Adding Overhead Lighting to the Soft Top, Part 1

Replacing the old LED trouble light I used to have in the back of the 4Runner with some modern LED fixtures.

The original 12V trouble light was purchased around 2000 from Grizzly.com. It came with a hard wired 12V power supply. I figured I could replace that with a lighter plug and use it in the truck. While that did work for a while, it became apparent that the power supply must have had current regulation to keep from over driving the LEDs. As a result, many of the LEDs burned out.

Many years ago I had modified the factory deck light to improve it's usefulness. Originally, it had an incandescent festoon bulb and required the vehicle running lights to be on. You could then turn that lamp on with it's built-in switch or from the dash switch, wired up as a 3-way light circuit. I initially re-powered that switch to work off constant 12V power:
https://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTricks/index.shtml#DeckLightMod

Later I changed that to accessory power but I think I'll return to constant power. I also tapped into the bulb wiring and ran that to a 12V power socket that I could plug the 12V LED trouble light into. Over time, that early design trouble light started to break down so I didn't use it a lot. When I pulled to Kayline top off, I removed that old light and looked for a new solution.

I found this linear "rail lights":
18.5" Pivoting LED Rail Light - Integrated Rocker Switch
https://www.superbrightleds.com/

I wanted something that could be attached to the support tubes of the soft top, be adjustable in angle and have a built-in switch. One will be placed across the back of the bed and connected to the old deck light wiring. The other two will be up front on either side of the bed. My 12V fridge will be placed on the driver's side so one light will be over that. The other one will be over the area behind the passenger seat where I have gear stored below.

I found some 3/4" conduit clamps were just the right size and shape to clamp to the support tubes. I added some heat shrink tubing to the center of the clamps to grip the tubes tighter and to help protect the canvas top if it made contact with the clamps.

In the next video, I'll show you the final clamp design which turned out to be more complicated that originally thought...

Killer Toy Tops:
https://killertoytops.com/

Some web archive links to soft top companies mentioned.
Kayline Mfg.:
https://web.archive.org/web/19990428193849/http://www.kaylinetops.com/
Specialty Top Co.:
https://web.archive.org/web/20010819040832/http://www.specialtytopco.com/
Can-Back:
https://web.archive.org/web/20010202070000/http://www.can-back.com/