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Wiring LED's to switch and reverse lights?

22K views 12 replies 7 participants last post by  GlennMorales 
#1 ·
so im trying to figure this out. i hope its as easy as i think but, i would like to make sure first. i want to wire a single led light to work both on a switch independently but always when the reverse lights come on. my thought is that i would just need to run the wires to the spod like i normally would. but then to put in a bridge wire between the reverse light and positive led power wire.

is this correct or would i get some alternate effect when switching on the light from the spod?

also i had considered trying to wire the light to work as stated above and with an option to stop it from working with the reverse light but im not sure how i could wire that. if anyone has any ideas on how to manage it let me know.
 
#2 · (Edited)
You can do it that way and there's probably no problem. But to play it safe you might want to put a diode in-line on the wire from the stock backup light +12V to the LED so when you manually enable the LED it doesn't backfeed the TIPM. The banded-end of the diode goes towards the LED.

Radio Shack 276-1661 (6A, 50V) will do the trick.

Also, make sure to run the LED ground wire to the chassis, not to the OEM backup light's ground. I believe the ground and positive are both switched on the tail lights.

To disable the LED from going on with the back-up lights you'd have to also put a switch (or better yet, a switch-activated relay) in between the OEM backup lights and the LED.
 
#4 ·
In theory wiring the leds to the backup lights and adding another power wire (switched) would do what you initially thought about doing. As far as having the option to stop it, the only way I know is by using two relays with two switches. I am sitting on this method as I am waiting to get the rear LEDs but once I do this is the route I will be doing.



Here is a wiring diagram on how to wire it up. As you can see by using two relays and two switches, the first switch will allow you to turn the LEDs off when the backup lights are powered. The second switch will allow you to turn the rear LEDs on at any time. I will be doing a write up once I get my LEDs in. Hope this helps.
 
#7 · (Edited)
Guys, 2 relays & 2 switches for this is waaay too complicated. Just put one Double Pole relay, powered by the spod, into the LED light circuit.

Connect the normal BU light power to the terminal marked "87a". This is the normally closed side of the relay & will send power to terminal "30", which is where you connect your LED lights.

Then, connect spod 12V switched to terminal "87". When the spod is turned on, this will power up & send power to terminal 30 through the relay....

....which is switched on by also connecting the spod switched 12v output to terminal 85 or 86 (and ground the other one).

The doide is good in theory. In practice most LED lights draw so little in comparison to the light bulbs in the circuit you don't really need it. (King daddy Rigid light bars excluded).

I'll see if I can't throw a diagram together, unless texasmike74 still has his drawing program up & loaded with symbols.

Edit - here's a quick detail, not a nice drawing. This should give you what you need.
 

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#10 ·
Guys, 2 relays & 2 switches for this is waaay too complicated. Just put one Double Pole relay, powered by the spod, into the LED light circuit......
The reason for the additional relay and switch is to be able to disable the backup lights. If someone was just wanting the backup lights to come on switched or when put in reverse, this would work just fine.
 
#8 ·
The diode is only there to avoid "feedback" to the TIPM on the stock circuit, the TIPM likely won't have an issue with the feedback but you never know ( not CANbus related btw. ;) )

a "standard" single pole relay will do, just hang a switch between the stock reverse light circuit tap to the relay coil to be able to enable/disable the aux back up lights with the stock reverse lights.
 
#9 ·
Sounds like you're in the parts business - putting in three parts where only one is needed! I bet you I can beat that...lessee.....I have that circuit for a nuclear reactor triple redundant control scheme over here somewhere.....


Jeep2.0

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#13 · (Edited)
so im trying to figure this out. i hope its as easy as i think but, i would like to make sure first. i want to wire a single led lights to work both on a switch independently but always when the reverse lights come on. my thought is that i would just need to run the wires to the spod like i normally would. but then to put in a bridge wire between the reverse light and positive led power wire.

is this correct or would i get some alternate effect when switching on the light from the spod?

also i had considered trying to wire the light to work as stated above and with an option to stop it from working with the reverse light but im not sure how i could wire that. if anyone has any ideas on how to manage it let me know.
I am very poor with these electronic items. I hope you have gone through wiring problem and sorted it out. Can you help me with easy way of wiring reverse lights.:):)
 
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