Auxiliary LED Reverse Lights (Integrated Rear Bumper)

[T-Rock]

I didn’t know about these, and love KC stuff. Thanks. I’m tempted to use them for rock lights. If anyone has used them for rock lights, and they sell a set of 6 for this, where are people mounting them?

They are intended to be used as rock lights - we are just using them this way. They sell them in a set of 6 if you want to do rock lights that is the way to go, cheaper than buying one-off like this.

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[T-Rock]

@Summitdan @Giljr572 cyclone in-use lol People behind me say they are good, they can see the light and it isn't blinding. At night it is a bit bright but I use it 99% of the time for day time trail runs in the dust.

 

[LostWoods]

I didn’t know about these, and love KC stuff. Thanks. I’m tempted to use them for rock lights. If anyone has used them for rock lights, and they sell a set of 6 for this, where are people mounting them?

They are ideal for rock or camp lights IMO. I have a bunch of them and they've all been solid but I will say the amber and especially the red suffer from loss due to the lens. Works for me because red camp lights work great at night but I would not be using them for dust lights or anything like that unless you are running a few together. That is, unless the new v2 ones are brighter in practice than the v1 that I have.

 

[WILDHOBO]

Thanks. I’ve seen that they sell the six pack for rocks. Just curious if anyone is using them for that, and where they’ve chosen to mount them on the under side.

 

[LostWoods]

Thanks. I’ve seen that they sell the six pack for rocks. Just curious if anyone is using them for that, and where they’ve chosen to mount them on the under side.

The beauty is they take a 10mm bolt or you can use a washer so really, you can mount them anywhere.

 

[WILDHOBO]

The beauty is they take a 10mm bolt or you can use a washer so really, you can mount them anywhere.

I get that. Sorry if my question wasn’t clear. I’m just picking peoples brains for where they liked rock lights to be. I’ll start another thread.

 

[Giljr572]

@Summitdan @Giljr572 cyclone in-use lol People behind me say they are good, they can see the light and it isn't blinding. At night it is a bit bright but I use it 99% of the time for day time trail runs in the dust.

Yes, I have used them on dusty trail twice so far and the guys following me mentioned how great it was to be able to see me in the dust both times. I've also used them on the highway when it's raining so bad that you loose the cars in front of you. I'm sure that whoever was following me was happy to not loose sight of me... It's an easy and fairly cheap mod that has a great return on investment in my opinion.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Back about 5 topics to the original topic, whatever it was........ lights in the bumper, I think.......
I've been planning on wiring mine in the new truck so I can let them work with REVERSE since the stock are only about 1.3 lumens at best, and, planning on wiring them to a switch so I can have them on when loading or unloading or strapping load on trailer, whatever.
Diodes - got that covered, new JT will have aux switches, so that's covered too.
But rather than experiment, go from scratch and try various things, I was wondering if there's an "ideal" route, or one better than others, to get wire from aux switch connections under the hood back to the rear tail light area where I plan on rigging the final connections and diodes.
Yeah, I've read all 65 pages of this one, and looked to other threads for best route to take a wire from engine bay (right side - gasser) to the tail of these beasts and so far it's pretty much all "run the wire along under the truck and strap it in". There's got to be a route better, safer, than others.
Any ideas, even pic or whatever, of a good route?

 

[LostWoods]

@ShadowsPapa Passenger is better if you can and the aux wires are already that side anyway. Driver side gets a little toasty inside the framerail with the exhaust.

You should only need to run the switch back there and find a way to securely mount the relay/diode setup near the bumper. The power tap for the trailer reverse is substantial and that's how I have mine set up now. Been planning on doing it switched as well so I'd love to see your final setup.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

@ShadowsPapa Passenger is better if you can and the aux wires are already that side anyway. Driver side gets a little toasty inside the framerail with the exhaust.

You should only need to run the switch back there and find a way to securely mount the relay/diode setup near the bumper. The power tap for the trailer reverse is substantial and that's how I have mine set up now. Been planning on doing it switched as well so I'd love to see your final setup.

I hate toasty wires.

Yes, the Oracle bumper-mount backup lights ground back through the factory lighting wire so a single wire would do it.
I was thinking of using the tail light pocket area for mounting diodes - I could run the wire from the aux switch up to the right tail light and feed these through the right lighting harness instead of the left tail harness (assuming they are identical connectors)
I could then keep the wire from the switch all on the right, everything tucked up behind the tail light out of the mud, snow and ice, and use the Oracle PnP harness as usual.
Another thought was seeing if I could using the same system to kill the licence plate lights via a relay while in reverse.
Still thinking about that part.

Thanks.

 

[Unbreakable]

Wouldn't it be possible to just tap power off the taillight wiring and put a waterproof inline switch at the back of the truck? Just need to have parking lights on and hit the switch. Of course you would need to see what they draw but the factory wiring should handle it.
Might be able to tap power off the cargo lights also and use the factory cargo light switch.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Wouldn't it be possible to just tap power off the taillight wiring and put a waterproof inline switch at the back of the truck? Just need to have parking lights on and hit the switch. Of course you would need to see what they draw but the factory wiring should handle it.
Might be able to tap power off the cargo lights also and use the factory cargo light switch.

You don't want to simply feed power to the backup lights and allow it to backfeed into the backup light circuit. You would still want a diode.
If you place more lighting - like all of those backup lights on the tail light circuit - who knows what would happen. These sense the load. You'd be adding not just the new lights, but the factory backup lights to the tail light circuit..

Your version would actually be more complex, with more potential for problems. And, a person would have to locate a switch in the back (mounting another switch) - where would you mount it?
Why, when there are already aux switches up front inside.
The factory wiring isn't a problem as far as capacity. The wiring is more than adequate, but I'd not want to mix the two systems in any way.

Naw, that's more trouble, more hassle. A whole lot easier to run a single wire back from an existing aux switch and connect to the backup lights through a diode. Very simple.

I leave my lights on auto - I never touch the light switch. So in your plan, a person would have to turn the lights on, and go back and hit another switch.

 

[Mr._Bill]

You don't want to simply feed power to the backup lights and allow it to backfeed into the backup light circuit. You would still want a diode.
If you place more lighting - like all of those backup lights on the tail light circuit - who knows what would happen. These sense the load. You'd be adding not just the new lights, but the factory backup lights to the tail light circuit..

Your version would actually be more complex, with more potential for problems. And, a person would have to locate a switch in the back (mounting another switch) - where would you mount it?
Why, when there are already aux switches up front inside.
The factory wiring isn't a problem as far as capacity. The wiring is more than adequate, but I'd not want to mix the two systems in any way.

Naw, that's more trouble, more hassle. A whole lot easier to run a single wire back from an existing aux switch and connect to the backup lights through a diode. Very simple.

I leave my lights on auto - I never touch the light switch. So in your plan, a person would have to turn the lights on, and go back and hit another switch.

I used a Curt 56584 harness to tie into the tow wiring at the bumper. I used that to connect the reverse lights so the factory wiring would not be touched. The best path for the additional wire to trigger the reverse lights is down the passenger side frame rail. Some have run the wire inside the frame rail. Another possibility is to tap the 12 volt line in the towing harness and mount a switch in the bed where the 110 volt outlet sits.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I used a Curt 56584 harness to tie into the tow wiring at the bumper. I used that to connect the reverse lights so the factory wiring would not be touched. The best path for the additional wire to trigger the reverse lights is down the passenger side frame rail. Some have run the wire inside the frame rail. Another possibility is to tap the 12 volt line in the towing harness and mount a switch in the bed where the 110 volt outlet sits.

In my case, I already have and have been using the stock Oracle plug n play harness for these backup lights so don't need another feed. The curt piece is an option if you didn't want to use the Oracle part - or used other backup lights besides theirs. It's a good way to get 12v, ground, or feed for any of the lights back there, and - those feeds are fused as "trailer lights", each with their own fuse. I see why you might have gone that route.

They've been working great as bright backup lights - but, I want to add the ability to turn them on when not in reverse - such as when in park, engine on or engine off, such as when hooking up my trailer, strapping the car onto the trailer, locking the tilt bed down (don't dare miss that!!) or doing the reverse - unstrapping, unlocking the bed so it will tilt, disconnecting all the trailer stuff from the truck, etc.
I MAY consider a way to disable them when in reverse in town - maybe - because if there is someone right behind you in parallel parking and you put it in reverse, you have just blinded them for the next 2 months LOL

As the new truck will have aux switches, I won't have need for another switch or another harness or connection. I will be using one of the aux switches like a couple of others here have done.
I do not have a 110 volt outlet in the bed, and prefer to have the switch in the cab anyway. I don't have a place for a switch back there, and don't want to mess with cutting or drilling or finding a mounting place and then being concerned with it when I'll have 4 inside to choose from.
IF things were different, and I were to put a switch in the rear - I'd want it powered from the trailer connector as that's fused. I would not run a hot wire back there that wasn't either fused, or otherwise "off".

The Oracle harness gives me everything I need right there behind the tail light, in a nice recess where the diodes will be. That will mean all connections, the diodes, everything, will be tucked up into a dry, relatively clean recess out of the way of any damage.

At least 2 others have done it this way, my only question was the best route for the wire from the aux switch connection in the engine bay back to the rear. I'll take the wire up into the tail light pocket, following the Oracle wires that lead to the LED backup lights once back there.

I will likely move their plug n play pigtail into the right tail light area to shorten the run from the aux switch and keep all of that wiring on the right side. Also, unless I am mistaken, there is no cylinder on the right side. Could be wrong, but I believe there is only one tailgate cylinder.
So IF I am correct, there's more room on the right side. The tail light connections should be identical, so moving the Oracle inline harness should be simple.

All you do is unplug the tail light wiring, put the Oracle harness in between the two connectors you just disconnected, snap it back together.

IF they end up being different, I'll run the feed from the aux switch across the back along with the bumper backup light wiring and leave the Oracle harness on the left.

This is the Oracle harness and inline adapter - with my wrap on it for extra protection from Iowa chunks of ice and snow. I'll feed into the white wire on the left in their pigtail, and use diodes there to prevent any back-feed into the factory backup light feed.
When done - being in reverse will turn on the wimpy factory backup lights and the Oracle bumper mounted lights, or, turning on an aux switch will turn them all on, and a diode will prevent back-feeding into the system

This will be a part of the Oracle harness, where the parallel white wires are in the pic above.
The diodes don't have to carry a lot of current - it's all LED in my case, all lights are.
The feed to the Oracle lights is maybe a whopping 24 gauge, or even lighter.
24 gauge is rated about 3.5 amps.
26 gauge is a max of 2.2
So the wires from Oracle are likely not carrying even an amp if they were 26 gauge.
The diodes can be very light-weight as far as current capacity but you want low loss - no appreciable voltage drop.

 

[AJ-MJ]

I am sure you will do an excellent job wiring your lights. The best way to route the wires in my opinion is through the frame. I have not done it on the gladiator, but I have on other trucks. If not, you run the risk of snagging the wire or damaging it while off roading. A simple solution is to put the truck in reverse and leave the door open. The truck won't move. I'm not saying this is the safest way to have lights to facilitate loading, but I will say I did it once. Lastly, thanks ShadowsPapa for all your contributions. I always enjoy reading your posts!

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