Hi all,

Yes, yes I tried searching already but to no avail. So here it goes…

Ive been looking to get a pair of KC Cyclones to daisy chain together (is that the proper term?) to use as back up lights. I’d like to wire them to come on in reverse but also using the buttons for the bed lights. Can anyone talk me through the process? Anything I should be on the lookout for or avoid? Diodes necessary? I’ve been reading a lot but honestly having a hard time making heads and tails of it all.

The problem is that I’m not experienced with vehicle wiring, like at all. First go at it I fried the lights of my Volvo 245 and the second time the battery caught on fire. That was tolerable in a $1000 beater but is a no go in a car I’m still paying for.

Thank you all very much in advance.

 

With that luck, I’d be looking at paying a professional to do it.

 

Not helpful, but thanks for getting the ball rolling.

 

What you want to do is obtainable but it will not be easy or straight forward. First off, understand that all the lights are powered directly by microprocessors in the BCM (Body Control Module). The switch circuits that control the lights just make or break a ground which the BCM monitors. When you "turn on" a light, the switch circuit is grounded. The BCM sees that and thens turns on the appropriate light circuit. What this all means is that you can't just tie into a switch circuit to power the lights you want to add.

Each individual lighting circuit is protected from over-current by a FET (Field Effect Transistor) circuit rather than individual fuses. If an over-current for a light circuit occurs, the FET shuts the circuit off to protect it from damage. The FET auto-resets with each ignition cycle (ignition off then on) until it trips too many times, after which it turns the circuit off and sets a DTC in the BCM. The circuit then stays off until the problem causing the over-current is repaired, and the DTC is cleared, after which the circuit will function again. For this reason, usually you can not just add lights to an existing circuit as this usually causes the FET to trip.

What is needed is a couple of relays which can monitor the lighting circuits you want to use to turn on and off your added lights. The relays can then in turn power the added lights directly from the battery (using a fuse for protection).

If you can understand all of the above then we can look at how the relays can be added and what that circuitry can look like.

 

Yeah... with your track record, take it to someone who knows what they're doing. These trucks are slightly more complicated than a 35+ year old Volvo.