Hi guys, after doing some research I think I've come to terms with what I need to do to add some light behind the truck when backing up. I'm just looking for some clarification/go ahead with my idea.

First of all, I'm only interested in having the lights come on when the truck is in reverse. (I dont spend much time behind the truck otherwise)

Secondly, I do have rigid Dually D2's in place of my factory fogs, and love them / appreciate their durability/output, however I am currently tight on money and NEED to get some more light behind the truck.

So I've landed on these lights:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/321181974902...84.m1438.l2649

And what I need confirmation on is that since they only are 18W LED's and that they only draw 1.4ish amps that I can run the power wire from the LED into the reverse light stock power wire, and the Ground of the LED to the spot where I attach the LED housing to the truck, assuming its bare metal for a good connection. Will this work!?!? based on what I've read on other similar topics I'm thinking yes, I just want confirmation before I go ahead and order the lights. Thanks

 

Yes you can but a much better option if you have a tow package is to tap into the wire that goes to the center pin on your 7 pin trailer connecter it is fused and run through a relay and will carry a lot more current than the backup lights

 

OK, so just dig around behind the wire harness connector till I find that wire (any idea the color of it on a 2012?) the strip a bit back, solder the hot leads of the LED's in, cover with something like liquid electrical tape, and I'm good to go? sorry for the potentially obvious/overly simple questions, but anything electrical scares the scat out of me

 

Yup, I would just tie it into the reverse wire in the trailer bundle.

I am going a different route to see how it works, I found a reverse light that goes in the stock reverse light location that is a small HID setup, 15 watt design that is plug and play with the 921 setup. If this isn't bright enough for backing up to a trailer I will be switching to the same thing you are doing...

 

As for the wire, I believe it is listed in the owners manual, on the 7 way it is the center one and on the 5 plug it is the first male plug next to the single female, I think it is brown.

I would just use a crimp type connector to tap into it and maybe an inline fuse after that just to isolate the system. Should be pretty easy but yes waterproof the best you can back there as a lot of road grime and moisture gets on that area.

 

I saw that same 15w setup on ebay, something like $70 ish, I liked it, and I think the ballasts would fit, however my concern with that was that HID's take a while to get to 100% power, and the convenience of an LED being instantly on was the deal breaker for me

 

I thought of that too but these are pretty low draw, I would think they fire pretty fast. We will see and I will put a small build thread onhere when done, if they ignite fast enough these might be the ticket for keeping stock look but plenty of light for using the reverse camera at night, Ford should have just added night vision on it lol.

 

+1. Also, if you use a relay and change your mind (about lights in reverse only) down the road, you can add a switch without undoing any of what you've done. You might also want to look into Posi-Taps. They make splicing much easier.

 

Posi Tap sounds like a solid idea, Trigger was pulled a few minutes ago, so I'll have to put up some post installation pics as to how bright these "ebay" LED light bars are!

 

Pics?