Adding Lights to rear bumper

Correct. This particular relay will do that. The positive just needs to be tapped into the 12v positive connected to the reverse light switch wire.

I will say. Be weary of doing so when you mount your lights. Make sure they are pointed downward to not blind anyone behind you. Haha

 

You can use this relay. You should be able to find this at the local autozone also.

$9 EHDIS Car Relay 4 Pin 12v 40amp Spst Model No.: JD2912-1H-12VDC 40A 14VDC, Auto Switches & Starters,Pack of 2

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01J...elay+4+pin&dpPl=1&dpID=51rpubnsiqL&ref=plSrch

 

Forgot to add a link. Thanks bud

 

I researched a bit more, the lights I bought only draw 1 amp total. Since the OEM bed light LEDs draw about the same, I should have no problem tapping into the bed lights without a dedicated power. Additionally, the OEM lights already have a fuse so I think I should be gtg.

 

Where are you going to mount the lights? Do you have a backup cam? I need more lights for my backup camera and I'm not sure where to mount them.

 

Dang Mark, she nuked your junk? No wonder you got divorced!

 

I'm using them for on demand light when I'm camping/ fishing etc. so I bought the flush mounts to place in the bumper. Cut out some holes so it should be fairly clean.

 

She nuked it alright!

 

Do you have a picture of the light placement? I like to fish...

 

I'm about a week out. Bumper end caps are at the Powder Coater right now.

 

Thanks buddy.

 

I'll post as soon as I get them in but I basically cut holes in the bumper about 5 inches from the end.

 

Thanks. I will wait for the posts. I have wired lights before but never cut a bumper up. What did you cut it with? I'm thinking drill four holes and cut between them with some type of grinder with a cutting wheel installed.

 

I know a lot of guys over in Tacomaworld run the Blue sea fuse boxes when adding lights. You may want to look into it. https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/blue-sea-aux-fuse-block-install.69853/

 

I also installed the blue sea fuse box. They have various sizes I went with the 12 circuit box. I ran a 4 gauge power wire from my battery terminal to the Blue sea box. The big advantage of the Blue sea is all your additional fuses are in once place and you can do various amp fuses. I then installed the individual relays in the same area on the passenger side engine compartment. This way all my fuses and relays are easily accessible. I also drilled a new hole on the passenger side firewall for a firewall bushing. Then I can run any wires from the relays into the new access point on the passenger side. Personally I wanted to keep my new relays, Blue sea box and wires on the passenger side where there not crossing any of the wiring on the driver side. Once you enter the cab on the passenger side it's very easy to go inside the truck and run the wires to your center console or wherever you want. I've seen several people mount the Blue sea over the stock fuse panel but I liked to keep that area clean and free of additional wires. Here are some pics of my Blue sea, firewall bushing, & my rigid bumpers flush mounts. My rigid flush mounts did recommended a 15amp fuse. I wouldn't tie your rigid lights off of any of the stock lights power. I hope this helps you with your mod. I also used liquid electrical tape to cover all the positive and negative screw terminals on the Blue sea after I finished wiring my lights.

 

I'm doing this currently with reverse lights. You need to hook up one light and see how much current it draws. Do thr math for both lights, then measure your current on the existing circuit. Then add all the currents together and see if your within the limits of the circuits fuse.... sometimes it's obviously over sometime u cab get away with it

 

@1UPPER nice set up. Do you have any pictures of where you put the firewall bushing on the passenger side?

 

Thank you. Here is a pic showing the placement of the Blue sea, relays and the firewall bashing hole. I still need to clean up some of my wires a bit.

 

Maybe I'm looking at this too simply but I'm essentially adding LEDs with a 1 amp draw. I cannot understand why I would need to add a separate fuse box and relays. The only lights on the circuit I'm tappinng into are the two OEM LEDs in the bed and the light on the top of the rear cab. These are the only lights I'm adding. I don't plan to create a nuclear power grid.

 

I use the gasket that came with the lights. Taped them in place and measured to ensure they were where I wanted them. Then used a marker to draw on the bumper. Attached a cutting wheel to my dremel and cut out the area for the light. Used a drill for the mounting holes.

 

Longevity and isolation. Toyota didn't think you're going to add additional draw to any existing circuit.

That's all. The advice we're giving you is to ensure a positive experience based on our own. That's all! What you're suggesting may work! We just don't want to say yes unless someone has tried it. I get where your hesitation comes from. But when it's electricity I like to play it safe.

 

Yup I'm with @FlashCulprit
We are trying to give you the best advice but seems like you don't want to listen to it so you do what you feel and if you have any issues, don't say we didn't tell you so. Good luck.

 

It's not that I don't appreciate the advice. But I was looking for data and specifics. Theories are great but I was hoping to get educated on actual calculation for fuse/wire size based on amp draw.

I did the research through other avenues and was able to figure out how to calculate it. Eventually I found this simple breakdown.

https://www.oznium.com/forum/topic15761#___1__


There are 3 existing lights on the circuit. each pull less than 1 Amp. The new lights also pull one Amp but I'm assuming that's 1 Amp per light. So essentially 5 amps total.

Based on that, I need to ensure the smallest wire in the circuit is 17 ga and the fuse is 6 amps which doesn't exist so a 7.5 with 16 ga should work.

 

Sounds good man. As I said, we're just detailing out our experiences.

Make sure you post updates once you're done so we can see your set up.

 

Got the bumpers back from powder coat and installed the lights. Wiring will have to wait a day or two.

Everything went together well but I was disappointed to see the mounting bolts weren't black sick these were the blackout edition of the lights. I'll have to change that out eventually to get the look I'm going for. Other than that, I'm fairly happy at this point.

 

Brandon, the lights look awesome and the powder coat looks great as well. I've been contemplating whether to go that route or do a swap out but I think you may have swayed me. Do you recall what color of PC they used?

 

He didn't actually give me a color number. He's just had 3 different options (Black mat, black gloss, and black mat with texture). The last option matched the tube steps so I went with that. Sorry, wish I had more info

 

Looks great. Thanks for the follow up.

 

Finally got the lights wired today. I spent some extra time researching my options. Finally called rigid industries to see what they recommend. They were extremely helpful and said to ensure I didn't tap into anything less than a 16ga. He also said that if the wire off the bed lights was too small, to simply wire up to the cab and grab power directly off the switch.

That got me thinking so I looked behind the dash to see how the bed light were wired in. I was blown away when I saw they tapped into a wire the size of that you would see inside a telephone cord. I'm not sure what size it was but def smaller than 16ga. That ruled out that option.

Last thing the rep said was that if I had a tow package, I could tap into the power and ground behind the trailer plug and utilize the relay option.

That was what I ended up doing. Worked perfectly and I feel a lot better knowing I'm not pulling from the harness behind the dash.

 

Rigid customer service has always been helpful when I've called them. Post some pics when you can.