I just wanted to post about my most recent mod. Thanks to the guys participating in the "Always "HOT" Power @ the Rear of the Truck?" Thread I was able to knock this mod out in about 2.5 hours. I really appreciate you guys and your sharing of knowledge.

Materials Used:
One (1) Fuse Tap from Radio Shack. I had to modify this with my Dremel Tool to make it fit with our smaller fuses.
Four (4) Flexible LED Strips from Oznium.com. I chose white.
Two (2) Prewired Superflux 4 Chip LEDs from Oznium.com
One (1) Round Rocker Switch from Oznium.com. I chose blue.
Velcro Extreme
About 75 feet of 14 Guage Wire
Wire Tubing purchased from O'Reilly
One (1) Inline Fuse purchased from O'Reilly
Misc. Wire Conectors / Heatshrink / Elec. Tape

Install Process:

• Disconnected the battery just to be safe
• Exposed the Fuse Box, and kick panels along the entire passenger side.
• Located the Grommet on the passenger side of the truck toward the back of the cab. You have to look under the truck to see it. It is about the size of a quarter. I pulled it and poked a small hole into it and fed my wire through it.
• Ran the wire from back to front in the kick panels until I reached the fuse box.
• Grabed a fuse tap and modified it. I had to make it "skinnier" on the side that plugs into the fuse box. I also trimmed the hook off of it. It is just a flat piece when I got done with it. It's in there tight, so I am not worried about it coming out.
• I cut the wire about 6 inches from the end and installed the inline fuse. I installed a 15A Fuse. I also attached a connector to the end of the wire to use to connect to the fuse tap.
• I installed the modified fuse tap into the fuse box and connected my wire to the tap.
• I was done in the cab. I left the fuse box open but did reinstall the kick panels in the door sills.
• I positioned myself under the truck. I reinstalled the grommet into the hols and "loosely" ran the wire from the grommet to the back tail light area.
• I put wire tube around the wire from front to back. I took about 9 feet of tubing.
• I zipped the wire in the tubing down along the frame until I reached the back. I was done underneath the truck for now.
• I opened up the SnugTop and the tailgate and removed the two bolts holding the passenger tail light in. I then removed the tail light. You have to apply a careful amount of force to get your tail light out. I did. It will come out, just move it toward the back bumper straight away from the truck. Unclip the lights and set them aside. They will get in your way if you don't.
• I ran my wire up the "column" where the tail light goes and out. Leave the wire there for now.
• I then grabbed my switch and got a guage of how it was going to fit in the hole that already exists on the inside of the rail on the backside of the tail light "column" that I spoke of above. It didn't fit, but was close. I grabbed the Dremel and worked about 10 circular motions on it using a grinding "bit". It fit snug so I gave it another pass or two and called it good.
• I then laid out the two LED strips on that side by laying them on the top of the bed rail. I aligned the wire and trimmed the end. I left that there for a bit.
• I then grabbed my drill with a 3/8 inch bit. I bore a hole about an inch from the bottom side of the bed rail for the wires to go into.
• I ran the LED Strip wires through this hole and out the hole the switch will go into.
• Now, to install my 4-chip LED "indicator" lights. I liked these lights for two reasons. First, they throw a lot of light right where you need it. At the back of the truck. Second, it will be nearly impossible for me to forget to turn the lights off with these in my eyes. I grabbed a scrap wood board and my drill bits that looked like they were the same size as the base of the 4-chip LED. I bore the first hole in the board and it was too big. I grabbed the next bit and it was perfect. It looked to be about 3/8 as well, but I am not positive as these are an old school bit set handed down to me from my wife's grandfather. Sizes not marked.

 

• Once I had the bit size figured out, I then figured out where to install these two 4-chip LEDs. I picked about 2 inches from where the lock bracket is for my SnugTop, which is about 5 inches from the back of the bedrail.
• I bore the hole for these and ran the light through it. I then ran the wire through the wire hole and out the switch hole.
• I then started to wire this up to test things out on the passenger side. I grabbed the switch and stripped the wires. I connected the silver wires from the LED Strips to the Red Wire from the 4-chip LED and then to the switch at the #3 post. As a reference, the #1 is the black wire, which is ground, the #2 or middle position is where the power source attaches to, and #3 is to the lights. I connected the bronze wires from the LED strips to the black wire from the 4-chip and then to the ground wire of the switch.
• I connected the battery and ran a quick test and all was well. I had lights all around, including the LED in the switch.
• After the test, it was time to run a power wire over to the other side of the truck. I ran one down the column across the back side of the bumper and back up the driver’s side column. Obviously, I had to remove that tail light as well.
• I followed nearly the same steps with the LED strips on this side and wired things up the same way, leaving the ground wires connected to one another. I didn't have to bore a hole on this side. I used the same hole that I am using for the switch on the other side for my wires. I am not a fan of drilling unless I have to.
• I tested again and things were good. It was time to finalize the install.
• I grabbed my soldering iron and some solder and soldered all the wires together. I am not a fan of wire nuts, so I used heat shrink where others would normally use wire nuts.
• I ran the ground wires through the holes and out toward the tail light plugs. I exposed the black wire from both tail lights and used a wire tap to tap my ground wires to the black wire on the tail light plugs. Be sure to use the tail light itself and not the reverse light plugs.
• I ran all the wires into the columns and snapped the switch into place.
• After another quick test (ALL WAS STILL GOOD), I then took out my Velcro Extreme and trimmed two complete sets longways for the LED Strips. That gave me four total sets of skinny strips of Velcro.
• I attached them to the strips and then to the underside of the bed rail. They stuck really well. We'll see how they do in the middle of a 110 degree day in August.
• I then cut two more sets shortways in quarters. They were about 3/4 inch wide each. I used these to secure the wires to the underside of the bed rails. They also worked well.

One last flick of the switch and we were hot. I think the install looks good. The only exposed wires are near the switch on the passenger side and high on the column on the drivers side. I cannot see the LED Strips at all.
All done!

Here is a link to my flickr gallery which has all of the pics. Here are the before and after shots:

 

Looks good. Great job!!

 

Nice job!

 

Looks great.. I know what I am going to be ordering tomorrow..

What size Led strips did you use?

 

Did you put the switch in the same hole as I? You shouldn't have to bore it out if so.

 

man that looks nice good job

 

Nice write up! Looks good

 

Looks good... the color of your bed really keeps the light going (versus mine with the black bedliner). Nice write up too! This would be a definite candidate for 'REP points' but, Steve snubbed them.

 

nice

 

Very cool. I may need to re-run my power wire... I'm not very happy with the way I ran it, so I may need to re-do this part of the project. Didn't know you could go up through the passenger taillight!

 

that's an awesome install..think i'm going to do the same...

only question is....with the light switch in the bed, do you ever take your top off, and drive in the rain....meaning, is the switch water proof?

 

Murray,
I did actually think about this and since I have had the top I have never taken it off and don't think I would ever need to. If I did need to, I wouldn't be doing it on a day where it is raining. For example, to move something. That's why I went with that spot for the install of the switch.

If that were a concern, you could fabricate a bracket out of a piece of PVC or something and mount it under the rail where the exposure to the elements would be minimal.The LED Strips look to be weather resistant. I would not mount the 4-Chip LEDs in that scenario.

Thanks for the kind words everyone. If you have questions or thoughts on how this could be better, please ask. I definitely couldn't have done this without help from others on this forum, so it's my turn to reciprocate.

Dave

 

Are the LED's better than cathodes if you have a light color (silver) paint?

 

do u think that velcro extreme stuff would work on fender flares?.. i am tryin to install some fx4 flares with out drilling any holes or any screws...

thanks in advance for ur help..

-B.F.D.M.