I have a set of 55w back up lights under the bumper, triggered via a relay to come on with the reverse lights (tapped into the wire from the trailer harness). Can someone explain how to work it so that a switch in the cab will turn the lights on without the truck being in reverse, and still keep them to come on automatically when i put the truck in reverse? I'm sure i can do it, just need an idea of how to Thanks in advance...

 

DPDT switch wired into the cab on the coil side of the relay to activate with or without the backup lights.

 

I drew up a schematic for a buddy who was doing this to his truck. Soon as I can find the .jpg of it, I'll post if for you if you need it.

 

hotdram, i would appreciate it if it's not too much trouble. I'm a visual learner

 

here ya' go. This is specific for a painless 80408 switch. But you can sub any spdt switch in there.

 

TX Ram,<br>I just checked out how the jpg is displayed when you click on the link, it comes out as hard to read. If you save the jpg to your hard drive, you can enlarge it and read all the text.<br><br>good luck<br><br>

 

i did that to my back up lights. i have them on my headache rack, with a switch on my dash board. i just tapped into the reverse light wire for the lights. and for the switch, i just found a 12v power source, and wired it to the same line. when i hit the switch, the headache rack lights,and the tail-back up lights come on. very simple to do.

 

Thanks hotdram, looks simple enough. Appreciate it!

 

Palmetto Kid,<br>Depending on how many watts of lighting you are pushing you might want to isolate the reverse lights on their own relay. I have a relay setup on my 78 that runs the rear work lights and backup lights and another relay for each front set and rear set of 150 watt driving lights on my light bar. I have heard of the stock wiring getting fried (particularly the headlight switch) from pulling too many amps.<br><br>Of course, I am a complete overkill wirer, but my setups are trouble-free. It just seems to me that the stock wiring is a minimal size in most cases. Larger wire and no underdash fires seems like a good trade-off.<br><br>That said, I am going to rig my 96 up with a remote reverse light setup this weekend. Wonder how many solder burns it will take? (always liked working upside down under a truck)

 

BTW, if you 're looking for relays, Parts Express (.com) has 40 amp relays and sockets for several dollars each.

 

One thing I forgot to put in the schematic. It is not necessary, but a good idead: a fuse or circuit breaker in line with the battery voltage that goes to the backup lights.<br>

 

I agree with redramnc. Two 55 watt backup lights will draw a total of almost 10 amps. I would not want that going through a switch on my dash. 150 watters would draw even more <br>(25 amps total), definetly want them on their own relay.