off road light wiring
Senior User
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 345
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From: Fort Worth, TX
off road light wiring
I wanna put some kind of light that faces the bed of my truck and on my bronco I have always jsut wired anything and everything strait to the battery but I'd like to keep my truck from eventually looking like my spagetti-bowl-wired bronco. Is there a better place to wire it to?
Thanks
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Post Fiend
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 13,873
Likes: 3
From: Atlanta GA
off road light wiring
A lot of the Fords come with bed lamps that shine from the back of cab roof into the bed. What I would do is tap (using a butt connector) from the dome lamp wire and run the wire to a bed lamp mounted above the rear window like they do in new trucks. The later model (say <- 97) Ranger bed lamp is pretty cheap, simple, and easy to install even in a F-350.
A simpler (less cutting and drilling for you) one would be to skip the flush mount type and just install a reverse lamp (2x4 inches)or license plate lamp. That would just require two screw holes and a 5/16 hole and grommet to run the wire from inside the cab to the lamp.
If you want it for "off road" as to light up behind the truck, the best thing to do is tap into the power lumbar circuit (battery load(+) - always on) and use a relay which is kicked on by the reverse wire. The power lumbar is good for 30 amps, you are unlikely to use the seats while backing up, it is automatically protected/fused, and you can not accidently leave the lamps on if the reverse circuit is off. You can also have a dash mount on/off with the above setup for the times you do not need a blinding lamp on the street.
A simpler (less cutting and drilling for you) one would be to skip the flush mount type and just install a reverse lamp (2x4 inches)or license plate lamp. That would just require two screw holes and a 5/16 hole and grommet to run the wire from inside the cab to the lamp.
If you want it for "off road" as to light up behind the truck, the best thing to do is tap into the power lumbar circuit (battery load(+) - always on) and use a relay which is kicked on by the reverse wire. The power lumbar is good for 30 amps, you are unlikely to use the seats while backing up, it is automatically protected/fused, and you can not accidently leave the lamps on if the reverse circuit is off. You can also have a dash mount on/off with the above setup for the times you do not need a blinding lamp on the street.
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