Truck is in my sig. I am thinking about adding a handful of exterior lights to the truck.

1. Tool box in bed ... I want to add (2) red 2" LED round lights on each side of the rear of the tool box. They would be lit w/head lights "on" and also used for brake/signal/hazard lights. Along with those, I want to mount (1) amber 2" LED round light on the front, outside corner of the tool box that would be lit w/head lights "on". Do you think these would interfere with the lighting system's behavior when hooked up? Would the LED lights cause signal/brake illumination issues? I was thinking of trying to wire these lights in as trailer lights with the plug right inside the truck bed. That way, if i should ever remove the tool box, it'd be a quick unplug and go.

2. Reverse lights to underside of rear bumper ... Light type and size will depend on what I find and the cost, but they wouldn't be terribly large. Would want them to come on only when truck is in reverse.

3. Bumper/valance lights ... I'm looking to find a slotted front bumper and Lightning valance. Ideally, I'd like to run the regular Lightning lights in the valance and larger driving lights in the bumper slots. Can these be wired into the headlights without issue? Am I looking at a power drain issue with this many lights going? I plan to upgrade to a larger 130amp alt. before all of this, as well.

I did some searching for info and will continue to do more, but would still appreciate any input on this set up. Thanks.

 

The LED type lights are not much of a load, so no worries there. But if you want full brake/turn and running lights, you are going to have to get the large trailer taillight units, or run multiple lights. A normal taillight with these functions has a dual filament bulb, with one filament for the running lights, and the other filament has the brake/turn function.

The only load you have to worry about is the reverse lights and the front driving lights. You cannot add driving lights to the headlights without a relay added. The driving lights will draw power directly from the battery, and the relay will control them. The headlight wiring will control the relay.

Same with the reverse lights. The reverse light switch is usually small, and just enough to handle the stock lights. To add more and larger reverse lights, you need to add a relay, with a wire from the battery feeding the relay, which will feed the new lights. The relay will be controlled by the original reverse lights.

 

Cool. Thanks for the info. So, as I take it, the 2" LED rounds are not meant to be used for both lights "on" and signal/brake at the same time. Hm, depending on how much room I have on the box, I could run two lights on each side with lights "on", and a separate third light on each side for signal/brake. i.e.:

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I'm trying to find a way to set lights up on the truck so that they are useful, and not look like a x-mas tree going down the road. Hard to plan things when it's too cold to be out working on the truck. I'll update my thoughts/questions/ideas in this thread as things move along.

 

You would only need two red lights on each side pointing to the rear. One would be the running light, and the other would be the brake/turn. Then the red running light would also be tied into the same wire as the amber light facing the front.

As long as you keep your regular taillights in the rear with regular bulbs, your added led's will work ok. If you change your rear taillights to led's, you might have a problem and have to run a special flasher or a load resistor.