ND4's Bed Lights and Bed 12v socket

I have had mine for at least six months. They were purchased on Ebay ready to go. The 3m tape hasn't failed yet, of course I cleaned the surface with alcohol and be ready when you press them down, cause there is no moving them once stuck. I ran the hot wire all the way to the battery and the switch near the cubby whole. Hanging in there, no problems so far.

 

Do you have any photos of what the soldering looks like with the connectors. I am looking for an example so I know I have it done right.

 

on which connectors, on the actual bed cubby?

 

Now that you've had your setup for a year, have you had any issues with the switch as it's not a fully waterproof switch?

I've had my LED reel for awhile now and want to undertake this project, but the switch has been my sticking point.

 

naw zero issues with the switch, even with it fairly exposed due to the 3/4in hole in the cubby cover plate that allows me to finger it through the hole (pun intended)

The LED's still work great and are super useful.

 

That's good to know. I was thinking of putting mine where it was a bit more exposed, but we will see. I want to get fancy with the wiring, but I think I'll go with something more straight forward.

 

i really like where i put it on the back side of the cubby with the little finger hole. Easy to get to and out of the way.

 

If you were installing a 3-way switch, wouldn't you want to put the pin inline with the power? That way if it's set to the tailgate option, they won't get power unless the tailgate is open? The always on would just give them power regardless. This way they only require one ground.

I'm not a wiring guru by any means, I just want to make sure I set mine up properly.

 

Sub'd

 

I'm not talking about a 3 way switch. I was talking about a pin switch. and pin switches aren't insulated (atleast none that i've seen are) so if you put it inline with the hot wires you'd blow a fuse every time you open the tail gate. They have to be installed on the ground wire.

If you did want the lights wired to 2 different switches you'd have to wire the other switch inline with the ground also. It wouldn't work like 3 way switches in your house though because of the way the switches are designed. It would just make it so you can turn on the lights from 2 different switches independently.

So-

Hot- always hot
Ground 1- to 1 switch
Ground 2- to the other switch.

with both switches off the lights are off, turn one switch on and the lights go on.

 

This is the diagram I used to wire my bed lights and it works great. I should also add that I was a total noob to wiring and had no problems at all. Thanks to Ride98red and Fergyz for sharing this one:

 

suuuuubed!