# Reverse lights from trailer plug



## Brian Young

I always ran back up lights on a toggle switch but I dont know if I saw this in here or not and I've looked. But I thought someone just ran back up lights to their 7 prong plug on the truck. This would be a lot easier than running several, several feet of wire then mounting yet another toggle switch. Has anyone done or seen this done before.


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## basher

Not a issue at all. That's what I always tag for my AUX rear lighting. I use a diode so I can run a 20 gage wire forward to the switch to trip a relay to power the light for spreader work. I power the relay from the trailer 12 volt feed.


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## wild bill

*light plug*

been running them to my plug for the last 2 years and no problem just fulled the plug with fluid film and not an issue .


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## ATouchofGrass

http://www.back-upbuddy.com/


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## TJS

Yes. Take my hitch light build in my signature. 
T.J.


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## Brian Young

TJS;1355831 said:


> Yes. Take my hitch light build in my signature.
> T.J.


Ahhhh, I remember that post,lol. I can't and don't need a hitch mount, I'm just going to drill a hole in a bracket I have on the underneath of my flatbed. Plus I have a rear bracket that goes into my hitch now to protect my spinner and shoot for the v box. I also saw Dissociative's post on how he used a rely but it's gone. I was thinking of just getting an unwired plug and just wiring in those lights to the right prong and plugging it in....any thoughts


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## Tony350

The only problem I can see is if you are going to run a lot of lights off of it. It you are you may blow your reverse light fuse. But it would probably take a lot of lights for that to happen.


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## TJS

Tony350;1355936 said:


> The only problem I can see is if you are going to run a lot of lights off of it. It you are you may blow your reverse light fuse. But it would probably take a lot of lights for that to happen.


Not true. The reverse light circut will not take the load. The reverse light circut would only be a trigger wire to excite the relay. The relay in turn will connect from the charging wire in your 7 pin trailer harness to the lights. So the only circut taking the load of the lights is the charging wire in the trailer harness. Google up a hoppy wire diagram for a 7 pin trailer wiring and you will find the charging circut pin as well at the reverse light pin. The reverse light trigger wire from the 7 pin connector goes to "85" side of the relay. The "86" side of the relay is ground. The charging wire from the 7 pin trailer connector goes to "30" side of the relay. Then "87" or "87a" (depending on the relay if NC or NO) goes to the lights.
Hope this helps. I do not have the colors off the top of my head. 
T.J.


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## theholycow

I tapped mine into the wire going to the plug. No running 20 feet of wire, no buying a plug and having it always sticking out the back of the truck...


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## Tony350

Tjs That makes sense about the relay I made a light bar and used a solenoid for all the reverse lights. I have two hard wired into the trucks reverse lights, it didn't make sense in my head that the trailer plug wasn't wired directly into the reverse ligths. Thanks for plumbing me up!


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## TJS

Brian Young;1355250 said:


> I always ran back up lights on a toggle switch but I dont know if I saw this in here or not and I've looked. But I thought someone just ran back up lights to their 7 prong plug on the truck. This would be a lot easier than running several, several feet of wire then mounting yet another toggle switch. Has anyone done or seen this done before.


Hey Brian,
I am going to answer your PM here so others can see my fancy drawing.

Here is the hoppy diagram.









Here is how you trigger the relay and use the AUX power wire (which can carry more load than the factory reverse lights) to actually power your extra reverse lights.









In your PM you asked how to trigger the V-box spreader light via the park light circut. You should use another relay. Here is how it is done.


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## TJS

You also asked where to put the relay. I used a project box I had laying around. Sealed it up good too. Remember my set up is temporary that goes to the hitch. So my project box is attached to the back of my hitch light set up. The white wire you see is for the third brake light trigger. This wire was in the Ford harness for campers and caps.
Hope this helps.
T.J.


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## TJS

You can see the GM third brake light I used here.


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## BPS#1

Heres what I did for cheap.
I aint called a cheap old B*****d for nothing. :laughing:

Carved down a 2x4 to fit the stake pocket. Bolted a farm implement light to the 2x4.
Used some wire laying around to wire a ground and center back up prong.

It works too. For a lot less than that back up buddy.


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## BPS#1

Jeff Dunham has Jose Jalapeno on a stick.


I have a "reverse light on a stick" :laughing::laughing::laughing:


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## Brian Young

Thats all I was going to do but then I read some of these posts and they were all saying relay's etc. I wanted to run 2 lights and I don't know if thats too much for the circuit to handle and run the risk of blowing up the light, melting the wire or keep blowing fuses.


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## BPS#1

I doubt the lights will blow.

I'd imagine the fuse is a 20 amp same as all the others on the truck.

Do some lookin into the draw of your lights and the wire and fuse size.


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## kevlars

You shouldn't overload anything if you run LED flood lights, like the DDM Tuning ones talked about on here. The LED's draw very little juice.

kevlars


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## basher

If you are planning on permanently mounting the lights use one of these adapters. They plug and play and give you the wires Reverse and a 12 volt power supply to install a light with front controlled relay use a diode and you will have a work light and a back up light and leaves the plug available for trailer use.


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## frdtrckmnrich

basher;1359882 said:


> If you are planning on permanently mounting the lights use one of these adapters. They plug and play and give you the wires Reverse and a 12 volt power supply to install a light with front controlled relay use a diode and you will have a work light and a back up light and leaves the plug available for trailer use.


Where would i find one of these?


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## theholycow

The trailer plug has a wire in it for the reverse lights so you can run reverse lights on it. Why go to all the extra effort and cost of running a wire and relay when the job is already done? If they didn't provide enough juice, you'll find out for the slight cost of a blown fuse (or you can eyeball the fuse beforehand).

Besides my mounted reverse lights, tapped into the wire going to the trailer connector, I've also made a utility light that plugs into the trailer connector. Instead of mounting it to a 2x4 for the stake pockets, I mounted it to a spring clamp so I can clip it on anywhere I want and easily aim it where it's needed. Rail, stake pocket, bumper, under the hood, whatever.


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## basher

frdtrckmnrich;1359928 said:


> Where would i find one of these?


Try your local trailer hitch installer. We stock them or NAPA, Autozone, lots of places.



theholycow;1359977 said:


> The trailer plug has a wire in it for the reverse lights so you can run reverse lights on it. Why go to all the extra effort and cost of running a wire and relay when the job is already done?.


You could run just reverse lights without a relay or running any extra wires using the system pictured below. That system includes a individually fused reverse light and ground. It also includes a power wire if you want to use a relay, diode and run a wire forward to a grounded switch for using the same lights for spreader, log splitting, hooking up a trailer, whatever. This also allows you to use that trailer plug for towing a trailer and maintain the lighting.


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## Pinky Demon

How do you guys keep your plugs from rotting out? Seems every damned year I have to re-wire the trailer plug in because if I keep it on, the snow and salt eats the hell out of it, even with a good rubber boot ziptied on. 

This year, I just said f'k it and removed it completely, and wrapped a plastic bag around the connector and then taped it off.


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## basher

A heavy coating of either di-electric grease or Fluid Film.


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## andyman5001

This is mine, still works fine after 4 seasons of use. Had to replace the trailer plug on truck after 3rd plow season. Oh yeah, I don't weld so this is just bolted together.


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## Bollweevil

andyman5001 said:


> This is mine, still works fine after 4 seasons of use. Had to replace the trailer plug on truck after 3rd plow season. Oh yeah, I don't weld so this is just bolted together.
> 
> View attachment 104043
> 
> 
> View attachment 104044


Andyman, please tell me the brand name of these reverse lights and where I might get them. Thanks.


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## CARDOCTOR

just run led lights. low amp draw and super bright or put in a set of fenix 2 mode led strobes in your backup lens one mode flash and solid white in reverse


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## andyman5001

Bollweevil said:


> Andyman, please tell me the brand name of these reverse lights and where I might get them. Thanks.


I got these at Tractor Supply Co. Not sure if they still carry them. The only plus to running halogen is the heat created by them melts the snow off of them.


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## Bollweevil

andyman5001 said:


> I got these at Tractor Supply Co. Not sure if they still carry them. The only plus to running halogen is the heat created by them melts the snow off of them.


Great, thank you!


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