Theocoog

This is my project to install auxiliary reverse lights using a pair of Rigid Dually LEDs (diffused lens) and right up front, I want to say thank you to mr7confused – he answered all my ignorant questions and I couldn’t have done this job without his advice. Many thanks Mr7.

So I had a pair of KC HiLites reverse lights that I wanted to replace since I didn't like how I had installed them, the electrical work was unreliable, and after a year they had started to rust on the inside. They were bolted to the bumper and removing them is another, agonizing story that involves cutoff wheels and vice grips.

I bought a pair of Rigid Dually (diffuse) from TAP at a good price and the difference in quality is amazing. The Rigids are very well made and all the hardware is stainless, unlike the KC’s.

Here is my parts list:

• 1 pair Rigid Dually LED Lights – Diffused
• 1 Rigid wiring harness for Dually lights
• 1 KC HiLites wiring harness with relay and relay connector. Substitute with regular automotive wire, female spade connectors, and a Bosch-type automotive 5-pin relay
• 1 Carling Contura V sealed rocker switch (model V1D1JBBB), 1 Carling connector housing, 1 Carling two-position switch holder, 1 switch blank, and a bag of female Packard 630 series terminals, all purchased from OTRATTW.
• Solder and Soldering Iron
• Heat shrink tubing (adhesive filled if you can get it)
• Liquid electrical tape
• Dielectric grease
• Zip ties
• Split loom to protect the wires from abrasion
• Ring terminals for 16-18 gauge wire

All my splices are soldered or crimped and soldered, protected by heat-shrink tubing if outside of the cab. I also use a little liquid electrical tape to seal the heat shrink because I never seem to have adhesive-filled heat shrink tubing when I need it. All my wires are run with split loom if there’s a chance that they can rub up against anything. Everything is zip tied to keep things from moving around. Loose wiring rattles around when it is cold out, and that noise coming from behind the dash drives me crazy.

Wiring the lights
I still had the KC wiring kit from my previous lights that included different colored wires, and a KC3300 5-pin relay that has two 87 pins (two triggers) and connector, but any 5-pin ISO Bosch-type automotive relay will work too, they are just wired a little differently (see below). I wanted the lights to come with the stock reverse lights, and also separately with a switch in the cab and the relay is key to making that happen. The Duallys came with a wiring harness that has nice waterproof plugs for the lights and both power and ground. I ended up using both the KC and the Rigid harnesses as described below. I also wanted all the wire junctions to be up high, out of the wet, so I did most of the wiring behind the left tail light. There are no splices below the level of the tail light. I wired the KC 3300 relay as follows:

• Blue wire (relay Pin 30) – Connected directly to battery, protected by 15A fuse.
• Red wire (Pin 87) – Power from the relay to the Rigid lights. I spliced this into the red wire from the Duallys (the Rigid wiring harness power wire) using solder and heat-shrink tubing, coated with liquid electrical tape.
• Black wire (Pin 86)- From the relay to ground.
• Black w/red stripe – Ground from the Duallys (the Rigid wiring harness ground wire).
• White wire (Pin 85) – Trigger wire that gets connected to a tap in the stock reverse light in tail light assembly. When the truck is in reverse, the red wire will be energized and the lights go on.
• Green wire (Pin 87a)– Trigger wire from switch in the cab. When the switch is closed, the red wire will be energized and the lights go on.

There is a wiring diagram for this set up in Post #43. If you're using a standard Bosch 5-pin relay, see Post #45 for the correct pin connections. Many thanks go to benchwarmer4203 and johlke for identifying the discrepancies between the KC3300 relay and the standard Bosch relay.

I attached the relay to the bed, behind the left taillight using a sheet metal screw. I coated the screw holding the relay with liquid electrical tape, front and back. I love this stuff and use it a lot. I filled the female relay connector with dielectric grease before I plugged it into the relay, just to be on the safe side.



I also attached the relay ground wire here using a sheet metal screw. I crimp/soldered a ring terminal to the end of Rigid wiring harness ground wire and connect that to ground using the same screw. Then I protected everything against corrosion using liquid electrical tape from behind. I had to get under the truck and reach up inside the bed to cover the exposed screws with the liquid electrical tape. They are out of the weather up there and should be protected good for many years.



I spliced the red wire from the relay to the red wire from the Duallys using a soldered splice, protected by heat-shrink tubing and liquid electrical tape.

I used a Positap to tap the white wire from the relay into the blue/white stripe reverse wire. When the truck is in reverse, this wire will trigger the lights.



All the wires are protected with wire loom and pulled down under the truck. I ran the blue power wire and the green trigger wire up to the cab by fishing the loom-covered wires inside the left frame rail and snaked them up to just about the rear door of the truck, where I exited the frame rail.




Under the rear door scuff plate is a grommet that I cut the center out of, and with the help of a little silicone spray, I was able to pull the wire, loom and all, through the grommet.




I kept the wire in the loom and ran the whole thing up under the front door scuff plate and behind the cowl side trim panel.



Mounting the Switch
I agonized over where to mount the switch. I am eventually going to add additional lights/accessories so I wanted room for at least two switches. I considered the little useless cubby to the left of the glove box, but you have to mess with the passenger air bag to get the RH center instrument panel finish panel off, and I didn’t feel like doing that.

I’ve seen one really nice install on this forum, with the switches up by the overhead console, but the wiring seems difficult up there and I didn’t want to cut the headliner. So that narrowed it down to the empty space between the dimmer switch and the steering wheel.

I bought a two-switch box from OTRATTW and I used that as a template, marked out the area with painters tape, and cut a hole in the dash using a Dremel and cut-off wheel.

Theocoog

The Carling switches and boxes are well designed and the switch holder just snapped right into place. I used the “two position” switch holder with comes apart and can be expanded to add additional switches if desired. Sorry for the blurry picture.



The Carling Contoura switch that I bought is a SPST switch, on and off. The switch itself lights up when the switch is on and it also has an illumination LED to tie in with the rest of the instrument illumination. This needs separate power. I ordered the switch for OTRATTW with blue lights to match the rest of the dash lights, but they are available in many colors.

The switch comes with a good wiring diagram of its own and I purchased a Carling “Terminal Connector Housing” that plugs into the back of switch, but this connector housing needs to be wired itself. There are five (5) wires that need to be connected to the connector housing. For each of these wires, I crimped and soldered a female Packard terminal onto the end, and snapped them in to the correct numbered spot on the connector housing.



Here are the wires at the switch:

• Yellow wire – Provides power to the switch from the battery, protected by a 15A fuse.
• Green – The trigger wire that was fished up from the relay at back of the truck. When the switch is turned on, this wire carries the signal to the relay to turn the lights on.
• Brown – From the connector to ground. The ground wire got a ring terminal crimp/soldered to one end and attached to the A-pillar ground point behind the parking brake. The switch requires two grounds so I jumpered the second ground from this one.
• Light Blue – I have this running from the switch to a Positap on the violet w/grey stripe that comes out of pin #1 on the Instrument Panel Dimmer Switch. This will illuminate the switch when the lights are on, and dim the switch along with the rest of the dash lights.

Once wired, the connector plugs into the back of the switch, and the switch plugs into the holder in the dash.




(need to square away that light blue wire!!!)

I ran the blue (power to relay) and yellow (power to switch) wires from under the dash, through the firewall using the "customer access" hole in the grommet under the steering column.



I wrapped the wires in split loom to protect them from abrasion and ran them next to the factory wiring harness, under the air box, over the top of the radiator, to the battery, where they are both protected with 15A inline fuses.

Theocoog

Mounting the Lights

I decided to mount the light under the truck, like others on here have done, by drilling holes in the leaf spring shackles, spray paining all exposed metal, and using the brackets supplied by Rigid.




I am please how they came out. Here they are during the day, with the lights off:




And here they are during the day with the lights on with the truck in reverse:



They are bright as hell at night, but they don't overpower the rear view camera, so they are just what I needed.

GriffFX4

Awesome, thank you!

ComQuest

WOW....You have done an awesome job documenting the process and providing pictures for the whole install.
Thanks for sharing it all.

Yamo1231

That came out nice! I have a set of Duallys mounted onto the tow hitch bracket and it works well also.

oleblue88

That is definitely on my list of things to do. The same exact relay wiring could be used to wire lights under the dash to come on with door open and a switch correct?

Theocoog

I don't see why not.

ScottyBoost

Awesome guide! I just bought some of these switches for a front light bar and back up lights like these. Where is that wire harness located to tap into the dimmer? Also what gauge wire is necessary to power the switches and connect them to the relays?

Theocoog

I used 18 gauge wire for everything except the dimmer--that got 20 gauge. I tapped into the dimmer wire on the Instrument Panel Dimmer switch itself, but all the lighted switches on the dash have a dimmer wire, so you could tap into the circuit from the headlight switch, 4wd switch, etc.