2005 F-150...

I'm thinking about installing my bedlights... Is there not a 'pin' in the factory towing harness that is always hot (without keyed ignition on)?

Second option -- run power from the fuse box?

 

According to the wiring diagram, the Orange wire should be hot at all times, granted that you have the trailer relay installed.

 

Hmm... My relay is installed. Let me grab my test light and run back out there...

Thanks bamorris!

 

Hey RP what kind of light set up are you thinking about going with? I'm thinking about doing some bedlights myself. I like the way Josiah did his but not exactly sure how to wire it up.

 

... doesn't seem to be hot. Would that have something to do with my controller being currently installed (Prodigy)?

Going with LED strips from Oznium -- at least initially. I don't want a 'glow bright' back there... just something to throw some light and a mounting location that is very inconspicuous.

 

The key being on picks the relay. There would be no point for a relay otherwize. Older Ford's and GM are hot always. (exceptions allowed )

 

pull a lead off of the battery. use a switch and relay setup just to be safe. shouldnt be too hard, just might take a little more wire.

 

Thanks guys...

I went out there and experimented a bit and realized that the key must be on for the ORANGE to be hot... kind of defeats the purpose for what I want to do with this set up...

So, my options at this point are off the block or off of the battery... Oh well, I was looking for an easy out on this mod... not that any of it is really that difficult... just more time consuming.

Thanks!!! All help is much appreciated!!!!!

 

RP,

No, there is nothing that's hot all the time back there as far as I can tell from my Owner's Manual. All hope is not lost though. One very convenient hot location happens to exist within your tail light assemblies. True, none of these wires is hot all of the time, but if you tapped into your parking light circuit, you'd have power whenever your parking lights were on. I'm assuming that you only need bed lights when it's dark, so ... This also would avoid the possible problem of you leaving your bed lights on when you've left the truck since your lights will shut off by themselves. As far as additional current draw goes, LEDs draw very little. At most, you might have to add a fuse with a slightly greater rating - say 2 amps. Hope that helps.

Now, if you could scare up Quintin or somebody to help me with my LCD Backlight problem ... Happy Holidays!

 

Thanks bud! Much appreciated...

I think I've resigned to running an add-a-fuse off of the fuse block and bringing it back to the rear of the truck. I may even run a little 'beefier' wire back there so I can power up 'other' stuff if I wish -- maybe a female 12v cig plug (just not sure where to mount it if I do that).

 

One second thought... ONE MORE QUESTION....

Are the power locks ALWAYS hot? If so, I have a power lock on my ARE lid -- I suppose I could tap power there if I wanted.

Any insight?

 

Are the power locks "always hot?" Hmmm, as far as I know, power locks are a solenoid triggered by a signal from your transmitter(s). That would not make them "always hot" in my book - although you should have power running to a solenoid someplace. Time to whip out the test light again!

As for running a heavier gage wire so you could install a lighter plug back there, be careful. You can certainly do that, but you can plug some serious stuff into a lighter plug. If I recall correctly, the lighter circuits on most vehicles are fused at 25 or 30 amps. You're going to need some serious wire diameter (due to the length and resistance) if you do that. I'd probably run a lead right from my battery with an in-line circuit breaker if I did that.

Hope that helps!

 

Definitely does...

I'm not going to turn this into another powr slider install but, I still have a confidence level that is similar in comparison to then... LMAO!

This one should be much easier though... I hope.

 

RP, I installed some rope lights on a regular old pin switch in the back of Skagel's truck years ago. (the switch was out of a '90 Ranger... any auto parts store should have them) I mounted the standard 12V pin switch to the mounting frame of the ARE lid right at the back. I drilled two holes in a piece of angle iron, mounted the switch in one and pop-rivited the bracket to the cover's frame. I also installed a 2-wire plug so one could disconnect the switch if/when that cover was ever removed. (although I highly doubt that bed will ever see the light of day :rolleyes )

As for the power source, as everyone mentioned, there is no hot source back there. However, I ran a separate pair of wires in the same piece of split tubing as the power tailgate lock since I had to fish that back there anyways. I fed it from a fuse connected to the starter solenoid on the firewall. The wire ran from the solenoid, up into the channel that hid the rest of the loom across the top of the firewall, then down the driver's side with the OEM loom, and along the outside of the frame rail to the tailgate. I've never been under an '04-up, but I would suspect there is a similar OEM loom for the trailer towing, taillights, and fuel pump harness.

At the back, I ran the wiring up behind the taillight and made all the connections out of the weather and stashed them behind the taillight out of sight. I also attached the wiring and the lights right to the ARE's frame, again, so should it ever be removed, the lights went too. I fished the wiring through the hollow frame between the switch and the first light, and ran the wiring in a loom across the front of the ARE frame at the front of the bed, again, so it was out of sight.

If you contact her, she may be willing to snap a few pictures of it. Regretfully, I never snagged any pictures of my workmanship.

-Joe

edit: Another thought: If you wanted always hot power at the back of the truck with the key off, you could replace the trailer tow relay with an identical one that was normally closed instead of normally open. The lights would always be out with the key on and always have power with the key off. The other option would be to bypass the relay all together and just use a couple of spade connectors to jump the appropriate terminals on the plug where the TT relay connects. (I have a co-worker who did that to power the light in his cap) The only drawback is that if you ever pulled a trailer that used that lighting circuit, it would be able to run the truck's battery dead as the trailer would no longer be isolated from the truck when the key is off.

 

Told ya... I think your best bet would be to buy one of the remote mount cigarette 12V power outlet kits for the bed, and run that and tap into that wire.