So I have some strips of leds and was going to add them around the bed. I was tinkering with a set last night and tried to splice in behind the switch in the bed for the factory leds. They acted real funny and were very dim. I thought man these suck. Before I tossed them I touched them to the motorcycle battery and they lit up nice and bright. They are 12 volt. Figured this would be simple.
Am I correct I can tap in to the switch to install and it should work fine? Maybe bad connections? They lit but just barely.

 

Sounds like a ground issue. My trailer lights did the same thing when the ground wires were corroded. Check the connections and try again.

 

Are you splicing into the existing light or the existing switch?? At the switch you will have a hot feed in and a switched leg out to the light.. At the light you will have what you need, a switched leg and a ground..
You probably already know this but I just thought I'd check..

Joe

 

I figured that the light would be better place to access I just can't get them to pop off. I know there is pin in the bottom but I think the linex is stuck to it too. I'm afraid there just gonna snap. On the back of the switch after removing tape there is two wires and a thicker wire or possibly more than one in another tube.

Wiring and electrical never been my strong suite but didnt think these would be too hard. I'll play around again today.
Thanks for the pointers.

 

Definitely check your ground.. When I did mine I tapped into the hot (switched leg) on the light itself and ran a separate ground to the frame down below.

If you take the tail light off you can unplug the wires going to the bed light, check them with a meter and tap in to the one that becomes hot when you turn the switch on..

I've been using posi-taps and they work real well..

Joe

 

Got it all figured out wired and taped up. Then stupidly I made the cut on the end of the leds with them on and they all turned off including the factory led bed lamps. Now I assume a fuse is blown but dont see a fuse for them in the manual. I checked #1 in the passenger box and its good. All my lights on that fuse are working too.

Does anyone know where the fuse is for these?

 

Couldnt find the fuse but started the truck to pull it out of the garage and hit the cargo light button in the cab and everything lit right up! Now the switch in the bed works again too. They look pretty good and the go out by dimming still like the factory ones. Pretty simple now that I know what I am doing. I finally found a use for these led strips. I have like 20 kits One strip went the whole perimeter of my short bed. I stuck it to underside of the rails down the sides and on the underside of bed cover across the front. I have a bak mx4 I doubt I will ever need to fully remove the cover.

 

[QUOTE=Banes150;4767590]Couldnt find the fuse but started the truck to pull it out of the garage and hit the cargo light button in the cab and everything lit right up! Now the switch in the bed works again too. They look pretty good and the go out by dimming still like the factory ones. Pretty simple now that I know what I am doing. I finally found a use for these led strips. I have like 20 kits One strip went the whole perimeter of my short bed. I stuck it to underside of the rails down the sides and on the underside of bed cover across the front. I have a bak mx4 I doubt I will ever need to fully remove the cover.

You donating or selling some of the kits?

 

Will probably sell some of them.

 

Let me know if you do. I may be interested if the price was right.