Lack of control over the cargo lights is ridiculous (keeping on / turning off)

[bkw777]

I've noted before in passing that it drives me crazy that you can't override the automatic lights in the back.

I'm always finding myself working on something in back and the lights just go out after 10 or 15 minutes in the middle of whatever I'm doing and I have to stop, extricate, just to go open & close a door. No simple manual override like every other car I've ever had.

Similarly, you can't *prevent* them from lighting if you don't want them. I didn't realize that was even a thing I might care about until the other day.

Last week I decided to take my wife out aurora chasing after work. We hop in the truck and drive north and west to get away from cities and get into a better viewing place according to the coverage maps. We drive way out and find a pretty cool spot in the mountains by a pond.

We wanted to sit in the back with the gate open and look out since the ground was wet. But the &^%^$%#% cargo lights would not shut off for like idk felt like 20 minutes but might have been less.

Then when they finally did go out, I couldn't fetch things from the front except by crawling through the inside because I don't dare touch any of the doors...

Freaking ridiculous.

This is absolutely going to be an upcoming weekend project some time is to figure out where to hack in a standard 3-way override switch.

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[Archer]

Agree and subscribed, keep us posted...


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[zcmack]

same here. i wasn't going to do many mods but this (and hopefully also the rear outlet..) needs a solution

 

[Joe Dirt]

Yeah I have just the opposite problem.

Most of the time it's like a black hole back there without enough light.

But on your issue you might have to get creative.
What I did on my 5th gen was take some of this red film and pop the clear lens off and cut a little piece to put behind it.

The red light is better on the eyes and in the dark.
Then to back it up I have these little rechargeable LED lights that are crazy bright; two of them will literally light up the entire back of the hatch area.

5th gen you could change the bulb to red,yellow or bright white. Good luck

 

[bkw777]

What I did on my 3rd gen:
Bog standard generic ebay led strip that came on a big spool, except I rubbed off thejunk adhesive it came with and used 3/8 vhb.
Wired to a replacement led bulb with banana plugs so it's still removable and didn't touch the trucks wiring, and it has this incredible invention called the on/off/door switch.

I loved this setup every day since I did it. So nice not to have shadows right on what you're trying to work on or dig through. Well I still love it I guess since I still have the truck but the frame is rusted and I've taken it off the road but just haven't disposed of it yet. It's just hard to say good by because it's manual and 4wd and has no turbo and no internet connectivity. I wish I could have a brand new manual 3rd gen.

 

[Nodak]

I've noted before in passing that it drives me crazy that you can't override the automatic lights in the back.

I'm always finding myself working on something in back and the lights just go out after 10 or 15 minutes in the middle of whatever I'm doing and I have to stop, extricate, just to go open & close a door. No simple manual override like every other car I've ever had.

Similarly, you can't *prevent* them from lighting if you don't want them. I didn't realize that was even a thing I might care about until the other day.

Last week I decided to take my wife out aurora chasing after work. We hop in the truck and drive north and west to get away from cities and get into a better viewing place according to the coverage maps. We drive way out and find a pretty cool spot in the mountains by a pond.

We wanted to sit in the back with the gate open and look out since the ground was wet. But the &^%^$%#% cargo lights would not shut off for like idk felt like 20 minutes but might have been less.

Then when they finally did go out, I couldn't fetch things from the front except by crawling through the inside because I don't dare touch any of the doors...

Freaking ridiculous.

This is absolutely going to be an upcoming weekend project some time is to figure out where to hack in a standard 3-way override switch.

its due to the master shut off. its been a staple for at least since the beginning of the 5th gen back in 2009.

if there is a parasitic power draw (regardless of what it is and is detectable by the can-bus, the master shutoff will cut all power after 15-20 mins.

and that includes the radio. go sit in a vehicle in the acc mode and run the radio and it will shut off.

even if you leave the engine running in park you will get a pop up saying engine off (yes/no) within 1 hr the engine will auto shut off.

the only way around the light issue is to install after market lights bypassing the can-bus and powered directly to the battery

 

[Joe Dirt]

What I did on my 3rd gen:
Bog standard generic ebay led strip that came on a big spool, except I rubbed off thejunk adhesive it came with and used 3/8 vhb.
Wired to a replacement led bulb with banana plugs so it's still removable and didn't touch the trucks wiring, and it has this incredible invention called the on/off/door switch.

I loved this setup every day since I did it. So nice not to have shadows right on what you're trying to work on or dig through. Well I still love it I guess since I still have the truck but the frame is rusted and I've taken it off the road but just haven't disposed of it yet. It's just hard to say good by because it's manual and 4wd and has no turbo and no internet connectivity. I wish I could have a brand new manual 3rd gen.

Well that's nice and bright ! Yeah I probably miss my 3rd gen the most. But technology has moved on..

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