Extra Bed Lights Tie in Location

Jfleming

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I have a Lariat SuperCab. I am adding LED light strips to the underside of the bed rails for extra lighting in the bed. There are many ways to control the added lights, but I want them to function the same as the factory cargo lights on the back of the cab. To power those lights the factory uses a white wire with a green stripe. (See schematic below).

So if you want to do it this way, an easy location to make a splice into this circuit is shown in the photo below. This is on the left side under the plastic trim for the back door. (No need to go all the way up to the Body Control Module to make the splice) There is already a hole in the body that I used to make a ground stud. The paint is not real thick right there, but I scratched up the surface and used a couple internal star washers to insure good contact to the body with a long screw and nut. This left me with a nice ground stud for my lights.

As for the power I skinned back the white with green stripe wire and soldered in a tap for my lights. Both new wires were routed through a grommet in the floor of the jack compartment. This is terminated at a weatherproof (Deutsch) connector in case the bed ever needs to be removed. The connector can just be disconnected instead of cutting wires.

NOTE: The White w/Green stripe wire is a straight piece of wire. There are MANY twisted pairs of wires in this same location. Stay away from the twisted wires. They are not the right ones. This wire is just a flat non-twisted wire.

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lloydr1206

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Do you have any pics of the grommet and/or how you ran the wire to the bed?
 

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Lay under the truck and look up into the drivers rear fender, behind the wheel. You will see a wiring harness zip-tied to the frame with a dead plug in it. This is the power supply for the box accessory power port, available with some options. It is powered through the BCM and supplies 12 volts @ 20Amps. I just tied into those 2 wires - Power & Ground = Simple.
The BCM powers it down after 20 minutes so no need to worry about leaving bed lights on overnight either.
 

lloydr1206

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Lay under the truck and look up into the drivers rear fender, behind the wheel. You will see a wiring harness zip-tied to the frame with a dead plug in it. This is the power supply for the box accessory power port, available with some options. It is powered through the BCM and supplies 12 volts @ 20Amps. I just tied into those 2 wires - Power & Ground = Simple.
The BCM powers it down after 20 minutes so no need to worry about leaving bed lights on overnight either.
Doesn’t this require the key in the ignition to reactivate the bed lights after timing out ? I looked into this but was unsure. I want to be able to have them come back on without putting the key in the ignition.

Any input is greatly appreciated.
 


Trigganometry

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Doesn’t this require the key in the ignition to reactivate the bed lights after timing out ? I looked into this but was unsure. I want to be able to have them come back on without putting the key in the ignition.

Any input is greatly appreciated.
Pretty sure the unlock function on your fob does the same thing. Notice the cargo light functions when you use it. That powers the same connector OP mentioned. The mating plug end is used extensively in many Ford products. Same connector as the horn plug in my old Ranger
 

lloydr1206

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Pretty sure the unlock function on your fob does the same thing. Notice the cargo light functions when you use it. That powers the same connector OP mentioned. The mating plug end is used extensively in many Ford products. Same connector as the horn plug in my old Ranger
Yea I figured the unlock button allowed for functionality as the cargo light functions in that manner. That’s why my original plan was to tap into the cargo light power wire. However, if the dummy plug in the rear has similar function to that power wire then I’d rather do that and keep the vehicle wiring free from splicing.

I can’t seem to absolutely confirm if that plug will offer the same functionality or not though. May have to just try the plug first then go from there.
 

Trigganometry

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Yea I figured the unlock button allowed for functionality as the cargo light functions in that manner. That’s why my original plan was to tap into the cargo light power wire. However, if the dummy plug in the rear has similar function to that power wire then I’d rather do that and keep the vehicle wiring free from splicing.

I can’t seem to absolutely confirm if that plug will offer the same functionality or not though. May have to just try the plug first then go from there.
When I get around to adding LED bed lighting this summer that’s the connector I’ll be tapping into for sure. Others on here have already utilized it with there setups and you can buy the connector from this guy. https://wolfhaus01.square.site/

That is unless you can get the mate to it yourself.
 

Adventure Ranger

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Doesn’t this require the key in the ignition to reactivate the bed lights after timing out ? I looked into this but was unsure. I want to be able to have them come back on without putting the key in the ignition.

Any input is greatly appreciated.
It requires ANY accessory activation, so even unlocking the doors powers them back up. I have keyless remote entry and start on my Lariat, fob stays in my pocket and everything just powers up when I grab a door handle to unlock the truck. Your key fob will do the same when you hit the unlock button, accessory power to the box is turned back on.
 

micl9

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Hate to tell you guys this, but that connector does not turn back on until the ignition is turned to acc/on. So door unlock does not energize it.
It is run off the same timed power to the aux USB ports inside the truck. So work around is to use FORScan to increase the on time or disable entirely. I did the later, the BCMs battery protection will eventually turn the power off if you forget turn off the light.
My bedlights tap into that same plug with Ethan's awesome harness. And I disabled the timeout.
Cant recall the thread were this is discussed, but search my posts and you will find it.
 

lloydr1206

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Hate to tell you guys this, but that connector does not turn back on until the ignition is turned to acc/on. So door unlock does not energize it.
It is run off the same timed power to the aux USB ports inside the truck. So work around is to use FORScan to increase the on time or disable entirely. I did the later, the BCMs battery protection will eventually turn the power off if you forget turn off the light.
My bedlights tap into that same plug with Ethan's awesome harness. And I disabled the timeout.
Cant recall the thread were this is discussed, but search my posts and you will find it.
this was my understanding, thanks for confirming.
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