wiring up back up LED pods

NCSU dirt man · May 11, 2016

bought some smaller LED pods I was going to mount in front of the trailer hitch. would prefer to wire them into the trailer's wire harness setup to be triggered when I put the truck into reverse as I feel that would probably be the closest/easiest power source. anybody have a write up or some pics of which wires to tap at least? googled this but not much luck with the 6.7's it seems. wasn't sure if this would also trigger the "trailer connected" message on the dash or not either or cause any issues when towing. thanks guys

GregW · May 11, 2016

We wired up a set in my dad's 6.7 off the trailer light circuit. There are no issues with triggering a trailer connected message or anything, and no issues while towing a trailer either. I can get some pics if needed tonight, but the wiring is pretty straightforward. The cover of the trailer connector has each pin labeled, we just went off that. I believe it was the center pin for the +12v reverse, and the white wire for ground.

Edit: Here's a link to the trailer connector wiring, it is the center pin for reverse and white for ground. Just scroll down to the section on the 7-pin connector

https://www.etrailer.com/faq-wiring.aspx

NCSU dirt man · May 11, 2016

GregW said:
We wired up a set in my dad's 6.7 off the trailer light circuit. There are no issues with triggering a trailer connected message or anything, and no issues while towing a trailer either. I can get some pics if needed tonight, but the wiring is pretty straightforward. The cover of the trailer connector has each pin labeled, we just went off that. I believe it was the center pin for the +12v reverse, and the white wire for ground.

Edit: Here's a link to the trailer connector wiring, it is the center pin for reverse and white for ground. Just scroll down to the section on the 7-pin connector

https://www.etrailer.com/faq-wiring.aspx

awesome thanks man! and you would suggest doing the 7 pin trailer connection wire up versus the 4-pin connection correct? because I'm pretty sure the truck has both. 95% or better of my towing will be with a 7 pin trailer connection versus the 4 pin (literally the only 4 pin trailer connection I have is the jetski lol). both should receive the same amount of power correct? and these smaller LED pods shouldn't need anything other than to be straight wired in from the power (reverse) and also to the ground wire (white) right?

**EDIT: never mind I don't think there is a back up wire for the 4 pin connection after looking at the diagram in that link lol

GregW · May 11, 2016

Yes, just need wired to the reverse and ground wires. That's it. To wire them to come on with reverse lights, you have to use the 7 pin. The 4 pin only has ground, parking lights, and L/R turn signals (turns them both on for brake lights). But the factory connector has the 4 and 7 pin connectors molded together. There's only one connector on the backside of it. I forget what the fuse rating is for the trailer's reverse circuit, but the trailer also has halogen reverse lights on it, and no issues with them and the LED pods coming on together. I think the pods only draw around 3-4 amps

NCSU dirt man · May 11, 2016

GregW said:
Yes, just need wired to the reverse and ground wires. That's it. To wire them to come on with reverse lights, you have to use the 7 pin. The 4 pin only has ground, parking lights, and L/R turn signals (turns them both on for brake lights). But the factory connector has the 4 and 7 pin connectors molded together. There's only one connector on the backside of it. I forget what the fuse rating is for the trailer's reverse circuit, but the trailer also has halogen reverse lights on it, and no issues with them and the LED pods coming on together. I think the pods only draw around 3-4 amps

cool thanks man. One would think if it's for a trailer's backup lights then they'd have that fuse rated for more thank enough Amps right? These pods are very small too at only 2"x2" outer case dimension with only 3 LED's inside of each pod. I thought I remember reading LED's draw less than halogen lights anyway. I avoided electrical engineering classes like the plague back in college and have always let a shop wire up my sound systems haha. but this seemed too simple to pay somebody else do it for me

GregW · May 11, 2016

No problem! Yeah I remember the fuse was rated way higher than what we needed and the LEDs don't draw much at all. I have them on my 6.4 wired to the upfitters. I've run them hours at a time without having to worry about killing the batteries. After putting them in my truck my dad just had to have a set for his 6.7. It's a huge improvement!

NCSU dirt man · May 11, 2016

GregW said:
No problem! Yeah I remember the fuse was rated way higher than what we needed and the LEDs don't draw much at all. I have them on my 6.4 wired to the upfitters. I've run them hours at a time without having to worry about killing the batteries. After putting them in my truck my dad just had to have a set for his 6.7. It's a huge improvement!

oh yea definitely. I'd wire them to the upfitters but wiring them to the trailer connection seemed easier and honestly all that I'll probably use them for if they're mounted down near the trailer hitch. Now I might down the road wire some of the same sized pods to my one of my upfitters and then mount them on the tool box's lid in order to shine into the back of the bed area for work purposes. but right now I just wanna see when backing up haha

SunsetFarms9530 · May 14, 2016

Sorry a little late to the thread here but I mounted a couple of pods on the back of the truck awhile ago. I just drilled a hole thru my hitch tubing and ran the bolt thru it so it is more angled and shines further away from the truck and not straight back. I wired them to my #2 uplifter switch and it works perfectly. The main reason I wired it here is so if I wanted to work behind the truck I can just flip them on without having to have the truck running if j wanted. They also home in extremely handy when we're moving fields at night with the draper head. I can turn them on when I am taking corners with it and it lights up the whole head as I'm turning. Here is a picture of what mine look like mounted up.

NCSU dirt man · May 16, 2016

SunsetFarms9530 said:
Sorry a little late to the thread here but I mounted a couple of pods on the back of the truck awhile ago. I just drilled a hole thru my hitch tubing and ran the bolt thru it so it is more angled and shines further away from the truck and not straight back. I wired them to my #2 uplifter switch and it works perfectly. The main reason I wired it here is so if I wanted to work behind the truck I can just flip them on without having to have the truck running if j wanted. They also home in extremely handy when we're moving fields at night with the draper head. I can turn them on when I am taking corners with it and it lights up the whole head as I'm turning. Here is a picture of what mine look like mounted up.

Thanks man for the pic and info! I still haven't wired mine up yet but I did end up figuring out a mounting spot and hardware necessary. It'd be nice to have a secondary set of pods I think on the tool box in order to light up the bed and work area behind the truck. Might do that down the road because it seems like equipment always breaks down right before dusk lol

SunsetFarms9530 · May 16, 2016

NCSU dirt man said:
Thanks man for the pic and info! I still haven't wired mine up yet but I did end up figuring out a mounting spot and hardware necessary. It'd be nice to have a secondary set of pods I think on the tool box in order to light up the bed and work area behind the truck. Might do that down the road because it seems like equipment always breaks down right before dusk lol

No problem. I wanted them on the uplifter switches for that reason. We fue tractors up at dark and moving at night they come in handy.

I tried to figure out a good set to wire into the lid of my toolbox but I didn't want to drill holes thru an $800 toolbox. That was back when I bought my truck and toolbox new and now I've drilled holes in the bed of my truck, the grill and cut prices off the truck.

NCSU dirt man · May 16, 2016

SunsetFarms9530 said:
No problem. I wanted them on the uplifter switches for that reason. We fue tractors up at dark and moving at night they come in handy.

I tried to figure out a good set to wire into the lid of my toolbox but I didn't want to drill holes thru an $800 toolbox. That was back when I bought my truck and toolbox new and now I've drilled holes in the bed of my truck, the grill and cut prices off the truck.

I wanted to get a Weatherguard as my UWS has taken a beating haha. The price is what's holding me off right now however. I know what you mean about moving iron at night though. We've just got a smaller 2335 Versatile pulling 2 pans and a 4960 Deere pulling a single pan... Moving at night is always easier than during the day. We don't move enough dirt to justify anything larger at this time though...

mainly do utilities and mild-moderate site grading

SunsetFarms9530 · May 16, 2016

I've found my dads and a buddies on Craigslist. They were about half price and in good working condition. Might try there and look for a good one.

NCSU dirt man · May 17, 2016

SunsetFarms9530 said:
I've found my dads and a buddies on Craigslist. They were about half price and in good working condition. Might try there and look for a good one.

thanks man yea I'll give CL a shot!