Recon Scanning Tail Gate Bar Troubleshooting
10-26-2014, 10:15 PM
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Recon Scanning Tail Gate Bar Troubleshooting
Hi all,
Just registered to pass the following information along regarding the Recon Scanning Tail Gate Bar. I've used your forum several times over the years for help so I thought it was time to give back!
To give you a little background, I've installed the Recon Scanning Bar on a couple different SCREWS over the years. A 2003 and a 2008. Always hard wired them and never had a problem.
Just bought a 2014 SCREW and another Recon Bar. Installed it just like I always do, hard wiring it into the 7 pin trailer connector. Installed the trailer power relay and fuse, tested and it worked just fine, until.... I started the truck. The lights went out and refused to work. Sometimes they'd come on and partially work or the backup lights (white) would stick on. Shut the truck off and turn the ignition on and and they'd work most of the time.
Sent the bar back and got another. It was better but still refused to light most of the time when starting the truck. I found that if I shut the automatic headlights off and didn't touch the brake that most of the time they'd work after starting the truck. Once it was running, headlights and brakes had no ill effects and it would work.
Recon was absolutely no help with this problem. I thought damn, another bad light bar. Ordered number 3. Before installing this one I plugged the 4 plug connector in and jumpered the white backup light wire and the red power wire to the inside of the 7 pin connector. It worked better than the other two but still did goofy stuff like locking on the white backup LEDS or lighting parts of the bar. This thing STILL did not work!!!
These bars ALWAYS worked on my older trucks. Just wired them right into the 7 pin, installed the relay and fuse and bam, they worked perfectly! What the heck was going on??? To me it seemed that when starting the truck the 12v was dropping out or spiking or something and locking the microprocessor up in the light bar. Of course the switched 12v would stop powering the light bar when the truck was starting. Maybe it wanted constant power while starting?
To get constant power to the 7 pin I pulled the trailer power relay and installed a jumper. This would give a constant 12v supply to the bar. Guess what? It WORKED!!!! Hooked the defective light bar back up and it work perfectly too! Woo Hoo! I've been screwing with this for 3 weeks. Finally!! I don't know if this problem is due to the redesigned power bar or a change that was made in the newer trucks circuitry, but constant power made it work 100%.
Some pointers for folks that install this bar:
. You can hard wire all the connections for this bar to your 7 pin trailer connector.
. The scanning light bar needs 6 connections. four of those can be connected to a 4 pin trailer plug which can be plugged into the trailer harness or hard wired.
. There are two extra wires with the Scanning Light Bar. The RED one is for power (trailer power connection), the other is white and is for the backup lights, both of which can be found on the 7 pin plug.
. All connections can be found on the 7 pin trailer connector and hard wired.
. There is a relay and fuse that needs to be installed to get switched power to the 7 pin connector. They are usually found in a plastic bag in the glove box. Check you manual for locations. You are looking for the trailer power fuse/relay locations.
. If you have problems like I did with the bar acting goofy then remove the trailer power relay and install a jumper. This will give you constant power to the connection. Be careful though if you connect a trailer with a battery as it will always be supplying power to the trailer and could run your battery down whether the key is on for off!
I made the jumper out of a couple of spade connectors and a short piece of heavy gauge wire. See the picture below.
Well, that's about it. Just wanted to pass along some helpful information as I see a few threads on here that are wrong or confusing about this light bar. I hope this helps someone else down the road!
Mike
Just registered to pass the following information along regarding the Recon Scanning Tail Gate Bar. I've used your forum several times over the years for help so I thought it was time to give back!
To give you a little background, I've installed the Recon Scanning Bar on a couple different SCREWS over the years. A 2003 and a 2008. Always hard wired them and never had a problem.
Just bought a 2014 SCREW and another Recon Bar. Installed it just like I always do, hard wiring it into the 7 pin trailer connector. Installed the trailer power relay and fuse, tested and it worked just fine, until.... I started the truck. The lights went out and refused to work. Sometimes they'd come on and partially work or the backup lights (white) would stick on. Shut the truck off and turn the ignition on and and they'd work most of the time.
Sent the bar back and got another. It was better but still refused to light most of the time when starting the truck. I found that if I shut the automatic headlights off and didn't touch the brake that most of the time they'd work after starting the truck. Once it was running, headlights and brakes had no ill effects and it would work.
Recon was absolutely no help with this problem. I thought damn, another bad light bar. Ordered number 3. Before installing this one I plugged the 4 plug connector in and jumpered the white backup light wire and the red power wire to the inside of the 7 pin connector. It worked better than the other two but still did goofy stuff like locking on the white backup LEDS or lighting parts of the bar. This thing STILL did not work!!!
These bars ALWAYS worked on my older trucks. Just wired them right into the 7 pin, installed the relay and fuse and bam, they worked perfectly! What the heck was going on??? To me it seemed that when starting the truck the 12v was dropping out or spiking or something and locking the microprocessor up in the light bar. Of course the switched 12v would stop powering the light bar when the truck was starting. Maybe it wanted constant power while starting?
To get constant power to the 7 pin I pulled the trailer power relay and installed a jumper. This would give a constant 12v supply to the bar. Guess what? It WORKED!!!! Hooked the defective light bar back up and it work perfectly too! Woo Hoo! I've been screwing with this for 3 weeks. Finally!! I don't know if this problem is due to the redesigned power bar or a change that was made in the newer trucks circuitry, but constant power made it work 100%.
Some pointers for folks that install this bar:
. You can hard wire all the connections for this bar to your 7 pin trailer connector.
. The scanning light bar needs 6 connections. four of those can be connected to a 4 pin trailer plug which can be plugged into the trailer harness or hard wired.
. There are two extra wires with the Scanning Light Bar. The RED one is for power (trailer power connection), the other is white and is for the backup lights, both of which can be found on the 7 pin plug.
. All connections can be found on the 7 pin trailer connector and hard wired.
. There is a relay and fuse that needs to be installed to get switched power to the 7 pin connector. They are usually found in a plastic bag in the glove box. Check you manual for locations. You are looking for the trailer power fuse/relay locations.
. If you have problems like I did with the bar acting goofy then remove the trailer power relay and install a jumper. This will give you constant power to the connection. Be careful though if you connect a trailer with a battery as it will always be supplying power to the trailer and could run your battery down whether the key is on for off!
I made the jumper out of a couple of spade connectors and a short piece of heavy gauge wire. See the picture below.
Well, that's about it. Just wanted to pass along some helpful information as I see a few threads on here that are wrong or confusing about this light bar. I hope this helps someone else down the road!
Mike
