Bed lighting question

This does what exactly? The same thing just the power for the indicator lamp comes from the second set of switched terminals? Looking at it closely it seems that this would light the bottom light in the switch regardless of position...

 

Right, but since its a on/ on rocker if the switch is up closing the contacts between 1&2 then 4&5 will be closed as well, making the lower lamp on. If it was down then contacts 2&3 and 5&6 would be closed so the light would still be on. Right?

 

Oh OK that makes sense. Didn't know it said on/off/on. I'll have to fix that.

Edit: if you were talking about the SPDT switch pdf it shows three positions in the drawing but lists position 2 as none in the side bar. With positions 1 and 3 as on. Couldn't find anything in the DPDT pdf that talked about what kind of switch it was. Did I miss something?

 

OK thanks for the heads up. The DPDT switch I'm ordering is listed as on/on so hopefully it is just a two position switch.

 

x2 although maybe the OP has gotten info for his lighting project he wouldn't have gotten otherwise.

 

yeah its completely fine, got a lot of different info i otherwise wouldn't have got if you guys didn't discuss it in detail, so Thanks!

 

Hey OP I did an LED bedlight project that was ridiculously simple. It might not be exactly what you want but you can check it here it's at the end of the thread:


http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/lighting/201020-finally-finished-leds-cupholders-console.html

 

I don't know what stage of this you are at, nor did I read all of the posts, but personally, I don't feel you should run power through switches, only signals. Here's an image I sketched up for someone else doing the same thing, only using relays to flip the lights on and off...

 

Yeah, that's the way to go if you are running large lights. A couple of led strips isn't going to be a problem with just switches. The main reason this thread got long is someone other than the OP jumped in and wanted to wire his truck to have two switches like a three way light switch setup in a house. Walk in the front door, turn on the lights, walk across the living room, turn the same lights off with a second switch. It got complicated quick. Read it if you get bored sometime.

 

So I know this thread is over 2 years old and inactive but through all my searching it seems to be the best source for the type of wiring set-up I would like accomplish. I can follow pretty much everything that has been posted but I am left with two questions. The first is which switches were used, what was the source of the switches and which two were used? And two, did it all work as expected? Was the final wiring set-up correct and the bed lights were able to be turned on and off from the cab and/or bed with the cab switch lighted when the running lights were turned on and an indicator light comes on the dash switch when the bed lights are on?