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I am planning an install for two 6" led floods to use as reverse lights and also add strip led bed lighting (F150led's). I plan to wire the reverse lights to the reverse lights wire at the trailer connection. The bed lights I plan to wire in as F150leds suggests, into the cab so they light up at lock/unlock, etc... I also want to wire these to run off a switch in addition to the previous functions.
To do so I was planing to:
-Purchase a wiring harness (40 amp relay) with two connections.
-Run the leads directly to the two led floods shining behind the truck.
-Run a positive and negative wire from the reverse wire into the harness going to the lights.
-Wire a diode to the positive wire to prevent the truck taillights from lighting when I am using the switch power source to run the lights.
-Do the same thing for the bed lights (run positive and negative wire from the led strips down to the wiring harness and tap into the leads to the led revers lights, then solder in a diode to prevent power going to the cab when running the bed lights off of the switch power source).
My questions:
1) Is there an easier way to accomplish this?
2) Where is the best location to get power for the harness? Would it just be best to get it straight from the battery, is there a good power to tap into that runs off of the ignition, or is there anything closer to the rear of the truck that I can use?
3) Do you see any potential issues with how I am planning on doing this?
4) Do I need to run both a positive and negative wire from the reverse wire at the trailer connection, or can I just run a positive? I am honestly not too experienced with how the electrical system works, I am just able to make connections etc...
I am planning an install for two 6" led floods to use as reverse lights and also add strip led bed lighting (F150led's). I plan to wire the reverse lights to the reverse lights wire at the trailer connection. The bed lights I plan to wire in as F150leds suggests, into the cab so they light up at lock/unlock, etc... I also want to wire these to run off a switch in addition to the previous functions.
To do so I was planing to:
-Purchase a wiring harness (40 amp relay) with two connections.
-Run the leads directly to the two led floods shining behind the truck.
-Run a positive and negative wire from the reverse wire into the harness going to the lights.
-Wire a diode to the positive wire to prevent the truck taillights from lighting when I am using the switch power source to run the lights.
-Do the same thing for the bed lights (run positive and negative wire from the led strips down to the wiring harness and tap into the leads to the led revers lights, then solder in a diode to prevent power going to the cab when running the bed lights off of the switch power source).
My questions:
1) Is there an easier way to accomplish this?
2) Where is the best location to get power for the harness? Would it just be best to get it straight from the battery, is there a good power to tap into that runs off of the ignition, or is there anything closer to the rear of the truck that I can use?
3) Do you see any potential issues with how I am planning on doing this?
4) Do I need to run both a positive and negative wire from the reverse wire at the trailer connection, or can I just run a positive? I am honestly not too experienced with how the electrical system works, I am just able to make connections etc...
Thanks for any help!
My questions:
1) Is there an easier way to accomplish this?
Have two 3-way switches in the cab. This will allow you to have an "On with Switch", "Off", and "On with Reverse Lights"
2) Where is the best location to get power for the harness? Would it just be best to get it straight from the battery, is there a good power to tap into that runs off of the ignition, or is there anything closer to the rear of the truck that I can use?
Absolutely get the power from the battery! You can run the ground almost anywhere onto the frame, but main power to the relay needs to come from the battery.
3) Do you see any potential issues with how I am planning on doing this?
I'm not sure why you need a diode, unless you are having the aux reverse lights and bed lights on at the same time. But even if you are, why would you not want the factory reverse lights on if your aux lights are on as well?
4) Do I need to run both a positive and negative wire from the reverse wire at the trailer connection, or can I just run a positive? I am honestly not too experienced with how the electrical system works, I am just able to make connections etc...
You just need to run a positive wire from the trailer wiring to the trigger on your relay. Run a separate trigger wire from your interior lights for the bed lights to the second relay.
The most important thing is to make sure you have a clean solid ground, good connections, and heatshrink then cover all your wiring.
I have LED bed light strips on my dome light circuit as you describe(goes on with lock/unlock, and also when I put my interior light dimmer switch on dash all the way to "ON"). My LED strips are low wattage and I did not need a relay, can wire directly into the dome light circuit(which BTW also powers your rear cargo light on the cab). Dome light circuit I believe is 10A and since I replaced all my interior lights with LED's there is plenty of current capacity there for the bed light strips. I also replaced my cargo lights with LED's so I have plenty of capacity there. If your still using incandescent for your cargo lights and interior lights, you MAY need a relay but you'd have to add up all the wattages to find out.
The trailer hitch reverse light circuit is a dedicated approximately 20Amp circuit(240watts), and is only used for when you have a trailer hooked up. This circuit powers the trailer reverse lights and trailer parking lights. Without a trailer you have ZERO current draw on that circuit.
If your flood lights are LED as well, you don't need to use a relay either. LED's make adding additional lighting a breeze.
My questions:
1) Is there an easier way to accomplish this?
Have two 3-way switches in the cab. This will allow you to have an "On with Switch", "Off", and "On with Reverse Lights"
2) Where is the best location to get power for the harness? Would it just be best to get it straight from the battery, is there a good power to tap into that runs off of the ignition, or is there anything closer to the rear of the truck that I can use?
Absolutely get the power from the battery! You can run the ground almost anywhere onto the frame, but main power to the relay needs to come from the battery.
3) Do you see any potential issues with how I am planning on doing this?
I'm not sure why you need a diode, unless you are having the aux reverse lights and bed lights on at the same time. But even if you are, why would you not want the factory reverse lights on if your aux lights are on as well?
4) Do I need to run both a positive and negative wire from the reverse wire at the trailer connection, or can I just run a positive? I am honestly not too experienced with how the electrical system works, I am just able to make connections etc...
You just need to run a positive wire from the trailer wiring to the trigger on your relay. Run a separate trigger wire from your interior lights for the bed lights to the second relay.
The most important thing is to make sure you have a clean solid ground, good connections, and heatshrink then cover all your wiring.
1) I left out that I will be installing the switch in the bed of the truck.
3) I do plan on having the bed lights and aux reverse lights on at the same time, only when the switch is on. You make a good point, there is no harm in having the taillight reverse lights on at the same time as well. I don't know why I didn't think about that.
4) What is the second relay for? Is it needed if I plan to run both the aux reverse lights and bed lights off of the same switch?
Thanks for the advise! This will be the only "custom" wiring install I have done. Sounds like I need to plan this out a little better before I take it on next week.
Originally Posted by ReaperHWK
I have LED bed light strips on my dome light circuit as you describe(goes on with lock/unlock, and also when I put my interior light dimmer switch on dash all the way to "ON"). My LED strips are low wattage and I did not need a relay, can wire directly into the dome light circuit(which BTW also powers your rear cargo light on the cab). Dome light circuit I believe is 10A and since I replaced all my interior lights with LED's there is plenty of current capacity there for the bed light strips. I also replaced my cargo lights with LED's so I have plenty of capacity there. If your still using incandescent for your cargo lights and interior lights, you MAY need a relay but you'd have to add up all the wattages to find out.
The trailer hitch reverse light circuit is a dedicated approximately 20Amp circuit(240watts), and is only used for when you have a trailer hooked up. This circuit powers the trailer reverse lights and trailer parking lights. Without a trailer you have ZERO current draw on that circuit.
If your flood lights are LED as well, you don't need to use a relay either. LED's make adding additional lighting a breeze.
My $0.02 to make this a lot easier.
THANKS! Everything is LED (cargo and interior) and the lights I am adding are all LED as well. You have a very good point and one I didn't even think about. I haven't had the truck too long and rode the motorcycle to work today, so I can't go out and check it, but I am assuming if you hit the cluster dim enough times it will turn all lights in the truck on? I don't recall another switch being around there to turn interior lights on.
1) I left out that I will be installing the switch in the bed of the truck.
3) I do plan on having the bed lights and aux reverse lights on at the same time, only when the switch is on. You make a good point, there is no harm in having the taillight reverse lights on at the same time as well. I don't know why I didn't think about that.
4) What is the second relay for? Is it needed if I plan to run both the aux reverse lights and bed lights off of the same switch?
Thanks for the advise! This will be the only "custom" wiring install I have done. Sounds like I need to plan this out a little better before I take it on next week.
I thought you were running them separately, hence the need fro two relays and two switches.
If you are running them at the same time you only need the one relay. While the truck may handle it ok (being LEDs) its much simpler to run a relay from the start.
The rotary dimmer on the left side of the dash, if you move it all the way "UP" it clicks in the ON position and this is how you turn on your cargo light and keep all your interior lights ON. This is the circuit my LED bed lights are wired into, it pretty much works when the cargo lights are on, which is what I wanted. I got that wire in the driver side sill panel was the easiest place to access it.
I'm familiar with what you are talking about, but I don't think my truck has it. I have a push button on the left side that will dim the cluster. I will check when I get back to it in a few hours. I remember I tried another time to find a button to turn the cargo or interior lights on and couldn't find one. It may be since it is just an XLT I don't have it. I will find out though, since that would be pretty easy.
Originally Posted by ReaperHWK
The rotary dimmer on the left side of the dash, if you move it all the way "UP" it clicks in the ON position and this is how you turn on your cargo light and keep all your interior lights ON. This is the circuit my LED bed lights are wired into, it pretty much works when the cargo lights are on, which is what I wanted. I got that wire in the driver side sill panel was the easiest place to access it.
I know this is an old thread but how is this bull bar holding up? I was thinking of purchasing this exact one because it doesn’t block the front license plate location.
04-12-2016, 01:07 PM
Lighting Project Question Before Install
