blackbetty14
Senior Member
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2014
- Posts
- 2,769
- Reaction score
- 1,548
- Location
- CT
- Ram Year
- 2024
- Engine
- Hemi 5.7 VVT/Etorque
Not my first rodeo but I have tried over the years lots of different bed lighting and always found that the simplest are usually my favorite. I've tried rock style lights, different color LEDs and through all my renditions I finally ended on the one fits what I like most. I have been running this same cover on both my trucks Tonno Pro Low Roll.
Amazon - two 5m rolls of 5630 LED strips (you only need 1 roll and have like 2ft of left over) the dual roll kit was $18 but came with 4 wire jumpers which you will need for an easy install to change directions. It also came with thicker Tape which I used on the jumper connectors and beginning and end of each roll (where they would start to peel over time). Color is daylight white (not very blue)
Amazon - 5 pack of weather proof 90* push button latching switches. $12, these are nice latching with a silicone cover to keep water and stuff out. Expensive for 5 but switches feel nice in the hand and are positive latching with a nice feel (you only need 1)
Free - 20-22 gauge wire, 5amp water tight ATC style blade fuse holder and fuse. and a few connectors of your choosing.
The rest of this is a bit of dual coated 20-22gauge wire that I had laying around (prob 8ft) and I put an inline fuse (5amp). I tapped into the trailer wiring battery POS+ and NEG/GROUND, ran the wires under and up the driver side bed to the switch, switch is drilled into my aluminum bed cover rail. The switch only controls 12v to the LED strip and not the ground (ground is connected right to the strip. LED strip is cut and stuck full length to side and rear bed cover rails, LED strips are cut and peeled at connection points in order to make the connections. I put dielectric grease at the connections to help with corrosion etc. I used the supplied thicker adhesive strips on the backs of connectors (bulkier than the LED strip) so it would push/pull the LED strip off the bed cover under its own weight (learned from the past). Also for the first 1-2" of each strip I added the thicker adhesive to the back of the LED strip so it would help keep it attached (learned from the past as well for falling down due to a gap). Each section is connected with 1 jumper in the same orientation, the last end on the pass tailgate side is heat shrink sealed.
Thats about it! $30 but Could be less if you only get 1 roll of LED, 1 Switch and then need to buy some wire and a fuse link. I ran RED 5050 LEDs on my last truck which worked fine but the red messed with my eyes a bit and I had trouble figuring out colors at night as the red muted/mixed them up a bit lol. The 5630 chips are brighter than the 5050 so that is something else I learned over time.
I have access to the switch with the cover locked and engaged by opening the tailgate and reaching up and pushing down on the switch (there is a gap on my cover about 1" high). LEDs are very bright as you can see and these picks are when its still daylight out.
This one was taken around 4pm so it was bright out (see tailgate daylight)
Taken later around 6pm, see sky about dusk but not fully night/dark out.
Amazon - two 5m rolls of 5630 LED strips (you only need 1 roll and have like 2ft of left over) the dual roll kit was $18 but came with 4 wire jumpers which you will need for an easy install to change directions. It also came with thicker Tape which I used on the jumper connectors and beginning and end of each roll (where they would start to peel over time). Color is daylight white (not very blue)
Amazon - 5 pack of weather proof 90* push button latching switches. $12, these are nice latching with a silicone cover to keep water and stuff out. Expensive for 5 but switches feel nice in the hand and are positive latching with a nice feel (you only need 1)
Free - 20-22 gauge wire, 5amp water tight ATC style blade fuse holder and fuse. and a few connectors of your choosing.
The rest of this is a bit of dual coated 20-22gauge wire that I had laying around (prob 8ft) and I put an inline fuse (5amp). I tapped into the trailer wiring battery POS+ and NEG/GROUND, ran the wires under and up the driver side bed to the switch, switch is drilled into my aluminum bed cover rail. The switch only controls 12v to the LED strip and not the ground (ground is connected right to the strip. LED strip is cut and stuck full length to side and rear bed cover rails, LED strips are cut and peeled at connection points in order to make the connections. I put dielectric grease at the connections to help with corrosion etc. I used the supplied thicker adhesive strips on the backs of connectors (bulkier than the LED strip) so it would push/pull the LED strip off the bed cover under its own weight (learned from the past). Also for the first 1-2" of each strip I added the thicker adhesive to the back of the LED strip so it would help keep it attached (learned from the past as well for falling down due to a gap). Each section is connected with 1 jumper in the same orientation, the last end on the pass tailgate side is heat shrink sealed.
Thats about it! $30 but Could be less if you only get 1 roll of LED, 1 Switch and then need to buy some wire and a fuse link. I ran RED 5050 LEDs on my last truck which worked fine but the red messed with my eyes a bit and I had trouble figuring out colors at night as the red muted/mixed them up a bit lol. The 5630 chips are brighter than the 5050 so that is something else I learned over time.
I have access to the switch with the cover locked and engaged by opening the tailgate and reaching up and pushing down on the switch (there is a gap on my cover about 1" high). LEDs are very bright as you can see and these picks are when its still daylight out.
This one was taken around 4pm so it was bright out (see tailgate daylight)
Taken later around 6pm, see sky about dusk but not fully night/dark out.
