Rack Mounted light switches?

I have a couple 18 watt 2x3 LED flood lights that I bought to mount on the back of my Tacoma pointing rearward and a bit to the sides for use when setting up camp or working at the rear of the truck (loading/unloading, etc.)

Instead of having a switch in the cab I want a switch at light at the lights. This way I can turn them on or off without having to get into the cab. I will need a waterproof switch and will have to route the wires to each light. I might add a dash mounted over-ride switch that can disable the lights.

I wonder if any of you have done this outside switches deal, or is this a bad idea?

 

anyone?

 

i'm not sure if anyone's dong it on here, but pretty much any open cockpit boat has waterproof switches. just get a marine grade switch and you'll be fine. they are durable, and designed to work when directly exposed to salt water on a daily basis, which is a much harsher environment than what it will go through in your truck. just make sure to mount the switch in one of the cubbies or some other protected area where there is no risk of it being turned on by shifting cargo when you are driving down the road.

 

Colin, Good ideas! I was thinking of mounting the switch up on the rack, but would have to come up with a box and a way to mount it on the rack round tube or on the LED light base.

 

as long as it's protected from being accidentally turned on, you're good to go. a box would work great, but hidden out of harms way by the light would work too.

 

I mounted just a plain toggle switch in the driver side compartment in the bed. All I have to do is open it up and the switch is right there out of the way and out of the weather.

 

Thius is a decent idea, except when I am camping the bed is full of stuff and moving it to gain access to the compartment could be a pain.

Here is what I am building right now: I have a bracket that clamps to the 1.75 inch diameter rack up where it is horizontal this uses two aluminim split rings (think big rifle scope rings) with a 4" x 4" x 1/4" plate on the top. The LED light mounts on the top and a milled out aluminum box mounts just below the plate and alongside the top rack rail. A waterproof illuminated push-button switch mounts facing to the side of the truck. The switch illumination LED is almost no power and is green and is on all the time the truck is running so you can find it in the dark. Push the button and the light comes on, press it a second time and the light goes off. Each light has it's own switch so if I just need one on I can use half the power or both on for a wide area illuminated behind the truck. Power for both lights comes from the dash and feeds into an dash mounted switch which can be turned off to kill the rear lights when driving or to stop all power drain if something else is added later. The waterproof illuminated pushbutton switches arrive tomorrow and the machining for the bracketry is nearly complete. I am a hobby machinist with a mill and a lathe in my shop, and these projects are fun for me.

 

sounds good to me man! I rarely have anything other than my turnout gear in the bed of my truck so I dont have that issue. you should post some pics up, sounds like you are going to have a nice little set up!

 

got to get it done, than pics!