Bed lighting

I have a 2005 Silverado with a hard bed cover. I'd like to find me some LED lighting to put inside the bed to be able to see after dark when I have to unload. I have seen some systems for sale for around $60 but that is just idiotic to me. I'd like to build something similar without any SMT parts. What I would like is a 4 light "puck" system controlled from a simple toggle switch inside the bed. I do not need HUGE amounts of light, maybe a standard incandescent flashlight level from each. I do have basic soldering and wiring knowledge, but need some help with picking components out.

Just find 4 self contained lights that have the right wattage light bulbs in them for your desired needs and wire them into the parking lights of your truck with a switch. This way you both don't have to run a power line for the lights across the truck and when you turn off the truck lights they will definately be off even if you forget to throw the switch.

Saw some under car "neon" led dome cans on evil bay for ~$10 I THINK might work. At least they are weatherproof. As far as power I was going to tap into the accessory port, that way if I forget to turn it off, the truck kills the power to the port so there is enough voltage to crank up. Not too worried about the wires, the cover has a C channel on both sides of the bed, will hide them in there inside some loom.

have you tried a local auto parts store? If you are not going to run them for long periods of time incan lighting would work just fine and you would not have to worry about cheap LEDs dimming over time or not having a good area of light dispersion. If it were me I would buy some incan fixtures and put some cree or luxeons in them and use 3 or 6 LEDs and a resistor to limit current if needed.

Hadn't looked around much yet. I don't have many options for parts store around here, Oreily's, and Auto Zone are about it.

On a side note it is nice to see a fellow Okie helping me out though!

Another thing you could try is a salvage yard maybe even for large trucks that have interior lighting.
I didn't notice you were an okie :wave: there are a few of us in the forum here but I have yet to publically stumble across a CPFer.

If the open side of that "C" channel faces in or down you could run a cool white rope light or SMD ribbons in there, facing towards the bed. You'd get good even lighting and it would be mostly out of harms way.

The C channel does face in, how much would a few say 4ft strands of SMT ribbon cost?

KrashKing said:

I have a 2005 Silverado with a hard bed cover. I'd like to find me some LED lighting to put inside the bed to be able to see after dark when I have to unload. I have seen some systems for sale for around $60 but that is just idiotic to me. I'd like to build something similar without any SMT parts. What I would like is a 4 light "puck" system controlled from a simple toggle switch inside the bed. I do not need HUGE amounts of light, maybe a standard incandescent flashlight level from each. I do have basic soldering and wiring knowledge, but need some help with picking components out.

Click to expand...

I have the exact same truck 'sept a year newer. And i had the exact same idea. I was thinking about getting these :

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-...tion=DispPage&Page2Disp=/mini_tubes.htm#wired

Or these :

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-...category=BARS&Page2Disp=/specs/LSM.htm#photos

Honestly this site has so many i cant choose which ones lol My idea was to tape or bolt them under my bed rails and have them on an magnetic switch so when I opened the back glass on my topper they would come on. Like a normal dome light.

KrashKing said:

how much would a few say 4ft strands of SMT ribbon cost?

Click to expand...

Following bnemmies link to superbrightleds.com shows a number of LED modules that are maybe $5 each, which puts them well within your price range. My only concern would be to try and figure out how many of them you'd need to get your desired light level.

This is one vendor of rolls of SMD LEDs. A 16' roll of waterproof cool white is $ 95, so you would have to split a roll with someone to get closer to your price range. I have used some of these lately for room lighting and they provide a very even, very useful light. You cannot block out what you are looking at with your own shadow no matter how you put things or where you stand. The non-waterproof is cheaper if you you feel the C channel is well sheltered.

The cover I have is a hard tonneau. I've not had any issues with moisture getting in the bed when it was closed. I'm thinking of getting the LED under car "neon" spots I found. $10 for 8 of them shipped.