I am looking for some good bed lights hopefully some that will go under the rail with little to no drilling. any and all help would be great. thanks

I was looking at putting led lights like the neons under cars. You can get 2x 36" and 2x 48" for under $100. Thats just an idea.

LED's would be cool, and low power draw!! I like it. next ? is were to get them?

i used some of these LED rope lights. i put one under each rail and they work perfectly. i used the red-backed 3m double sided tape (like the stuff that comes on vent visors) to mount the holder clips under the rail. any questions, let me know.

these are much cheaper than the rice burner neons or leds yall are talking about. and they are made to install in boats so they still stand up to the weather.

Cabela's Marine Rope Lighting (http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/vertical-item.jhtml?id=0022913016310a&navAction=jump&navCount=2&indexId=cat600053&podId=0022913&catalogCode=IF&parentId=cat600053&parentType=index&rid=&cmCat=search&hasJS=true)

http://a1460.g.akamai.net/f/1460/1339/6h/www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/content/Item/01/63/10/i016310vr01.jpg

i used some of these LED rope lights. i put one under each rail and they work perfectly. i used the red-backed 3m double sided tape (like the stuff that comes on vent visors) to mount the holder clips under the rail. any questions, let me know.

these are much cheaper than the rice burner neons or leds yall are talking about. and they are made to install in boats so they still stand up to the weather.

Cabela's Marine Rope Lighting (http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/vertical-item.jhtml?id=0022913016310a&navAction=jump&navCount=2&indexId=cat600053&podId=0022913&catalogCode=IF&parentId=cat600053&parentType=index&rid=&cmCat=search&hasJS=true)

http://a1460.g.akamai.net/f/1460/1339/6h/www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/content/Item/01/63/10/i016310vr01.jpg


how well do they light up the bed? got any night pics?

they light the bed up perfectly. i use them a lot when i go hunting and am getting gear ready in the back of the truck early in the morning or cooking breakfast on the tailgate waiting for the hunting areas to open up. i will take a few pics as soon as it gets dark in an hour or so and post up.

How did you wire them up? What about switches?

How did you wire them up? What about switches?
I added switches were most of you have push button 4X4
http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=2309

dammit, i forgot to take pics last night, sorry. ill try to remember tonight.

as for wiring, i added these at the same time i installed my backup lights. what i did was wire a relay to the cargo light switch so when i turn on my cargo lights, my backup lights (ones i added not stock) come on too. i then wired a 3 way switch to these bed lights. i actually used a weatherproof boat switch and mounted it to my license plate so its convenient when standing at the back of the truck but i didnt have to drill a hole in the truck, only the plate. position 1 of the switch = bed lights come on with cargo lamp and backup lights. position 2 of switch (wired to hot in the trailer harness) = bed lights come on, no matter if the cargo/backups are on or not.

ask and ye shall receive. sorry the pics are a bit blurry, but the only feature i hate about my digital camera is when you turn the flash off, it does a very slow shutter so the night pics are always blurry. i havent found a way to change that.

anyways...

first pic is just the bed lights on.
second pic is bed lights with cargo light.
third pic is closeup of LED bed lights.

one thing you will notice, the lights came with a bunch of mounting clips. the lights were stiff when i installed them so i only used 3 clips per side. since then, they have sagged between clips so i have been meaning to mount more clips to keep the lights up under the rails. i simply have not had the time (or good weather) to do that yet.

Awesome! I have wanted to do the same. Thanks for the pic's and info.

thanks, looks like I will get some ordered

haneym

I put a light in my bed but when I went to take power from my cargo light switch I couldn't get it to do what I wanted. When the cargo light is on switch power goes off, cargo light off switch power comes on. If I used a relay it would have turned my toolbox light on when I turn the cargo switch off, and vice versa. Any problems or special tricks, special relays?

yep, our trucks are wired with a normally closed circuit. you have to wire the relay a little different to trigger it the way you (we all) desire. see the thread below for a full discussion on the topic along with instructions on how to wire.

http://dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12784&highlight=backup+lights

for the hot wire, I just tapped into the 40amp wire on the backside of the 7way trailer brake/light socket near the rear bumper. Its the one that is always hot (after you intall the 40amp fuse in the main underhood fuse center to activate it). I put an inline blade fuse (used a 5 amp fuse) near where I soldierd (sp?) into the wire, and then ran it to the switch for my bed lights. Much easier than messing with relays, and seperate wiring up to another power source. I also ran another circuit to a switched 12V power outlet and mounted it under the top of the bedrail to power 12V accessories.

BTW, the light rope does not use LED's, but small 12V incandesent lights...... or at least the ones I got from them to put in the cabin of my boat :) A string of those that would use LED's would be much more expensive than what those are being priced at.

The reason people want to use relays is so that we can turn it on and off with the cargo lamp switch. Much more of a "clean" install without any extra switches. Plus the added benefit of having a "cargo lamp on" light on the message center.

haneym,

Very nice set up. That is what I was looking for to put into my bed, but I was having difficutly deciding on what exactly to use so that I can also use them along with my rear cargo lamp switch.

rolloffhill,

That is exactly why I used the rear cargo switch. Clean and it also alerts you if you just happen to forget they are on.

searay - i actually have a 3way switch mounted to my license plate, one input is from the trailer hitch harness like you mentioned and the other comes from the cargo light. this way, i can turn the lights on by themselves from the back of the truck or have them come on with the cargo light (or just keep them off). there are advantages to both so i have the best of both worlds. wired to the cargo, they will automatically turn off if you forget and leave them on. as for the LED part, you may be right, i didnt inspect them that closely after i found that they were very tough and protected from the elements. LEDs are quite cheap though, so i wouldnt rule it out.

akdiesel, thanks. i absolutely love them and they have worked perfectly.