Cap Wiring - tail light or trailer harness?

On Friday I picked up a 2013 doublecab 4x4 sr5 33000km to replace my squished '04 Chevy Colorado - financial write-off with minor frame damage:


I picked up a used A.R.E. cap for a price too good to refuse on saturday:


I know I can wire the cap brake light into either, The only reason I'm leaning towards using the 7 pin wiring harness is so I can steal the 12v aux power at the same time to light the interior with some outdoor 12v LED strips.

Not really familiar with the 7pin connector - is that aux 12v constant hot? or only when the key is in? in my colorado I didnt have a 7pin wiring harness so I had to run a fused auxiliary power line off the battery, which meant I had lights in the cap regardless of the key in ignition etc (never once left them on long enough to drain the battery )

I'm leaning to wanting to have it constantly hot so when I run out to the truck to grab some tools I don't have to turn it on every time etc just to light up the back. just gotta remember to turn it off every time

So far I'm loving this truck. Put new snows on it and it is a beast, can handle damn near anything.

 

I wired mine off of the tail light. Was really easy. I did not run a hot wire to the light in the cap. I actually did not wire the light. Mine did not produce much light.

 

Yeah the OEM lights in the cap are garbage, that's why I splice in a feed and run the LED strips, they make the inside bright enough to see even a single finish nail hiding on the bed liner.

 

Reckon you could wire the third brake light to the taillight and use a push button switch so when you open the door on the cap the lights come on, then go back off when you close it and not have to worry about draining the batter..

 

i haven't found a constant hot back there. trailer harness is all switched.

 

A manual switch is preferred for a variety of reasons, but the thought had crossed my mind.

Thanks, thats what I figured, its not like its a big deal to run an independent line off the battery terminal, I just want to keep things as clean and tidy as I can.

Having the cap interior lights independant makes the difference between them being inconvenient and fuctional.

 

Been thinking on it more - As I've been far too busy to actually work on hooking up the lights... And I think i'm going to take the time to find/make a T-connector to connect to the OEM wiring harness, rather than splicing or tapping in off the brake light - just need to find the right connectors, and then do some wiring work. I think these are the right ones - now just to find a source for them. http://www.ionnic.com/electrical/connectors/tail-light/tail-light-connectors.html