replace reverse lights with fog/flood kit

[rama1200]

I have seen some posts about replacing/adding aux backup/reverse lighting... run the power from the battery, put the switch in the cab and tap the positive wire in the stock reverse lights....

I'm lazy so I just umpluged the stock reverse bulbs, tapped the stock positive wire to the positive of the fog light kit and ground them... they do light up, but the light looks deamer/weaker than it would by connecting the fog light kit the usual way...

Is the voltage to reverse lights lower some how?

It looks like a major pain to run cables all the way from the battery to the cab swaitch and then to the reverse/fog kit (either inside the cab or under the truck).....

Is there a closer source of power closer to the rear that I can use for this purpose?

Thanks

 

[Dannyboy]

This is a very bad idea. You are pulling too much power for the wiring. The result will be melted wires and shorts in your lighting, a fire hazard. I know this from experience when I ran upgraded fog lamps in my factory fog lamp location. You need wiring rated for your lights. There are several clever ideas that can turn those lights on. That involves using relays. You can run a switch to a relay as well as your reverse light wire to signal that same relay to turn them on without having to hit the switch.

 

[not8taxi]

You might b better off getting the piaa backup lamp kit...it comes with a wiring harness with a switch...I bought this for my ex and I love it...got it off ebay from a power seller...ull b happy with it I am...
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[rama1200]

I finally decided to forget about the aux lights activating when the reverse is engaged... I just did the same as what I did with my fogs in the front of the truck..... I could not get a correct wiring diagram using a relay... so I decided just to wire the same way a you would do with pilot folg light kit from walmart... safe/good enough...

Thanks for your replies, guys

 

[hazmat456]

I put bout docking lights in the rear bumper where the stock reflectors used to be. power comes from the battery to two relays located in the jack access cover, one relay is powered by the + reverse back-up light the other is powered buy a switch on the dash, the lights come on wherever I am in reverse or whenever I choose, however I screwed up I can't turn them off while in reverse (next project three position switch) so backing up w/a trailer at night is a blind shot.

 

[Dannyboy]

I put bout docking lights in the rear bumper where the stock reflectors used to be. power comes from the battery to two relays located in the jack access cover, one relay is powered by the + reverse back-up light the other is powered buy a switch on the dash, the lights come on wherever I am in reverse or whenever I choose, however I screwed up I can't turn them off while in reverse (next project three position switch) so backing up w/a trailer at night is a blind shot.

Try to chase the reverse power wire from your fuse box instead of way back by the jack compartment, then loop that through your 3 position switch.

I'd wire it up like this


up- on manually (keep it the same)
middle- off
down- on with reverse lights (basically run the loop from your reverse fuse to your relay, otherwise if you break the circuit you will lose one or both of your reverse lights as well when the switch is in the middle position)

 

[rama1200]

Try to chase the reverse power wire from your fuse box instead of way back by the jack compartment, then loop that through your 3 position switch.

I'd wire it up like this


up- on manually (keep it the same)
middle- off
down- on with reverse lights (basically run the loop from your reverse fuse to your relay, otherwise if you break the circuit you will lose one or both of your reverse lights as well when the switch is in the middle position)

That sounds interesting... do you have any diagrams? all the googe-ing i did produced about 5 different setups that I tried... and none worked as expected...

this is one that I tried replacing headlight with reverse and driving/fog with reverse aux.. http://www.accessconnect.com/fog_driving_lights_wiring.htm

and this is the one that i currently have... (not good quality img)

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/t57370.html

 

[hazmat456]

I'll just run the third relay next to the other two but instead of n/o it will be n/c that way I will always have reverse lights but I can shut down the docking lights, with the switch position as you described

 

[hazmat456]

That sounds interesting... do you have any diagrams? all the googe-ing i did produced about 5 different setups that I tried... and none worked as expected...

this is one that I tried replacing headlight with reverse and driving/fog with reverse aux.. http://www.accessconnect.com/fog_driving_lights_wiring.htm

and this is the one that i currently have... (not good quality img)

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/t57370.html

yeah the first link is wrong power should not come from the light to the switch
the second link shows the power for the light going through the switch which can't handle it, that's at least 70 watts depending on the lights more likley 110 watts
lights need relays to handle the power the switch is only good for a few watts, it should be used to activate the relay, power for the lights, routed through the relay should come from the battery or fuse panel, don't tap somthing you'll burn up wires.
try this http://www.kchilites.com/faq/instructions/517_backup.pdf

 

[rama1200]

yeah the first link is wrong power should not come from the light to the switch
the second link shows the power for the light going through the switch which can't handle it, that's at least 70 watts depending on the lights more likley 110 watts
lights need relays to handle the power the switch is only good for a few watts, it should be used to activate the relay, power for the lights, routed through the relay should come from the battery or fuse panel, don't tap somthing you'll burn up wires.
try this http://www.kchilites.com/faq/instructions/517_backup.pdf

thanks for the diagram hazmat456... this, actually, was that actually the last one that I tried, before I gave up.... I was thinking that since I got them working stand-alone, I would give it another try to make sure that my wires don't get crossed-"wired"...

it is kindda a pain to have to reach all the way under the dash, turn the light off, backup, and then reach again to turn the lights off every time you back up at night... and it already happened once that I forgot to turn the switch off...

Thanks, again.... I'll give another try and post some pics

 

[fixxxer]

hecvk out Tbars sticky on Auxillary wiring, very good diagrams and pics
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums//showthread.php?t=203037

 

[not8taxi]

Sounds to much for me...the piaa backup light kit has the pre wired harness and all u have to do is run the wire from positive and negative to the back lights...mount the switch and ur good to go...the switch has 3 positions...on/off/reverse...so you can turn them on whenever u want or leave them on with the reverse lights...got them off ebay for around 185 I believe...sounds easier that way...
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