Kaymar Bumper Extra Rear Lights via Trailer Wiring Harness???

[2020 SCRAMBLER]

My Gladiator is a 2020 model year. I’m attempting to connect extra lights on my (new to me) Kaymar rear bumper. It has a pair of combo lights, each with a stop / turn / reverse / running light circuit on a separate standalone wire. So, 1 wire for each bulb plus a ground wire - a total of 5 wires each light.

I’m tapping into the OEM Jeep wiring harness that runs to the 6 pin / 4 pin trailer plug-in wiring connector on the rear bumper.

I’ve referenced multiple wiring diagrams and schematics to decode this trailer plug wiring harness. Hopefully I’ve done that properly. Right now I have wires plugged in as follows:

• White wire with brown stripe = running light
  
  
• Black wire = ground
  
  
• Yellow wire = turn signal driver side and brake light driver side
  
  
• White wire with orange (or pink?) stripe = reverse light
  
  
• Pale Green (small diameter) wire = driver side turn signal and brake light

Not connected to anything:

• Larger diameter bright green = ??
  
  
• Red wire = ??? (always hot with ignition off)

At this point, none of the bulbs in either of the bumper lights are working. Ughhh…

To confirm everything, I tested each wire connection and bulb within each light by plugging each standalone wire directly to the red trailer harness wire for test purposes. Each wire and circuit works as intended, so my connections and bulbs are good.

What am I overlooking and/or not connecting for these lights to not be working? No brake, turn-signal, running, or reverse lights come on (the OEM taillights work fine).

The Kaymar online instruction PDF goes into great detail if you don’t have a trailer light wiring harness. And if you have trailer light harness, it just says “connect them up”. Lol.

The photo below shows the two rectangular lights in the bumper and shows why I’m bothering to hook them up because the swing out arms are covering up both tail lights to some extent.

This is the wiring diagram I used:

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[Mr._Bill]

Something like this Curt harness would make life much easier for you.
https://a.co/d/hawswzF

Depending on what you did, and how you did it, the factory harness may be damaged and need repair.

 

[2020 SCRAMBLER]

Thanks @Mr. Bill. I’d need to cut one end off the Curt harness and determine still which Curt wire to connect to the Kaymar wires. And this is essentially what I’m already doing but with the Jeep harness wires.

Either I don’t have something wired right or perhaps I popped the F90 20 amp fuse in-line on the trailer harness while wiring it up…

 

[Mr._Bill]

This Curt plug would help.
https://a.co/d/cRdnTdB

The Curt harness connects between the factory wiring and the trailer plug. It would be behind the bumper.

 

[2020 SCRAMBLER]

@Mr._Bill gotcha. Round Factory harness plugs into Curt and Curt plugs into connector on backside of bumper with extra wires hanging down that could be spliced into…

However, the clearance up in the Kaymar bumper is tight for the factory round plug alone. So two hard plastic plugs connected to each other likely would not fit. It’s not a completely open area like the factory bumper with direct horizontal access due to the trailer hitch being raised up and reinforced inside the main bumper area.

There has to be a way to tap into the trailer harness directly…something is not right.

 

[tysongladiator]

I don't know if these will help or not. They're from a JL, but the colors may be the same.

 

[jac04]

You are going to have issues trying to run a separate amber turn signal because the JT wiring layout uses the brake light as a signal light by pulsing the brake light when the turn signal is on.

Curt makes an 'adapter' for trailers that use a separate turn signal:
https://www.curtmfg.com/part/56196

 

[ShadowsPapa]

You'll likely need to tie some of the bumper light wiring together.
I'd definitely use the trailer adapter Bill talked about - otherwise adding lights to the factory light wiring may trigger faults. The trailer wiring doesn't care at all - it's independent of the BCM so won't trigger faults if you add lights.

However, the clearance up in the Kaymar bumper is tight for the factory round plug alone. So two hard plastic plugs connected to each other likely would not fit. It’s not a completely open area like the factory bumper with direct horizontal access due to the trailer hitch being raised up and reinforced inside the main bumper area.

See if you can order it via Amazon - then if it won't work, send it back (or sell it to me..... or another forum member)

 

[tysongladiator]

You'll likely need to tie some of the bumper light wiring together.
I'd definitely use the trailer adapter Bill talked about - otherwise adding lights to the factory light wiring may trigger faults. The trailer wiring doesn't care at all - it's independent of the BCM so won't trigger faults if you add lights.




See if you can order it via Amazon - then if it won't work, send it back (or sell it to me..... or another forum member)

You are correct. They will trigger faults. I added aftermarket lights to the front of my jeep since my turn signals are no longer there because I have aftermarket fenders. They triggered the fault for no turn signals. I turned off the error message with jscan. But... yes, they will trigger a fault/error code.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

You are going to have issues trying to run a separate amber turn signal because the JT wiring layout uses the brake light as a signal light by pulsing the brake light when the turn signal is on.

Curt makes an 'adapter' for trailers that use a separate turn signal:
https://www.curtmfg.com/part/56196

it might be possible - but then, the adapters like the Curt don't work for LED lighting........

https://www.etrailer.com/Flat-Tow-Wiring-Harness/Tow-Ready/118158.html

 

[2020 SCRAMBLER]

@tysongladiator @ShadowsPapa @jac04

Thank you! It’s likely my Jeep’s LED taillights are the issue.

The adapter that @jac04 linked to…when you look it up on Amazon…in the reviews it shows someone with a similar Kaymar swing out bumper on a LandCruiser that was having the same issue getting the bumper lights to work. Bingo!

Ordered one of these adapters that splits the turn/stop signal into two wires. Fingers crossed this solves it!

In that same Amazon review the guy noted the name of the lights, and now I know these are Roadvision BR200 LED combination lights.


https://roadvision.com.au/signal-lighting/br200-combination-series/

 

[2020 SCRAMBLER]

PROBLEM SOLVED!!! All the lights are now working properly.

There were two issues:

1) Incorrect electrical signals. The Jeep brake and turn signal are carried by 1 wire on each side. Per the advice of @jac04, I used the Curt Converter #56196 to split the brake/turn signal wire into two separate output wires.

This part solved the problem as the auxiliary brake lights and turn indicators weren’t getting the correct electrical signals. HUGE thank you to @jac04!

2) Wrong diameter T-connectors. Once the Curt Converter was installed only some of the lights worked, but when I bumped the wires the several lights blinked on or off. So, I knew it was the T connectors since I’d already tested the blades on the wires that were being spliced into the Jeep harness. Apparently, I used T connectors one size too large. Duh.

Again, a BIG thank you to @tysongladiator, @ShadowsPapa, @jac04, and @Mr._Bill !!!!

Now I get to go relocate my tailgate backup camera wiring…

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