@Hampnterri what did you use to tuck away the wires for the S2 as a chase light?
Used cable ties, commercial cable wrap mesh heat shrink cable wrap, iadhesive zip ties - all available at a commercial electric distributor and probably most hardware stores. There are probably more elegant solutions, but this is working and wearing great so far…
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Awesome thank you that helps on the adhesive zip tie base, that’s pretty clean actually and good to know.
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We ended up doing a set of three of these in the truck bed - easy to charge every one in a while with USB, and the remote and a red option is nice.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083LJM55C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Then we did one of these with a magnet mounting option in the top of the tent, and it holds well to the frame in the GFC truck bed when the top is closed:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07VBHN8M6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
We decided that running power for lights didn’t balance with our desires to keep the Gladiator and GFC simple, after having a campervan that was home like, this truck was never going to compete, so why try 
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Love this. I’m also looking to connect LED strips directly to a fuse block like you did. Most of the LED strips I see online have a AC wall plug or a 12v cigarette lighter adapter. Did you just snip that off and wire it directly to your fuse block? Or but lights that were meant to be direct-wired? And do you have a link?
Hey all,
I am going to order Matt Gecko’s LED kit for my Tundra. Seems simple and a product that a lot of people are stoked on. Its not super critical but does anyone have any experience adding a dimmer switch to Matt’s light system? I’m sure there’s a youtube video out there explaining it somewhere but figured I’d start with the forum first.
Thanks in advance!
Can you show a more detailed photo(s) on how you ran the wiring for the external Scene Light you have mounted on the extrusion? Thanks, any suggestions on doing a similar external light?
Where did you get that cargo net? Thanks
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@reesespieces It was just some net I found on Amazon. I have since upgraded to a custom fit VRNCLR Sewn Storage bedding storage since I was unhappy with how much the Amazon net sagged.
I purchased these dimmable, rechargable motion sensing lights on amazon. They are super cheap and work great. I saw them recommended by multiple users on this thread. They come in a 2 pack, I bought 4 and I put one on each panel and have a spare, see pics. They work well for me but they are another thing to charge. I travel with a Jackery 500 that’s constantly charging off the Tacoma bed outlet, so not an issue.
For the upstairs camper I purchased these waterproof, USB powered LED lights that came with 3M tape backing. They fit perfectly in the recessed track inside the camper (shown here). I hooked them up to this USB dimmer, which I’d also highly recommend. I power them with a small USB battery stick.
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I recently installed these black diamond remoji lights with the magspots from @jedgar. I really like the lights and so far they have been holding on well to the mag spots. I thought that maybe the magnets wouldn’t be strong enough but I have been doing some off-roading and so far they have not fell off.
http://jedf.us/#!/GFC-MagSpots/p/292809060/category=113909263
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I definitely wouldn’t encourage folks to leave the lights on when driving, but I often left mine on and they stayed put shockingly well.
Yeah I hear you. I was thinking about putting an extra magnet on the back of the light to make it more secure.
Thanks @nsmitha for some inspiration. I also bought one of these splitter/switches so that I can power multiple strips/fans/etc off of one USB power source.
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Figured I’d chime here. I now regret my switch board location, but more on that later.
I had a 6"x6"x4" PVC junction box left over from a work project. This actually fit with tons of room to spare in between the inside of the rear fender and bedside.
My thinking was to cut through the internal bed side and through the bottom of the PVC box in order to make a waterproof housing for the backside of my switch panel.
Into the box I drilled a hole for a waterproof cord grip, and then I made a template in order to drill the mounting holes.
After getting the box mounted on the backside of the bed, I cut through both the bedside and bottom of the PVC box. I put some silicone around the seam, but I may have to go to something a bit more heavy duty, we will see with time.
I ran power to the box from my secondary fuse box in the engine bay, and through my waterproof cord grip.
This will get cleaned up in the future, but I was in the middle of wiring up fog and ditch lights at the time.
In order to keep the panel from being always on I added an (off centered might I add) additional “main power cut-off” switch.
So far I only have two Baja Designs dome lights mounted up. One red and one white, with them being mounted on the left and right support bars. I have only zip tied these on as I like being able to rotate them to face outside of the open panels as well as into the bed.
I have plans to run LED strips upstairs, but this has been working out nicely for now. The red dome light is on the “camp” side of the truck and under the awning. Having the scene lighting and not attracting bugs is a huge plus.
As previously stated, I regret the location of the switch panel now as it is super exposed and easy to bump with items in the bed. Rather than move it (I cut holes…) I’m trying to figure out a way to protect it with a small cage or something. The work never ends…
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That’s some impressive work; bummer about the switches getting easily bumped by cargo. Maybe a flange just around the edge (sticking out maybe an inch or so) would be enough in lieu of a full cover. Then cargo would bump up against the rim and not hit the switches.
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@the_philxx Didn’t have an “original” location. The '21 Tacoma doesn’t have the driver’s side cubby unfortunately, and my passenger side one is already in use. AND I wanted the switches to be easy to get to while standing at the tailgate. I do have a 100A main cut off at the fuse box under the hood. It is definitely nice to be able to kill everything on the board with one switch, and I like the peace of mind.
@gwiz Thanks, that’s definitely a thought I have had. The panel isn’t very big so I could see that route working well, and it would provide the least amount of obstruction.
Did GFC at some point offer orange framing for the canopy bars? I am picking mine up in January but didn’t realize the bars may be orange? I’m hoping they are actually
not anymore. that’s a V1. You will get a V2
Thanks for the info