Switched LED Cargo Light Mod Writeup w/Pics

We all know Tacomas were designed in the daylight, thats why theres such a lack of lighting, especially the lack of cargo lights. Others have done similar mods, but this one is my take, and hopefully a well designed one that you guys will do as well. I wanted cargo lights, and I wanted them on a momentary switch so that they come on with the tailgate being opened. I also wanted a time delay circuit so that they automatically turn off in case I forget about them. A large advantage of LED's is their substantially lower power requirement, therefore the worry of draining your battery is much less.

HERES WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO BUILD
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Before beginning this mod, I suggest you have a bit of experience with soldering, and a Wikipedia lesson of basic 12V electrical theory. The solder joints are not difficult, but without experience, you will likely create a cold solder joint and the leads are going to fall right off the strips. All instructions are written in BS and proofread by no one. I assume no responsibility for damage done to your vehicle. It is assumed that you have common sense, because I'm sure I forgot something in writing this, but you can fill in the blanks.


Anyways, heres some of the required parts:

WIRE; I used 20GA Mil-spec, what you use is up to you.... LED's require very little current. I didn't exactly measure how much I used, and different length trucks will require more, but a general safe amount would be at least twice the length of your truck.




MOMENTARY SWITCH; Radio Shack had a nice little cheap switch that happened to be the right size. Others have used a heavier duty door switch, I may end up upgrading to one of these, but I haven't researched it yet. The key to this switch is you want a 'Normally Closed' momentary switch.



LED STRIP LIGHTS; I used my favorite Chinese supplier, HobbyKing.com and purchased a 1 meter strip. The ones I used are not water-proof, but in my application, I am not largely concerned since I use a tonneau cover 24/7. The link I will provide has the waterproof ones. I divided the 1 meter strip into 4 seperate sections, one for each corner. The strips can be divided each 3 lights, and are clearly marked for where to cut.




Here is the link for the waterproof ones;
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=14290


In-line Fuse holder - Yup, Radio Shack! Take your choice at what kind of holder you like. I chose an in-line buss style holder.

Fuse - Since I chose a Buss style (bottle fuse), I purchased an 8 amp buss style fuse. 8 amp was just a guestimate. LED's do not draw much, but there is quite a few of them in this application. I feel an 8 amp fuse is plenty safe, it will blow long before any damage could be done to your vehicle, and since it will be on a discreet circuit, its not critical to safety.

Plasti-derp! - You'll see _

You'll need some basic tools;

10mm socket and driver
Wire cutters/strippers
Soldering Iron (fine point, small tip)
Drill and bits
Beer.





To begin with the mod, cut your LED strip into 4 equal pieces. You will see the two terminals on each end of the strip. This is where you will be soldering the wires to. Choose your spacing on how you want your LED strips to sit in your bed, and cut 4 pieces of wire, all equal length, strip a very short bit of wire off all the ends, and tin the bare wire with solder. I also suggest tinning the contacts of the LED strips to help prevent cold solder joints. Join the two LED strips together with your wires, positive contact to positive contact, and negative to negative. Take your other two LED strips and repeat the process. I apologize at this point because I did not take a photo, HOWEVER, when your get your LED strip, two wires may already be soldered onto the strip. Use this as a reference. Once you have joined your strips to make the two sections, one for each side of the bed, tape off around the solder joint to protect the LED/resistors and spray the joints with Plasti-Dip to protect them and insulate. You should end up with the strips looking something like this:






NEXT, with the tailgate down, you'll want to pull the rubber grommet from the left side of the bed. This is where you will install the momentary switch.





NEXT, Have a beer!




Now, remove the left side tail light. There are two bolts, one top and bottom on the inside edge. Remove them and carefully pop the tail light out. There are two pins on the front that you will need to use a little force to pop them out. You'll see, its fairly simple.




Now, you can begin running your power wire from your battery side. Splice your fuse holder and a length of wire approximately as long as your truck is. Crimp or solder the ring terminal on the other side of your fuse holder. Remember to insulate all connections here with at least heat shrink. If you are using butt connectors, well, whatever. I don't use them though. DO NOT hook the lead up to your battery yet! I routed my wire down to the frame and followed the wiring loom along the frame all the way back to the tail lights, using zip ties to secure it every few feet. How you route the wire is completely up to you, just be sure to stay away from your exhaust, leaf springs, or any other moving part. You want the wire run to end up back in the hole for the tail light housing.


Next, you can drill a hole near the back of the stock bedrail. This will be where you bring the wire up through. You can also cut a length of wire, long enough to reach from your momentary switch, through the outside wall of the bed, up through your hole and to the light strip. Once you get the wire through, a little tape on the end will keep it from falling back through if you're concerned.



HAVE ANOTHER BEER.



The following steps you can do in any order, this is what needs to happen;

1. Positive lead from your battery will need to be soldered to the +12V side of your LED strip near your freshly drilled hole.
2. The other piece of wire will need to be soldered onto your momentary switch, either side, AND the (-) negative side of the LED strip near your hole.
3. You will need to run TWO more wires between the two sections of LED strips to join the two sides together. How you route these wires is up to you.... I tucked mine under the bedrail to the front of the bed, and ran them around the outside of the bed between the back side of the cab. Be sure to measure enough wire to join these two sides together. Ensure you are soldering the strips POSITIVE to POSITIVE and NEGATIVE TO NEGATIVE. Pretty simple, right?

At this point, you can begin laying out your LED strips and sticking them underneath the bedrails as long as your connections are all made. Its kinda tough to do it once they're stuck upside down



*note LEDs are lit in this picture, but its purpose is to show you the layout of the LED strips.

HAVE ANOTHER BEER.



The final steps are to find a ground near the tailgate. The area behind the tail light housing IS metal. The bed of the truck is not. Keep this in mind. I used the one bolt for the bed that sits between the tail light bolts. I took the bolt out, cleaned it up to bare metal, reinstalled it and soldered a short section of wire to the very tip of the bolt. The wire need only be a few inches to make it from the bolt to the other terminal of your momentary switch.




Solder the other end of the short lead to your switch. At this point you can install the switch into the hole previously occupied by the rubber grommet. You will need to put a few washers on the back side to set the depth of the switch so that you wont break it when you close the tailgate. This pic should give you a pretty good idea of where you want it.



*note; I popped off the little cap because the switch was still too tall to close the tailgate. You'll probably need to do the same. It comes right off.

At this point, you should have everything installed. You can begin tidying up and tucking away extra wire, and any hanging wires near the LEDs. I used my trusty 3M double sided tape, cut a short piece and wrapped the wire then stuck it up tight in the corner under the rail. Don't use too much and it wont be noticable. If you laid your LED strips correctly, AND cut the connecting wires to the exact same length, then it shouldn't take much to tuck the wires up. Any exposed solder joints, tape off and use Plasti-dip to insulate the connections.


HAVE ANOTHER BEER.






By now you should be nearing completion and if everything is done correctly, you can hook up the positive lead onto your battery. IF you did it right, your LED's should light up immediately, assuming you left your tailgate open. If you blow a fuse, you have a short somewhere, and I'd check your connections. Should look something like this;













Hope I didnt miss anything. I'll correct as I find it.

 

Also, I will add later, the time delay circuit is still being built by 4RunnerSeth. I should have it installed tommorow.

 

Awesome! I might have to do this and I'm glad you included beer in the steps, I sometimes panic when beer is not included in directions.

 

So bad ass! I can't wait to see the timer working.

 

Awesome writeup bro! Will be doing this for sure! +REP

 

Nice! I'm sure this would have gone faster had I not come over to B.S. haha!

 

Eh, probably wouldn't have changed things, I was getting bored and wanted a few beers. Usually slows me down a tad.

 

nice writeup! :thumbsup

 

Wanna come over and do mine?

 

Nice write-up, i was actually thinking this morning about doing this and ordered a pair of 24" LED light bars. I am going to wire them the same way with a momentary switch for the tailgate, but will also add an on / off rocker switch in the bed so i can shut the lights off if i just want to sit in on the tail gate.

 

Not really. I'll help you though. I'll be up in the area next month.

Sounds good! I was thinking about doing this as well, but its not a huge deal to me. If I did it though, I would go with a guarded switch and not a rocker. Rocker would get hit too easily by something rolling around in the bed and turn them on.

 

Very nice work sir...kinda looks like the one's I put into mine...except I put a switch in the cab instead

 

Damn that's a lot of light!

 

is that a rape whistle i see there

haha jkjk nice write up man! i like the idea and may try this myself one day

 

Alright. Let me know when you get in. I like the idea of the tailgate switch. But I am also gonna wire in a 3 position switch. So I can switch it on, keep it off, or only on with the tailgate switch