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I tried to find them online, they may only be an in store item, as I did not find them online. here is a photo of the package.
The problem with this setup is as soon as the battery cell starts to lose voltage and operated in a cold environment they will die shortly after. Dry cells don't work good in cold weather, period.
The problem with this setup is as soon as the battery cell starts to lose voltage and operated in a cold environment they will die shortly after. Dry cells don't work good in cold weather, period.
True story there, that is a drawback as they will need to have the batteries replaced when they get low. So winter times where it gets cold, they will die quicker! Costco also sells the big packs of batteries.
Finally got around to doing my own bed lights. I was going to buy a kit that would wire up to the truck, but after seeing another members install of a different approach, I decided to do what he did.
Now I can't for the life of me remember where I saw this post or who did it, but he purchased a 12V battery pack off of Amazon that had it's own switch and wired it up to LED light strips. This way I dodn't have to splice into the factory wiring at all, it's not permanent, and it's super easy to do.
The battery pack is attached to the upper driver-side corner of the bed by the tailgate so the switch is easily accessible. It's held on with velcro and is up and out of the way. The light strips are on the rails to my bed cover.
Here is mine. Quick and easy, down and dirty. 2 LED strips from Amazon at 11.00 each. Wired into the cargo / dome light on the drivers side door sil. Gray wire with purple tracer.
Finally got around to doing my own bed lights. I was going to buy a kit that would wire up to the truck, but after seeing another members install of a different approach, I decided to do what he did.
Now I can't for the life of me remember where I saw this post or who did it, but he purchased a 12V battery pack off of Amazon that had it's own switch and wired it up to LED light strips. This way I dodn't have to splice into the factory wiring at all, it's not permanent, and it's super easy to do.
The battery pack is attached to the upper driver-side corner of the bed by the tailgate so the switch is easily accessible. It's held on with velcro and is up and out of the way. The light strips are on the rails to my bed cover.
Wired it all up and it came out awesome!
Did you run the lights on both side and the back of the bed as one piece? Or did you run separate light strip and connect them?
Also please let me know how the battery does when you find out since it say to charge it 10 hour for full charge.
I was finally able to take some pictures tonight of my set up. I ran a 12 gauge wire from the battery to the back of the truck so I could have power for future electrical mods and I didn't want to run the bed lights to the cargo lights for the sake of not having to mash the unlock button while I'm working on something lol. I installed a waterproof fuse holder a couple inches from the battery with a 5 amp fuse (it was the lowest amperage fuse I had on hand). I used about 15 feet of split loom to protect the wire until I reached the back of the truck. I cut my led light strips about 53" long, I have a 5.5' bed, it could have been a couple of inches longer but I wanted to play it safe. I used Gorilla super glue gel every 2" or so to hold the strips up. As always, the pics don't do it justice. Sorry for the crappy night pics, if anyone has any questions or wants more/better pics, comment or pm me.
Heres with the lights on
I mounted the switch in the existing hole on the side of the bed stake pocket. From behind you cannot see the switch. The back of the switch is about 1/2" in diameter and fit in the hole without drilling, it had a plastic nut that I used with a large washer and it is in there securely. It does light red when turned on but you can't really see it because it is hidden. I picked it up at radioshack for around $4
I ran the wires through the small hole in the upper corner of the bed a couple inches above the switch
This is with the lights off. I mounted the light strip just below the bed rail cover clips
Finally got mine put in. Its base is the $20 bedlight kit from Walmart. This kit has 8 led pucks with 6 leds in each. They come together and have a plug to plug into your trailer lights. It can be wired into 12V and that is exactly what I did. I placed them with the 3m tape they came with, ran 14g wire from the battery with a fuse and put a waterproof switch in the bed. I placed it inside the back lip so that it won't get hit when I put stuff in the bed.
A pressure switch! Brilliant! I just installed the lights into the bed over this past weekend, but haven't hooked them up to anything. Any chance you could advice on that pressure switch setup? I was just going to tie into the cargo light, but I like that switch idea better.
-I just realized this post is 103 pages long. My bad, I'll go back and read for the pressure-switch setup.
02-25-2016, 06:11 PM
