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Bed LED strip light install using dome light circuit, lots of pics on wire routing

Discussion in 'Lighting' started by doughboy, Mar 30, 2014.

  1. Mar 30, 2014 at 9:57 PM
    #1
    doughboy

    doughboy [OP] Well-Known Member

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    hid head lights, hid fog lights, always on fog lights, bed lights
    I've read pretty much all threads about LED strip light install in the truck bed. Each install is different, you don't have to follow other people's install exactly. Just add a little creativity and install it to suit your needs. This is how I did mine.

    Objective: low cost, no drilling, no cutting wires, automatically turns off.

    Parts: 20 feet wire loom, 25 feet duplex wire (I used speaker wires), 3 meter LED strip, LED strip connectors, 3M heavy duty double sided tape.

    Home depot sells 10 feet wire loom for $2.50. I got a 20 foot length from ebay for $5. Do not pay any more than this.

    Home depot sells the 3M heavy duty double sided tape, I forgot how much since I got it a while back. Make sure to get the one with the red backing.

    I got the LED strip ($10) and LED connector ($2.27 for 5 pieces) from ebay.

    Wiring description.
    I wired the LED strip light to the interior light circuit. This means when the interior dome light is on, the LED strip lights are on. The benefit of this is no switch is needed, and the light will never stay on if you somehow forget to turn the switch off if you used a switch. Since I changed my map and dome lights to LED, adding the LED strip to the same circuit will not overload the circuit, which uses a 7.5amp fuse.

    bedlightcircuit_3638890e8ee47768bd868c96a30d829645055c97.jpg
    This is the dome light circuit. Connect the positive wire to the fuse, and a negative wire to the dome light ground circuit.

    fuseboxconnection_fe79a047c53544227e6d709492cadf6a51b08080.jpg

    This is the fuse panel in the driver side kick panel. Connect a wire to pin 9 of the lower left connector harness. Pin 9 is the top row, fourth from the left on the connector. The wire color should be light blue or blue. You can use any method you prefer to tap into that wire. I simply tinned the end of the wire with some solder and inserted it into the pin 9 hole on the connector, then used some electric tape to secure the wire to the harness.

    You will then need to route this wire through the firewall to the engine compartment. You can do this by inserting a 2feet long solid wire through the tube where the hood release cable comes out through the firewall. Then attach the ground wire to the solid wire and pull it out through the firewall.

    The next series of pictures show how to route the wire from the truck bed to the engine compartment. I start from the passenger side tail light.

    bedlightstep1_008d5d9484548595755437486e4ca8b432f1dee0.jpg

    bedlightstep2_d6543e5793f267164cb0e9dbfe9d276dbde22ac7.jpg
    use the hole behind the tail light, not the one below.

    bedlightstep3_732ca35d800ff6a8f8f3cd02dbb4415ae67af759.jpg

    bedlightstep4_ed56472f13033691ef677505d0e099a7fbc7e353.jpg

    bedlightstep5_baa2ce04bef89695b62cf44dc1aceaf93c2aab87.jpg

    bedlightstep6_df2b24d1919c533e96831530123f0341ef983037.jpg

    bedlightstep7_028fb93c912c40614000505a469a27879b4c91cb.jpg

    bedlightstep8_fedf0aef7cddbd7c31ef8f6e97052eef2242080c.jpg

    bedlightstep9_10839baae0bd42f099a72632518d50bf49af38e5.jpg

    bedlightstep10_11c388ffdea6d6d92cdc8c53e55bbde943d18d71.jpg

    bedlightstep11_36698487fab22ffde24ddf86d2b9bcd3ddbe5457.jpg

    you can use add-a-circuit if you want. I simply stripped the insulation, removed the dome light fuse, insert the stranded wire into the right side of the fuse, then re-installed the fuse.

    bedlightstep12_f633cc60ea274c9600e8d11fadd73550dca287b5.jpg

    bedlightstep13_4b6577396691cb1e3615b1296062084e0157cb30.jpg

    On to the LED strip installation. This is actually the easy part. You can buy LED strips and the connector cheap on ebay. I got the RGB strip with a controller. If you get a white LED strip, it will only have two wire connection, +12 and ground.

    bedlightstep14_0e09b8edcc4ad69b482e7a74d95223e2adc9c5da.jpg

    bedlightstep15_4a7de48ecfa10f66332cc3fd34cc685ace38957a.jpg

    bedlightstep16_afd22521d9ca2aa5662ec9efcc2f00aeaadedb9f.jpg
    Since I am using an RGB LED controller, I need to connect the wires to a power supply connector. If you use a white LED, you just need to connect the +12 and ground wires to the LED strip.

    bedlightstep17_81bab0a45e025f5a1daa48c7bb4a07de9e66ff63.jpg

    bedlightstep18_ca28a8539a615f1863a5394cac2bed6772e0f521.jpg

    video.
    http://youtu.be/Ebl-CrzdZ1g
     
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    #1
  2. Apr 18, 2014 at 5:27 PM
    #2
    doughboy

    doughboy [OP] Well-Known Member

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    hid head lights, hid fog lights, always on fog lights, bed lights
    since I had the engine compartment fuse box fuse panel off the box, I re-routed the bed light power wire under the fuse panel and out a hole near the dome fuse for a cleaner look,

    bedledpower_00ada482ba746fc93f3f114373680a35ca989853.jpg

    Its quite easy to remove the panel from the box. There are 6 tabs holding the panel to the box. Just use something to hold the tabs out and the fuse panel slides right off.
     
  3. Apr 21, 2014 at 10:46 AM
    #3
    stump jumper

    stump jumper Well-Known Member

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    I ran my wire in to the bed under the bed rail cap. I used some heat shrink tubing to protect the wire and the butt connectors I used to join the feed from the cab sit in the stake pocket. I worked out real neat.
     
  4. Aug 29, 2014 at 6:51 PM
    #4
    packrobottom

    packrobottom Well-Known Member

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    Do you need a diode for this and does it matter if you take 12v from in the cab instead of dome light fuse in engine bay gonna do this for foot well LEDs
     
  5. Aug 30, 2014 at 11:35 AM
    #5
    doughboy

    doughboy [OP] Well-Known Member

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    hid head lights, hid fog lights, always on fog lights, bed lights

    No diode. Just curious why you think you need a diode. The D in LED is for diode.
     
  6. Aug 30, 2014 at 7:14 PM
    #6
    ssilence

    ssilence Well-Known Member

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    Where did you get the schematic from? I would like to get a full set of wiring diagrams/schematics.
     
  7. Sep 8, 2014 at 6:46 PM
    #7
    TuckGraham

    TuckGraham Keep it straight

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  8. Dec 19, 2014 at 8:47 PM
    #8
    JLink

    JLink Well-Known Member

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    Imphedup likes this.

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