Getting Cargo Light BRIGHT!

[glendayle]

I like the idea of bed rail lighting, I'm just not to that stage yet in bed storage yet! I still need a tool box and am going to weld up some angle iron on the bed rails and make some kind of exo-cage for it.

But good idea!

I'm not sure what you mean by exocage. As far as the lights I'm referring to, you can get these strips from most any place. They are adhesive backed and flexible. You can seal the joints/solders with hot glue or similar.

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Here is a pic in my cubby hole in my car that I used these with. These are blue, but I'd probably go white in the bed if I try this. They should be able to tuck right up underneath the bed rail. I would have little worry of them being damaged. This is also just about 1/2 of one of these strips. They are pretty decently bright for their size and what not. I guess for wiring I'd try to tap into the power feed from the dash. Then should be able to just ground to the bed.

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[RyanMerrick]

I'm not sure what you mean by exocage. As far as the lights I'm referring to, you can get these strips from most any place. They are adhesive backed and flexible. You can seal the joints/solders with hot glue or similar.

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Here is a pic in my cubby hole in my car that I used these with. These are blue, but I'd probably go white in the bed if I try this. They should be able to tuck right up underneath the bed rail. I would have little worry of them being damaged. This is also just about 1/2 of one of these strips. They are pretty decently bright for their size and what not. I guess for wiring I'd try to tap into the power feed from the dash. Then should be able to just ground to the bed.

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What site did you buy these from?

 

[thered95]

well depending on how much room is behind the housing you could do some nice heatsinks and some cree high power stars. this it what i am working on for the 3rd brake light in my topper.

think rigid led bar inside the cargo lights

 

[glendayle]

What site did you buy these from?

I bought them from Autozone.

 

[RyanMerrick]

well depending on how much room is behind the housing you could do some nice heatsinks and some cree high power stars. this it what i am working on for the 3rd brake light in my topper.

think rigid led bar inside the cargo lights

That definitely seems doable in a topper, don't know about the cab though

 

[Sumbitch]

well depending on how much room is behind the housing you could do some nice heatsinks and some cree high power stars. this it what i am working on for the 3rd brake light in my topper.

Thats what I wanna do, I just can't justify it cause I only have my topper on during winter.


Any recommendations for bright (above average) LED conversion bulbs for the cargo and third brake lights?

I had a lil idea to re-wire the brake lamp into turn/brakes. The left bulb would blink when turning left, visa versa. And they would both light up when brakes are applied (blinker will still blink even when brakes are applied). I'd only do this if I can get some LEDs that are bright enough. otherwise it'll stay as a simple brake lamp.

Also plan on wiring the cargo lights into a SPDT switch, one power source being the reverse lights and the other being constant 12v, allowing me to manually turn them on if I need them.

 

[sewlow]

I was gonna change the third light to be just one brake light. Mod the existing light with red plexi & wire up the cargo lights to be brake lights, too. I like the idea of the former cargo's to be turn sigs!
I'm going to use these for my cargo lights, mounted to the stake pockets. On the back of the pocket in the front, & on the front of the rear pocket. Sure, they're gonna point down, but I usually have my tonneau on, which makes it really dark in there anyhow, so any light at all will brighten things up a bunch. The bulbs will be LED's. A waterproof switch in the back of the box by the tailgate for on/off.

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[Sumbitch]

I was gonna change the third light to be just one brake light. Mod the existing light with red plexi & wire up the cargo lights to be brake lights, too. I like the idea of the former cargo's to be turn sigs!

I would ultimately want to do this, but without it looking 100% stock (meaning a stock lens), I can't convince myself to do it. As Half-Assed said, the ridges in the cargo lamp lens are there to point the light downward. Unless I want my bed to be fully aware of my truck's direction of travel, this would seem pointless.

(brain fart while typing post) Unless a guy could fabricate cargo lamp lens replacements out of an extra third brake lamp lens.... hmmm? This wouldn't quite look stock (obviously) but it would be as damn close as you could get I reckon.

 

[RyanMerrick]

Thats what I wanna do, I just can't justify it cause I only have my topper on during winter.


Any recommendations for bright (above average) LED conversion bulbs for the cargo and third brake lights?

I had a lil idea to re-wire the brake lamp into turn/brakes. The left bulb would blink when turning left, visa versa. And they would both light up when brakes are applied (blinker will still blink even when brakes are applied). I'd only do this if I can get some LEDs that are bright enough. otherwise it'll stay as a simple brake lamp.

Also plan on wiring the cargo lights into a SPDT switch, one power source being the reverse lights and the other being constant 12v, allowing me to manually turn them on if I need them.

Check out: http://www.superbrightleds.com/cat/led-vehicle-replacement-bulbs/vehicle/----/---/

You can add your specific vehicle and it will show exactly what led bulbs will fit where. Just check the lumen output on the LEDs and compare them to the lumen output of the original bulb, the higher the lumen output, the brighter the bulb.

 

[96k1500]

Imo i woulda went with the led 3rd brake light from summit, the ones from ebay suck, ive had both, the ones from summit have 3 led's on each end for cargo lights, ill post a pic for reference, they dont look so bright in the pics but i changed a u-joint on the side of a dark road with just the light of the cargo lights with no problems, and that was working on the tailgate

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