Hoist,
I don't know if you can get away with out drilling holes in the inside wall of the bags. You could try closing a cover with the wire running between the lid & bag, but I think you'll find that it's either too much initially or you'd end up slowly "cutting" the wire from repeated open/close cycles. The bags are ABS and drill easily, compared to the fiberglass ones. I've done 4 sets so far. It's tough to decide to drill (and has been each time) but once you do, it works just fine. I've always taped my holes, so have never had a problem with paint chipping. I'd definitely recommend doing the drilling before the painting if that's an option. If you have electric locks, the hole for those can be used for the lights too. I opened up the grommet on mine, so both wires (locks and lights) would go through without too much constriction. I also copmbined connectors, so I've only got one hole and one connection per bag. The accessory connector under the seat has a 12V, a brake and a ground which you plug the harness into to power the lights. You should be able to get it all straight real easy.