Auxillary Lighting

[Wayne M]

Just thought I would share this idea with you in case any of you would want to try what I did.



I hunt and usually get to the hunting lease in the dark and leave in the dark. I hunt in the middle of the river bottoms in East Texas on the Neches River right next to the Big Thicket. Absolutley beautiful, pristine land, but when it is dark - it is really dark. I always had a difficult time with getting the proper light to be able to load and unload my four wheelers on my utility trailer.



I did not want a headache rack with off-road lights attached above my cab, but I did need some sort of light coming from cab height shining down toward the rear of my truck.



I have a tool box across the rails of my truck bed. It hit me one day when the box was opened that the lid of the box swung up higher than the cab. I figured the underside of the lid would be a great place to mount some lights and that was what I did.



I mounted a pair of low profile fog lights on the underside of my tool-box lid. Ran the wiring from the box to the battery and back to a switch located inside the box. It has an in-line relay switch and fuse to protect. I also put a ground interupt plunger under the lid that breaks the ground wiring when the lid is shut, just in case the lights are left on when the lid is shut.



The lights draw a lot of attention and I have found they come in handy just about anytime you are working or loading anything at night around the back of the truck. As far as shedding some light on the river bottoms they work just as they were intended.



Sorry for the long post, but figured someone might like the idea.

 

[EMDDIESEL]

Sounds like a great idea. I want to addlights inside mine to so i can see what the hell i am doing in the box. I was going to use the truck dome lights they sell. dont need to light up the bed. What brand of lights did you use?

 

[Wayne M]

Can't remember the brand. I went to Wally World (Wal-Mart) and bought the best set of low profile fog lights they sell. I was looking for a pair that had the relay switch. I think they cost about $35 to $40. Of course the lights will be designed to run to the front of your truck not the bed so beware you will have to add wire to make the loop from the box to the battery and back to the box.



If you are handy and take your time you can make a very good looking system that really works. BTW the dispersion of light from the fog light does a good job of lighting up the inside of the box as well.