Wiring LED bed lights, does the wiring look good?

[Mossyoakglock]

I'm wanting to wire some LED lights in my bed to a switch but wanted somebody with more electrical experience to let me know if the wiring looks good?

 

Since I am going to be connecting to the 12V at the trailer plug, do I need to put an inline fuse in even though it is already fused at the fuse box under the hood? Also, what gauge wire should I use?

 

Also, do I need to ground both the lights and the switch or just one or the other or just wire it up like the drawing?

 

[govener71]

Yes it looks good. Especially if you use LEDs because they draw so little. I like that your running it from the trailer pig tail. If I were you I would even add the switch and use both the trailer lights and ground all found in the 5 pin harness. But thats just me and I don't drive with my park lights on often. If you do the switch is a good idea.

[HARD CORE]

I just did the exact same thing to mine yesterday . Except my switch had no ground , just used it to break the hot wire connection . Used the constant hot wire on the trailer plug . Grounded it to the frame . And used no fuse , since the trailer plug is on a fuse already ... Plus the fact these led lights hardly use any power draw at all.... I think it came out real nice , lots of light at night under my new bed cover.

 

J.D.

 

Fyi .. Love the bed cover I put on last week .they gave me free duel locks for being a member here .

[Mossyoakglock]

What gauge wire would be best to use?

[Muffled]

I am planning on doing this also, but I thought would tap into the cargo light and use its switch. There wuld be only one wire as the ground could be at any point on the bed.

[walkerc2]

I documented this exact install with pictures.

 

Installing custom (but inexpensive) Bed lights in 2013 Silverado

I started this project because I wanted to fill the (2) ¾” holes in the back of my bed. My thought process was why not add some lights in those holes and get 2 things for the price of one. I was able to locate ¾” LED lights on Amazon that fit perfectly into the existing holes. I added 8’ of 18 ga. Wire to each of the wires on the LED Bulbs (more than enough).

Now it was time to wire everything together and add a switch on the back of the truck somewhere that is easy to access. I found a WaterProof Switch on Amazon and had two spools of 18 gauge wire in my possession already. These ¾” holes are meant to bolt something in your Stake Pocket and since I have Bull Ring Stake Pocket Anchors installed, I will never use these holes. I removed the back anchors to gain access to the pockets and installed the LED’s with the extended wires and routed them through the hole in the bottom of the pocket. I then routed the wires down and along an existing wire loom and tie wrapped it to the loom on both sides and had them terminate near the 7-wire trailer connector.

I did lower the spare to give me more room to maneuver under the bed

I removed the existing electrical tape on the end of the wire loom and pulled it away from the wires. I then cut about 4” off the end of the loom and then re-attached that 4” piece to the wires all the way at the end giving me 2” to 3” inch window to attach the wires and switch to. In the Trailer wiring harness the Red with black stripe is the Positive (+) and the White is the Ground (-). The LED lights have a positive (+) wire which is Black and the negative (-) which is White. Since I did not have a spool of White wire I used Red to extend the White wire. I chose the Trailering Wire harness because there is a constant power source. I used a 3M connector to attach the ground (White wire extended with Red) to the White wire in the loom.

Finally I drilled a 3/8” hole in the plastic portion of the rear bumper to mount the switch.

I used crimp connectors to attach the Black (+) wire to the switch and added a short piece of black wire to the other wire from the switch to extend it and attach it to the Red w/Black Stripe wire in the trailer harness. Push the button and now you have light.

I purchased a 16’ strip of LED lights that I am going to install under the bed rails so it lights up the bed completely. I will use the wiring I put in already and simply attach these strips to it as LED lights draw very little amperage. I will update the instructions once that is completed.

[Mossyoakglock]

Here are the lights I ordered from Amazon last night.

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WJN4OO4?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00

 

What size wire should I use? Do I need to fuse the wire from the trailer plug to the switch since the trailer plug is already fused at the underhood fuse box? If so what size fuse?