I plan on adding rope lights under the rail of my bed. I would like to have them come on when I push the cargo light button. Anyone know the best or an easy way to tie into that circuit? I know I could always trace the wires up to the light, just hopin someone may have some expeirence or do's and don'ts. Thanks ahead.

sorry I always forget to subscribe.

The easiest way I can tell you is to do a shearch for Rear Backup Lights. Along thread and some very good detail on how to hook them up to the cargo light switch.

ive done this exact thing. see the link below for a discussion about bed lights and i posted a link to an older discussion when i actually installed them and it has all the wiring info.

http://dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25624&highlight=backup+lights

Sorry to reply so late (been busy) but I followed haneym's lead with the rope lights,
but since I have a bed cover, the cargo light isn't much use to me, so I used a lighted
switch to activate the rope lights. I used a power buss from West Marine along with
a relay to power the rope lights. Here are some pictures. (http://207.53.239.181/%7Eterry/truck/BedLights/)

hope this helps,

T.

The nice thing I like about mounting lights in this location is that they are not directly in your eyes. In the dark with a light shining in your eyes it makes it dificult to actually see sometimes.

Terry, Nice job, but did you use a toggle that is sealed?

Terry, Nice job, but did you use a toggle that is sealed?

Hehh - as cheap as the switch was - doubtful. I actually don't remember
since I did this a fairly long time ago. I would say the only "sealer" on
it is the silicone I added :)

good luck,

T.

Terry,
I liked your placment for the toggle so much I started the project last night.
I am using a strip of 6 led lights on a plastic mount the is double sided taped to the under side of the bed rail (same location as the rope lights). I am using 4 of them. One at approx each corner. Plenty of light to see things and a low current draw.
The main problem I am having now is that I do not have a ground source on my bed. Are these beds sheilded from the ground? Or did they just use that good of paint and aplication?

Terry,
The main problem I am having now is that I do not have a ground source on my bed. Are these beds sheilded from the ground? Or did they just use that good of paint and aplication?

I don't know. I would highly recommend using the frame for your grounds though.

good luck,

T.

Terry,
I liked your placment for the toggle so much I started the project last night.
I am using a strip of 6 led lights on a plastic mount the is double sided taped to the under side of the bed rail (same location as the rope lights). I am using 4 of them. One at approx each corner. Plenty of light to see things and a low current draw.
The main problem I am having now is that I do not have a ground source on my bed. Are these beds sheilded from the ground? Or did they just use that good of paint and aplication?

akdiesel,

Don't be such a stingy mug kick out with the scource and parts # of your LED lights. :p:

Carey

Well I finally finished the install of the bed lights and I just used the closed circut running my rear lights. Like I said earlier they are not as bright as the rope lights but they will work. There are two holes just above where the top screw holds the tail light on. I simply found a push button switch that fit exactly in that hole. I still need to find a weather boot to go over the switch.
The only problem I have now is I think I opened a can of worms because yesterday I found a bolt on the floor under my truck and I have no idea where it came from if it even came from my truck.
It would be nice that all parts had a number so that when you put things back together and you have a box of left over parts/bolts/screws you would know where they go.
Wishfull thinking I guess.

tool box lights work very good both bed & tool box lights hooked up to one switch turns off when i close the bed or with the switch

GM made it easy to wire on extra lights to the cargo circuit, there is an extra pin in the connector on the fuse box under the dash (mid-bec). The extra pin is for cargo lights in the Avalanche and Escalde EXT. Power for it is shown on page 259 the upfitter guide, J1 C11, ckt 1732. http://www.gmupfitter.com/publicat/2004_BB/2003_Beyond_LD_Electric_CK.pdf
You need a female metripack .280 pin. I have found these in auto parts stores in small packages made by motormite that have the tang and for this application you need tangless but its easy enough to just clip the tang off and it then matches the tangless perfectly (the tang is what locks the pin in the plug, the locking tang is on the plug body on most of the newer stuff).

Disconnect your battery then take the cover off the midbec. Unplug all the small plugs in it and move them out of the way. At the bottom of the midbec its held by round pins and the top its held by clips. Squeeze the clips at the top and swing the top forward then lift up to pull the bottom loose. Flip it over and unbolt the 7mm bolt holding the large plug (c1) to the mbec and pull the plug out. You can see the numbering down one of the long sides and the lettering along one of the short sides. Locate C11 then remove the blue secondary lock covering the hole for C11 by releasing the lock on the shortest "arm" of the blue secondary lock and sliding it out the side. Crimp a wire on your metripack pin and plug it in J1 like the rear and replace the secondark lock. This gives a RAP 12v supply to the lamps. I carefully pushed a wire coathander through the grommit in the firewall and pulled this wire though and ran it in the trailer wiring harness and then up between the cab and bed and through the tiny hole in the very top front of the bed where the bedside is joined to the bed front. Hook it to one side of your light (+ side if they are LED's) and ground the other side for light.
Now go one step further and control them by the cargo lamp switch. Reference page 262 of the upfitter guide for this. Pin A2 is on the back of J1 like C11 so remove the blue secondary lock for that side then flip j1 over to the side that plugs into the midbec and release the locking tank with a small screwdriver and pull the wire and pin out of the hole. I clipped off the existing metripack pin and crimped a new one on with the existing wire and my additional wire, then plugged it back in, replaced the secondary lock and put it back together. I fed this wire through the firewall grommit and fed it back to the bed with the other and connected it to the other side of the light. Now when you turn on the cargo lamp switch it grounds the pin there and turns on the light.
Then I ran another wire from the ground side of the bulb to a small switch and the other side of the switch to a ground so when I close this switch it turns on the lamp and since it feeds back to pin A2 it turns on the cargo lamp light on the dash as well.