So ever since I've got the truck 17 years ago I've hated the backup lights. But it was what it was back in the day of incandescents unless you installed big bulky and hot auxillary lighting. It's like the designers at Ford said, eh it meets the legal requirement of letting other drivers see you are in reverse, who would ever actually need adequate lighting to back up in the dark?

I don't like flashy stuff that says look at me and my huge dinner plate KC offroad lights, so I left it stock. A couple years ago I replaced all exterior bulbs on the truck with LEDs. Much brighter, as many of you know having swapped to these often talked about bulbs. But still confined to the stock housings, although the nice LED bulbs were a massive improvement in brightness, I still found myself backing up off the curvy 120 foot driveway a foot or two, busting sprinkler heads and an occasional sapling or foliage in the flowerbeds when I was rushed and thought I might be clear.

So began my quest for backup lights worth a crap, on a budget that all of us on FTE could easily get approval (or forgiveness) from our wives to buy. So after much searching I found some decently small yet powerful lights that would be easy to conceal, stay out of my way climbing in the bed or hooking up trailers, and using ratchet straps, and yet provide lighting that makes me feel safe backing up a loud 1ton at dark thirty, should my loving young kids decide they want a last minute hug as I'm leaving for work and run out behind me.

So here's the lights I went with
Low profile, small, flood light beam pattern vs spot, lots of adjustment potential. They came with stainless hardware, and the all metal body feels quite beefy in the hand

So if you read the reviews people complain about condensation because of rain. Some reviews mention a flaw in a seal and that if you take apart the light (very easy with a metric Allen wrench) you can seal it up with rtv and after many years they've never had an issue. So that's what I did the day before install. 20 minutes and I had them all sealed up with black gasket maker


Remove these three 2.5mm Allen screws on the ends


Apply RTV to the end and they are all sealed up. There is a grey seal under the glass, sorry I didn't get pictures of it before I put them all back together

So i applied RTV, put the ends back on and began to tighten the screws, once I felt resistance I stopped and let the RTV cure a full day. The next day I gave the screws about 3 turns to tighten them down, that way my RTV seal was still decently thick and not all squished down beyond paper thin before it cured and then once cured it might have shrunk and made the seal worthless.

Next up was wiring in the lights to the existing backup lights. The way I did it might be overkill to some, but wire nuts on vehicles are a no no for me. I soldered my wires to the existing wires going to the reverse bulb socket after removing the brake light lenses. I figure there'd be less road spray way up there and way less chance of any car washes or other diluge getting to the wiring. After the solder wicked in I used marine grade waterproof heat shrink (the kind with glue inside) followed by normal non waterproof heat shrink on top of that, electrical tape, and then finally split loom. I decided on going this route instead of an auxillary switch for simplicity and less clutter in the cab. A quick press of the clutch and shifting in and out of reverse confirmed correct polarity and continuity, that they turned on and off, along with a holy cow those are very bright moment with a big goofy grin

So next up was mounting the lights. I had a general idea of where I wanted them but wanted to see the beam pattern before I committed to molesting my truck with a drill. This if course required darkness. No problem for me since I'm working nights and did this install on my night off, but you may want to consider this when you go to install them. After running temporary wire connections on the LED side of my power wires to the lights i had a couple extra feet of wire to move the lights around and see where I liked them best. I considered between the bumper and under the tailgate, however no matter where I tried the tail gate would hit them as it was opened and closed, plus the bumper blocked the lower portion of the beam and cut off quite a bit of the ground lighting near the truck. No surprise I found a great spot under the bumper, and out of the way. Once I had the location confirmed I locked a bracket in place with needle nose vice grips and used a sharpie to mark center for the mounting holes. I turned on the ignition again to confirm the placement and once deciding I liked it commenced to molesting my bumper with the drill. A 15/64 drill bit fits the Allen bolt nicely. After poking the 4 holes I applied loctite 223MS to the bolts. Yeah I know in theory the included lock washers will keep it all in place, but I've got to much history with that not always being the case, especially on anything that moves or vibrates. A 10mm deep socket and a 5mm allen wrench locked the mounting brackets in place. Next up again was aiming the lights up and down before tightening them in place. I had my beams with decent illumination starting 2 feet on the ground behind the truck and reaching out about 60 foot. Once I decided on the throw I grabbed the 223MS and 10mm and locked the lights orientation in.

So that's that, thanks for stopping by










Oh wait... What's that you say?



Oh you want pictures....

Oh ok

Looking at the light


This will give you an idea of where the DS light's outside bracket is where I mounted it, it just touches the opening of the stock hole I always use for tie down straps


Here's the DS light's inner side's bracket, flush with back of the bumper lip.


Boring before picture with truck in the garage. The lighting on the ground at 1am and behind truck looks way better than it does from the drivers seat. These are upgraded LEDs in the reverse light sockets which are way brighter than stock incandescents. As an onlooker you can tell the truck is in reverse, but as far as usefulness for the driver, they still suck. Slightly illuminates the ground directly under the back bumper and out about 4 feet at most


Here's the stock lighting I see looking from the bed over the top of the tailgate, ignore the neighbor's house lights. I swear the lights are still on, I took the above photo looking at the truck then walked over and took this from the bed. You can make out the garage door in top of the frame, and if you zoom in and have your screen settings right you can see the cutoff of the lights on and the tail gate at the bottom of the picture



So here's the after picture....
I unplugged the stock lights so you can see the affect of just these new lights



And the lighting I see now from the bed looking over the tailgate. The grass after the 2nd section of concrete is 40' from the garage door


Now you can do this mod and blind the neighbor's cat too

Total time spent was about 3 hours, but it was worth every minute to me

 

Nice one! One of my better upgrades was adding back-up lighting.

 

Here you can see their small size better

The lights are canted slightly outward rather than straight back, no need to converge on a center spot 10 foot out. There is plenty of light so a trailer tounge will still be quite visible



Thanks ArmyLifer

 

Well done Wesley!

Perhaps if there is a north TX Meet & Greet next fall, I can see them in person...

 

I get post notifications whenever my truck is described.





Nice Job "17" Wes. Thanks for posting some of the intricate details (prophylactically sealing the end caps to the housings, modeling beam pattern prior to fixture placement, etc). Reps sent!

 

Looks good Wes! Reps to you. I did something similar. I mounted mine to my rear camper tie down mounts. LED's put out so much light without nearly the wattage of incandescent bulbs for the same amount of output. These are 18 watts each side.
Makes wiring a lot easier not having to run a relay. Like you, I went directly into the factory reverse wire. It's so much easier to see when backing up at night. Especially with my aging eyesight...

 

Guess I did my backup lights the hard way...https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post17993646

And then: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post18051916

End result:

 

I remember your thread ArmyLifer nice machine work.
I would have went that recessed route if I didn't need to alter the bumper so much to do so. (Lazy)

Thanks Binuya. Yes these are 17watts each, and output is huge compared to incandescents wattage to output ratio


Y2K, don't get me wrong I used the massive round lights on my 71 f100 20 yrs ago, cause that's all there was in the world of auxiliary lighting. Now that LEDs are out and more reliable, lower wattage and higher lumens can be had in smaller packages.

Which is why I went off the stock reverse lights wiring, since I'm running LED bulbs there, I'm not pulling the load the wires were sized for with the incandescent bulbs and can add the small led bar without overloading the stock wires

 

OK so I received the lights from Amazon yesterday. The ones Wes444 linked to. I bought the 60 degree view by the way.
( Never saw where I could have selected 30 degree spot. )

So last night I applied the RTV silicone.
I used gray RTV because I had extra from the dip stick mod kit from International Harvester. But, I am afraid I might not have put RTV everywhere it needs to go?
I bought some weatherproof 2 wire connectors which will add about 2 one foot wire sections to to the < 1' that comes with the lights. I was going to mount them further back on bottom of trailer hitch y beams, but I think it will be very hard to drill through the steel? So I am re-thinking, and might put them exactly where Wes444 did.
I located my original trailer tow kit ( still in plastic bag from factory ) with 2 relays, and 2 30A fuses to go under the hood in fuse box. I was thinking splice into reverse wire from 7 pin connector, ( BK/LG) , and then put a direct hot with a switch from the original key on Orange hot wire which is for trailer battery feed. If I do that, won't the hot orange wire back feed through my reverse light switch?
Any knowledgeable thoughts please?

Also I believe then I only need to install one relay and one fuse since the other one controls input from headlamp switch, which I do not need right now. Then I would have spare relay and spare fuse, in case bad things happen.

 

I like that very much! On the F150 I just sold I had an LED cube of sorts I bought on cheap clearance at Tractor Supply wired in and close to the center of the pickup added to my backup lights. I sure miss that! I have a box of other unused LED cubes and pods and have been trying to decide what to use and where to get some nicer backup light action on the F250. I live out in the middle of nowhere...no neighbors lights to assist with night backing at all, so I feel your pain about backing down a drive at night!

 

Marksman, you'll only need the RTV on the ends, as you might have noticed under the glass there is a strip of round light gray sealant that runs the horizontal length, there's just nothing on the ends to seal it where it leaves off other than the rubber dust gasket, which would allow the water the gray seal stops a potential entry point into the housing since the gray sealant stopped about 1-2mm short of the edge of the glass.
I too considered triggering mine off the 7way trailer wiring but wasn't sure if it was like the brake controller and only had power when it detected a trailer was attached, so I went directly from the stock reverse lights, which was also closer as far as wiring length. So far that works great and i get a nice giddy feeling when I back up and am brightly reminded of the work done.

As for mounting location I'd highly recommend aiming them at night from different places until you find what you like best. I wouldn't drill or weld anything to the trailer hitch tho

 

Wes444, did you put in a direct hot lead also?

If so, or anyone else out there, what type of diode do I need to stop the power backflow to the reverse light switch.

Also , where exactly do I install the diode in the circuit?

 

I think you are overthinking this. There is a red and black wire on the LED lights, positive and ground. There are 2 wires going to the stock reverse lights, also a positive and ground. Tie into those and reseal the wires with heat shrink or electrical tape of your choosing. All done, no extra ***** buttons switches or relays to clutter the dash or under hood

 

True. But I would like to control them as work lights if I need them for that purpose.

 

Great questions!

Copper costs money, and for a vehicle manufacturer, money is paramount... but copper also costs weight, which costs competitive carrying capacity.

With this in mind, it is assumed that the wire ampacity (or wire gauge thickness) is only, and just barely, adequate for the anticipated current of the circuit served, with some conservative safety factor.

And not that conservative either, considering how burnt and brittle the factory lamp sockets become over time... especially over 20 years time, leaving no question of the heat that a couple of little bulbs can generate.

So the stock reverse wires are sized to serve the stock reverse bulbs. Adding reverse lamps to the stock wires might double or quadruple the load carried by stock wires, adding loads not calculated to be served by the circuit when the OEM wire size was specified.

To surmount this concern on my truck, I took a long hard look at the trailer wiring harness that is already conveniently extended to the rear of the truck... a 7 wire bundle of copper that is under utilized and just along for the ride when not towing a trailer.

Of interest in this bundle is a reverse lamp circuit that most trailers never use. There is also 30 amp trailer battery charging circuit. Those are the only two wires needed to run auxiliary reverse lamps, and they don't even compete with the run, stop, tail, turn, and brake circuits that trailers use.

Suppressing transient back feed voltage spikes when the reverse lamps are switched off is another concern. Using the trailer reverse wire as trigger voltage, and the battery charge circuit as current supply, a Diode Suppressed Relay (diode is built inside of the relay itself) can automatically suppress any flyback voltage without having to install a separate diode into the circuit.

I put the diode suppressed relay in the back of my truck, where I put all the wiring connections to A. use the trailer reverse lamp signal to trigger the relay coil, and B. use the 30 amp trailer battery charging circuit to actually power the extra reverse lamps.

This is what it looks like:



I have a total of six (6) added reverse lamps, facing different directions, plus a back up alarm, all triggered by the reverse wire in the trailer wire harness bundle, and all powered by the 30 amp trailer battery charging circuit, using a relay that is internally diode suppressed. This puts zero additional load on the skinny OEM wires that Ford sized only for the reverse lamp sockets in the tail lamp housings. Those remain unbroken, and untouched.

Sometimes I'm back behind the truck and I need to see better in order to hook up a trailer... fussing with the chains, or the snap up brackets, emergency break away cable, or whatever. So I added sealed marine switches in a sealed outdoor enclosure under the truck, so that the same lights could be also turned on where I need them, without the truck being in reverse.



When viewed in total, it may seem over thought...



... but thinking is heck of a lot easier, and more comfortably done, than laying under the truck redoing or repairing.