wiring in rear aux lights for rear back-ups and additional lighting?

I have searched and not really come up with you I am looking for. I am not that electrical savy when it comes to the electrical system beyond basics.

I have fog/aux lamps in my rear bumper and would like to wire them so that when I shift into reverse they are the ones to come on instead of the factory ones. Also, I would like to have a switch to override them at anytime, say for when I am parked with the ignition off and need light behind the vehicle.

As of now, they are wired as basic as you can get with a rorcker swith in the dash and a direct fused connnect to the battery. I am assuming it would involve taping into the wires for the rear back up lamps and is probably simple. However, i want to make sure I am doing it right and what stumps me is how to get them to function like normal "reverse" lights but also incorporate the indash switch i have incase i want to flip them on when not in reverse or ignition is not on.

TIA

Hopefully you will understand this as you say you are not "electrical savy".
http://www.lunghd.com/Tech_Articles/Electrical/ReverseLights.htm

and the pic with switch from the site...


I would add something else in there myself but my addition would probably really confuse you and others. But hey what the heck. I DO NOT LIKE putting 12v to any rocker switch. I like to control my stuff via a relay and control the neg side of the relay coil. So I would add this into where the above diagram says to put the switch, but that's just me. You will still need the diodes as well as stated in the above diagram. Sorry to confuse anyone, if I have......

I didn't ask about this but I still want to thank you for the information. I was thinking about this upgrade today while I installed my new off road lights. Thank's agian, very helpful.:skull1:

Assuming you have an auto, the nss switch on the driver’s side of the transmission is what switches the reverse lights on and off. It’s convenient to splice in a switch there to be able to turn the reverse lights on and off at will, while still allowing normal reverse light operation. I did this a few Years ago and it’s worked well. As for the other reverse lights use the wire of the reverse lights as the "switch" for the relay so it turns whenever the reverse lights go on. I am planning to do this with the lights I am putting in my bumper. Hope this helps you out!

I was going to do that but just wired them up for manual control as the whole diode thing scared the crap out of me.

go to Painless wiring parts they got what you need

Not to hijack the thread, but why would you need a diode?

I have been using 30 amp relays for aux lighting. Maybe I am doing something wrong? Just taking the time to learn.

90xj-65 said:

Not to hijack the thread, but why would you need a diode?

I have been using 30 amp relays for aux lighting. Maybe I am doing something wrong? Just taking the time to learn.

Click to expand...

you need the diode when doing the reverse lights tied into the factory reverse circuit AND having a manual control switch.

The diode is like a 1 way valve for current, and will prevent electricity from flowing into the factory light wiring when you manually turn the lights on; current backflow here can overheat the factory wiring and start a fire.

Its a safety thing, I've seen people be fine without it, but why risk it?

The only reason you would need the diode is so that manually turning the lights on only turns on your high power ones. It's purely aesthetic, that's all it changes... no overheating will occur, either way you are powering one or both sets of lights with 12 volts, the lamps will draw as much current as they normally would per set. In fact since it's driving a relay all that will happen if you don't use diodes is the factory wiring harness sees about the same draw (normal amp or two + 300mA or so for the relay coil, max) when you're overriding the lights or actually putting it in reverse, while with diodes, it will only see the extra few hundred milliamps when the NSS turns on the lights, not when overriding. Either way, it's not significant really - that being said, a 1N4001 or 1N5400 (really anything in the 1N4001-1N4007 or 1N5400-1N5408 series) will do fine if you wish to use a diode. The arrow in the diode symbol points toward the white stripe on one end of the diode body.

needs a cutoff for the supplemental lights so you can disable them in traffic

ON-AUTO-OFF

kastein said:

The only reason you would need the diode is so that manually turning the lights on only turns on your high power ones. It's purely aesthetic, that's all it changes... no overheating will occur, either way you are powering one or both set.

Click to expand...

http://www.lunghd.com/Tech_Articles/Electrical/ReverseLights.htm

Note: The manual switch circuit REQUIRES the listed diodes to prevent shorts due to OEM harness interconnections with the Neutral Safety Switch and the Transmission Control Module. If you use the manual control switch you MUST use the diodes!

Click to expand...

My reasoning of what will fry was off, but I still think this is a better safe than sorry thing...

I have wired up reverse lights that come on with the reverse lights or switch, without using a diode or ever having a problem (until I smashed them on a rock offroad).

I just went to autozone and got a double toggle switch, and wired it this way. (three line on top represent three positions of switch)