Having needed light when loading or using the bed of a pickup truck is a necessity. Truck manufacturers starting installing backofthecab lighting a long time ago to help address the problem. That’s good.

Since then, truck bed covers, in a variety of styles and materials, have become quite popular. That’s good too. They keep the contents of the bed protected from prying eyes, keep moisture, wind, and dust off items in the back, and they improve gas mileage. All good.

But, with the cover in place, and darkness coming on or firmly in place, the inside of the bed under the cover becomes a cave, where the cab light can’t reach.

Once again, some manufacturers have recognized the problem and have started installing lighting packages inside the bed that allows the owner to have lighting at hand without having to have a flashlight.

If your truck doesn’t have this convenient lighting (like ours!), it’s easy to address and inexpensive too! With the advent of LED (Lightemitting diode) lighting, a lot of light can be had in very little space using very little power.

There are several types of lighting that will do the trick but the main features to look for is easily accessed and replaced batteries, a profile that doesn’t get in the way of the load or the person putting in or taking the load out, and good economics. We found our basic twolight unit for about $6, and with 4 AA batteries, each light cost about $10.

We installed 2 units, one on each side. Because our truck bed has a sprayin liner, the surface would not allow secure attachment of the lights using foam adhesive tabs. So, we affixed them to the underside of the metal folding bed cover. The initial installation looks good, and the light distribution works really well. Time will tell what the temperature extremes of both heat and cold will do the adhesive, batteries, and the unit itself. But for now, we sure like the results.

If you have an approach or product you’d like to talk about, share it in the comments below! Thanks for being a part of the DirtFarmerJay viewer family!