2020 Tahoe LT, wire tap or fuse box?

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itsreeyo

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Good Morning,

I have a 2020 LT Tahoe. I am planning to purchase an aftermarket grill with LED's that require a 12v connection. I want to be able to have those LED's light up when I unlock/drive (day and night) and turn off automatically after i turn off the car.

My questions are:

1. Should I tap into the headlight/parking wiring? If so, what color wire in the headlight should I tap in to? I tried to do research, but couldn't find what color wire is the parking light wire.

2. If I didn't want to tap in a wire, can I just tap in to a fuse as well? If so, I know that I need to look for a 10A fuse in the fuse box, as 10A fuse requires a 12V connection. What fuse can I tap in inside the fuse box? Should I look for a spare 10A fuse that is not being used, or should I tap in an existing 10A fuse? I just want to ensure that the LEDs will light up open turning on the car, and automatically shut off when I press the alarm to lock my car.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all.
 

Pivot

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I’m not sure the specific wire you’d need to tap into, but someone will chime in with that. Offhand I would definitely say to tap into a DRL maybe or other light that behaves how you want it to, rather than just grabbing any switched signal since you want it to behave a particular way.

Someone can provide the specific wire or schematic. I generally aim to grab a wire inside the truck if possible. Would also recommend just using that wire to trigger a relay so you don’t put undue load on that circuit.
 

Doubeleive

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there is around 3 different types of vehicle lighting composite, led, hid on the k2xx
so wiring will depend what type you have
you can look over the gm upfitter guide and it should have a diagram of the wiring
the upfitter guide is online and is free
 
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itsreeyo

itsreeyo

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I’m not sure the specific wire you’d need to tap into, but someone will chime in with that. Offhand I would definitely say to tap into a DRL maybe or other light that behaves how you want it to, rather than just grabbing any switched signal since you want it to behave a particular way.

Someone can provide the specific wire or schematic. I generally aim to grab a wire inside the truck if possible. Would also recommend just using that wire to trigger a relay so you don’t put undue load on that circuit.
thank you for the input!!!
 
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itsreeyo

itsreeyo

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there is around 3 different types of vehicle lighting composite, led, hid on the k2xx
so wiring will depend what type you have
you can look over the gm upfitter guide and it should have a diagram of the wiring
the upfitter guide is online and is free
Awesome! I'll search that online today. Thank you!
 

GeroniMoe

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you can look over the gm upfitter guide and it should have a diagram of the wiring
the upfitter guide is online and is free
Apparently my Google-fu is failing me on this one: I also have a 2020 Tahoe LT and am looking for wiring guides. When I search for upfitter guides, all I can find is the overview for the PPV version. Is there another guide that I'm missing?

Thanks!
 

Doubeleive

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Apparently my Google-fu is failing me on this one: I also have a 2020 Tahoe LT and am looking for wiring guides. When I search for upfitter guides, all I can find is the overview for the PPV version. Is there another guide that I'm missing?

Thanks!
I just went and looked and it appears the information is either not yet updated to include 2020 because either they just have not done it yet or will not because it was supposed to be a changeover year which got pushed back to 2021, so if you choose 2018 instead the information is there and is (or should be) the same for up to 2020
 

BlaineBug

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Good Morning,

I have a 2020 LT Tahoe. I am planning to purchase an aftermarket grill with LED's that require a 12v connection. I want to be able to have those LED's light up when I unlock/drive (day and night) and turn off automatically after i turn off the car.

My questions are:

1. Should I tap into the headlight/parking wiring? If so, what color wire in the headlight should I tap in to? I tried to do research, but couldn't find what color wire is the parking light wire.

2. If I didn't want to tap in a wire, can I just tap in to a fuse as well? If so, I know that I need to look for a 10A fuse in the fuse box, as 10A fuse requires a 12V connection. What fuse can I tap in inside the fuse box? Should I look for a spare 10A fuse that is not being used, or should I tap in an existing 10A fuse? I just want to ensure that the LEDs will light up open turning on the car, and automatically shut off when I press the alarm to lock my car.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all.
If it was me I would tap into the parking light circuit and solder the connection. I have done that on other vehicles. I use a sharp knife to scrape away at the insulation so I don't have to snip the existing wire either, then wrap the new wire around, solder, and tape it up really well. Unfortunately using this method you can't slide on a piece of shrink wrap tubing but I have never had an issue.
 

NardDog

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I agree with blainebug. I recently added LED running lights to my step boards and tapped into the running lights and signal lights without a fuse. The circuit is already fuse protected.
 

RST Dana

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There is a spade post already available if memory serves me correctly. Now you need to decide when you want the power to become live. A tap to the low beam to a relay could provide the needed circuit from the free live spade.
 
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