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How about adding a 2nd cargo light and wiring it to a switch?

Jeff862

Full Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2003
Messages
77
I am thinking of adding a second cargo light to my Av and wiring a switch in the back to turn it on and off. If I wire it to the first light can I turn them both on and off from either location? Are these lights turned on by grounding and have power to them all the time? If I do wire them like I mentioned will the dash light go on even without the key on? I saw something about a resistor used on one setup, what for? I know there is a post about some of this but I just can't find it. ???
 
ive added the second light (posted link to your other thread) and i wired it to the other light.

ive got rods tailgate mod so my lights come on when either saddlebag or the tailgate is opened... on when i hit the button on the dash.

a number of people without that tailgate mod have installed their own pin switches to the saddlebags and/or tailgate to get the same effect.

to be honest i dont know how theyve wired them but i know there are several threads about it.
 
Please tell me where you got your cargo light and general headaches in the installation. I have an 04 and miss the 2nd light of my 02. Any info on the switching would also be much appreciated :eek:
 
Will this help?
`03 Cargo Compartment Light Schematic... (Click on the link to enlarge it...)
I guess you just remove one for the `04!  :E:
844190_Bed-CompLt.gif


 

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;D ;D ;D
hahahahaha

You guys wire'em up! But just know that you got hosed.

Some Mexican put a second cargo light in mine about 2 years ago when he built my truck...
 
Busted my ass for a year on the lighting strategy for the bed. Looked at everything (fiber optics, LED, neon, etc). Back then lighting was a big issue. I was satisfied with how they turned out for 02.
I'd like to know who made the decision to dump one of them for 04. Not a wise idea - huge customer dissatisfaction for saving $1.35 on a lamp!

The lamps have power through the inadvertent power relay (on with IGN, then 20 mins after vehicle is turned off). You can add lamps on the circuit by taping on both sides. They are turned on by a switch to ground on the blu/wht wire (that was the color in 02). The body computer will wake up and turn on the inadvertent power relay anytime it sees a ground on the blu/wht wire.

Hope that helps...
 
Did you make the mod? I am thinking about adding a second light myself and am trying to learn all I can before I dive in. Thank you
 
Did you make the mod? I am thinking about adding a second light myself and am trying to learn all I can before I dive in.

No, I didn't make the mod, I did the original setup for GM on the 02.

It is very simple to add the second light in. You will have to remove each "inner sail" panel plus the "halo". These are the three pieces of cladding that cover the sheet metal around the back window. You will also have to remove the drainage grate on the passenger side (snap fit). See the attached pic for some insight to routing.

To remove the halo cladding piece, you'll need to use leverage on the front edge to get the tape off. Be sure you have some double sided tape to replace it with.

Give yourself a half day, that should be enough.

Enjoy...

 

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Here's another pic that you may find usefull (stuff I did back in 00 for the service people).

 

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For the wiring part of it....

Just make your connections where convenient. Make them waterproof. If you want to add an additional switch, the lights are turned on by the blue wire getting switched to ground. You can do this anywhere along the wire path. The switch has to be "latching", not "momentary" in type.

If you are concerned about making your connection waterproof, then pull the gromet out of the sheet metal and make your connections on the dry side. You'll have have some patience in feeding the wires through the grommet (or just poke through and seal with RTV).

I hope that's enough info, let me know if you need more before you start.

Regards...
 
Has anyone added the second light on the passenger cargo box on an 04 and used an 03 wiring harness? I was told by the dealer that it would probably snap into the existing harness which I assume is inside the sail panel. I have not yet started the mod but I do have all the parts. I can not find any posts where anyone has done this. I see where people said they tied into the other light but not where they tried to plug into what may be an existing wire. Thank you
 
805dre said:
No, I didn't make the mod, I did the original setup for GM on the 02.

It is very simple to add the second light in. You will have to remove each "inner sail" panel plus the "halo". These are the three pieces of cladding that cover the sheet metal around the back window. You will also have to remove the drainage grate on the passenger side (snap fit). See the attached pic for some insight to routing.

To remove the halo cladding piece, you'll need to use leverage on the front edge to get the tape off. Be sure you have some double sided tape to replace it with.

Give yourself a half day, that should be enough.

Enjoy...

Thank you so much for the reply and the picture. That is what I thought was happening. But I now need to show my ignorance. What is the Halo cladding piece? There is a cladding arm that is at a 45 degree angle with 3 screws and when I took out the screws it did not want to come off. Is that the Halo that is tapped in? I also tried to pull off the drainage grate and it did not seem to want to pull off. Should I assume you really have to pull? I am just a little wary of breaking something. Thank you for any advice.
 
I finally made this mod. I wired in a second cargo light and added switches that turn the lights on if you open the tail gate or if you open the saddle bag. I added a cut off switch just in case you want to kill the lights and since I had everything apart I added a 12V outlet.

It definitely took me far longer than I wanted about 12 hours in all. As my wife says do not loose my day job at the big Eastman. But after I am done I am satisfied. Now I have a warning light if I leave the tail gate open. I ended up getting the light case and the wiring harness from an 03 from the dealer. I was hoping that I could plug it into the existing harness but it was changed for 04. But it was not hard to tap into the wiring near the high break light. The only problem I had was everyone talked about tapping into the blue wire and grounding it. In the harness by the break light you need to tap into a blue/grey wire as the blue wire is for the break light. The blue/grey wire changes nto a blue wire at the connector at the end.

I want to thank the many people who posted pictures, drawings and help files. It made the job far easier.
 
Thanks for the post...I knew it was here somewhere! ;D

I asked my dealer how much or if a kit was available and they stated parts were not even available. :8: I hate it when they blow you off like that. :E:
 
Resurrecting this thread because I am about to do this mod. I have 2 strands of LED panels with 3M tape that I am going to run underneath the drip rails. I will also add a bed mounted switch.

2 questions
1. If i run the switch wire to the dash and splice into the blue/white wire behind the bed light switch, do you think I will get the bed light indication on the cluster? I could just ground it anywhere, but a little extra work to keep my indications right may be worth it.

2. Is there a good spot on both sides to run a wire into the saddle compartments? The LED strand is made of several quick connect panels, so running them down the sides and then putting one in each storage compartment is plausible.

Thanks guys!
 
Aerohokie said:
Resurrecting this thread because I am about to do this mod. I have 2 strands of LED panels with 3M tape that I am going to run underneath the drip rails. I will also add a bed mounted switch.

2 questions
1. If i run the switch wire to the dash and splice into the blue/white wire behind the bed light switch, do you think I will get the bed light indication on the cluster? I could just ground it anywhere, but a little extra work to keep my indications right may be worth it.

2. Is there a good spot on both sides to run a wire into the saddle compartments? The LED strand is made of several quick connect panels, so running them down the sides and then putting one in each storage compartment is plausible.

Thanks guys!
You can run that wire to the cargo light in the bed that's there now. No reason to run it clear into the dash. Tap the 12v+ wire (i can't remember which one at the moment) and the other side of your switch to ground. That cargo light circuit is a constant hot with a switched ground.

I'll have to see if I can't dig up some old pix.....

Blue and orange wires are behind the saddlebag light. All my old pix are on a long gone server. When I added the 2nd cargo light on my '04, I had all the cladding off and just tied into the wiring up by the 3rd brake light.
 
old skool.....love the bed rug.  Cannot order one from GM anymore


....and nice light setup
 
I?ve been tackling this over the past week. My LED were 2 strands of 4 panels. I tapped the wires at the third brake light and ran under the triangle drains and into the right saddle bag. At the top of the liner is a gap that runs the full length of the bed. The first panel is secured in the saddlebag, then the wire runs out through the gap and down the side of the bed for the other 3 panels. For the left side I tapped it at the lamp and did the same. I also spliced the blue/white ground wire and added a switch on the left side.

It?s looking great, but I?m tackling corroded brackets and redoing the weatherstripping. The other problem is the plastic sides of the bed (where the tie down hooks mount in) is warped. The plastic bows out in between the 3 hole push pins to where it pushes on the gutters causing them to tilt. An inch and a half of 3M tape didn?t work. Any other ideas besides more tape?
 
I recently tried to change my incandescent cargo light bulb to and LED. The LED was very very dim. Is this normal? Not enough voltage draw from computer? Or what?
 
This was what I did, following directions from another member on the site...

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Holy Bat Smoke.................that's fantastic. Now I have to look up Bed Rug. But does it stay dry in wet heavy rain weather? My cargo area (2008 LTZ) always takes a quarter cup of water during heavy rain or a good car wash. I can just imagine a musty situation? Do advise. I dig the look and concept of that. Bravo
 
I wish mine would stay dry enough to place carpet. But at least it came factory with 2 flood lights. I also wired a switch in the back to turn on without going into the cab. Actually I forgot there was switch in the cab. :LOL:
 
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