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I finished the install of my flatbed over the weekend and am still working on some final touches, like the wiring. The bed came with reverse lights on the back skirting and a set in the headache rack. My old setup i just had a set of auxiliary lights in the bumper that i switched on whenever, never wired into the reverse circuit. With the new setup I’d like to obviously wire the 4 lights into the reverse circuit and use my switch in the cab to turn them on whenever needed. Am I overthinking it or is it just as simple as having the factory reverse wire and the wire from the aux switch both go direct to the reverse lights?
I can't believe it! I have been trying to find a picture of a srw crewcab SD with this type of flatbed. My bed has the fenderarch rust issue bad so I was thinkin of doing the flatbed swap. I really like what you put on.
Mine were rusted and so were the crossmembers. I fixed the issues, kinda but was t boned on one side, the floor seems were rotting out and inner wheel wells were rotting out. Figure I’m money ahead buying the flatbed since it’s more durable, even comparing cost of a sheetmetal bed it’s paint and bed liner
I ran a feed to my bed to a switch panel to run various lights, cap lights, running board light, reverse lights and lights I added to the cap door. Mainly for setting up the camper at night. For the reverse lights I ran a feed from the outlet of the switch and tied into the factory reverse light feed. No diode or anything. Have had no issues.
That’s good to hear I wouldn’t think on a 20 year old truck there’s enough electronics to mess something up but want to make sure before I hook it up. I definitely need the lights since I’m always getting home near midnight now
I powered mine through the trailer plug with no ill results as the reverse lights are on a factory relay and you can power them that way without any back feeding problems.
It also turns on my trailer backup lights if connected when I am not backing up.
With the new setup I’d like to obviously wire the 4 lights into the reverse circuit and use my switch in the cab to turn them on whenever needed.
All you need is an SPDT switch and wire it like in the image below. Flip it one way and the lights come on and off with the shift into reverse. Flip the switch the other way and the lights stay on until you flip the switch back. Alternately, instead of wiring into "Hot All The Time" +12v power you can wire into the accessory circuit so you don't accidentally leave them on and drain the battery. But of course the key will need to be in the accessory position for them to work.
I’d rather not have to flip a switch for them to work with reverse, that may change but currently that’s one more thing to forget to flip to the correct spot to work normally.
That is a single pole, double throw on-on switch, (SPDT). You don't have to throw the switch when you shift to reverse. You just leave it in that position all the time for normal reverse operation. When you want the backup lights on without being in reverse you flip the switch to the other position.
That’s what I planned on using, the last recommend was for a DPST switch with required it to be flipped to allow reverse normal function, everything off or turn on when wanted. So long as it’s not gonna mess anything up I’m just gonna solder the factory reverse wire with the power wire from my switch to th reverse lights in the bed.
I’d rather not have to flip a switch for them to work with reverse, that may change but currently that’s one more thing to forget to flip to the correct spot to work normally.
One position and they work automatically with going in or out of reverse, for the other position they would be on all the time. In either position the light will be on when backing up, it's fairly foolproof.
As an alternate method to the switch circuit I posted above, you can also use an SPST switch and parallel the input/output wires going to the DTRS just like they do with a manual transmission. Switch on=lights on, switch off=automatic reverse operation.
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