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splicing into back up lights

NCCherokee

NCCherokee

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Anderson, SC
i searched, but wasnt able to find anything addressing my specific questions.

I want to wire up some reverse lights on the roof rack, to give more visibility when backing up at night, cant see crap with the stock tailights. Im assuming i can just splice into the wiring for the backup lights, so that they come on on their own, and i dont need a switch. Do i have to wire each new light individually to each taillight? also, how difficult is it to splice in. I wired up my driving lights on the front bumper with relay and switch, so i think i can handle this if someone just gives me a vague idea. Lastly, how do i figure out which wire supplies power to the backup lights? thanks guys.

kenny
 
First you can do waht you are thinking of doing but I personally wouldn't. Your going to need more power then that stock line is drawing. IF I was to tap into the stocks like that I would do both sides. You should be able to tap into them direct.
Start by taking the rear tail lights housing off the rig. 3 or so bolts hold it 10mm heads. Turn and pull out the reverse bulb out of the housing. Hack the lines and add your tap in.

I personally went with hardwiring them in. I am running about 250 watts and the stock lights just are not set up for that. The other big advantage was being able to use them whenever I wanted. I set up camp with them and so forth.
 
EDIT: ^ faster typer



I think the best way would be to just do it like your front lights and add a switch for them so you can use them only when really needed. i think if you were to splice into the factory reverse lights you wouldn't be getting all the power to run them at their full potential
 
Onkover said:
IF I was to tap into the stocks like that I would do both sides.
Click to expand...

the wiring runs from left to right with a common reverse power wire, so tapping both would do no good

if you want to have high power lights a relay would work good, using the black/blue wire as the switched power on the relay

also its cool to put a switch in the dash area that will back feed the reverse light circuit, again just plug switched power into the black/blue wire, you should be able to find it under the dash too with a little searching
 
Just use a relay, as already suggested, and use a tap off the existing backup lights to control the relay. You'll have automatic operation and you can handle all the wattage you want.
 
carrier.jpg

you could put 2 35w 4" floods in the hatch like above,
You can use a rubber grommet from 4" truck lites
Ive found this works pretty well, I dont use a relay with them because I had strobes in the stock location, then I upgraded to LED housings with no reverse lights
 
Yet another one.

What I did was, using two 55w flood lights for farm tractors. Wired them in with a relay. Also in the circuit is a on off on switch so I can turn them off, turn them on, or have them come on with the reverse lights.
Taping into the factory wire run the coil for the relay normal. On the high current side of the relay run the output to one of the on termanals on the three way switch. Run the high current supply to the other on termnal of the switch. then run the (what is supposed to be the power termnal) last one to the lights power. Ground as normal.
 
I'm hooking up my backup lights with a relay triggered by splicing into the stock backup lights, but I would also like to be able to turn these on manually without being in reverse. If I hook up a second trigger wire from a dashmounted switch to the 85 pole of the relay do I need to put a diode or something in these triggers to keep one from backfilling the other. It seems like there might be a problem with running the lights from the dash switch and having power then go into the stock back up system without being in reverse. Is that a problem or no?
Thanks in advance!
 
You should put in a diode from the stock lights to the relay coil.


Code: 
                          Diode
                         _________
stock lights------------[[U]     ||  [/U]]--------O----------- dash switch
                                           |
                                           C  85
                                           C
                                           C    relay coil
                                           C
 
I have a question... I bought an 87 where the previous owner attempted to splice in the harness, but blew out the reverse lights. My turn signals work, but no reverse lights. The fuse is good and all, but I cant find the problem.

Any anwsers?
 
Follow all the wiring and check where he tried to splice in and make sure that he didn't split the wire or anything.

If not, wire up some lights to a switch from the battery, and you'll get more lighting than with stock back up lights. I just put some lights on my back and ran it through a double rocker switch, so one way it goes on with my reverse lights, middle position is off, and the other direction is a lot brighter with power directly from the battery.
 
I like your idea with the double rocker switch.

The po tried to splice under the drivers rear, right into the tow wiring. I removed the wiring from the lights, but there was still no lights. I pulled out the interior panel to test the harness, and got no voltage even there. I had a manual, but it didnt have a diagrams for the rear lights [or I just cant read it right]. Besides the actual fuse, is there possably another in line fuse?
 
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