Bed Underrail Lighting

[masonbid]

Put the new wire that is exposed under the bed in wire loom and route it to the other side where the switch is.

 

 

Tap into the positive and negative wires for the trailer harness with the T-Taps. Put some wire loom on this wire as well.

 

 

Secure the wire loom under the bed with zip ties.

 

 

With all the wires in behind the tail light you can begin soldering all the correct wires together.

Positive power from the trailer harness to one side of the switch.

Other end of the switch to the positive wire on the LED strips.

Negative wire from the LED strip to the negative wire on the trailer harness.

 

 

Wrap all solder points so they will not corrode or rust.

Finish off your project by making sure all wires and wire loom is secure and hidden.

Replace the tail lights and make sure not to crimp and wires.

 

Stand back and admire your hard work. Flip the switch and imagine how easy it will now be to find cargo in the bed when it is dark out.

 

These pictures below are when I only had one side done up a while back. I will get some new pictures when it gets darker out. As you can see, with only 1 LED strip, it lights up the bed pretty good.

 

 

 

Good luck for anyone else wanting to perform this modification to there vehicle!

 

Thanks Mitch for starting this thread and actually getting the project done before I could.

[Ranger]

Nice write up...Is the trailer connector constant power? I was under the impression it would only have 12v power if the brake/reverse/turn lights were active.

[masonbid]

Nice write up...Is the trailer connector constant power? I was under the impression it would only have 12v power if the brake/reverse/turn lights were active.

 

You need to have the right fuse in place under the hood for stud 1.

The diagram on the harness shows +12 and ground so I just tapped off them.

And then there is the rest of the trailer functions such as brake lights/signals.

[Ranger]

So you've basically tapped into the RV 12v+ power, which is meant to charge a breakaway battery on heavy trailers...Does it work with the key out?

 

And this definitely may help speed up my rear view camera upgrade, as I did not want to run a power line all the way up to my fuse box...

[97SierraGMC]

The Recon kit for 100 bucks is worth it too though.. ive put about 5 kits in and they are NICE, very well built not cheap thin wires either.

 

In those pics up there it doesn't look like you used a t-tap the right way, and no offense but it doesn't look like you secured the wires very well. Electrical tape sucks, as for water/weather proofing liquid electrical tape or undercoat followed by electrical tape is what i do for customers trucks and never had one come back in. I would also put a fuse in so if it would short out it doesn't take out your 7 way power as well.

 

I dont know if you followed up since the pics but those are a couple things i would fix...

[Ranger]

The 7 way power has a 30-40 amp fuse right at the box, and I don't think the LEDs can produce anywhere near enough amperage to trip that...

 

I would/will solder, heat shrink, AND tape up all connections.

[97SierraGMC]

it will if the power wire shorts out.... And leave a nice burn mark

[masonbid]

I thought about just soldering right onto the power and ground without t-taps.

I did run out of liquid electrical tape so when i get more i may just go back and redo that. as for now it looks pretty good.

 

It still works when the key isnt in the ignition. I wanted this more for camping but it will be nice for everyday around the city stuff too.

I dont tow anything so I have no problem regarding that.

I have self sealing silicone tape that I may use to seal the connections too. It was getting cold again and couldn't stand working outside anymore.

 

Until another warm weekend to touch up my work.

[coffeeman2881]

very nice

[07gregLT1]

Here is my custom under rail light. Mitch used my ideas from my original post.

 

I will now give another step by step on how to do this.

 

Materials Needed:

Zip Ties

Zip Tie Bases

Led Strip

Wire

Heatshrink

T-Tap

Wire Loom

Paint

Adhesive Sealant

Electrical Tape

 

where dod you buy that LED strip? i like it! except when a few go out, you have to replace the whole thing instead of one lil strip. but im guessing that was pretty cheap!

[mfennema]

You can buy strips like these off of ebay really really cheap. Thats where I got mine.

[Skert71]

I'm curious what kind of connectors did you guys use on the ends of your LEDs? I'm going to attempt this and can't seem to find the pieces that attaches the wires to the LEDs. Sorry for the dumb question but I really would like to do this and don't want to mess up my install. Thanks.

 

Nick

[Nargg]

I just bought one of these to install my lights sometime this week.

 

http://www.autoanything.com/towing/75A3875A0A0.aspx

 

 

I'll just cut off the 4 pin plug and use the power wires for the lights. Easy to remove if I ever needed to also. Should make this install a piece of cake.

[STINSAN3]

Thats awesome!

[jblaylock]

So I attemped this modification today. I have everything installed and the wiring is correct, but I do not get any power from the rear trailer harness. I confirmed it does work with a small battery.

 

I was under the impression that the rear trailer harness was under constant power. Does it have something to do with the plug, or is there another trick to this. I'd rather not run a wire all the way back from the battery if I dont have to. Any help?