Hi all, i'm getting ready for a long camping trip about 5 hours away in a couple of weeks. I only use my truck on weekends so I have been lazy to get this done but since I have some time off i'm wondering if I can get some help from you smart people to make sure I get this done right.

I took pictures of the bundle of joy, I mean wires, that came with my canopy. There are 3 wires, 2 reds and 1 black. I am assuming the black is just a ground. Now the 2 reds, do I just connect them to my brake lights on the tail lights? I'm guessing connect one red on the left, and one on the right? I am not an electrician and just want to make sure I do this right. There also appears to be a dome light on the inside of the canopy, behind where the 3rd brake light sits.

Any help is gladly appreciated and I thank you all so much in advance .

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Ill assume, 1 is the Ground, 1 is Brake light and 1 Marker lights (Dome Light, If it has a switch on it)

Some people have found a Brake Light Wire under the truck, By the license plate wires, unused for this reason.

 

Just did it the other day. This thread has a picture of what your looking for. Its by the drivers side rear.
https://dodgeforum.com/forum/3rd-gen...his-go-to.html

 

So I found that wire underneath. Do I hook up both reds to it? I hooked up just one and grounded the black but nothing happened

 

Does the Dome Light Work, when the brakes are on? Could be the other wire for Brake light.
Check the wire from the truck for voltage.

 

No, the dome light didn't work. I'll give it another try today. What i'm trying to figure out is should I just tap both those red wires into that one wire you're referring to? Thanks

 

If you do, you'll only have a dome light when the brake light is lit. Or the third brake light will be lit the whole time that wire has power.

You should find a line that has 12V when the parking and head lights are on, and use that for the dome light circuit.

Do you have a multimeter that does 12VDC? Or the factory service manual for your truck? Those will help you figure out which wire is which in the truck now, and with that, jumping one red to the tail light circuit will tell you if it's the brake light or the marker/dome light circuit (by which lights up with the parking light, natch!)

Or, of course, you can follow the wire to the light and see which is which. Or take a 12V battery or jump starter and see which is which.

RwP

 

Everyone, thanks for your help. It looks like I got it right at first, i'm an idiot. All I had to do was ground the black wire and tap the red wire into that white wire w/ stripe under the rear bumper. At first I thought it wasn't working because I was just turning on the head lamps and not pressing down on the brake pedal to test the 3rd "brake" light. Doy!

Now.......

Does anyone know where I can get continuous power on the rear end so I can get some power going to the dome light in the canopy? Thanks.

 

If you have the Factory Tow Package, the 7-way, Center pin I think is a constant 12v

 

as you don't actually need a dome light during the day, why not wire it (with an on off switch) into a tail light?