Bed lighting question

Your local NAPA will have the standard metal toggle switches in stock. Anything fancier and you'll probably have to go online to buy at a decent price.



That is a NAPA SPDT switch with a center off position installed in my truck for my aux reverse lights. There's a lip behind the switch blank. I cut and shaped a piece of black plastic to fit very tightly up against the lip, drilled a hole in the plastic and mounted the switch. No mods to any factory trim part.

 

That looks pretty damn clean, i might just go that a route!

 

So is there any way to wire in two lighted rocker switches for this application so that you dont need an indicator light in the cab, but it uses the lights on the switches when the bed lights are on. But when either switch is turned off it kills the power to the lights in the bed and in both switches? Also what is the proper switch, both SPDT and DPST have been listed.

 

SPDT is what you need. DPDT will work also, you will just have unused terminals. It is possible to wire the indicator lights the way you want IF you get the right type of switch. They have to have two seperate terminals for the indicator light so that you can wire it the same way you would a separately mounted indicator. This is not going to be easy to find. I spent hours looking for it and never did find one with the right dimensions AND the independent pilot lights.

 

So would any of these work?
http://www.otrattw.com/products.php?cat=15

And any chance you could post a diagram?

 

The first one on the page should work from the description they give. SPDT, independently wired light.

I'm not computer savvy enough to post a diagram, but the one you posted should work just fine. The "cab indicator light" is just going to be located inside your new switch. It will have two terminals coming out of the switch for the indicator light, one gets grounded, other gets wired to the positive wire attached to the bed lights.

 

OK, thanks. I think I'll just have to get everything and play with it till it works like I want it to

 

Ok so this is what I have in mind please corect me if I am way off... But I think this would allow the upper lights to come on with the headlights and HVAC controls and the lower lights to be on when there is power to the bed lights. where each switch is capable of turning the bed lights on or off. Please excuse the crude paint wire diagram.

 

Looks right to me.

Make sure you post your final results up when you are done. I might have to buy a couple of those switches if they work out for you. The price is right.

 

Will do, thanks for the help.

 

Me too.

 

He's right. I forgot about that, but that's what I needed to do when I illuminated my ARB compressor switches on the dimmer of the instrument cluster.

 

You could do that JUST on the in-cab switch to make your life simpler and avoid adding a long pair run to the bed. Little point in illuminating the bed switch on switched instrument lights, IMO, as the ignition and lights are likely OFF if you're out of the cab fumbling around back there.

 

I thought of this too, so if I were to do it I would probably do it in cab only and probably use a basic spdt switch in the bed as I don't need an indicator light to tell me that the lights in front of my face are on. I have already tapped the hvac lights to run my LEDs in the cup holders and the 4x4 switch, so instead of grounding pin 7 I should just hook it to the hvac wire as well. But would that effect the other light? Or would it just ground through the hvac?

 

Yeah, that's what it would do.

To avoid introducing an extra ground into the HVAC lighting circuit, you could put a solenoid in-line in the dimmed lighting circuit there - and have the output of the solenoid go to the "panel illumination" input light on the switch.

Or just don't light the switch.

Or pull "non dimmed" light in parallel from e.g. the parking lights, which is OK to go to ground anyway, assuming the resistance of the lights in the switch is high enough.

Get's complicated quick, doesn't it?

 

Very. If both lights in the switch did not share a ground would it work? Run one light to the hvac contols and one to the bed lights?

 

Yes, if they didn't share a common ground, you'd be golden.

 

Good catch!

 

OK, thanks for saving me from ripping my hair out. I think I can find the right switch to make this work. Ideally an on/ on correct?

 

Wait a second....I don't see where he's opening the interior lighting circuit. If he tap the solid green wire, that's positive power when the parking lights are on. It comes straight off the tail relay. If he leaves it the way it is in his diagram, the only weird thing would be the top light in the switch wouldn't dim with the dash lights. If he attached the terminal that is common to both switch lights to the green wire with tracer, then both lights in the switch would dim with the dash dimmer switch.

Either way would have it's quirks, but shouldn't affect the factory dash lights. Wiring diagram for 05 dash lights. Unless it's changed.