I got an LED bed lighting kit for my birthday back in June. This is the specific kit, but I believe it is sold under different brand names by different vendors:

AUTUNEER 60Inch LED Truck Bed Lights, 2PCS White Truck Bed LED Strip Light Kit, Waterproof Truck Bed Lighting Bar Switch Fuse Splitter Cable for RV SUV Vans Cargo Boats, Auto Lights https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073ZGNDTC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_OSZpDbK34QHCT

I was getting ready to install it this past weekend, and I have a few challenges I need to overcome, one with placement of the LED strips, and the other with the wiring.

The kit I have came with 5ft LED strips that mount on either side of the bed and they are meant to go up under the lip of the bed. The newer F150 beds have 2 points on each side where the lip gets really narrow and I don't think I could for the strips in place. I also have a tonneau cover, so the brackets done leave me room to install the strips in the sides of the bed lips, not that I would necessarily want them there anyway.

On the wiring side, my biggest issue is deciding how I want to power the lights. The kit has a small push button on/off switch on the harness. I just need to connect into 12V and ground. I really want to install these in a way that is 100% reversible, and I really don't want to damage or modify any stock wiring on the truck. I think I'm going to end up running a new 12V & ground line from the battery to the back of the truck to use. Probably not the easiest method, but I'm not crazy about using splice connectors off of the OEM wiring.

Has anyone else installed these kits in the latest generation F series trucks? I'm interested to see how others have done it.

 

I must be a glutton for punishment. I decided to run a wire from the battery to the back of the truck. I took me about 4 hours of crawling around on my back and forcing my hand into tight places to route the new wire along the main harness that runs along the top inside edge of the drivers side frame rail and up and around the engine bay to the battery. I couldn't bring myself to tap into the any of the wires in my brand new wiring harness.

Just for future reference, it is really hard to do zip ties one handed and blind with your hand wrapped up between the frame rail and the underside of the cab / bed.

 

I finished the light install today. The final result looks really nice, but it was a pain to get to this point.







I addressed the side bed rail issues by cutting the LED strips into 3 sections on each side and then soldering them with wire extensions. Because these strips are the weather proof versions, i went over each cut point after soldering and filled them with silicone caulk and installed a piece of heat shrink over the joint to try the keep water from getting in. It took me a few hours last night to do that.




I don't know that I could recommend this kit. The end result is nice, but I don't know that I got a better system then if I had pieces it together myself. I had to do so much custom work on it that I pretty much made it a DIY project. Granted, the kit was only $22, so I don't know that it would have cost any less to piecemeal it together.

By wiring this directly off the battery, I don't have to worry about the light shutting off after a few minutes, and I don't need to put the key in the ignition or anything like that. I just need to remember to shut them off when I'm done with them. These should be good for camping when I need to get in the bed and it's dark out. That's the primary reason I got these in the first place.

Let me know your thoughts or suggestions.

 

That came out looking really nice. Would you happen to have a link to the kit that you have because I have been trying to figure something out for my truck.

 

This is the kit I got:

AUTUNEER 60Inch LED Truck Bed Lights, 2PCS White Truck Bed LED Strip Light Kit, Waterproof Truck Bed Lighting Bar Switch Fuse Splitter Cable for RV SUV Vans Cargo Boats, Auto Lights


Like I said above, this was not a simple install. It could have been marginally easier if I didn't run the new wire from the battery, but the light strips themselves still required modification. If you have a tonneau cover or something where you don't need to mount the light strips under the bed lip, than you might have an easier time.

In addition to the kit, your going to need wire and since way to connect that wire to your truck and to the generic harness that comes with the kit. You are probably going to need to solder the light strips where your have to cut them, and you may want to do like I did with the silicone caulk to re-seal the cut ends to keep water out.

If you are prepared for some DIY, then you can make this kit work.

 

It looks really nice, thanks for the warning. About how many hours did it take overall?

 

Thanks for the information. I have a Peragon cover on my truck and there is a flat spot on the underside of the rails that the cover rolls on that these might work on.

 

I spent three evenings working on this project, each was about 6pm - 10pm or so.

Night one was all about running the new wire to the back of the truck. If you are okay with splicing into your wiring harness, you won't spend as much time wiring.

Night two was all about modifying the light strips to fit the stock bed. If you have a bed cover with a flat underside section that you can adhere the strips to full length without cutting, then this step goes away.

Night three was the actual install and button up. This took me a couple of hours. I was able to stick the light strips in the bed rails, tie up the wires out of the way so they are virtually hidden. Then do all the final wiring connections. The harness they provide with the kit has just enough wire to reach both sides without extensions if you have the switch mounted where I do out of that back left hole in the bed. I had maybe 6-8 inches of wire to spare to get the drivers side LED strip hooked up. I soldered the wire from the kit together with the new positive and ground wires that I ran, but you could save some time with crimp on connectors. I went solder because the wire gage in the kit was much smaller than the 14AWG wires I ran along the frame rail, and I didn't have a good connector that could join the two together (I had 16-22 AWG connectors, and 16-14 AWG connectors, but no but connectors that were meant for one to the other).

As far as other options out there, this kit looks to be similar but the strips have already been prepared for the F150 bed. It looks like it routes and ties into the truck electronics differently though. The pictures show wires running out through the drain ports at the front of the bed, so its less hidden, and maybe more prone to damage.
https://www.f150leds.com/collections...argo_light_led

For mine, I like that I have complete control of when the lights are on and off. I'm not tied into the truck electronics at all, so I can leave them on for as long as I want. I remember loading the truck up in the dark about a month ago before I had the LED lights. It was frustrating how short the timer is on the exterior lights of the vehicle when you are trying get stuff arranged in the bed just right and the rear illumination light keeps going out. The way I wired it in, with an always on 12V signal directly from the battery, I manually turn the lights on with the switch, and they stay on until I turn them back off again.