Thinking of installing a pair of LED light pods off the back bumper of my 2015 F150 Suparcab Lariat and using the reverse wire from the 7-pin trailer connector to power the lights, or trigger a relay to power the lights. If I use this connector, will the truck think a trailer has been connected when I shift into reverse due to the load caused by the light pods?

 

Short answer yes. If you have LED lights and try to power the pods off the reverse wire, it is a definite yes. Trigger signal for a relay with pod power directly from the battery no.

 

I've seen several other members recently say they pulled power for LED lights off the trailer reverse wire with no ill effects. OP should do some searching and reading as there are a number of threads about adding reverse lights.

 

I’m running 2 led auxiliary backup lights from the reverse wire on the trailer connector. No relay. No problems with BLIS or trailer detection.

The current draw for these lights are small and the circuit was designed to power lights.

 

Without researching it any more than the little bit I've seen as I scanned a few posts, I would assume the trailer sense is based on brake light load. Just a guess though...

MarkB, what model of lights are you running? I'm thinking of adding a set soon and will probably just tap power off the trailer connector as well.

 

I have them on my 17 scab. I ran the power wire from my drivers side taillight. And ground to 2 bolts on the frame. Work flawless no delay. Installed them on my bosses f350 into the trailer harness no issues for him with trailer being connected etc. He has the max tow etc on his 350 platinum. So id say you'll be all good going into the harness but the tail light is super easy to run and hid3 the wires and more room to get into the splice.

 

Absolutely not true. The reverse wire in the trailer harness receives voltage regardless of a trailer being there or not. The truck doesn't use a load on the reverse wire to detect a trailer.

I've had a couple of 18 watt LED lights connected to the 7 pin trailer connector on mine since I bought it. It absolutely does not make the truck "think" a trailer is connected when I back up.

 

I’m using generic 18W LED lights, you can buy them from many places in Ebay or Amazon.

https://www.ebay.com/p/2-X-18w-Spot-...97308274&rt=nc

Glad to see others jump in with the same results, I bought these cheap ones to see how they would work out. I am very pleased so far.

 

Sub'd. I would be interested in how you end up hooking them up and how the trailer setting behaves. Please keep us posted

 

Absolutely NO. I pulled power directly off the center 7-pin plug (reverse wire) for my Rigid Ignite lights. The system does NOT show a trailer connected. Furthermore, I hauled a tandem axle flatbed w/ brakes yesterday, and everything worked as expected with the trailer lights and brakes.

Can't speak to other lights, but these work perfectly.