Bed lights, puddle lights, flush mount reverse light install (PIC heavy)

sbarron · Apr 30, 2015

I have recently installed bed lights, puddle lights and flush mount Rigid aux reverse lights.

I started by re-doing a part of my earlier AUX lighting install.

Build thread: http://www.ramforum.com/f41/led_light_bar_pods_install_behind_grill_bumper-63186/

I ended up with 5 different power wires run to either the battery or fuse box or other ground. I decided to clean this up by making a central power distribution point. I purchase a waterproof box and the Blue Sea Systems ST 12 Blade Fuse Block for this . The Blue Sea Systems gear, while not the cheapest, is great quality.

box is mounted to OEM fuse box with 6 pairs of magnets, epoxied each to bottom of waterproof box and top of OEM fuse box. This lets me lift Aux fuse box to access OEM fuses.

Plenty of room for future upgrades... :crazy:

more soon....

EagleChief · Apr 30, 2015

I'm anxiously waiting for more pics.

sbarron · Apr 30, 2015

Installing Flush mount Rigid SRQ lights.

Measure twice (or more... MANY more), cut once.

I elected to use a 4" grinder with a cutting wheel to do the lions share of the cutting, followed by cleaning with a Dremel and and hand files as that is what I had at hand. Bumper protected in the likely event the grinder tries to skip away. If I had it to do again, I would have had it cut out with a plasma cutter by a shop. The moment you put the grinder to your painted bumper is NERVE WRACKING!!!!

Test fit. Note: I couldn't take the original black housing on the lights so I scuffed and painted them. The color is close, but the metal flake is different which makes the color not close... lol.. I may decide to repaint them closer to body color soon.

Bumper masked for paint. Once the holed are finished, make sure to paint the now exposed metal edges. Don't forget to paint from the backside as well.

SRQ's final mount.

Ran some extra wire back from battery for a test.

saintsreturn · Apr 30, 2015

nice, keep the pictures coming!!!

sbarron · Apr 30, 2015

Bed light install

I went with the Truxedo B-Light Tonneau Under Rail Truck Bed Lighting System. This system has 2 sets of 4 fixtures with 3 LEDs each for 12 LED's per side of bed. There has been some reviews of this where people have been short hardware, parts, etc., but as I wasn't going to use the switches, etc, i wasn't overly concerned. I placed my order with that company named for a large South American river. Order came complete.

Lights have 2 sided tape installed, but here in Alaska with freezing temps, i decided to back up the tape with some small stainless bolts, finish washers and locknuts.

Lights are installed on underside of tonneau rails.

I soldered the two sides together, placed them in conduit and routed out of truck bed through the hole in the from of the bed on the passenger side.

Test. Much improved.

sbarron · Apr 30, 2015

Puddle light install.

Using the low powered (200 Lumen) A-Series Rigid. My initial idea was to mount these to the RBP bars, but after playing with the lights and identifying shadows, etc, I found best place to mount them was actually on the frame. I used 2 per side.

Front A-Series puddle light/rock light passenger side. Thank God for right angle drills. Had to drill and tap holes in the frame to accept the stainless mounting screws. Helpful hint: make sure you have a good sharp cobalt drill bit. Drivers side mirrored.

Rear puddle light/rock light passenger side. Drivers side mirrored. Photo also shows plug that enter bottom of cab into storage compartments. There are two plugs on both drivers and passenger sides. 2nd wire shown is bed lights wire coming from rear of truck.

Lighting test. Hard to tell from photo, but steps are actually lit fairly well. Small shadow on drivers side from parking brake cable. Passenger side has no shadow.

Copatlarge · Apr 30, 2015

Looks great guys! I'm going to add some bed lights myself and under dash lights. I noticed in the two weeks i've had my truck, the dash lights don't light up much. Needs light by the feet area. anyways, Thanks for the pics.

sbarron · Apr 30, 2015

Tying it all together.

I ran the wires from the reverse lights to the cab along the frame on the drivers alongside an existing wiring harness. I then entered the cab through the plug under the rear cargo compartment.

Power supply, puddle/rock lights, and aux reverse light wires entering cab on drivers side. Anchored with zip-ties and silicon applied around base.

Puddle lights and Bed light wiring entering cab on passenger side. Anchored with zip-ties and silicon applied around base.

sbarron · Apr 30, 2015

Reverse light relay trigger. I removed passenger tail light and tapped OEM reverse light positive wire as a relay trigger. Wire was run in loom to cab with wires for reverse lights. On review, I could have saved a few feet of wire by tapping into the drivers side.

Cargo light relay trigger location. In loom under drivers side rear door sill. When I split the loom, the wire i was after, (white/tan) was actually right there on top of the loom, how often does that happen? Usually the wire I'm after is buried as close to the center of the bundle as it can be.

sbarron · Apr 30, 2015

To make these lights function as I wanted, I needed to use 2 relays and an isolating diode. Here is the wiring diagram:
View attachment rev lighting wiring diagram.compressed.pdf

This schematic will turn the puddle/aux reverse and bed lights on with the key fob, (handy when approaching vehicle in dark), allow only the reverse light stop come on when the vehicle is put in reverse, and also let me use the aux reverse lights work or ******* lights by using the OEM cargo light switch.

and here is what the wiring digram looks like when executed. Relays are in black project box to left. Panel is mounted to sound-proofing panel behind rear passenger seat and secured by magnets. On a related aside, I had forgotten how looooooooooooong and finely threaded the seat bolts are and how poor access is to a couple of them.

saintsreturn · Apr 30, 2015

love it!

JJP71584 · Apr 30, 2015

Very impressive, nice work!

sbarron · Apr 30, 2015

Thanks.

sbarron · May 1, 2015

Added some video of the finished lighting mods and some output pics for the Rigid reverse lights.

Lighting walk around
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Bed lights activate with key fob
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Output OEM reverse lights (non-LED)

Output Rigid SRQ Reverse lights

CMil527 · May 1, 2015

great job, love the detailed pics!

sbarron · May 1, 2015

Thank you. Hopefully enough info for someone who wants to try similar.

Sir John · May 1, 2015

sbarron said:
[/URL]
Cargo light relay trigger location. In loom under drivers side rear door sill. When I split the loom, the wire i was after, (white/tan) was actually right there on top of the loom, how often does that happen? Usually the wire I'm after is buried as close to the center of the bundle as it can be.

Great work BTW. I've been wanting to add cargo lights in the back of my 14 RAM (I have a tonneau cover) for a while now but wanted them to work in conjunction with the cargo light. For example, I want them to come on with the cargo light switch and to come on when the approach lights are on. Is all I have to do it tap into this white/tan wire that you're showing here??

EagleChief · May 1, 2015

Nice work!! Wish I had that kind of know how to do that.

sbarron · May 1, 2015

Sir John said:
Great work BTW. I've been wanting to add cargo lights in the back of my 14 RAM (I have a tonneau cover) for a while now but wanted them to work in conjunction with the cargo light. For example, I want them to come on with the cargo light switch and to come on when the approach lights are on. Is all I have to do it tap into this white/tan wire that you're showing here??

yes. I'm unsure if tapping that wire as primary power for the other lights you need would cause any error messages. i used that wire to trigger a relay with an independent power source, the relay used so little power that the trucks computer can't see it.

sbarron · May 1, 2015

EagleChief said:
Nice work!! Wish I had that kind of know how to do that.

So do I, lol I just make this sh*t up as I go.

Bed lights, puddle lights, flush mount reverse light install (PIC heavy)

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