Howdy everyone!

I have a project in mind, and wanted to run it by you guys.

I have a 2011 F250 Lariat with the Chrome RUnning board. To be specific, it is the one with the Chrome/Black plastic and has 3 supports holding it to the truck. The front of the supports are Plastic/Black hiding the metal brackets behind it.

I was at the Auto parts store not too long ago, and saw they had a 12 pack of Pilot Amber Running lights and thought it would be neat to install them on my truck. I was thinking of just putting one per Support (so 3 on each side).

I noticed as I looked at them in the package, they only have one wire coming out. A little researched showed that the grounding is actually done when you screw them down.

Here is where I'm a little stumped..... I was going to drill the 3 holes needed per support and just screw them to the plastic and run the wires behind them. That was until I realized you needed to screw it down to ground it.

How would I pull this off exactly? My first thought was to maybe solder a piece of wire inside the amber light cavity and feed it through the same hole as the hot wire and then tie them all together.

As far as where to tap into them, I'm a little undecided. I know I can tap them right into the front amber lights on the truck, but the side effect would be that they would blink whenever I turn my blinker on. That's not too horrible in my opinion, but would like to just tap them in somewhere where they just turn on, but NOT blink. Any suggestions as to where you guys think I should tap the amber lights too?

Hoping you guys can point me in the right direction

 

Just ground one screw on each light. Lots of ways to do it.

As for power, I would run it by relay powered by any light that behaves the way you want the running lights to behave. Probably a parking light, not a directional. Otherwise just run to an upfitter switch.

 

Thanks for the reply.

What I'm a little hazey is on, if I'm screwing it to the plastic cover for each of the running board supports, then it wont ground since it's plastic. I dont wanna get like a super long screw that will go all the way through and have it actually hit the metal support bracket.

My thought was to put a ground wire inside, snake it out with the hot wire, and then ground it directly to to one of the bolts for the support bracket

 

I'd use an eye terminal like a washer and run the wire to ground. Even easier to hide if you drill small holes and use small screws with backing lock nuts to hold the lights on.

Like these:
http://www.westmarine.com/buy/ancor-...09_275_004_502

 

I was thinking of putting the eye terminal on the inside between the screw and the ground portion of the inside of the amber light, snake the wire through with the positive wire, and then immediately ground it right there to one of the bolts that hold the support bracket in place.

 

That would work. Whatever you think is the best way. Like I said, there's lots of ways to do it.

 

Awesome! I figured there were many ways, but never hurts to ask for the collective knowledge of the board You guys are great.

What do you think about tapping the 6 lights to the license plate light? I have seen some members say that's what worked for them.

I'd like the running lights to just stay on, but NOT blink with the turn signals.

Unless you know of a better wire to tap into for that?

 

License plate light would work. I wouldn't tap it direct to the running lights though. I would install a small relay somewhere to run battery power to the running lights and tap the license plate light to trip the relay.

 

May I ask why you feel its best to introduce a relay to the mix? What would happen if I took all 6 lights, and tapped them straight to the positive wire of the license plate light?

Unless I misread that and you advised me against running it to lets say the running lights at the head lights directly?

Just making sure I'm following you correctly

 

The additional current draw may exceed what the truck expects to see from the license plate light. That could cause the fuse to blow, or the truck to think the bulb is out, etc. Or just not enough power to get the running lights to full brightness.

 

Intersting, I didn't think the truck would "monitor" that light or care about it. Wouldn't that be a bitch if one day a burnt out license plate light would trip a CEL ? lol

Hum.... I guess I would have to see what the draw of the lights are, how much that line can handle.

I got the idea from other members posts where they hooked the Recon Big Rig Lights to that and no one seemed to complain.

 

Relays are so cheap and simple to wire I would just do it that way, but that's me. It really is the better job. Or just splice away and see if they work. Once you do, try hooking one light up directly to the battery and see if the others are the same brightness.

 

Thank you all your sound advice. I may consider the relay. Judging by how little draw those little amber lights would pull though I think I may be safe. Being that I'm running the wires to the back, I'm not 100% sure where I would mount a relay back there and keep it safe and such.

You've been a great help!

 

Post some pics when you do it!

 

If you install led lights, you can add a bunch with no problem. My fronts are tapped into the center wire of the front parking lamp. The rears are hooked into the license plate lamp.