Back Up Lights?

RyBo · 02-04-2008, 09:44 PM

Quick question about wiring auxillary back-up lights...i was planning on mounting two lights beneath the rear bumper to act as "brights" for my reverse lights, but i was curious to see if I could just simply tap into the reverse lights so that the auxillary lights turned on when the truck was put into reverse. OR, would there be a way to have the lights powered with a toggle switch AND have them work with the reverse lights?

Hope this makes sense, if not I'll try and draw a diagram or something to help out...

Thanks!

Ryan

**TitanTeamRoper** · 02-04-2008, 10:42 PM

I just did the exact same thing on my trailer, if you have the trailer plug you might be able to tape into that, I was thinking of trying to do it the same thing on my truck. I used an on/on toggle switch; one side reverses light and the other side power from the plug. With the power from the plug I like the fact that the key has to be turned to on to get power to the trailer plug, I would forget they are on and drain my battery.

RyBo · 02-04-2008, 11:12 PM

Don't have a trailer hitch yet but thats not a bad idea...well best thing you can do is get a toggle switch with an led on it so that'll remain on if there's any current going through it, and you'll just have to make a mental note to remember to check after you use em

RyBo · 02-15-2008, 12:07 AM

Bump....Anybody?

BK19702 · 02-15-2008, 05:34 AM

Check if your pre-wired with the plug (should be tucked behind the bumper), hitch or no hitch. I think that's your best bet as far as not worrying about a switch or anything like that.

**Carbeaux** · 02-15-2008, 07:32 AM

I wouldn't try to run off of the existing circuits. The amp draw will be too high. Run new wires.

Yes, you can wire them such that the aux will come on automatically with the existing backups, OR come on manually. Two relays are required. You'll have one relay (the one that actually supplies the power to the backup lights) that will have two feeds to trigger it. One feed from the switch, and one from the other relay which is triggered by the tap you WILL have to do on the existing backup light circuit.

Two relays prevents the current from backfeeding the current regardless of whether the switch or the lights are triggering the main relay.

bestatchess · 02-15-2008, 07:36 AM

You could use a relay so as to make sure not to overload existing circuits when towing a trailer. Use a toggle switch to switch the trigger lead of the relay. In one position of the toggle switch, the trigger lead is connected to a circuit that comes on with the ignition. (e.g. lighter socket circuit - so as not to accidentally drain the battery). In the other position of the switch, the trigger lead is connected to oem backup lights or oem trailer backup light connection so that the relay is triggered when you shift into reverse. You could also use a switch with a center off position so that you could switch the lights off while backing up if you wanted. (e.g. a cop is parked behind you and you don't want to nuke him with the aux backup lights).

This would require running a power wire from the relay to the aux backup lights at the back of the truck and a small diameter wire from the relay trigger contact into the cab. The relay would be located near the battery.

eharri3 · 02-17-2008, 08:23 AM

If you just splice wires with the existing backup light circuit, everything will be way too dim at best. At worse, you will hurt stuff. I had a shop do a hack job on mine and I was getting about half the maximum brightness out of everything. To wire into the stock reverse lights and make it work right will involve a diode and a relay or two relays. I don't have diagrams or anything and I'm not an expert but I just know these things from having someone do it right and walk me out and show me what was involved. It IS possible as I have it setup so they come on with a switch or when I throw the truck in reverse, but it gets a tiny bit more complex than just running them from a switch.

Remember.. the stock reverse lamp wires are designed to carry power to weak bulbs that are maybe at most 30-35 watts. You put something else on that circuit, you know have a set of 55 watt and 30 or 35 watt bulbs but working off the same wires that are only designed to power the stock reverse lights.

**bills1974** · 02-17-2008, 07:17 PM

http://www.titantalk.com/forums/1165665-post1.html

Take a look at my setup...I just did this yesterday, there is a three way toggle switch (off, on, on with reverse lights). You definately want to run your main power off the battery, you won't have enough juice just tapping into the reverse lights.

To make it come on with your reverse lights: If you look under the truck where the plug goes into the back of your lights, the blue and red striped one is the power feed to your reverse lights.