light and ran it on it's own dedicated circuit on an upfitter switch, separate from the interior light switch wiring all together?
Any input or ideas are appreciated.
Elder User
Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 607
Likes: 3
From: CT
You can run the light off of one of your Up-fitter switches. You'd would have to run a separate wire from the switch and splice into the factory wire that runs directly into the bed light. You would have to put a "blocking diode" on that factory wire. The diode would prevent you from back-driving the rest of the cab lights when you turned on the bed light from the Up-fitter switch.
Elder User
Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 607
Likes: 3
From: CT
The arrangement above would still allow the bed light to turn on with the rest of the cab lights if you so desired.
(On Edit) Offhand I'm not sure how much current the bed lights draw. They may need a beefier diode than 1N4001 which only handles about 1 amp.
Here's YouTube link on blocking diodes
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lABCMamoSfQ
(On Edit) Offhand I'm not sure how much current the bed lights draw. They may need a beefier diode than 1N4001 which only handles about 1 amp.
Here's YouTube link on blocking diodes
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lABCMamoSfQ
Senior User
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 154
Likes: 1
From: Tennessee
Ginther,
There should be no reason you could not disconnect the cargo light from the interior light circuit and run a separate wire from an upfitter switch.
The biggest pain would probably be having to run that new wire up above the interior cab roof liner since the cargo light wire probably comes from the interior ceiling light.
Run the wire up the B pillar and just remove what is necessary to access above the ceiling liner on that side of the truck. With the cargo light pulled loose, I would think you could then fish the wire to the cargo light area.
Good luck,
Tom
There should be no reason you could not disconnect the cargo light from the interior light circuit and run a separate wire from an upfitter switch.
The biggest pain would probably be having to run that new wire up above the interior cab roof liner since the cargo light wire probably comes from the interior ceiling light.
Run the wire up the B pillar and just remove what is necessary to access above the ceiling liner on that side of the truck. With the cargo light pulled loose, I would think you could then fish the wire to the cargo light area.
Good luck,
Tom
Thread Starter
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Laughing Gas
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 871
Likes: 74
From: Houston TEXAS
You can run the light off of one of your Up-fitter switches. You'd would have to run a separate wire from the switch and splice into the factory wire that runs directly into the bed light. You would have to put a "blocking diode" on that factory wire. The diode would prevent you from back-driving the rest of the cab lights when you turned on the bed light from the Up-fitter switch.
Thread Starter
|
Laughing Gas
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 871
Likes: 74
From: Houston TEXAS
The arrangement above would still allow the bed light to turn on with the rest of the cab lights if you so desired.
(On Edit) Offhand I'm not sure how much current the bed lights draw. They may need a beefier diode than 1N4001 which only handles about 1 amp.
Here's YouTube link on blocking diodes
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lABCMamoSfQ
(On Edit) Offhand I'm not sure how much current the bed lights draw. They may need a beefier diode than 1N4001 which only handles about 1 amp.
Here's YouTube link on blocking diodes
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lABCMamoSfQ
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Thread Starter
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Laughing Gas
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 871
Likes: 74
From: Houston TEXAS
Ginther,
There should be no reason you could not disconnect the cargo light from the interior light circuit and run a separate wire from an upfitter switch.
The biggest pain would probably be having to run that new wire up above the interior cab roof liner since the cargo light wire probably comes from the interior ceiling light.
Run the wire up the B pillar and just remove what is necessary to access above the ceiling liner on that side of the truck. With the cargo light pulled loose, I would think you could then fish the wire to the cargo light area.
Good luck,
Tom
There should be no reason you could not disconnect the cargo light from the interior light circuit and run a separate wire from an upfitter switch.
The biggest pain would probably be having to run that new wire up above the interior cab roof liner since the cargo light wire probably comes from the interior ceiling light.
Run the wire up the B pillar and just remove what is necessary to access above the ceiling liner on that side of the truck. With the cargo light pulled loose, I would think you could then fish the wire to the cargo light area.
Good luck,
Tom
I wonder where I could find a wiring diagram and/or pics of how the wiring is routed? I have a moonroof too so who knows what kinda wiring nightmare is in the ceiling! LOL!
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Senior User
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 154
Likes: 1
From: Tennessee
Ginther, understand your apprehension at removing and replacing interior stuff.
Rightwingnutjob has provided the correct way to use both with a diode. I did this when wiring in a cancel on my cruise control circuit.
However, most likely to do this you would also have to access the interior light wiring at the ceiling.
Taking the B pillar covers off and just taking loose the ceiling where necessary should work fine.
I have done this before and did not have any residual noises.
Again, good luck with this,
Tom
Rightwingnutjob has provided the correct way to use both with a diode. I did this when wiring in a cancel on my cruise control circuit.
However, most likely to do this you would also have to access the interior light wiring at the ceiling.
Taking the B pillar covers off and just taking loose the ceiling where necessary should work fine.
I have done this before and did not have any residual noises.
Again, good luck with this,
Tom
Elder User
Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 607
Likes: 3
From: CT
We used to use something called a Schottky Diode in RC cars years ago to keep voltage from flowing the wrong way. Is this similar to what you're talking about?
A Schottky would work fine. It's just overkill for a DC voltage lighting application. The Schottky has a very fast switching time (needed for RC cars, but not for a bed light). It also has a smaller forward voltage drop, so it wastes slightly less current than a standard diode, (very useful in low power applications, but it's a trivial amount for automotive use).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A "higher-power" 3 amp diode is a "1N5408"
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