In bed electronics, canopy lights/usb charge ports

Looking for some help and suggestions. I'm looking to put a small switch plate in the bed of my truck to power the 3 light strips in the canopy as well as have a couple usb plugs for charging phones and small electronics. I'm thiking about mounting everything onto the bed rail near the drivers side tail light. Instead of cutting a bluesea plate (

$52 Blue Sea Systems 4365 Water-Resistant Accessory Panel - 15A Circuit Breaker, 12V Socket, 2X 2.1A Dual USB Chargers,Black

https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Sea-Systems-4365-BSS-Water-Resistant/dp/B07PSGW8R9 ) into the bed of the truck I'd like to find a box to seal off the bottom and sides and be able to mount this onto it, or just swap the componenet onto a junction box and then mount it onto the bed rail.

 

Try polycase enclosures. They make IP68 boxes

https://www.polycase.com/?gclid=Cj0...7Bc8EQHWJYHY2GMhGV7rXY4x4iSytLMoaAnrzEALw_wcB

 

Mine are just mounted right into the bedsides.

3 down each side. Dielectric grease the shit out of the connectors and they’ve been fine for 5+ years now.




You could find a plastic waterproof “hobby box” to mount them into if you didn’t want to make holes.

 

I bought a small case off Amazon.

$10 CES PLASTIC ENCLOSURE BOXES 8.54” X 5.43 X 3.23”

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005473R5E?ie=UTF8

And put my Blue Sea panel in the lid.
https://www.bluesea.com/products/43...cket_2x_2.1A_Dual_USB_Chargers_Mini_Voltmeter

The box came with a gasket and so did the Blue Sea panel. It's been rained on with no problems, but I'm not sure if it's IP68/etc.


Looks like the current pics don't show a gasket on Amazon. Wouldn't be too hard to add your own or caulk the seam.

 

Did y'all just in-line fuse straight to the main battery or are y'all running something fancier?

Looking to do the same, but not sure if I need to go BIG with dual battery or whatevs.

 

That depends what you’re doing. A simple, small panel is fine with an inline fuse.

I have a dedicated fuse box with all of my stuff wired do it, but I have a lot of aftermarket wiring.

 

Yeah, that is a loaded question I suppose. I've been doing a lot of internet research trying to see what I can get by with.

I've just got some led strip lights in my camper bed and was hoping to setup a USB port for phone charging and such. I guess worst-case scenario I kill the battery once and then work from there!

 

That is the risk, but with the blue sea panel I linked, you can watch your voltage and turn it off before it gets too low, or when not in use

 

Blue Sea fuse block off the house battery powers all my non-light accessories.