hedbutter

I just received my JCR-offroad bumper with light cut outs, and I was curious if adding a second set of lights ( ) would draw too much power and blow a fuse. I tried a search, but didnt find anything that worked with what I was trying to find.

Thanks in advanced,

hedbutter

freegdr

why just dont you wirte them with a toggle switch seperate from the factory then you can use them as light for extra back lighting when you need them

MurderedXJ

I put a second set and just wired them to the stock reverses and havent had a problem yet and they've been there over a year. Other members will say to put in a relay and what not but i have had any issues yet.

hedbutter

I'm planning on adding back lights on the roofrack in time, i didnt really see a reason to do it now. Also, i'm pretty OCD on how things line up and work, so i was planning on adding the extra lights all at once, and thinking of a way to make the switches almost identical to stock and in locations that wont bug me when I look at them (to put it in perspective, my caprice has a change holder, and if all the heads of the change aren't facing the ceiling and pointing the same direction, it bugs the hell out of me).. lol

hedbutter

Thanks, that is exactly what I was thinking, I just wanted to double check before i did all the work.

freegdr

when i installed my front driving light the switch was almost the samer size as the factory switches all i did was file the factory switch location a little and the switch snapped right in

Hommersimpson

You can do it just hooking into factory wiring. BUT It will be more Amp's pulled through the wire then it was designed To start with.. If you are building a Utility off road truck or car or what ever.. you will always have to modify factory stuf to make it work right and safe..For one...have the option to turn them on when not in reverse would be very handy offroad and you can wire them to come on both ways.. manualy or in reverse... Myself.. I would run 2x 10ga wires to back directly off battery with a fuse inline at battery conection.. then wire what ever you want to up and not wory about the power draw and burning up your wiring..And you will have a power source in back of jeep for what ever later down road...

hedbutter

That is exactly what I was looking for. I'm glad you posted that the wire may not be the right gauge to handle the added load. I couldn't find the copy of an FSM that I once had to check the gauge of wire/voltage require for this all to work correctly, and a search wasn't bring anything up that worked for what I was asking.

I'm going to wire in a relay tomorrow, keep it accessible so that it only turns on with the backup lights as of now (at the moment I don't have the need to have Back lights for offroad use). Ater i add in the lift and other upgrades to make it ready, i'll tap back into the relay and have it power the lights.

I have a quick second question.

Would the trailer tow connection fuse have power already to it, and could I tap into that (rerouting the wiring from that fuse, to the back for the new lights) to keep a cleaner look in the bay and not have to have wires connected directly to the battery. Or would best way be to buy an auxiliary fuse box, wire it up, and run the lighting system through that? The wiring doesn't phase me (it shouldn't being an EE). I'm just not sure if an aux. would be overkill or a nice add-on.

hedbutter

Went to the local autoparts stores today, and they dont have any aux fuse boxes in stock, and it would take at least 2 days to get it in, but i leave for school friday/saturday, so I wouldnt have time to install it.

So question number 2. Are there any 12v sources in the rear of a jeep that could be used to power the reverse lights?

It's a 2001 sport, no trailer package that i know of(it didnt come with a hitch, but i did buy it used). Would there be anything back there that i could tap into for the time being? I'm going to run a relay to get the reverse signal, however, i'm still lost on a 12v power source. I've been searching for how others have wired up trailers, but no luck.

Any help greatly appreciated.

bobvalli

Only thing I could suggest would be running a piece of type THHN wire along the frame rail (maybe along the brake line). Put a fuse holder at the battery. If you wanted to get fancy, throw some split loom over the wire.

If you use something like 10 ga. at least you'll have the juice back there if you need it (like for an auxiliary outlet). That'd be cool.