For those of you who have installed bed lighting, where did you tap in to get power? I don't know if I want a constant hot and plunger switch so any time I open the cover, I have light or tap into an existing light wire (easier I would think) so that when I need bed light, I have to have the head/parking lights on? What are my choices???

Thanks!

 

Well, I'm just about to do this on my son's truck, I'm thinking it out myself. Two things to consider are, if you run a seperate FUSED line up from a direct battery source, kind of like wiring an amplifier, you can use a good heavier wire and a decent size set of lights. If you tap into exsisting lighting, such as a tail light, you have to stay a little lighter duty and also compensate at the fuse box for what you did. You can figure out the draw by wiring up the lights quickly right to the battery and reading the DC amps passing through with a multi meter. If its just small, say 2 amps, you can just wire into the tailights and say if theres a 15 amp fuse, you might need to go to a little higher to 17.5 or 20, but no higher, because the rest of the wire wasn't designed to handle more than whats stock. If you wan't good bright heavy duty lights, run a seperate FUSED line appropriate for your application directly from the battery source. The fuse should be right at the source, very short lead, and put a length of wire guard around it up to the fuse. I see people run like a foot before the fuse and thats NG. Also, I'm checking into the led lights, I think they would not draw too much and last real long, but I have no experience with them. Hope some of this helps

 

I have Recon bedlights in my truck. I have a toggle switch (main on/off) and a pin switch. This way, when I open my toneau, the lights come on. The hot wire comes from under the dash and is fused.

 

took mine off the tail lamp parking light wire, and I put a secondary switch inside the bed so it is not on all the time I am running the headlights. There is a tie down anchor inside the bed attached with hex nuts. Loosened one and installed a standard metal house lightswitch box with a waterproof switch plate. Hides all the connections and is sturdy; joins the wire from the tail-light to a 12v rope light strung around the bed.

12volt rope light is plentiful on e-bay, works well and draws little, but an inline fuse at the tail lamp is a good idea.

Good luck.

 

this type of product is real easy to run under the bed rails once, twice or three times around depending how much light you want and is avail. on E-bay if you shop around.
Works great.
Rope Light - Christmas Lights, Etc

 

I had the local trailer center order the recon lights for me and when it came to installing them underneath the rails, they were too wide to fit (box liner in there too).
Instead of telling me the wouldn't fit, the tech decided to mount them along the side of the box, about a foot down from the rail
Was I pissed!
The manager said he hoped I wouldn't hold one bad mistake against them.
Never again.
I still don't have lights installed. The rope lights might just do the trick.

gordo777

 

I've pre-wired my box area already...

I'm running a dual fused wiring pigtail assembly
1st set:
12v+ going to a 30amp Heavy/Continuous duty relay using my interior dome/cargo lamp as a trigger. (depeding on what you use 30 maybe too much; this was the only one I have in my boxes)

2nd set:
Is 12v+ running to a 30amp Master On-Off-Bypass switch.
**which allows me to switch the light on for working in the cargo area or have it switch on/off with the dome/cargo light **

 

i used 12v rope light (real cheap on EBAY) off the parking lamp wire, with an inline switch (so it is not on constantly every time you use the headlights) and you can turn it on with the key fob at night...just set the delay headlights to 60 sec. A minute is usually long enough to pack your cargo in the dark, and if not just click the key fob again.

 

Guys, help me out here. What's wrong with the cargo light? Isn't that what it's for? Is it not bright enough?

 

if you have a rigid cover and half of it is closed, its pretty dark underneath

 

Ah, OK, I understand that. Thanks.

 

Its funny that someone else was thinking about this too. I have been mulling over this idea ever since I bought my hard tonneau cover. A few weeks ago, I was at my wife's work (major auto parts store) and I noticed that they had some Streetglow neon underbody kits on clearance. I got a white kit for $20. It has 2-48" bulbs and 2-24" bulbs. They fit perfectly under the bed rails. I can't fit the 48" and the 24" lights on one side, so I'm going to use the 48" (they are plenty bright).

Anyways, I was thinking of using power from the cargo light to turn on a relay for the neons and using a pin switch, but also having a switch so I could turn them on or off seperately from the dome light. That way I could turn them off if I ever take my tonneau cover off, but they would turn on if I opened my cover.

Now I just have to get my butt out there before it gets cold and nasty (it IS October AND Nebraska) to get it wired up.