Led Bed Lighting

[Project Comanche]

Has anyone used LED ribbon with adhesive to light up their bed?  I have read on a few forums stories of people who tied in the LED's to cargo light or installed seperate switches.  With comanches notorious for weak interior lighting I am thinking of also installing LED strips in the cab along the underside of the dash and possibly along the underside of the molding behind the seats.

 

With the LED ribbon that can be cut to length, are the solder points straightforward +/-? Can i tie the lights into the door open/closed sensors due to the low draw?

 

any thoughts, opinions, advice, or suggestions are greatly apreciated

[gogmorgo]

The stock lighting in my cab is more than adequate. I do, however, have both the lights in the b-pillars and the footwells working. The ones for the footwells may be an option, though. You may want to check the grounds for the interior lights if yours are giving you issues.

 

If I were putting an LED strip under my dash, I'd just tap it into or use it to replace the footwell lights. Whether or not you have them, the wiring should be there. They mount to the lower dash panel. The yellow plastic bit is the back end of the socket, and they look an awful lot like the parking lamp sockets.

 

 

There's a connector a few inches down the wires from where they disappear under the dash, which should be there somewhere whether or not the lights are. The driver's side has one too.

 

 

I found it easier to twist the sockets out of the bracket than to pull the connectors out when I pulled that panel off. But that's irrelevant.

 

Hooking them up in the place of these lights should be okay. I highly doubt you'd be exceeding the draw with LED's (but can't know without actual numbers) and they'd already be hooked up to come on whenever your interior lights normally would.

 

There are aftermarket b-pillar lights available, or you might be able to strip the housings of your factory (I've assuming non-functioning) ones and put LED's in. Again, the wiring is there for either the interior lights, or constant power as these ones could be turned on independently. I don't have any pics of those lights, though. If I were planning on putting LED's behind the seats somewhere, I'd tap into those lights for convenience, i.e. not having to run wires all the way to the fuse box or the door switch.

[Project Comanche]

Great points... I am finding there is alot of work to be done.  The b-pillar lights in mine only work when manually rotated/turned on.  I am unsure if I have lights under the dash, but with the door switches seemingly not working I have some work just finding out what I have before I can even start.

[gogmorgo]

Do any lights come on if you turn the dash light dimmer switch (the headlight switch knob) all the way to bright (with a distinct position)? They should, whether or not they do. If nothing happens, my first thought would be the fuse, and then grounds.

 

There are some wiring diagrams available here, if it helps. Courtesy of Blue88Comanche.

[92tanMJ]

You can get a roll of water proof LEDs off ebay for pretty cheap. That's what I have in my Cherokee..I have a lot left over and I am going to put some in my bed. But I already have a double toggle switch I'm going to use for it. IMO it wouldn't be worth the hassle to tie into the factory system.

 

Here's it in the Cherokee. There's a lot more lighting there than it looks like. I was planning on also putting some in my wheel wells but I don't go night wheeling often lol

[Hillcountrymac]

I'm glad you posted I'm looking to do the same thing.I didn't even know the foot lights were there.I have a base model and am about to check and see if it is wired where I can just tie them in.

[Spectormj]

Look up Highbeam Lighting and get their rokshots (great lights come in a few diff colors) or ask about their light strips for interior/exterior I know the guys who run it and ill say they are some of the best guys for LEDs

[dankicksass]

I've used a lot of LED roll lighting but not yet in a truck bed. The eBay stuff from China and US resellers has pretty crappy fake 3M adhesive on it. Other than that, it's pretty good. 3028 strips are easier to wire, no controller needed and it's just +/- wiring. 5050 strips have four wires and need a controller unless you get single color 5050. Pretty simple stuff. It's not waterproof by a long $#!& though, more like water resistant.

[JoeLAW]

Well I bought I think about 8ft of those China LED strips, with the 3M adhesive as dankicksass said, that I plan on using for rock lights, and maybe interior lighting. But on a recent trip to a local Auto Supply Store business show, I spoke with the Truxedo reps, and they showed me a badass setup that I absolutely loved, and it's called the B-Light battery powered, which basically was designed for the under the rails on the bed. here's the link http://www.truxedo.com/b-light/battery-powered.php And that's what I'm planning on doing for the bed of my truck. 

[Dando]

Here are mine. I ran mine 12v constant with a hidden outdoor switch, when off you can't tell they are there at all.

 

 

[JoeLAW]

Thats awesome and which ones are those?

[Dando]

Sorry I was camping and didn't see your response to my post, they are just some random brand of LEDs from orielys auto parts. But they were cheap enough to take the gamble and see how they work. I am very pleased so far.

 

With the lights off while camping:

 

 

Turned on:

 

[Keyav8r]

It shouldn't be a problem to tie LEDs into the standard interior lighting system. Every XJ and MJ I've seen in JYs had the sockets for the underdash lights and a lot of them had the lights and pigtail (some of which now reside in my parts bin). You can simply clip the lights off the pigtails and connect the LEDs. I think you could run some wires under the carpet or mat to the back of the cab for more LEDs back there, if you didn't want to pull the B pillars to access the wiring for those lights.

I've installed the standard underdash lights in both of my MJs and replaced the B pillar lights in the 91 with the Eurametec lights. Good light level in the cab. May add a rearview mirror with the courtesy lights in the future if I can do so without puling the headliner.