I have a 2018 lariat screw. I want to add additional ambient (blue) lighting but I am having trouble. I have a 5 month old that sits in a rear facing car seat in the back and I want to be able to see him when its dark without turning on the interior lights. I know that there are aftermarket lights that can be added, but I thought adding additional lights to the existing system would be most convenient since they turn on/off automatically. I didn’t think this would be that hard, but (obviously) I am not understanding what the 3rd wire is for.

I thought that 2 of the lights that are mounted under the front seats would be bright enough so I bought a driver side and passenger side light from my local ford dealer. (I didn’t think it would matter and I didn’t feel like explaining why I needed 2 passenger side lights.) I spliced into the 3 ambient light wires under the passenger side seat with a 8’ length of 20ga wire, routed it onto the back of the back seat and then connected it into the 2 extra lights. But for some reason, only one light will light. I am not sure if there is a problem with too much line loss (but I wouldn’t think so since LEDs draw such little current) or if there is a problem with using a driver’s side LED on the passenger side. And I am afraid to do much experimenting because I don’t want to short anything out.

Has anyone else tried this or have any ideas?

thanks
shawn

 

The other option is to install a relay, power it off of the current lights. Then run new lights with 18ga wire for power to the new lights.