Auxiliary back up lights for hooking up trailers at night.

2591tdj said:

Can you provide the details and part numbers? It sounds like a great idea.

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I found a crap picture of the diagram so sorry for my terrible handwriting.

I got the reverse light power from the 7pin plug on the truck and there is constant power wire that might not be hooked up from the factory that goes to the trailer plug as well. You just have to hook it up in the engine compartment.

And you have to have a diode between the power coming from the timer and the reverse light power so that it won't back feed into the truck wiring.

http://imgur.com/gallery/pWA5xg5

Also I cut out some thin metal back plates (like the ones here) so the screws which are super tiny have something to hold onto when they go through the plastic of the bumper.

I did it without taking the bumper off but it was the absolute biggest pain in the ass even with someone holding out on the bumper so I could reach my hand up to the light to fit the nuts on the screws. So If you're able to take the bumper off I would suggest it.

I used a Dremel to cut out the plastic holes after taping off all around and then marking the hole on the tape, but be careful because the wires for the back up sensors run pretty close to where the lights are.

And the metal of the lights even when sitting between them doesn't affect the sensors.

My wife saw the LED lights I had saved on Amazon and bought them for me for Christmas. These are the 60 degree floods, not spots. I mounted them under the bumper on each side of the trailer hitch on my 2005 Tahoe. I also replaced the OEM backup bulbs with Sylvania LEDs from WalMart. The add-on lights are super bright! The combination with the Sylvanias looks great. I simply connected the hot wire directly into the back-up light wire in one of the tail light assemblies using a wire tap, which made for an easy install.

I like your idea of a rear switch but would really like to add a dash switch to turn them on without having to put it in reverse or hit unlock. Any idea where to connect a switch to the back-up light circuit under the dash? How do I identify the back-up light circuit? Is a diode necessary?

I added similar halogen lights years ago on my 1997 Tahoe. I ran wires from the lights to the dash mounted switch, but want to find a simpler way to wire a switch in this latest install.