Bed lighting

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Cody Templeton

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i didnt want to use up an aux switch that i would use once a year at most. plus if i forgot about it the only thing that would happen is the lights dont turn on when i lowered the tailgate

Yes, I decided to use your idea for the magnetic switch as well and purchased the Directed part number you had listed above off Amazon for it. Thank you for that! Also, I have the LVJ Motorsports 6-switch overhead panel that sits above the sunglasses holder in my truck, so I've got tons of switch options. Not too worried about using up one of the positions for these since I still have the lower 4 switches too. Just wanting to make sure I can turn them on and off from the various places I may need to.
 

The Car Stereo Company

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Yes, I decided to use your idea for the magnetic switch as well and purchased the Directed part number you had listed above off Amazon for it. Thank you for that! Also, I have the LVJ Motorsports 6-switch overhead panel that sits above the sunglasses holder in my truck, so I've got tons of switch options. Not too worried about using up one of the positions for these since I still have the lower 4 switches too. Just wanting to make sure I can turn them on and off from the various places I may need to.
trust me you will run out of swiches. i have an overhead set of six, plus 8 i cut into the right side of the steering wheel, and the oem 4. all are being used. i have never used the bed lights with the tailgate closed, but if you really need them on, you can wire a switch inline somewhere in the bed.
 
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Cody Templeton

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trust me you will run out of swiches. i have an overhead set of six, plus 8 i cut into the right side of the steering wheel, and the oem 4. all are being used. i have never used the bed lights with the tailgate closed, but if you really need them on, you can wire a switch inline somewhere in the bed.
That is also true and I could do that. I've got some thinking time this week before I work on it again. :)
 

BlueOvalF22

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Just find the cargo light wire and use it to trigger a relay if you have a bunch of bed lighting. If it's low amperage just piggyback on the cargo light circuit.

Relay terminals

1. Cargo light wire
2. 12 trailer charge/power lead from the Tow package loom
3. Chassis Ground
4. 12v trailer/charge lead from the Tow package loom
5. 12V + to bedlights.
 
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Cody Templeton

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Just find the cargo light wire and use it to trigger a relay if you have a bunch of bed lighting. If it's low amperage just piggyback on the cargo light circuit.

Relay terminals

1. Cargo light wire
2. 12 trailer charge/power lead from the Tow package loom
3. Chassis Ground
4. 12v trailer/charge lead from the Tow package loom
5. 12V + to bedlights.

Yea, you could use the cargo light feed, but if I just run a 12v feed from the battery back there to the magnetic switch then it'll work whenever I drop the tailgate, or I can have them on manually with one of my overhead switches, or I can use the remote for them to turn them off with the tailgate down.
 

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Yea, you could use the cargo light feed, but if I just run a 12v feed from the battery back there to the magnetic switch then it'll work whenever I drop the tailgate, or I can have them on manually with one of my overhead switches, or I can use the remote for them to turn them off with the tailgate down.
You already have a 12v feed back there.

 
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Cody Templeton

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Holy crap I finally got this done. MAN what a pain that was, took like a day and a half.

I ended up running 2 16AWG wires to the rear. One was straight from the positive battery terminal with a heavy duty inline fuse holder right off the battery terminal eyelet, and the other was from AUX1 on my LVJ 6-position overhead panel (these are already fused). I followed the factory harness all the way from the right front corner to the left tail lamp, and also wrapped all the non-factory wiring with braided wire loom, which REALLY sucked to get wrapped in certain areas, especially running over the fuel tank area above the frame.

All of the wiring for the RGB controller, the extra wiring from the RGB strips, the power and ground leads for the RGB controller, and the wires from the magnetic switch are all hidden behind the left tail lamp in the "pocket," which worked great because it's nice and clean looking. I ended up just grounding the RGB controller with a self tapping screw in the tail lamp pocket. The controller is fed by the two power feeds. One is run with the first switch on the LVJ 6-postion overhead panel, which turns the bed lights on whenever the key power is on, and the other is wired to a magnetic switch located inside the left tailgate jamb which feeds the controller power when the tailgate is opened and cuts power when closed. This setup allows the bed lights to be turned on with the tail gate closed by using the overhead switch panel but also to be automatically turned on when the tail gate is opened. Also, the bed lights can be turned off with the tail gate down simply by using the remote for the RGB controller. The RGB controller reverts to the last setting the lights were on even when the power is cut.

The magnetic switch took a lot of measuring, mounting, re-checking clearance, spacing the switches, drilling some small holes for the wires, etc. Once it was all properly mounted though it works perfect. Besides trying to get the wires properly sheathed this was probably one of the most time intensive things to get right. The remote for the RGB controller simply velcros to the left swing case for easy access to it. I can control the RGB strips without pulling the remote off the swing case, or I can take the remote off the case if I'm camping in the bed and still run them.

Overall I'm very happy with how it turned out, even if it was a large pain in the ass. The setup turned out very clean looking and very functional. I now also have a 16AWG fused lead back there to tap into if I have another "small" item that needs powered. The RGB controller/strips have their own inline fuse behind the tail lamp as well.
 
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