With a hard bed cover, the real nice cargo lights are deemed useless. I want to install some additional lighting in the bed, but I don't like the Stylin' Concepts Truck Lights. I am playing with an LED rope light, but so far, I'm not happy with it.

What have others done for auxilary bed lighting? (funny - I first typed lightning by habit).

p.s. - I have a BedRug installed, if that matters for my options.

Thanks,
Herb

 

I just purchased a flexible LED stripe that I plan on mounting on the underside of the bed rail. I got it from this company:Radiantz . Puts out a decent amount of light and it will suit my needs. Maybe this is better then the LED rope lighting.

 

http://ftw.truckmoxie.com/mygallery....61-album-28870

9" neon tubes fit perfectly under each bedrail. hidden away out of sight and protected from anything hitting them.
www.thezeb.com for good prices on streetglow neon.

easy mod, and solves the problem. its alot brighter in person than in those pics, hard to get my camera to get good pics at night time

 

The only problem with neon lights is that they don't work very well in cold climates. If cold is not a problem then neon is a very good cheap choice. LED's on the other hand from what I understand are not temp sensitive. Now all a person needs to do is figure out a good switch, such a mercury switch activated by dropping the tail gate.

 

I plan to tap into the cargo lamp lead for my power and run that through a mercury ampule switch installed under the cover (similar to the underhood lamp). When the cover is raised, the light turns on - but only in conjuction with the cargo light. That way I can turn it on with my key fob unlock, as long as the cover is up.

Herb

 

With a mercury ampule switch installed, what happens if your parked on a hill, or a driveway? I would think if you installed a simple push-on/off button somewhere in the bed (possibly on a side rail?) that way you can turn it on only when you need to (when its dark)
Just a thought. I have been contimplating some ideas myself.

John

 

I agree. Keep it simple.
Check out your local RV center. There are countless styles of 12 volt lights.

I would not tap into the wiring system ether. Just take a fused wire and go underneath directly to the battery. Put a switch in the rear of the bed.

You could even buy a regular trouble light and shorten the cord. Put a 12 volt bulb in it and have it velcrowed out of the way.

Lot's of free advice here huh

 

I bought four funky little florescent lights that use either 4AA batteries or run off of DC 6Volt. Put Velcro on them, stuck them up under the bed rail, wired them to a step down DC convertor to 6 volts, placed a switch under the bed rail (hidden like the lights are) and went to the battery with a fused wire. Most expensive part was the convertor... the funky lights are about 4 bucks each... Home Depot.

I even used that neat wire wrap stuff under the truck to protect the wire from the bed to the battery.

I guess if you looked up under the bed rails you would think it is junky looking. But no one looks up under there.

Does the job.