My Running board lighting mod, bed lighting mod and other lighting mods :)

So guys… got a few complaints about not being able to see my black nerf bars on my blacked out express 14 ram CC. Mostly from my parents who can't see the bars getting out at night. So I figured out a way to light them up nicely (from a couple of threads on here). I just started tonight as Ive been waiting for the 20m spool of LED extending wire to arrive. For what its worth its about 20*F out laying in the snow to get this mocked up (1 side only for now).

What I got was two 15M spools of 5050 red LED 300LEDs off ebay for like $12 a pop or $25 total. I picked up a DEI 8600 micro magnetic switch (normally closed, so tail gate is down switch is closed, tailgate closed the switch is open) Cost me $10 shipped off ebay. I got 20M of LED extension wire or 28 gauge red/redblack 2 wire for $10 shipped.

For the Bed Im going to run 2 full 5'7" strips of red LEDs down each bed rail (underside) connected in series to a relay (maybe). The relay will get power from the 7 pin trailer wire (i think) might grab it from somewhere else well see. The Magnetic switch will trigger the relay and Im thinking I might add a manual switch in there in case i want the lights on but the tailgate closed.

I will be adding some red LED accents to my footwells with the left overs from all this as well as maybe some grill lighting

Now my running boards are 3" 304 SS black painted cheapo's off ebay, they are sturdy and I like that they stick out rather far compared to the stock types on all trucks which seem you can only get your toes on it. I cut a 80" length of red LEDs and cleaned and prepped the rocker for the adhesive to stick. ITs cold out remember so this was not fun lol. Before I mounted it I ran an extension wire behind the wheel well covers up to the riverside firewall and pushed it into the cabin via the small grommet that has the hood latch cable going through it. I then hooked it to the Footwell lighting plug on the underside of the steering column. So I unlock my truck and the side steps are illuminated, I lock the car and they slowly dim off with the interior lights. In the car when the interior lights are off and driving the red LEDs are off. I open the door to get out and they come on with the interior lights. Even when the truck is off… as long as the interior lights come on they will light up too. It makes a HUGE difference and really make the side steps noticeable… not to mention light up the ground pretty well too Im very pleased with them and they are pretty bright. They can be seen the farther you are from the truck as I angled the LEDs to face the steps for that main reason of lighting them up more than lighting up the ground like a under truck lighting kit.

The red is my theme for the truck with lighting as i also have red rear license plate lights. Looking to do red rocker lighting, red interior footwell lighting, red bed lighting and perhaps some behind red grill lighting.

here are some pics. Going to save a few thread spaces to update the thread as I progress!

Before lighting, very dark and hard to see even on a lit street. This is how the truck will look anytime the interior lights are not on.


Just a touch of the key to unlock the doors with the key Fob.


Same pic as above but they lighting seemed brighter… its very red and bright, camera doesn't do it justice. Im only putting it up bc its the same shot almost as the pic above and its visually brighter, but more bright in person.


This is how they look if you bend down or if your far enough away and can see the truck at a far enough angle (my least favorite obviously but nothing I can do).


How they look looking down if you were going to get in or out of the truck.


Just a quick pic to show how bright they are. This is just unlocking the doors with the key fob.


I def recommend the mod to anyone. Took me about 1hr to do one side as I was figuring out placement, how to run the wires, solder everything up and mount etc.

Future posts will show the rest of the rocker lighting, footwell, bed and grill lighting. stay tuned!!

Heres the Pass side all done!

Before lighting


After lighting


Found the nerf bar


back of the truck with red license plate lighting.


This is how easy it is to hook up, linterally just 2 wires, 12v+ and ground.


Video of lights working with Key Fob unlock/lock.
http://youtu.be/BtsEy8zC2vk

So apparently Photobucket wants me to spend $400 a year for photo hosting for these to work... not going to happen lol. So I'm posting a few pics of the bed and step lights.

UPDATES!!!

Spent 3 hours outside as it was warm (high 30s) compared to the frigin -20 we've been having… it was so hot I was out in a tee shirt lol. I got the bed lighting done! Whoop whoop. I tapped into the tow plug as I looked for other 12v sources and none were readily available in the area. Then It took about 5 trys to position the switch where it would activate… I had some great hidden spots but it was a **** hair too far away and wouldn't open the switch (turn off lights). Running the lights took only 30 min. I looked for the best option for placement of the LEDs but My cover clamps took up some good spots… then I saw that the tonno cover rails where perfectly straight and smooth… great spot for the LEDs… bc they are off the sides of the bed it puts more light toward the middle. Plus If I trade in the truck I can use the tonno cover and LED lighting on another truck with the same size bed… so its a win win. I decided also that I don't need a relay for this… no need to complicate the wiring and the LEDs only pull alittle over 1 amp and the switch doesn't seem to have any issues. I did give myself some extra wire (hidden for now) so that I can install a switch to turn the lights on with the truck bed closed. That will be going in the bed cover rails as well, that way I don't have the touch the truck or drill any holes.

All I have to say is it looks great… its very bright and goes with the theme of my truck. I need to get a shot of the cover rolled up and the lights on… i bed it looks like a bright red hole. I'm really diggin it!

This is where I put the switch


Here is the magnet, as soon as the tailgate handle is popped it turns on… so its close to the edge of the switches sensing distance.


Daylight shot of the wiring… this is the power feed that I ran up behind the tail light in the open space that goes straight down.


This is how each light strip is connected in series with each other. (driver side)


Same here (pass side)


Some night shots!








Shot with the running boards/nerf bars on as well




Here is the video of me opening the tailgate (lights are off when close) then at the end I roll up the cover alittle so you can see the lights shut off and turn on when the tailgate opens and closes.
http://youtu.be/oBaJJrIrwMA

EDIT!!!!
So my switch lost its hold on the bed liner and caused the LEDs to be on for a long time (6+ hours) and caused the switch to get hot and melt the switch. I decided it wasn't worth it and installed my pushbutton switch Ive been wanting to do. Now I have full control of the LEDs with or without the tail gate opening. Its shielded from the weather and allows me to still turn it on with the cover fully closed. There is a empty space between the switch and the cover.

Saved for future updates!!!!

So I have made some updates as of 6/17. I removed my cheap nerf bars and added Westin HDX drop steps. They tuck much closer to the rocker so I couldn't reuse my original setup lighting so I made new lighting for the one side already.

I upgraded the 5050 LEDs to the new brighter 5630 red and ran 2 short strips Under the steps only. The LEDs are barely visible from almost any angle and do a better job of illuminating the step as well as the ground underneath.

See pics below.

Very nice stuff! Love the idea, now if I just had a clue how to wire stuff up lol! Can't wait to see the rest of your updates.

Hook that up to your turn signal and watch out!

Looks good, too bad filming for Fast 7 has wrapped!!!!! hahahaha
Just fkin with ya man..

I actually want to do the same thing after installing my running boards.

Nice idea. I like that you wired them with the interior lights so they only come on at that time. I might have to steal that idea with some orange lights.

Awesome! Very cool brother!

Saw these on the other site

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I have had this idea for awhile but no clue how to do it. I want to do blue.

Haha thanks guys. They already called me for fast and the furious 8... I'm gona be a star!

It's very easy to hook up, literally 2 connections.

I thought about amber and white but the cops around here in NJ love giving out tickets for lights under cars... I've been pulled over in the past 3 seperate times When I was younger and Neons where big! One time I was parked and they were on and the cop said blue is an emergency vehicle color and illegal. Same goes for yellow, red, blue... not sure of other colors. I don't want to be that guy with the lights on while driving... I honestly don't even like the tail gate light bars.

Hopefully get some done in the near future... time is limited tho.

BlownGP said:

Saw these on the other site

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I've been wanting those for awhile.

blackbetty14 said:

Haha thanks guys. They already called me for fast and the furious 8... I'm gona be a star!

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Jealous!!!!!

BoldAdventure said:

I've been wanting those for awhile.

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Yeah, there kinda pricey but hell you could probably do the same thing with to separate light strips. Buy a amber and white ones. Wire the amber to the turn signals and white to the entry lights.

So I pushed through the 20* temps again and got the other side done on the rocker lighting. This side was a PITA to figure out how to get the wire through and then i got it all assembled (tested it before to make sure all my solder joints held up and it worked) then the whole pass side wasn't lighting up. Figured out that I had a cold solder joint on the strip and must have "lost its hold" when mounting the strip to the rocker. Had to cut open my nice shrink tubing job to get to the contacts and resolder on the car on my back. Got it working again.

Doesn't look bad, bright as hell! Thankfully they are on only when the interior lights are on as it looks funny with the huge beams of red light on the ground only in the middle of the truck lol. But they light up the nerf bars very well and most of the ground around the side of the truck… so as an added bonus I have bright ass puddle lights lol.

Maybe soon i'll get the bed lighting done… now only if the wife would go away for a few days… hmmm. Posting the pics in the first post! I also took a quick video showing the lights coming on with the unlock on the key fob, then fading off after I locked the truck with the key fob.

I might not do the footwell lighting as I don't think red in the footwells will look that great with stock amber or even a white LED in the headliner lighting. Might skip that part. Enjoy!

Well done defy going to use this as a reference


Greater love hath no man than this that he lay down his life for a friend

Looking good!
Look forward to the bed lighting.

BTW,
Are you the blackbetty used to have gen3 and lived in middle TN that I know of?

BlownGP said:

Yeah, there kinda pricey but hell you could probably do the same thing with to separate light strips. Buy a amber and white ones. Wire the amber to the turn signals and white to the entry lights.

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I like that idea, having an amber set for turn signals, but is that really possible? If you tied into the turn signals, wouldn't they be on as long as the parking lights are on? The turn signal and parking lights are the same, right? I wonder if there is a way to tap into the turn signal only? I guess you could tap into the rear turn signals, or is that 1 bulb also?

vinstang67 said:

Looking good!
Look forward to the bed lighting.

BTW,
Are you the blackbetty used to have gen3 and lived in middle TN that I know of?

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Thanks, me too! amazing how dark it is in there lol. Gotta figure if I want to run a relay or not. Seems that the RED LEDs don't use a lot of current, 1.2amps roughly on the ebay ad for a full 5M strip or 15ft… Figure id run about 5ft each side or 10ft total so maybe .8-.9amps total… but I have no specs on current rating of the switch I got… but 1 amp is very small. Plus would make my life alot easier with the wiring and making it look clean.

Sorry man, nope, NJ my whole life… but I do have a bad ass 3rd gen firebird

EagleChief said:

I like that idea, having an amber set for turn signals, but is that really possible? If you tied into the turn signals, wouldn't they be on as long as the parking lights are on? The turn signal and parking lights are the same, right? I wonder if there is a way to tap into the turn signal only? I guess you could tap into the rear turn signals, or is that 1 bulb also?

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I would say depending on your headlight/tail light setup it differs but I know that running lights that serve as blinkers are usually dual filament bulbs… so that means at least 3 wires going to the bulb… so 1 of them is hot all the time (running light) and the other gets hot to heat up the other filament to cause more light (blinking). So you would tap into each wire separately for each function for each side.

My thing is that the blinking part isn't efficient as you have to be very low compared to the truck to see the sides blink or at a far enough angle to see it… It looks good in that video bc she has it bouncing off his large chrome side steps making it more visible. Its a nice feature but Id go the distance to add mirror signals before something that large that blinks.

blackbetty14 said:

I would say depending on your headlight/tail light setup it differs but I know that running lights that serve as blinkers are usually dual filament bulbs… so that means at least 3 wires going to the bulb… so 1 of them is hot all the time (running light) and the other gets hot to heat up the other filament to cause more light (blinking). So you would tap into each wire separately for each function for each side.

My thing is that the blinking part isn't efficient as you have to be very low compared to the truck to see the sides blink or at a far enough angle to see it… It looks good in that video bc she has it bouncing off his large chrome side steps making it more visible. Its a nice feature but Id go the distance to add mirror signals before something that large that blinks.

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Makes sense on the lights... didn't think about that. Luckily, I have chrome steps, so that would probably help me on the light output to some extent. I already have the mirror lights/signals, so I have that going. Anything extra would just be, well, extra.