Quote:
Originally Posted by bonzaiii
Would you mind giving me a rundown on the rout of your wiring from the lights to the actual connection.
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No problem, the lights I used only require a power wire, they ground to the body but if you need to run a ground it would be the same.
1) Start by placing a piece of duct tape accross the top of the tailgate where you are going to mount lights.
2) Layout lights, it is very important to be accurate with your intended layout. Take a drill bit just small enough to fit in mounting holes on light and twist by hand to mark duct tape.
3) Remove lights, center punch mounting hole locations, drill holes for mounting screws as required (hole size will be dependent on screws used), remove duct tape.
4) Install light mounting bases, be sure to use some silicone sealant.
5) Once bases are installed you can drill hole for wiring, the lights I used allowed me to drill 1/2" hole and then I installed 3/8" grommet to protect wiring from sharp edges.
6) After holes are drilled remove jack storage compartment door and cover, you will need to pull alittle on the but it will come off. There is no need to remove upper interior trim on door.
7) Take 6' peice of 12g solid copper wire and insert into one of wiring holes you drilled (this is just a pull wire). You should be able to fish (push/pull) this thru door structure and down side of door structure till you can see wire on one side or the other. I may take a feel times to get it in the right place but you can do it. Once you have wire in hand tape actual wire you will be using securely to pull wire. Pull back pull wire till you have roughly 12" of extra wire on exterior of light mounts. Repeat for all lights.
8) Assembly all light wires in one convient location for wiring. I used the trailer prewired harness that is on all H3s. The brown wire is the wire for trailer parking lights. Connect a feed wire to this, make sure to use some type of weather proof connection as this will be exposed.
9) Run this feed wire over to drivers side, up thru taillight unit, and over to tailgate wiring umbilical. Make sure to secure in place as required and watch for sharp edges or hard bends that may damage wiring insulation.
10) I ran feed wire on the backside of umbilical and secured with black zip ties, extend feed wire into tailigate door thru umbilcal grommet and connect to rear marker light wires install earlier.
11) Wire lights in as required and complete installtion of lights.
12) Double check all connection, turn parking lamps on and check light operation. If all is good your done, if not you will need to trouble shoot the system. I prefer to back up all electrical connections with several layers of black electrical tape to protect connection once everything is working.
Enjoy, one quick note on the lights I used, they were a little tricky to get ground to make contact with screw head. If you use the same lights just keep that in mind. I wired mine all up, checked light operation and had one not working, after taking things apart several times I finally narrowed it down to the ground prong not making contact with screw. A quick bend and all was working as designed.