Anyone tapped factory bed light to power aftermarket under-rail LEDs?

[Bj517]

Thanks for the tips. Decided I'm going to try to use posi-taps instead of the t taps. If I like the setup, I can always splice later. I'll probably see how long the built-in 3M tape holds up, and will re-adhere the strips with something else if they come loose later

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[Hdang1980]

Thanks for tips. After hiding the wires properly, I did notice some parts of the LED have not stuck to the truck. They're being held because I wedged the strips in the corner of the truck bed and whatever those rings are underneath the trails. I'll have to figure something out if and when they fall down.

 

[Bj517]

I got these from amazon as well. As for detailed instructions, these two videos are good to follow except I tapped into the bedlight using those T-Tap connectors and did not use the 12v accessory wire like the youtubers. Just remember to tap into the light, and not the on/off button. Your LED strips's red wire will tap into the black/white wire, black wire will tap into the black/green wire. And since you will doing that, you'll be able to utilize the existing bedlight's on/off button, so no need to bother with the LED strip's supplied button. It just looks so much cleaner and functions like it was factory. If it weren't for the the tiny bit of wire showing between the end of strips and bed rail system, you would not be able to tell it was an aftermarket addition.

Apparently the polarity was reversed for my bed light. Wouldn't work until I put the red on the black/green wire. But seems to be working great now. I'll post photos when it gets a little darker out

 

[Bj517]

Pretty sweet! Love that they come on when I unlock the truck/hit the factory bed light switch

 

[Hdang1980]

Pretty sweet! Love that they come on when I unlock the truck/hit the factory bed light switch

Sweet!

 

[syd-jai]

Apparently the polarity was reversed for my bed light. Wouldn't work until I put the red on the black/green wire. But seems to be working great now. I'll post photos when it gets a little darker out

Mine had this polarity as well. If you have small enough test probes on your voltmeter, you can confirm polarity in the light connector before you tap the wires.

I attached my lights to the underside of the Revolver tonneau rails, I wiped them with alcohol first and then adhered them. I also just turned the corner and attached them to the underside of the tonneau rail in the front so I didn’t have to cut the strips.

underneath, I tried to stay away from the exhaust and keep it close to the bottom of the bed. My main connection point ended being right near the trailer wiring bundle, so I wrapped the LED connectors with electrical tape and then zip tied the whole bundle to the trailer wire bundle.

voila!

 

[Bigronron]

Tomorrow I think I'm gonna see if there's a pass through between the factory light and where the auxiliary runs. If there is I'm gonna run my under rail lights off of the factory lights. They're right next to each other.

Does anyone have a part number for the light? Hell, even the outlet even. It should be on the back of it. I’ve been looking everywhere for it and haven’t been able to find it.

 

[RDRahn]

Thanks for the topic and comments. I was thinking of doing the same thing to my Lariat and it seems to be possible. Will likely complete in the next 3-4 weeks.

 

[Mymaverick2021]

Not the overhead. The light that's mounted into the side of the bed. It has a switch on it already. Being able to tap that for my lights would save me having to mount a separate switch inside the bed. I understand wiring the toggle in is easy especially with the included pigtail, but there's already a light switch a foot away.lol

If you need to ask you better take it to an Auto electrician to do the hookkup

 

[RDRahn]

So you were able to simply splice the extra lights into the existing bed lighting circuit so that they are powered when the factory switch is turned on? Where did you perform the splice?

EDIT: to clarify, I am ONLY talking about people who have the lumens bed lighting kit and simply want more output. I am not talking about adding a completely new circuit in using the supplied pigtails to make a second switch present.

To clarify the answer on this a bit, I opened up my bed lighting this weekend to see how it looked. Seems like this is going to be a pretty easy slice into the built-in switch wiring. See pictures..

 

[Sembazuru]

Seems like this is going to be a pretty easy slice into the built-in switch wiring. See pictures..

I'm thinking of doing something like this when (if?) I finally get my '23 Mav (see .sig). But instead of splicing into the switch wires, I was thinking it might be better to splice in parallel to the light wires. Do you have another picture that you took (I'm not asking you to open up the back of your Mav again if you didn't get one) of the entire back of that plastic panel (or a close up to the wires going into the LED light module above the switch)?

I'm also taking note of what looks like dirt deposits from road spray on your panel. No matter the techniques to splice back there, I think making sure the new splices and wiring are water tight is important. As a heads-up if you are planning on using shrink tubing. There is a type of shrink tubing on the market that has a layer of hot-melt glue already applied to the inside just for helping to make the shrunk tube water tight. Though getting the glue to completely seal a 3-way (or more) splice may be difficult.

 

[RDRahn]

I'm thinking of doing something like this when (if?) I finally get my '23 Mav (see .sig). But instead of splicing into the switch wires, I was thinking it might be better to splice in parallel to the light wires. Do you have another picture that you took (I'm not asking you to open up the back of your Mav again if you didn't get one) of the entire back of that plastic panel (or a close up to the wires going into the LED light module above the switch)?

I'm also taking note of what looks like dirt deposits from road spray on your panel. No matter the techniques to splice back there, I think making sure the new splices and wiring are water tight is important. As a heads-up if you are planning on using shrink tubing. There is a type of shrink tubing on the market that has a layer of hot-melt glue already applied to the inside just for helping to make the shrunk tube water tight. Though getting the glue to completely seal a 3-way (or more) splice may be difficult.

I'll take another pic of the full panel back. May take a couple of days until I get to it. I was also thinking of how to make a good seal and was thinking about adding liquid electrical tape too.

 

[Barracuda340]

The shrink tube w glue would work great. I use it a lot. You would be surprised by how much oozes out. Solder the connection, then use shrink tube w glue. You wont have an issue with it in your lifetime.

 

[Tazgarde]

Does anyone know the wire gauge for proper t-tap or posi-tap sizing?

 

[OXHB619]

I am following this, I watched a video on YouTube that gave me a cool idea.

He installed a Magnetic switch in between the power button ( not on a maverick ) and the LED strip, so when you open the tailgate, it automatically comes on assuming the button is in the on position. I really like that as it automates the power and if it is the day time and you are leaving the tailgate open, you can still manually cut them off.

Following this as I would like to tie it all into the Factory switch so everything comes on when I open the tailgate.

Picture of the magnetic switch he used.

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