Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
 


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 04-27-2013, 11:54 PM   #1
Senior Member
 
SteveInLA's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Ashland, OR
Posts: 372
Garage
Extra Tail Light Installation

For some time I have worried that visibility of my tail lights might be obscured by the various things I have attached to the Aluminess bumper. After seeing many other forum members add additional lights to the rear bumper, I finally got around to adding my own. This was a pretty simple procedure.

As you can see, the brake lights are difficult to see (note that my top brake light is also not functioning):



I found this light bar on Amazon. It appealed to me because it was LED, the right size for where I wanted to place it and was 3-function (running light, stop light and turn signal):



First, I exposed the wires in the trailer wiring harness. I was able to find a wiring diagram online and found that the brown wire was the parking lights, the green wire was the right turn and stop and the yellow wire was the left turn and stop:



I used quick splice connectors to attach some 18 gauge wire as leads so I could do a test wiring first. I am glad I did. Initially, I connected both light's left turn wire to the trailer harness's left turn wire and both light's right turn wire the harness's right turn wire. This worked for the parking lights and the brake lights, but when the right turn signal was on, the right half of both lights would flash and vice versa for the left. I was about to pack it up and look for different lights when it occurred to me to connect both the right and left wires of each side's light to the appropriate turn signal wire of the harness so that both halves of each light would light at the same time. Probably obvious to most, but since this is not really my field of expertise, I was glad to have figured it out.

Once I was happy, I measured, marked and drilled holes in the bumper:



Then I attached the lights. I chose to mount the lights on the bottom edge so that they would not be obstructed by the cargo box:



I secured the wires and made the connections:



Then I wrapped each connection in electrical tape, bundled it up in flex tube and secured the trailer harness wires back to the frame:



Next I addressed the top brake light. I thought the first thing to check was the bulbs. After getting the light open, I found that I could not remove the bulbs. Either they are not meant to be removed, or something happened to fuse the bulbs to the holder. I know I occasionally ride my brakes, but I can't imagine doing so would cause this:



After visiting three different auto supply stores, it seemed that my best option was to adapt an LED marker light to fit my needs:



After some creative carving, I was left with this:



I did a test wiring and it worked. Here it is all connected and mounted:



The light is not as bright as I would like, so I will be replacing this with something better later on. This was my last chance to do any work before we leave on a week-long trip next weekend.

The results! This shows the running/parking lights on:



This shows the brake lights on:



Left turn signal:



Right turn signal:



I am pretty pleased. Completing this has created another problem, though. I have run out of van improvement projects.

Now that I think of it, some removable mud flaps might be nice.....

Steve in L.A.

__________________
2010 Red EB50 V10, Quadvan 4WD (El Guapo Rojo)
1978 VW Westfalia Champagne Edition (Pepe - gone, but not forgotten)
SteveInLA is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-28-2013, 02:32 AM   #2
Senior Member
 
Pschitt's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Switzerland
Posts: 1,018
Garage
Re: Extra Tail Light Installation

Nice intallation but since you placed it very low on the bumper, are you not affraid to brake it when driving offroad?
__________________
Travelling in VivaLaVida (custom 2010 6.0 Ford E-350 Extended with U-Joint 4WD conversion)
Pschitt is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-28-2013, 09:51 AM   #3
Senior Member
 
SteveInLA's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Ashland, OR
Posts: 372
Garage
Re: Extra Tail Light Installation

I suppose it's possible. The light is mounted slightly above the bottom edge of the bumper and any impact is more likely to happen at the trailer hitch first. The majority of my off-roading is limited to 1-2 level difficulty trails anyway. If I worried about breaking things, I would never drive off-road (see this post). It's amazing how far a little bit of damage goes towards your 4x4 cred.

Steve in L.A.
__________________
2010 Red EB50 V10, Quadvan 4WD (El Guapo Rojo)
1978 VW Westfalia Champagne Edition (Pepe - gone, but not forgotten)
SteveInLA is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-28-2013, 02:49 PM   #4
Senior Member
 
carringb's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Corvallis, OR
Posts: 5,300
Re: Extra Tail Light Installation

Looks great! I still need to add some LED bars to mine too, except I think I'll high-mount them on my roof rack, in case I even get stuck hauling a small trailer with bad lights (which seems to be the case more often than not).

I would recommend some waterproofing of those butt connectors. Eventually they'll build up corrosion, and if you are like me, you'll blame the lights, swap them out, and discover you still have a problem. I really like self-fusing silicone tape. After 24 hours it cures into a solid, flexible covering. Alternatively, you could squirt some RTV into the ends of the connects. Electrical tape is not waterproof. It almost makes corrosion worse because it does a good job trapping water. Its really only good as a wrapping to hold everything together.
__________________
2000 E450 dually V10 wagon
carringb is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-03-2013, 08:34 AM   #5
Senior Member
 
jage's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Parker, CO
Posts: 7,643
Re: Extra Tail Light Installation

Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveInLA
any impact is more likely to happen at the trailer hitch first.
Because trails are nice and square, and boulders are always in the center!
__________________
it was good to be back
jage is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-10-2013, 09:55 AM   #6
Senior Member
 
audisnapr's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 253
Re: Extra Tail Light Installation

Steve, you inspired me to repair my poptop tail light. I went with this LED from Amazon and cut it down in a similar fashion to yours. Thanks for the inspiration!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004O1 ... UTF8&psc=1

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
__________________
4amRacing
audisnapr is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off

» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3
Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Sportsmobile SIP or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 09:47 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.