A little wiring help..

Well i am about to start on my bed lights. I am having trouble thinking of how i am going to to do the wiring b/c the way im thinking of still requires one switch to be the main power provider to the other. I want to do two switches, one in the bed one in the cab and have both be able to turn the lights on and off separately. Meaning on in the bed, off in the truck. On in the truck, off in the bed. If they both share the same power wire it means one switch will have to be on to "activate" the other switch. so if the switch is "off" in the cab the bed switch will not be active.

I was thinking of a spst switch in the cab and a spdt switch in the bed with a separate power wire with a constant side and a switched power side coming from the cab, but i dont want to have to run two power wires. Is running two power wires the only way using a spdt switch or can i have two spst switches and still have both switches be active? I dunno why i have a mental block and cannot think clearly about this wiring

 

i would just run a power wire to the switch in the cab then have another power wire run to the other switch in the bed but have a switched wire from each switch run to your lights so essientially you would use 2 power wires but tapped or ran from one location at least thats what im thinking

 

I have this on my truck. I can't draw diagrams on the computer, but will try to describe.

You need two SPDT switches. You run your power wire to the center terminal of one switch. Then you run two wires from the remaining two terminals of that switch to the matching terminals on the second switch. The center terminal of the second switch runs to the lights and then you ground the lights.

Flipping either switch will change the state of the lights, regardless of the position on the other.

Same way a three way light switch in a house works.

You do have to run two wires from the cab to the bed. But you only have to run one wire to the fuse block or battery.

 

ok so switch in cab wiring would go center terminal is power, top post runs to top post of second switch in bed, Bottom post runs to bottom post of in bed switch. Then center terminal of in bed switch runs to lights, then of course lights are grounded? Am i following correctly?

 

You got it.

 

Thanks man, god for the life of me i could not figure out what i was thinking. What you did was my first idea but somehow my mind got me thinking it wouldnt work correctly from thinking to hard about it. Wiring always screws with my mind. But thanks both of you for the help!

 

if you do this you still have to pull 2 wires to the bed where as with just running a single power wire only 1 wire id rather only pull one wire because its cheaper and easier or am i not following this correctly

 

If you do it the way you posted earlier, then you have to turn off both switches to get the lights to go off. This way, you can switch either switch off and the lights go off. Just like a three way light switch in a house.

He wants to switch the lights on from the bed, then go inside the cab and flip them off.

 

true but by flipping either one on it would turn the lights on so just turn that switch off. with the way you are saying there really is not an on and off position correct? its just flip one up one and the lights are on flip the other switch the other way and the lights are off. correct?

 

Yeah, that is the one drawback is that there is not a set on or off position on either switch.

Does not bother me, I actually have a camper shell and have side windows that flip open. So, I wired up two switches so I can reach one or the other from each window, plus I can reach one switch when sleeping in the bed. I can always see the lights and see if they are on or off.

If he wants to, he could use a SPDT with a center off position for the in cab switch. That way, if for some reason there was some confusion over whether they got left on or not, he could turn the whole system off from the cab. Or he could run another wire for an indicator light also. Yes, that's a lot of wire, but that's the only way I know to make it work the way he describes.

 

fwiw i think you meant two dpst switches. not spdt

 

that would be an advantage is if u realize the lights are on going down the road just hit the switch in the cab using your method where as with my method you would have to flip the switch in the bed. i learned something today even though i thought i was pretty good at electronics and wiring thanks for the info

 

SPDT: One single wire coming in, two possible ways to "throw" the power out. Should have three terminals. A DPST has four terminals and switches two wires only one way each.

 

Sometimes it gets hard to visualize this stuff in your head, that's for sure.

 

my bad dont know wtf i was thinking... brain fart

 

Ok, so I read all the above and think I got a good grip on this wiring scematic is doing. I like it. I want to do what the OP is doing, BUT I also want my reverse lights to come on when the truck is in Reverse. What do I have to add to the rear set-up to allow me to use the lights in all 3 ways?? In other words, how do I tap the Reverse light and still have each switch work independently?

 

you want your bed lights on with reverse? im conffused here

 

They are aux rear lights located just below my bumper. My reverse lights suck and I have a Cap too so sometimes it's tough to see. I want them to come on when I am actually in Reverse; AND be able to turn them on via a switch for when I need to hitch up to a boat, camping, or just light up behind me. Ideally I would have a switch in the cab as well as inside of my shell that would be able to turn on the lights independently. (hope that makes sense)

Is this even possible?? It seems that using what was disscussed above, I should be able to tap into the stock revers light and accomplish what I'm looking for. I just don'y really know how to do it

 

ok now i understand what you want to do yes that is very possible although i would use a relay below depending on what lights you may use the stock factory harness more than likely wont handle it very well and to protect the factory harness. could probably get a diagram drawn up here if u would need it

 

How is your current setup wired? Did you just tap directly into the existing reverse lights or did you use a relay to trigger them?