backup lights installed.
 

I couldn't see anything with the factory backup lights. I got these lights at the Northern Tool (Northern Industrial) store for about $7, although they are listed at $10 here.
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w..._352681_352681

They are small, about 4-5" long and a little less than 2" tall. They come with brackets and drilled and tapped holes in the case for mounting. I bolted them to the sides of my receiver hitch and wired them into my backup lights. no relays, no switches, nothing fancy. put it in reverse and these things light up the world.

i also discovered a wiring surprise. i had noticed that i blew the backup light fuse frequently, but had not figured out why. prev owner had provide 4 pin trailer lights. so i probed them per normal testing and the bare pin was not a gound like it was supposed to be. hmm. more probing - bare pin was wired to the backup light circuit. wow (and how convenient). so i clipped it loose, and tied it into my lights, and took a ground from the receiver hitch to bare pin (and light ground) and were done.

Attachment 123000
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https://dodgeforum.com/upfiles/38819...C572EFA06E.jpg

RE: backup lights installed.
 

xxxxx

RE: backup lights installed.
 

Nice real nice, how hard was it to get to the reverse wire?????
After I get my tow hitch installed I will do your mod. Thanks for sharing it.

RE: backup lights installed.
 

not to burst you're bubble or anything but those are barely brighter then you're stock vererse lights, lol what you need to do is a run a constant 12 volt form your battery witha relay tapped into you're reverse wire, and they will be 10 times brighter.

not to mention its wicked bad for the reverse light circuit to tap directly into your reverse lights, they wern't made to power lights, and dont even pull a 12 volt current, its more like 7-8 so your not even showing these lights full potential.

RE: backup lights installed.
 

POX!
I ran 50W halogen fog lights off my reverse light circuit as well as a back up alarm and have done so for 7 years. NO problems and plenty of light.
Stupid D/C back up lights with their smoked lense and then looking through a smoked rear window as well as a smoked rear topper window and I couldn't see a Freightliner on my ass until I added the Aux. lights!

RE: backup lights installed.
 

your missing the point. let me try and break it down for you guys, lets say you have 2 lights each light is rated for 25 watts, so the 2 lights will total 50 watts. these lights require 12 volts to make that combined 50 watts.

now if you tap into the reverse wire and use the reverse wire to power the 2 lights you are looking at maybe if your lucky 25watts total fromBOTH lights. go ahead and take a tester to your reverse light wire next time you have a spare second and you will notice that it MAYBE puts out 6-7 volts from a very very thin wire. now couple that with splicingboth lights into that small little wire. and you have very little light output.

Not only are you stressing that small little wire by running 2 lights off of it, but your only puttig out about half of the rated candle power the lights are good for.

Also let me state that i speak from experiance a few years back i spliced a few backup lights ito my reverse lights and they melted the reverse wire and caused alot of trouble. if you are going to run reverse lights do it right or do not do it at all.

RE: backup lights installed.
 

also now that you argued with me wayne you forced me to go outside in the rain and take some pics of mine, to show how much bright it is to wire them from a direct 12 volt (right off the battery) with a relay, vs the light out put from dhvaugh's setup.

his....
https://dodgeforum.com/upfiles/38819...BEEA1F3883.jpg
MINE...
http://www.msprotege.com/members/THE...O/reverse3.jpg
HIS SIDE VIEW...
https://dodgeforum.com/upfiles/38819...C572EFA06E.jpg
MY SIDE VIEW...
http://www.msprotege.com/members/THE...O/reverse2.jpg

I HOPE YOU GET THE POINT....

RE: backup lights installed.
 

also ill include 2 more pics with my stock reverse lights on as well.
http://www.msprotege.com/members/THE...O/reverse7.jpg
http://www.msprotege.com/members/THE...O/reverse8.jpg

RE: backup lights installed.
 

the goldman has a point, and the only thing you have to do is run a wire down to the ass end of your truck and put a swtich in the cab, not rocket science, and its twice as bright, not to be rude or anything

RE: backup lights installed.
 

I like it. Thats something I really think my truck needs. What guage wire did you run for your twelve volt power?