Bedlight when Tailgate opens mod

[RickBullotta]

Or just use the bed light button?

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[fordtruckman2003]

Or just use the bed light button?

No fun trying to find that in the dark.

It's a nice idea to turn on the lights with opening tailgate.

 

[RickBullotta]

No fun trying to find that in the dark.

It's a nice idea to turn on the lights with opening tailgate.

Can't disagree with that. I have SwingCase storage installed as well so it's twice as fun to try to find the button in the dark!

 

[fordtruckman2003]

If I knew where the wires ran at front of truck I'd look at connecting the unlock wire to the bed light wire as I read about on other forum for last gen trucks. Might work. ?‍

 

[minirx7]

im not sure. I have the power tailgate so I have all kinds of warnings. There is a little red emblem on the bottom right of my display, i get a large message box I have to say ok to and the truck goes nuts if I put the truck in gear with the tailgate open. There is NO WAY you could ever drive away on my truck and not know it was open.

All this is done with the electronic latches. I'm not sure if the non power tailgate trucks still have electronic latches or not.

The door switch I installed for the bed lights would work great to add a little led light to the dash or something.

That makes sense. Only works when you open it electronically because the computer is just keeping track.

Im actually more surprised the truck will allow you to electrically open the tailgate if not in park.

Wow thats nuts then.. This means there is something wrong with my truck. I have done it twice where i accidently hit the double press on teh remote to open the tailgate, or someone didnt close the tailgate properly.

ONce i drove up and someone honked telling me it was open. ANother time, i lost my bins on the street. NOWHERE did the car tell me that the tailgate was open!!

But regarding the light, if the truck knows its open then can we not use that to tap the lights? I assume it isnt that straightforward.

 

[fordtruckman2003]

Wow thats nuts then.. This means there is something wrong with my truck. I have done it twice where i accidently hit the double press on teh remote to open the tailgate, or someone didnt close the tailgate properly.

ONce i drove up and someone honked telling me it was open. ANother time, i lost my bins on the street. NOWHERE did the car tell me that the tailgate was open!!

But regarding the light, if the truck knows its open then can we not use that to tap the lights? I assume it isnt that straightforward.

It only assumes it is open under certain conditions. There isn't a sensor except maybe the full power tailgate trucks.

 

[TheRat]

Hey guys

I was able to get my bedlights to turn on and off when I open the tailgate.

I did try to use the factory "TailGate Ajar" signal, however that ended up being a resistance based signal and couldn't get it to work.

I do have a fancier methode using timers and such, but due to complexity on getting power and properly sealing the electronics I decided to try the low tech approach first. The positive thing about the low tech approach is it will work for anyone that has bedlights.

The factory bedlight switch is momentary and uses two wires. One is ground (BK-YE) and the other goes to the BCM (WH-BU). To get the functionality I wanted I ended up using two switches. I purchased a nice stock looking hood\door pin switch and a gravity based ball bearing tilt switch for the tailgate. The plan is the door pin switch activates when the tailgate first opens, which is then broken by the tilt switch when the tailgate is about 1/4 open (Normally Closed). Giving me the momentary action the truck wants. The benefit to this method is when I close the tailgate, the bedlights are activated by the tilt switch at the 25% point, then canceled by the door pin switch. So times when my tailgate isn't open for the 10m run time window, the lights will turn off as I close the tailgate. (This is probably 90+% of the time for me) For those odd times the tailgate is open longer, I'll either forget and the lights will stay on for 10m, Turn the lights back on before I close the tailgate and let the tailgate turn them off, or turn them off with the factory button after I close it. This is fine for me.

On to the install:

I mounted the door pin switch on the drivers side of the tailgate right below the latch pin next to this little rib. The switch I chose uses two holes. One for the switch, and a threaded hole to hold it in. Once done there is no convenient access from this area to the bed light switch, so I just reached in and drilled a little hole to run the wire through. I found it much easier to pull the ProPower Panel as my bedlight switch harness was very short. I used 2 wire weathertight connectors for the main connection and also for the tilt switch. Not that it mattered, But I soldered the red wire for the connector to the (WH-BU) wire on the harness. The black wire got soldered to the door pin switch.

For the tilt switch, This got mounted in the tailgate to the bed step switch, just because it was in a good spot. This mounting angle you'll have to play with until you get the timing the way you want. I made a nice sheathed harness and ran this from the tailgate up to the bedlight switch. All set.

In this way the operation is as follows

Opening:
1) When the tailgate is closed the door pin switch is open and the tilt switch is closed.
2) When the tailgate first opens, the door in switch closes to ground, passing though the still closed tilt switch, activating the bedlight switch. Lights come on.
3) Once the tailgate reaches about 25% open, the tilt switch opens breaking the circuit.
4) Tailgate is fully open with the pin switch closed and the tilt switch open.

Closing
1) As the tailgate closes, the tilt switch closes when about 75% closed. Completing the circuit and activating the bed light switch.
2) When the tailgate fully closes, it contacts the door pin switch causing it to open and breaking the circuit.
3) Lights theater dim to off.

This tilt switch sucks. I purchased a Directed Electronics one. They make nice stuff. But its so small its very influenced by vibrations. Id say half the time it misfires when opening or closing. The little ball must be bouncing a little. I just purchased a pack of 5mm mercury switches and am going to make my own switch that will hopefully work a little better. Thinking of mounting a few of them all together in series hoping they wont all bounce at the same time. This would work with the Directed one, But its too expensive. 40 bucks for two of those or 5 for 10 of the others....

I'll update this post as I tweek things. Pics coming soon.

Thanks - I'm soon to do this mod. Appreciate the pix. Will You post a write-up?

 

[scott011422]

Its actually been a huge pain in the ass.

I kept having trouble with the door pin switch making a good connection. Lots of corrosion. Went thru a few revisions and switches before I gave up and replaced it with an Industrial roller switch. That so far seems to be working much much better. When opening the tailgate, Light turns on 100% of the time now.

Closing sucks. I ended up printing a body to use the entire pack of mercury switches wired in series and its still hit or miss. I haven't been able to get it to work more the 50% of the time.

I've been working on drawing up the wiring for using timers and such. That's going pretty good. Was even able to add a circuit that will not turn the lights back on when closing it the lights are already off. I just have to figure out where I'm going to mount everything and start purchasing components.

What kind of write up are you looking for?

 

[TheRat]

Its actually been a huge pain in the ass.

I kept having trouble with the door pin switch making a good connection. Lots of corrosion. Went thru a few revisions and switches before I gave up and replaced it with an Industrial roller switch. That so far seems to be working much much better. When opening the tailgate, Light turns on 100% of the time now.

Closing sucks. I ended up printing a body to use the entire pack of mercury switches wired in series and its still hit or miss. I haven't been able to get it to work more the 50% of the time.

I've been working on drawing up the wiring for using timers and such. That's going pretty good. Was even able to add a circuit that will not turn the lights back on when closing it the lights are already off. I just have to figure out where I'm going to mount everything and start purchasing components.

What kind of write up are you looking for?

Hey thanks - beta testing and the gained knowledge are very valuable.

Write-up = mainly best-choice parts #s and sourcing, and more details on the roller switch and its placement... also on Your final solution for the replacement components for the closing (light off) mechanism.

Do You think that something like Amsoil MP HD would help with corrosion? Is the corrosion where the new holes went in?

Thanks!

 

[scott011422]

I can do that when I figure out my forever solution.

I keep going back and forth between another simple solution that would be good enough and the more complex solution that does it all.

The simple version adds another roller switch to the mix eliminating the tilt switch. Although I would have to drill another hole in the truck, this would work all the time. Only drawback is it would turn the light back on when closing the tailgate if the light was off.

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