Hey guys I am in need of a little help. I pulled my old bumper off and made a new one and while I was in the process I found A LOT of wires in the back? I bought some new little LED lights that were made to be run, stop and turn lights. However, I have been trying to clean up the wiring mess!! My markers that I had on them that said where each wire went is now long gone? Of course there is still a mess but thought I had better get my lights hooked up before I do any more culling of wires.

I thought I had it but it seems every time I conect it to what I think is right it blows the fuse? Am I missing something? I got the hot lead that is only on when the light switch is on and the light lights up. When I put my meter on it it says 9.80v if I use the other hot lead it says 11.86v? I can only get it to light and not get brighter for the brake or blink for the turn signal? I only have running light so far?

I think I had a brain fart, shouldnt be that difficult although elec. is not one of my strong points for sure. I figured I would quit for the night since I have smoked 3 fuses and am a bit tired anyway.

Any help would be appreciated!!

Are you using a seperate light for your running light or trying to switch over to a two light system in the rear using trailer lights?

Its actually a three light system per side. I want all three of them to act as one lamp. Meaning they will all light up when the brake is hit and they will all blink when signal is on etc...

For that you are going to need to get a powered 4 wire trailer converter.  Without a powered one the light's won't blink properly when the brakes are applied.  I take it you are using 3 trailer light LED kits?

Here is the place I got em at. http://www.taillightking.com/ and the light order number is #38690.

4 wire trailer converter? Really?

Possibly, it depends on how you have it wired.

Ok, so you have a 4-led pack with two wires.  How many total lights are you using for each of the rear light functions and which functions are being tied together?

Brake Lights -
Running Lights -
Turn Signal Lights -
Reverse Lights -

Well, what I have found out is that they are single element lights for one, so now since I have three per side I guess I would would want two for run and turn and one for brake? Or vice versa?


No reverse at the moment.

If you want to combine turn and brake into one bulb, you must run a four wire trailer converter.  If you go to led, you may have another issue because the turn signal relay trips on load and there is almost no load on led lights.  You may need a new relay.

The running light is required by law to not be as bright as your brake lights, so that is the hard one.  I say you go with what Tipover said, combine two lights into a turn signal/brake light setup and use a third for your running lights.

It's a shame your not just using LED brake lights for at trailer or you could run all three into a single light setup.   Which state are you in?  It might be a good idea to look up the RFC's for rear lighting on a vehicle.

I am in NM. Yeah running 2 turn and brake and 1 run I would think would work. What I am not grasping is the idea you guys suggested about the 4 wire trailer converter? Trust me I looked for  a decent light for a few weeks or I would have bought a nice all in one light.

The brake lamps are wired together. When you run a turn signal light to the brake on one side, the power will back feed through the brake wiring and flash the oposite side light. To make it work with out a converter, you need to split the power between both light on the brake circuit an put diodes in to prevent back flow and attach the signal light down stream of those.  Oh wait thats what a trailer converter does. Its all built in.  It has 4 wires. L and r brake AND turn, running, and ground.

That is what I run in the back of mine, it allows me to go away from the 3 light system of a running light, brake and turn signal.  But if you have a cheap un-powered one when you step on the brakes it will over-ride the turn signal and turn on both brake lights.  This causes the front blinker to flash rapidly.  But with a more expensive unit the turn signal will over-ride the brake light.



Trying to have the running light operate one rear light while the brakes operate two is going to require some custom wiring on your side, as tipover said you will run into issues with the power feeding back when you don't want it to.  Two diodes per circuit should take care of it.

For the trailer lights I am using you can get something like this in LED - http://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Lights/Optronics/STL76RB.html?feed=npn

Thanks for all the help fellas. I ended up just using 1 unit per job. So I had 3 per side and ended up with 1 turn 1 brake and 1 run. The other way the power was feeding back and dimimng the other lights they also seem to dim when the blinker was turned on? Either way they are on and done!!

Thanks again.

What, no pictures? 

Sorry Drone, I will get pics up very soon!!