the new cap has lights on it, some orange ones on the sides and red on the back. there is a wire in the back left corner which I presume is meant to be tied into the truck's lights somewheres. Can anyone give me any pointers on where to connect it? I'll put up some pics later. Do I want to wire it up so the 4 red lights on the back function as a third brake light? or just come on with the others? any thoughts?

 

I think it would be pretty cool to have them as 3rd brake lights.

 

I thought so too. any clever hints on where to splice in this wire?

 

Not a freakin clue. You may need to ruin it down to the trailer lights wire.

 

all right, getting down to the nitty gritty here. I've done a little searching around, found out about a green wire on Ford pickups which is in the wiring harness expressly for third brake lights on caps. I'm calling out to my EE brethren with this one: do I want the lights (there are 6 red lights on the cap, 4 on the back and 1 at the rear end of each side) wired in SERIES or PARALLEL? I think parallel is what I want, but I'm deferring to anyone who knows more than me before I start wiring anything.

 

for what its worth... if you wire them in series and one bulb blows, none of the lights will work. in parallel, if one blows the rest will work. wiring is not my strong point so i should shut up now... there would also be a lot more resistance (ohms) in the circuit, possibly causing unwanted heat. correct me if im wrong.

 

^^

I'd go parallel for exactly that reason -- if one bulb blows, the rest still work. However, make sure you can pull all the amps (in parallel, you add up the amps from the bulbs in the circuit), so you don't blow anything.

It doesn't hurt to add a fuse to the circuit as well just in case.

 

wouldnt it pull more amperage in series?

 

A series circuit would pull fewer amps because every component in a series circuit adds resistance, and I=V/R, so you will be getting less amperage for every bulb dropped in.

 

see? i should have shut up right after i said "i should shut up now".