How To: Automatic Toolbox Lights, Self Contained

[Maroon96]

How To: Automatic Toolbox Lights, Self Contained


I originally got this idea when looking for a way to have light in my horse trailer without having the truck hooked up or adding a marine type battery. I got some of my ideas from a build thread on another forum (https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/boden-build-2015-dclb-4x4.362640/page-4#post-10719464), where a guy added some under hood lights, and a jeep youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2RI8fl0a5I). I took the information from these sources and made it fit my needs. There are many ways you can set these lights up to suit your individual needs. For example, I used a dimmer switch in line for my trailer. It's a little bluer light than I like on those white trailer walls but works better in my tool box.

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On the truck, I decided to keep them 100% within the toolbox so that I did not have to run any wires. I also wanted them to come on automatically so I had one less thing to search for in the dark.


Materials


Here are the materials I used. I have left out things I assume you already have or can pick up locally (ie electrical tape, soldering gun, wire/strippers, etc.). I was able to get everything else through Amazon and Home Depot.


LED Strip Lights - I used this

AA Battery Pack - I used this

Pin Switch* - I used this

DC Power Pigtail - I used this

Wire Connectors - I used this

Braided Wire Loom - I used this

Aluminum Channel - I used this

Adhesive Heat Shrink - I used this

Zip Tie Mounts - I used this

Double Sided Tape - I used this

Piece of Rubber - I used this

(mudflap, mat, etc)


*If you use the same battery pack I did, it has a switch on it. If you do not want automatic lights, you do not need the pin switch.

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Assembly


I did not think about doing a write up originally, so I don’t have pictures from some of the soldering and stuff at the beginning.


Begin by taking your aluminum channel and battery pack out to the tool box. Find a good place to attach both (don’t attach yet) and figure out how much wire you will need between the two. Go cut your wire. Remember to figure in the wire on the DC pigtail and your switch location.


Next, cut off a section of the led strip to fit inside the channel. Do not attach the lights just yet. Melt through or scrape off the silicone weather proofing over the solder points on the LED strip. Solder your wires to the LED’s. Now cut some braided wire loom and use adhesive heat shrink tubing to secure one end of the loom and protect your solder points. Get a piece of heat shrink for the other end and slide it down over the wire loom and out of the way. Pull the wire loom down away from the wire ends and secure it with some tape while you add an appropriately sized ring connector to the positive wire. (If you are not using a magnetic or pin switch, solder the DC pigtail on instead.) You may want to cut the positive wire shorter than the ground or at least keep the wire loom down far enough to let the wires split. Looking back, it would have been easier if I had cut my wire loom shorter so that my ground wire didn’t get kinked.


Now you will need to work on the dc pigtail. Check that this pig tail will be long enough to reach from your battery box to the switch. If it is to short, solder on some extra wire. If it is long enough, use your heat shrink to secure a length of wire loom on the plug end. Push the wire loom down out of the way, secure with tape, put another piece of heat shrink on for later, and add a female spade connector on the positive wire. You can stick the light strip in the channel either now or after you attach the pigtail.

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At this point, you can either solder the ground wire on the light with the pig tail ground, or use a butt connector. Don’t forget to slide the heat shrink on first. This would be a good time to mock up your lights and make sure the wires run how you want them to. I originally made my wires too long and tried using a magnetic switch, which didn’t work with my tool box. Because of this, I had to cut down the wires and add a pin switch.

To be continued...

 

[Maroon96]

How To: Automatic Toolbox Lights, Self Contained

Once your wires and connectors are on, do a final mockup to see how far up you can attach your wire loom without straining the wires. Undo the tape on your loom, slide the loom and unmelted heat shrink up to where you want them, and secure the wire loom. Be careful not to melt the loom!

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Now, since the whole pin switch/bracket are hot when the lights are on, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to isolate the pin with a chunk of rubber. I didn’t have any old mud flaps to use, but did find some floor savers at home depot. The ones I used are about 2”x2”.

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I would definitely recommend something wider if you can find it so that you have plenty of room for bolts or screws without touching the pin bracket. Anyways, you’ll want to use screws, rivets, or something to attach the switch bracket to the rubber. Either make sure they are someplace that won’t touch the toolbox, or add a second piece of rubber between the toolbox and switch to avoid grounding out at the switch. Once your switch is ready, use some self tapping screws, bolts, or whatever will fit to attach it to your tool box. Tighten or loosen the pin as needed to ensure the top of the toolbox will push the pin down and break the circuit when closing the lid.

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All you have left to do at this point is attach your lights and battery box with the double sided tape and connect your wires to the switch. I would also recommend using some adhesive tape backed sip tie mounts to secure your wires in a neat and orderly fashion. It would be a shame to rip them out when needed most cause they got caught on some tools.

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To be continued...

 

[Maroon96]

How To: Automatic Toolbox Lights, Self Contained

Now that your lights are hooked up, double check to make sure that they are turning off when you close the toolbox lid and enjoy your lights.

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[mars2878]

looks good

 

[Maroon96]

Thanks. In the future I may see about cleaning up the switch, but I'm happy with it for now.

 

[GordonCustoms]

If you put your pin switch on the negative side you don't have to worry about isolating it or accidentally shorting it to something when getting stuff out of the box or if it gets wet.

 

[Maroon96]

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind.