Clearance Lights

riptricket · **Posted:** Thu Jul 26, 2007 2:19 am

Just wanted to show you all my finished project.

and with the FF75's on

My light switch is a pain in the but, so i have it wired directly to a mini-battery for now.

Fulltimer · **Posted:** Thu Jul 26, 2007 3:38 am

Looks good! Are you going to wire the FF75's into your backup lights? I have been thinking about doing that but I'm not sure the wiring will take the added amps.

Terry

hyedipin · **Joined:** Thu May 11, 2006 10:20 am **Posts:** 1667

I wants.. I wants..

The clearance lights look great. I think they would look great with my oversized roof rails..
Did I miss the project-in-progress page?

WoodysKJ · **Posted:** Thu Jul 26, 2007 10:31 am

That is easy to do.

Wire them just like you would any other aux lights. with a relay. power the lights from the battery, but switch them from the backup lights. isolate the wire that powers one of the back-up lights and tap the power that feeds the relay switch to that. so when the back up lights come on there is no starin on that circuit cuz all power for the roof lights is drawn from the battery.

Same prcess, just no switch on the dash. the gear shift switch on the tranny does the switching 4 u.

OR you can run a kill switch to your dash to keep them from comming on in the mall parkinglot or anyplace you dont need them on.

Fulltimer · **Posted:** Thu Jul 26, 2007 10:45 am

What kind of power are you running on that CB antenna? They are usually used for 100's of watts is the reason I ask.

Terry

hyedipin · **Joined:** Thu May 11, 2006 10:20 am **Posts:** 1667

WoodysKJ wrote:

That is easy to do.

Wire them just like you would any other aux lights. with a relay. power the lights from the battery, but switch them from the backup lights. isolate the wire that powers one of the back-up lights and tap the power that feeds the relay switch to that. so when the back up lights come on there is no starin on that circuit cuz all power for the roof lights is drawn from the battery.

Same prcess, just no switch on the dash. the gear shift switch on the tranny does the switching 4 u.

OR you can run a kill switch to your dash to keep them from comming on in the mall parkinglot or anyplace you dont need them on.

Yeah, you can wire the backup lights to the taillights, it can automatically relay/turn on.. But what I meant was the clearance lights themselves.. the little red ones. They look great!

riptricket · **Posted:** Thu Jul 26, 2007 11:34 am

i did not do a formal write-up, but all i did on those was buy them from walmart, i think they were $.97 in the clearance aisle (and they are led's), and drill them into the bar that i have my FF75's on. they are self-grounding which is making things difficult. on the switch, there is earth = ground wire, load = the wire from the led lights, and the supply = the wire to the fuse panel RIGHT?!? i blew up one fuse last night, but no worries b/c they are cheap but doesn't my wiring sound correct? and also, does anyone think that the led switch could be taking all of the power from the fuse panel instead of to the clearance lights themselves?

The cb antenna... i have no idea what kinda wattage it is? sry

Cacher123 · **Posted:** Thu Jul 26, 2007 12:04 pm

I've heard that with LEDs you may need to run a diode in series to prevent backfeeding.

riptricket · **Posted:** Thu Jul 26, 2007 12:09 pm

and i would do that how and with what... no idea what a diode is...

Fulltimer · **Posted:** Thu Jul 26, 2007 2:28 pm

Ok, your CB is barefoot, or stock. I thought maybe you had an amplifier on it. Guess not.

Terry

Cacher123 · **Posted:** Thu Jul 26, 2007 5:30 pm

Quote:

and i would do that how and with what... no idea what a diode is...

A diode looks like a resistor (sort of) and prevents current from backflowing through a system. It installs just like an inline fuse. If u install it the wrong way - no current flow - no lights. If u install it corerectly - current flow & lights. Unlike light bulbs, LEDs have a positive and a negative side and if you backflow current, it can pop the LED. Some of the better LED systems come with diodes already installed. At least that's what I read.

tjkoen01 · **Posted:** Fri Jul 27, 2007 7:50 am

Cacher123 wrote:

Quote:

and i would do that how and with what... no idea what a diode is...

A diode looks like a resistor (sort of) and prevents current from backflowing through a system. It installs just like an inline fuse. If u install it the wrong way - no current flow - no lights. If u install it corerectly - current flow & lights. Unlike light bulbs, LEDs have a positive and a negative side and if you backflow current, it can pop the LED. Some of the better LED systems come with diodes already installed. At least that's what I read.

If you are going to hook up the LED clearance lights to your parking light circuit, you should have no problem. The extra current draw is minimal and excess reverse voltage on the LED lights won't be a problem.....as long as you get your positive and negative wires right. FYI....LED's ARE diodes.

Clearance Lights

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