Decent backup lights

[DonS]

(sorry I didn't answer questions sooner... )

Bob-

Yes, the "white stuff" is HDPE (high-density polyethylene). I raided a scrap box at a local "Tap Plastics" for $2 / lb. The stuff is great for mounting things - very easy to work with, very STRONG. I used the existing bolts on the bumper to attach it. Each end of the bumper has two black carriage bolts - I used the "innermost" of the two. (BTW - I'm also a software engineer. But I try to keep my hands in the hardware so that I know what I'm controlling).

Arcticat-
The electrical box is mounted to one of the rails under the bed (don't know what they're called, but they run left-right and are actually part of the bed). The box is pretty well protected and quite sturdy. They only thing that's going to hit it is water and occasional pebble that gets thrown up - no problem. There's no way backing into a snow drift will hurt it (you'd lose the backup lights first). I suppose that if I flew up in the air then came down on something, so that the "something" could get up in there, then the box might be vulnerable. But, in such a case, I'll bet that the box's fate is going to be the least of my worries. In the photo, the wiring is vulnerable, but that's been cleaned up.

Ranger Dick-
The existing backup lights aren't just low-wattage bulbs, they're also hindered by the "smoked" lens. Combined with the tinted rear window (or two if you've got a cap on the back), they're just not going to cut it even with brighter bulbs. Besides, the wiring to the existing lights is only 18 ga. (from the fuse, through the switch, all the way back to the lights, then part of the ground side) - pretty wimpy. If you put higher wattage bulbs in there, you probably wouldn't get much benefit out of them due to the voltage drop across so much small wire.

The Hellas are 110 W EACH (close to 20A total). They're (individually) fed by 12 ga. wire from the new box (through a 20A fuse then a 30A relay). The box is fed by 8 ga. from the battery.

-Don

 

[Arcticat]

Well I wasn't really worried about backing into a drift. The worst thing I see in the winter is in the springtime, when we usually get several storms on days that are hovering around the freezing mark. What happens is that the snow falls on the pavement and turns to slush because the ground is slightly warm. So your driving to work before the roads are plowed and all the slush that is thrown up from the wheel freezes again as soon as it's off the ground. That area where your box is has been completely filled with a solid block of ice. I know it's hard to believe, but I actually measured a couple weeks ago how much ice there is. I pulled into a heated warehouse and let everything melt with the storm drain plugged. Then I vacuemed the water up and was amazed to find that I had shedded twenty gallons of water that had been clinging to the truck. I get nervous about putting wires anywhere there is a chance they will short through a block of ice. So I put my relay inside the bumper in a project box, and then made a protective cover to go over that. I also siliconed the whole thing shut and the grommet the wires come out of. It's probably way overkill, but my worst fear is something stops working and I have to troublshoot the wiring on my back in the gravel driveway when it's below zero out. You're probably thinking why would anyone want to live here? This winter I've wondered myself lol.

Those Hella's are great though aren't they? Big time light, in fact I think they are almost a s bright as my headlights on low!

 

[Thomas]

Thanks for the encouragement DonS and Articat. I first started thinking about the Hella 90601 Work Lamps last October. What took me so long? They were on the porch this afternoon and on the truck an hour later. I already had the wiring from my previous add-on Navigator lights.

I second what Articat said "BTW I really like the hella's, which are light years ahead of the POS navigator lights". There is absolutely NO comparison. The W I D E-angle, uniform light from these lamps (220 watts total) has to be seen to be believed. DonS's bottom photo gives a fair comparison of the factory vs. the Hella lamps when looking at the truck. What it doesn't show is how well things are lit up behind the truck—probably better than my low beams+fogs. And over a larger area too.

 

[CCahill]

Awhile back somebody posted a wiring 'gram that only turned on the BU lights when the headlights were on... since you only use your BU at darkness, make sense to me... Couldn't find it on a search... Any ideas before I get underneath the truck and start hackin'-n- hewing?
Colin



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2001 Quad,4x4,AT,4. 10LS,LB,Loaded enough,stock,mostly... . 65 Chevelle sedan, Hella nice driver, 53 Nash Rambler Convt,1 of 653 built,[not a Metro], GM drivetrain, injection, and auto/od
Specialized FSR PRO Stumpjumper,Cannondale F2000, Loaded
MTD Lawn tractor with flames
12' fishin' boat, loaded. .

 

[Thomas]

Colin,

I don't know about a diagram but backups on only with headlamps shouldn't be too difficult to manage. It might take two extra relays to manage both high and low beams.

Why would you want to go to all the trouble to accomplish backups on only with headlamps?
As it is, stock backup lamps are only powered with the engine running and transmission in reverse. If you use the factory lamp circuit to power add-on backup lamps via a relay then they'll only light with the engine running and transmission in reverse.

I actually appreciate the fact that my add-ons—all 220 watts worth—light up every time I hit reverse, day or night. They are extra insurance for me when backing out of parking spaces where I can't see what's coming down the aisle. When I first drove my truck I noticed that the only use for the factory backup lights was to indicate to other drivers that I was in reverse. The new add-ons do this superbly!

 

[CCahill]

Still trying to figure this out... I have the 01 Engine manual, but not the Chassis manual... My understanding is that DC changed to a switched ground, instead of a switched hot in the late model trucks... ... the reason is,I want to have the aux. BU lights come on on only at night when I have my lights on, not in daytime when I back up...
Any body out there with info on this ?

Thanks ahead,
Colin

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2001 Quad,4x4,AT,4. 10LS,LB,Loaded enough,stock,mostly... . 65 Chevelle sedan, Hella nice driver, 53 Nash Rambler Convt,1 of 653 built,[not a Metro], GM drivetrain, injection, and auto/od
Specialized FSR PRO Stumpjumper,Cannondale F2000, Loaded
MTD Lawn tractor with flames
12' fishin' boat, loaded. .

 

[Rick G]

For those of you with the small lights, such as the Navigators, I have what I found to be a great mounting place for them. If you just use the 'U' shaped bracket that attaches directly to the light, you can simply drill the two holes (that hold your license plate on) up about 1/2 inch from stock location (in the plastic/rubber panel)and mount the light with the two bolts that are used to hold the license plate on. This places the lights above the bumper, but still out of the way, so you don't have to worry about them getting ripped off if they are below the bumper (mine were 'taken off' once by a rock and once by a tree stump). This makes for a nice looking install without the worry of them hanging down.

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99 2500 QC 4X4 5sp /
DDIII's / DD Ceramic Clutch / 320 RWHP / made in Mexico /
3. 54LSD 285 75X16 AR Atlas / Hadley airhorns ISSPRO guages

 

[David_VT]

Some day I'll bite the bullet and cut holes in my bumper for a set of lights. Somebody here did it a while back and it's posted here on the site in the archives.

Those of us in snow country can't really go with the under the bumper lights. They get ripped off every winter.

My 'burban has a set of these lights which are relay powered as you all have done. I added a button above the windshield so I could 'tweak' the eyes of tailgaters, along with a switch to keep them on when using them for loading etc.

I added one more circuit to that control loop so that all the backups would flash alternate with the 4ways. I was living in Mass at the time and checked with the State Police to see if there was a problem doing that. I was told as long as the lights did not alternate(r/l) or oscillate(rotate) that they were ok while the vehicle was parked.

Naturally check with your local law enforcement before doing too much with your lighting... #ad


My aux lighting (fogs/driving/backups/master kill) were all driven from a relay bank mounted on the wheel well under the hood. I used modular phone cord (and rj45 jacks) to run the control wires from under the hood to a box mounted on an aftermarket shelf above the windshield. This small cord did not carry any current, just enough to operate the relays. My 4way to backup flasher was a relay that operated off the 4way signal, again fed up to the box via phone wire.

Finally, I mounted an LED bar graph gauge in the front of the box and used each element to display the status of each lighting circuit. One LED was used to show the OEM headlight circuit was on, as I had that signal in the box to interlock all the aux lights to only operate with the headlights on.

The box had mini switches for the lights, a momentary for the rear facing 'tweak' circuit. One large RED LED and a buzzer wired to the rear always on circuit to help me from driving down the road with the rear lights on.

Finally, I had three sets of forward aux lights. One yellow and two white. I set up the switches so that I could flip one switch to change from all yellow to all white.

All this was easy to do since the phone wire brought all the control signals to one little box. Service to the box was easy, as the only thing connecting it to the truck was a set of regular rj45 phone jacks.

The box has now been retired, as my wife only drives the truck and wanted the shelf gone and the sunvisors back in it.

I might put it in the RAM some day.....

Sorry for the long winded post... .