I want to install lighting under my bed rails and was wondering what is a good power source? I was thinkling I could tap into the tail lights but does anyone have other suggestions?

Thx

 

I don't have anything good to add here except for in my truck I have some wires close to the rear of the bed on the driver's side. I think they are from a bed top. So try looking for wiring for a bed top and see if you can't piggy back off of that.

 

I'm sure somebody has added bed rail lights to their truck before right? I was looking for a source that is either hot all the time or when the parking lights are on. I was going to run from there to a switch.

 

What is the AMP draw on the lights ?

I would use the trailer tow adapter parking lamp circuit, just so they are not on the truck's parking lamps ( for load as well as if you have an issue with them ).

The other option is to use the trailer tow adapter battery charge circuit, but this is only hot in the run position of the key.

 

Any idea which wire that is in the harness?

 

12 gauge red wire if you have a 7 pin harness, if not trace it back to the frame rail below the drivers tail light

powered by 30a fuse F1.108

 

I'm using marine rope lighting that I picked up at Cabelas, there is no indication of what the amprage draw is anywhere on the packaging.

Thanks for the info on the trailer harness wiring!

 

do you have a wattage rating on the package?

 

33 watt

 

W = V x A

So 33W / 12V = ~3A . If they're rated at 14V, it's closer to 2.5A . If you run 2 ropes, that's 5-6A. So you need a 10A fuse tied to a circuit that can handle an extra 7A. That's too much to add to the stock lighting circuit safely, so you need to add one.

I'd use a standard Bosch/ISO relay.
85 - ground
86 - courtesy lighting, splice into the cargo light on the back of the cab or the feed from the LCM
87 - ropes
30 - a new 10A fuse

Read these captions:


I'd put the relay under the dash near the fuse block and tap the LCM.

 

Thanks, thats very helpful!

 

could you power lights directly to the battery? and would you have to use an inline fuse? I am looking at doing this but was just curious as to the best way to wire it. Yes i have searched but came up with nothing.

 

MGD

 

I know every post on have on this, the suggestion is inline fuse as close to the battery as possible.

The fuse should be sized to the wire, with both are for the load to be 80% of the max current draw.

This means for 2 x 55W = 110 W / 12.6 V = 8.73 A, so a 10 A fuse is more than enough.

The power and ground, 16 AWG ( using 105* F automotive wire ) would cover the wire size, if you are using THHN wire from Home Depot or the likes, you would use 14 AWG ( THHN is 90* rated wire, and the load is spec'd at 70 or less, at the high side, the ampacity of the wire is derated, so 16 AWG THHN is not a good size for this example ).

Don't forget that direct to the battery means you can kill the battery, where the 7 pin adapter ( if equip'd ) is ho tin the run position only, so they cannot kill the battery if accidentally left on.

 

That is the result of not having recall 05S28 for the Speed Control Deactivation Switch completed

That is one hot fire, the siding is melting and shrinking to the point of tearing itself ( vinyl I would guess ).

Myself, I would not be close enough to get a cell phone or std point and shoot camera to take that picture, the gas tank is next