Any way to have bed lights automatically turn on when I open the tailgate?

[craigc]

I have not accomplished this, but my plan is to use a tailgate magnetic switch and install similar to this video but try to tie it into the pre-installed Ranger Raptor aux switch wiring first without running a line to the battery.

I also followed this from the video, but have some adjustments I highly recommend:

1) don't bother with the double stick tape. it won't hold (at least not in Texas...). Instead what I did was bought some screws (you need about 6 of them) M8-1.25x20 size. Under the bed rail there are some threads that these go right in to, and then put the screws in there threaded part way, and then used a couple zip ties on each one to secure the LED lights to them. This tucks it enough out of the way so you can't really see them and they do not sag down into the bed. My only challenge was I have a roll-n-lock cover and the part against the cab i just had to tuck the wires up there and pull it tight so it didn't sag, combined with a couple of parts of double stick tape against my roll-n-lock canister shell.
2) the magnetic switch I had a real hard time getting it to line up so that it would turn off (the Ranger has a pretty large gap between the tailgate and the bed wall), but managed to get it to work right near the top of the tailgate, not where he did it in this video. However, since I wired this directly to the battery, I did not want to have this thing fall off, and have them come on without the tailgate actually being open and drain my battery, so I always use the button to turn it on and off. I think I made a small change to the wiring so that the red light on the button stays illuminated when the lights are off. The lights in that button are not enough to drain the battery (but the LED strips draw a lot of current that would)
3) the magnetic switch should not be wired in series like the guy in the video did, as the current carrying capacity is not enough in those to handle the LED strips he used. Now, I have not yet made this change myself, so I just try to not leave the lights on very long, as the wires get very hot (they are like 22 gauge and the current of the LED strips is more than those tiny wires are rated for). The proper solution would be to wire in a relay so that the tailgate switch throws a relay instead of in line.

Good luck!! I've been quite happy with the results, and it's super easy to reach and and press the button to turn the lights on since I still don't trust that magnet to stay in place on the tailgate (I really should just remove that all together, but meh, it is already done and still works as a safety in case i forget to push the button to turn them off...)

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[fordgt]

I gave up trying to get it to work with the factory wiring, I built harnesses and wired my bed lights, puddle lights and bedside step lights together. They all connect to the battery and have a remote switch. The buttons are pretty small, I have one on my keychain, one mounted next to the power outlets in the bed and another in the little cubby next to the steering wheel.