Mopar LED Bed Lights Install?

[Tranzella]

Has anybody installed the Mopar LED bed lights themselves? Watching the video from infotainment I have a few questions. When they pin the wires to the C1 and C7 connectors, there are wires already pinned there from the factory that he just removes. Any ideas on what those wires are for? Looks like pulling them out doesn’t cause any issues, or am I missing something?
Thanks!

 

[vincentw56]

I haven't installed it yet, but I do have it. I believe those are there for the factory bed lights, but the remainder of the wiring isn't there. Meaning it may only be in that harness, but not in the many other harnesses going to the back.

 

[MoreOvalteenPlz]

I recently added the OEM bed lights to my ‘19 and activated them using AlfaOBD. The two wires you de-pin are just the stock wiring that would run to the bed lights if they were installed at the factory. I assume they dead end somewhere on models that are spec’d without the bed lights. During my install, the pin for the replacement wire for the C1 connector broke as I pushed it through the rubber plug on the firewall. I tapped into the stock wire on the C1 connector instead of de-pinning and it works just fine.

 

[quickjoey]

Im curious where the dead end on those wires are. If they end near the rear of the truck it would make for a lot cleaner install by splicing in that location versus running another wire harness all the way up front.

 

[Tranzella]

Im curious where the dead end on those wires are. If they end near the rear of the truck it would make for a lot cleaner install by splicing in that location versus running another wire harness all the way up front.

I was wondering the same thing.

 

[swing4terps]

I was wondering the same thing.

Recently, I‘ve looked into this more than I care to admit. Deciding between OEM bed lights, aftermarket, or some combo. I’ve read many comments here that the OEM lights are not very bright and others that aftermarket led strips are too bright. All subjective I guess.

To answer your question, there is a connector in the rear that should have the upstream wiring for the bed lights. With the kit you might be able to pin the connecting connector here instead of running up front; assuming terminals are the same size. You‘d have a lot of excess wire to deal with. Or if you don‘t care about wire taps / keeping totally OEM / it being reversible, you could tap the upstream wires.

Here is a description of connector and pin locations.

Maybe I missed it but I see most are tapping the cargo light in the CHMSL. I would recommend just pin into the existing circuits for the cargo bed lights in the XY670A connector near the rear of the drivers side and above the resonator? Most body harnesses have the two circuits already ran from the BCM and terminate in the XY670A connector. The harness that plugs into the xy670a connector is determined by the options installed (I.E. ram box, cargo bed light, etc). You should be able to just pin terminals 6 and 11 in xy670a for the cargo light drive (beige/white wire) and cargo light switch signal (beige/voilet wire) circuits, then ground to the nearest ground location. Easy peasy, no going into the cab to tap wires.

Additionally, you need to set CBC I/O A5 enabled to yes and CBC I/O G16 enabled to yes in the BCM configuration and the cargo bed lights will be as OEM intended in regards to wiring and function.

As an alternative to the Mopar kit, you can buy the bed Lights and required harnesses separately for roughly the same $ as the kit. This would be truly PLUG and play; no pinning/tapping required. Would still need to program. Harnesses required depends on model year and options. Attached are the part numbers needed for 2021 without Rambox, in case that’s your situation.

I ended up doing OEM lights. Bought the left light and left harness. I found the one light alone to be bright enough and went ahead and bought the right one. Made my own right harness with some spare wire and tapped into the left light wiring. They function same as OEM (light switch included) and if I ever want/need to remove, I can take out lights and put old harness back and it’s factory again.

There are tons of threads here that describe options if you don’t care about altering factory wiring or OEM functionality.

 

[quickjoey]

I‘ve looked into this more than I care to admit recently. Deciding between OEM bed lights, aftermarket, or some combo. I’ve read many comments here that the OEM lights are not very bright and others that aftermarket led strips are too bright. All subjective I guess.

To answer your question, there is a connector in the rear that should have the upstream wiring for the bed lights. With the kit you might be able to pin the connecting connector here instead of running up front; assuming terminals are the same size. You‘d have a lot of excess wire to deal with. Or if you don‘t care about wire taps / keeping totally OEM / it being reversible, you could tap the upstream wires.

Here is a description of connector and pin locations.



As an alternative to the Mopar kit, you can buy the bed Lights and required harnesses separately for roughly the same $ as the kit. This would be truly PLUG and play; no pinning/tapping required. Would still need to program. Harnesses required depends on model year and options. Attached is the part numbers needed for 2021 without Rambox, in case that’s your situation.

I ended up doing partial OEM and aftermarket strips. Bought the left light and left harness and tapped into the light wiring for the aftermarket connections. They all function same as OEM (light switch included) and if I ever want/need to remove, I can take out lights and put old harness back and it’s factory again.

There are tons of threads here that describe options if you don’t care about altering factory wiring or OEM functionality.

This is phenomenal information! Thank you!

 

[Tranzella]

So, if I get the kit from Infotainment, tap into the upstream wire harness near the bed, and program it with the included OBD programmer, I should be good to go?!

 

[swing4terps]

So, if I get the kit from Infotainment, tap into the upstream wire harness near the bed, and program it with the included OBD programmer, I should be good to go?!

There are cheaper ways to do it, but yes. You should check to make sure you have the two wires before purchasing.

Also, if you’re going to use the Mopar kit, I would try pinning the downstream connector first. Not sure if you looked, but it’s a bit awkward/tight. My preference would be to remove the downstream harness (relatively easy) and mess with it at a table instead of under the truck.

Edit: Nevermind on my suggestion to pin the downstream. I just checked my factory harness and the downstream is female. I think the Mopar kit comes with male pins.

 

[quickjoey]

I’m going to look at a 2022 today with factory installed bedlights. I’ll check underneath and take note of where the harness from the lights physically connects to the wiring. Hopefully that will provide some clarity.

 

[swing4terps]

I’m going to look at a 2022 today with factory installed bedlights. I’ll check underneath and take note of where the harness from the lights physically connects to the wiring. Hopefully that will provide some clarity.

It connects via the harness that I attached above in the parts list. Left harness is the downstream harness for this connection point. The light wiring then connects to left harness.

 

[mikeru82]

It connects via the harness that I attached above in the parts list. Left harness is the downstream harness for this connection point. The light wiring then connects to left harness.

I think he means the physical location on the truck where the connectors are located.

 

[swing4terps]

I think he means the physical location on the truck where the connectors are located.

Here is the connector where the upstream wiring is. Drivers side above the resonator. The left harness connects here and the light wiring plugs into the other end.

 

[quickjoey]

Here is the connector where the upstream wiring is. Drivers side above the resonator. The left harness connects here and the light wiring plugs into the other end.

Thank you! This is what I was looking for!

 

[DuaneMiller]

As an alternative to the Mopar kit, you can buy the bed Lights and required harnesses separately for roughly the same $ as the kit. This would be truly PLUG and play; no pinning/tapping required. Would still need to program. Harnesses required depends on model year and options. Attached are the part numbers needed for 2021 without Rambox, in case that’s your situation.

I ended up doing OEM lights. Bought the left light and left harness. I found the one light alone to be bright enough and went ahead and bought the right one. Made my own right harness with some spare wire and tapped into the left light wiring. They function same as OEM (light switch included) and if I ever want/need to remove, I can take out lights and put old harness back and it’s factory again.

There are tons of threads here that describe options if you don’t care about altering factory wiring or OEM functionality.

I want to say Thanks to "swing4terps" and his solution for using the individual bed lights and factory harnesses and NOT the kit sold by Mopar as an accessory. I purchased all 4 of the parts he had listed from BAM, and installed them myself. While I was getting an oil change done at the dealer, I had them "turned on" in the truck's computer while I was there.

Honestly, I can't see why Ram doesn't sell this as "the kit" instead of the nonsense of running a completely new wiring harness from the back to the front of the truck. Added to the fact you have to penetrate the fire wall, and then "de-wire, and re-wire one of the plugs underneath the dash...

The hardest part of this whole process was removing the tools to lower the spare tire out of the way so I could plug in the new harnesses...

Here is the parts list he provided:

 

[Skg74]

Does the jumper wire harness work on the halogen taillights?

 

[DuaneMiller]

I'm not sure... I have the LED's. I don't see why they wouldn't work though, as this harness doesn't connect to the tail lights at all. I think the wiring for the bed lights are running parallel with the tail light wiring in the harness.

When I first looked at this picture, I thought the harness plugged in between the tail lights. These harnesses plug in under the rear of the truck and replaces the harness that is already there... I hope that makes sense...

 

[Skg74]

It does, thanks. I was looking on BAM parts though and there is four different part numbers for each side.

 

[Richard320]

Here's the instructions for the factory kit. https://www.moparonlineparts.com/docs/82215272AB.pdf

 

[jvc350]

I've installed the OEM LED bed kit and used the OBDGenie.
I had to run the harness from the back of the truck, along the frame and through to the firewall and wire into the BCM. It's a very easy process to remove the existing (Dummy)wires and replace with the new LED Bed lights wire. My lights work as if installed from the factory. The programmer takes about 2 minutes and BAM you're done.
It's a factory install and works exactly the same and took me about 1 hour in total. I didn't remove the wheels or the spare tire. Just the wheel liners to run the wires to the BCM.