Finally finished my Bed Lights Project. Here's a lengthy "how to" post-

No problem.

 

Well i finally got my LEDs in the mail after ordering them over 3 weeks ago!! (slow boat from China). just got them all hooked up and i couldn't be happier! i will post pictures tomorrow so i can take couple detailed pictures in the light. thanks again OP for the great idea!

 

Congrats! Looking forward to seeing the picks.

 

This is probaly a dumb question but, here goes. I see that you were able to pop the blank switch cover out of the upper switch bank without removing the lower dash. How did you do it? Sorry if this has been covered before. Thanks.

 

If I didn't ask "dumb" questions when planning, I never would have finished this project.

I used the smallest flathead screwdriver I had and wrapped soft electrical tape around it. I very lightly pried out the blank switch. BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL NOT APPLY TO MUCH PRESSURE as the surrounding plastic is very easy to scratch/dent. I actually screwed it up and left a small mark but the new switch was big enough to hide the blemish. Once you pry it out just a little bit then you can pull out the blank the rest of the way with your fingers. i would say that if your using a switch similar to mine then you'll be fine with this method. If using a smaller switch then you might want to consider taking the lower panel off.

Running the wires isn't too bad. I actually ran them through the switch opening and back and then down but definitely had to crawl in and look up under the dash quite a few times to find the wire and then pull it down. Really not to difficult.

Hope this helps. hit me up with any more questions and try to help out in any way I can. Good luck!

 

I guess I will try that. I am going with the factory OEM switch so I will have to be extra careful I guess. I don't think I am ready for the lower dash removal, it looks complicated. I have a "fish wire" I will use to pull wires up from the floor so I am not to worried about that part. Thanks for the reply and you have a great write up here. Thanks for posting it!

 

Hey thanks. Yea you'll be fine just take your time. The fish wire will work great as well. Post some picks when done. Good luck.

 

Alrighty, im finally getting around to posting pictures of my bed light project!
i took a little different approach to it but all in all its the same great idea. I do a lot of camping and work out of the bed of my truck quite a bit that is why i wanted to do this mod so bad. i decided to wire the switch for the lights actually in the bed of the truck so that i wouldn't have to walk to the front of the cab every time i wanted to turn them on... it also made wiring the whole thing A LOT easier!! I have the short bed so i had lots of left over LED that i cut off so i also decided to do a little set up for a under the hood light.

LED strip stuck on the underside of the bed rails


drilled a small hole in the side of the bed at the end of the rail and fed the wires through there. also i soldered, put liquid electrical tape, and heat shrank EVERY connection


once the funky little end cap is snapped into place it makes for very clean wiring


in the same spot the OP ran his wire loom out of is where i decided to put my switch, i made sure to get a waterproof switch and waterproofed all my connections


with the remaining LED strip that i cut off i put under my hood.


it was a trick soldering new leads onto the cut end of the strip, but i have lots of experiences with soldering so it wasn't too hard. i ran the wires inside the hood support columns


i put in a small momentary switch (OFF)/ON in the front corner if the engine compartment so that the light automatically comes on with i pop the hood and turns off when i close it


sorry i don't have more detailed pictures. let me know what you think (especially OP) and let me know if anyone has some questions

oh and one more bit of advise, i learned doing this project that soldering irons are extremely hot!! (go figure!)

 

Nice write up!

 

Mike,

Looks awesome bud!! Nice job! Really like how you ran the wires from under the end cap. Great idea.

I originally wanted to do both a cab switch and a bed switch but realized that the wiring and operation would be a complete Charlie Foxtrot so I went with the cab only switch based on a comment by Rich. I leave my truck parked for a few days (4-6) at a time and I didn't want some ahole coming by and flicking my bed switch on and leaving it. I know it's probably a long shot, especially with that nice black outdoor switch you used, but still the last thing I need after a long work trip is a dead battery. I think most have switches in the back like your setup though with absolutely no problems. Nice clean look bud.

I may end up using your write up to do the under the hood part of the project. Looks great with the pressure switch. Did you run that off the battery or tap a fuse from the box?

All in all, great job man and I'm glad to see it turned out so well for ya!

 

subd. still wanting to do this mod. great work op.

 

Tks buddy. Give it a shot when ya can. Pretty easy and nice results when completed. Pics when you get around to finishing it up.

 

lets just hope no A-hole finds that switch and tries to screw me!

as far as the fuse, i ran a line directly from the battery with an inline fuse, i than split it to go to the bed of the truck and to the hood light, so they are both on the same circuit. im not a big fan of the Add-a-circuit set up that most people use, it makes the fuse box too messing and complicated

 

Awesome, I bookmarked this page as its somewhere in my long list of things I want to do on my Tacoma

 

will do! i plan on doing it this month, i need to order the OTTATTW switch and decide on which lights to use.

 

I just got some OTRATTW switches in for my LED bedlights and interior lights and I was having some trouble finding the wires for the dimmer.

The wires I have in my 2012 base model are a little different and do not have any wires that have power only when the key is in the ignition and when the lights are set to on; however, I do have two wires (one green and one green/black) that have power when the keys are in ignition.

Anyone have this problem and is there another wiring harness that I should look to tap into? Thanks for the help.

 

Sorry my post was not clear. I am trying to get the switches to operate similarly to yours for my bed lights and LED lights. I was trying to get the OTRATTW switch to light up when the truck is on and the headlights are on. The wires that I found and tested with a multimeter always had power when the truck was on, so the switch lights would also be on during the day when my headlights were off. Thanks for all your help.

 

To light up yor switches with the headlights on it may be a long run but you can splice into the shifter indicator. Its the green= pos & green/white= neg. The same wires are behind the a/c controls.

 

Thanks for the info. That's one possibility, was hoping for something closer. I might just keep it the switch the way it is right now, being lit when the truck is on.