Truck bed lighting

[HONDABBQ]

I was loading the bed a few nights ago for the first time in the dark. I dropped the MPT and the lights were on. It was great. 

Then the lights went out. I had to press the button in my fib again to regain lighting. Had to do this a few times to finish loading. 

 

Is there a way way to get the lights to stay on longer than a few minutes with the tailgate down? 

[19sierra53]

Ya, turn your cargo light switch on. Its on the left of your dash by the fog light switch

[wacnstac]

Would have been sweet if there was a button on the FOB for this.

[HONDABBQ]

32 minutes ago, 19sierra53 said:

Ya, turn your cargo light switch on. Its on the left of your dash by the fog light switch

I saw that but assumed it was for the top cargo light. 

 

[19sierra53]

Nope, box lights too and also the LED by the tailgate handle, or button i guess you would say now

[HONDABBQ]

23 minutes ago, 19sierra53 said:

Nope, box lights too and also the LED by the tailgate handle, or button i guess you would say now

It does seem a little silly to have to go in the truck to hit that light switch to turn them on long term. 

[redwngr]

1 hour ago, HONDABBQ said:

It does seem a little silly to have to go in the truck to hit that light switch to turn them on long term. 

Pressing the button in the cab more than once will change which lights are on: 

 

- Initial Press:
- CHMSL/Cargo Bed Lights - On
- Cargo Mirror Lights - On
- Cargo Switch Indicator (if equipped) - On

 

- Next Press: (if with in 5 seconds of the previous button press):
- CHMSL/Cargo Bed Lights - On
- Cargo Mirror Lights - Off
- Cargo Switch Indicator (if equipped) - On

 

- Next Press:
- CHMSL/Cargo Bed Lights - Off
- Cargo Mirror Lights - Off
- Cargo Switch Indicator (if equipped) - Off

[Ryno12]

The poor bed lighting was one of my first annoyances with the new trucks. There should be a switch inside the tailgate to turn them on.

I ultimately installed aftermarket LED strip lighting under each rail & wired it into the trailering plug wiring and added a switch by the grab handle.

[DuRsT]

Very nice solution.

 

My '17 F250 had a button in the bed that turned on the bed led's which was awesome.  It is still my favorite truck ever, just won't fit in my garage.

[Troger]

20 hours ago, Ryno12 said:

The poor bed lighting was one of my first annoyances with the new trucks. There should be a switch inside the tailgate to turn them on.

I ultimately installed aftermarket LED strip lighting under each rail & wired it into the trailering plug wiring and added a switch by the grab handle.

Nice, can you share how you ran the wiring and how you wired them to the trailer plug?

[Ryno12]

Nice, can you share how you ran the wiring and how you wired them to the trailer plug?

I removed the grab handle & behind it is a grommet. I fed the wires through the grommet & over to the back of the trailer plug located in the box. (I have an HD). From there, I removed the plug and disconnected the 12v hot lead & ground wire from the plug & made the connection to the LED light strip there. Once the connection was made, I put the plug back together and popped it back in place.
If you don’t have the box mounted plug, you can just run the wires further down to the standard trailer plug by the receiver.

[Troger]

2 minutes ago, Ryno12 said:

I removed the grab handle & behind it is a grommet. I fed the wires through the grommet & over to the back of the trailer plug located in the box. (I have an HD). From there, I removed the plug and disconnected the 12v hot lead & ground wire from the plug & made the connection to the LED light strip there. Once the connection was made, I put the plug back together and popped it back in place.
If you don’t have the box mounted plug, you can just run the wires further down to the standard trailer plug by the receiver.

Thanks for the info.  Another project for me to work on.

[ILSilverado]

On 2/23/2020 at 4:32 PM, wacnstac said:

Would have been sweet if there was a button on the FOB for this.

Yea or how about one in the bed?

[Troger]

For some reason my LED bed lights that i installed flash every 5 or so seconds when my running lights are off (they are wired to be on when the running lights are on).

I wired them with a CURT 56584 wiring harness to avoid cutting or splicing any factory wiring harness and used the running light wire and ground to power the LED bed lights.

When I switch them on with the running lights on they also flash about 7 times then they finally power on normally.  Does anyone have an idea why they would flash? 

 

[Troger]

Looks like the running light source has some monitor/power activity even when powered off.  Guess I will have to run power for the bed lights to the 7 way 12v constant and just remember to turn off the switch when not in use.  Either that or run them constant with a relay to the factory bed lights.