Switching Rear Facing Flood Lights in Truck Cab

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Bwht4x4

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So I ordered my Hawk a few weeks ago and I'm already trying plan some of the mods I want to do to it.

One of the first things I'd like to do is wire a switch in the cab of my truck to power the rear facing exterior LED flood lights. I want to be able to turn the lights on from the cab of the truck for times when I need to back up while off road and on hunting trips. I still want to maintain the switch in the camper though too.

Can anyone tell me what I'd need to do to make this happen. I am no expert at wiring, but once I have a clear direction on how it's done it's a project I'll tackle. Can I tap into the switch in the camper and run a leg to the cab of the truck where a switch will be? Would I need relays, circuit breaker, etc?

Any info is appreciated.

Thanks
 
I would use a relay in the camper. Run a set of wires from each side of the switch in the camper to the relay. These wires hook to the relay contacts normally open. You camper is grounded to the truck if plugged in, ground to coil on relay. If you want a switch put in where you want in the truck and run this hot wire to the plus side of the coil on the relay be sure to use a fuse. Or you can hook a wire to the back up lights on the truck, already fused.

If you do not use a relay it will work but when you switch the floods on you will make the wire going to the truck hot. This may or may not be a problem. If you have the wire hooked to the back up lights they will come on.

I would also buy a new 4 wire (or more) plug for the camper and truck, so all wires hook up at the same time.
 
I'm planning on doing this too. One thing I have going for me is that my fridge is in the cab, not the camper. Therefore I can have a switch in the cab which will fully power the camper, on/off. I can leave the floods on in the camper and everything else off. When I need them I will switch them on in the cab and be able to use them.
 
I didn't get the flood lights in back but I wish I would have. I can see that they could come in handy.
 
This may be an option to consider, On/Off via remote control. The benefit would be that you can put it on your key chain and not only use it while backing, but while in camp anytime! Wiring it to your backup floods shouldn't be too difficult at all, and if you use a relay as suggested above, you won't have any amperage concerns.

I haven't installed mine yet, but wanted to let you know about this option. The price is right too...

edit: added the link to amazon
 
@billharr,
Thanks the info. I was thinking the same thing in regards to a new plug for the camper/truck connection so the rear flood lights would be part of the plug.

@idahoron,
Funny you say you should have added them. A lot of people commented that they never used them and thought they were a waste of money. I feel they are up there with the other amenities like a water tank and battery power. I'm constantly having to set up a propane lantern or use a head lamp when I set up a camp now. These will come in handy for that.

@KILROY,
I forgot that you mentioned these when we chatted about FWCs. I'll look into them. I worry about the battery in the remotes going dead prematurely or right when I need them. I also wonder about any stray current draw from the wired controller. If neither of these were an issue then this remote could be perfect. I still may wire them to the reverse lights in my truck also for simple convenience when backing up, but do the remote too.
 
I set up my pontoon a lot in the dark. I also end up loading and unloading my ATV in the dark a lot too. The flood lights would have been right up my alley.
 
I would amend the suggested relay wiring to use a dual pole, single throw switch in the camper and in the cab. Wire the end terminals of the switches together; feed the relay ground to the camper switch's center terminal and ground the cab switch's center terminal. This way either switch will turn the lights on or off. No need to return to the switch that you used to turn them on or off to change their condition.
 
This is what I got and it works great http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000PI9E4K/ref=oh_details_o06_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I keep one remote in the truck and one in the camper so I can turn on the lights from the bed etc. Got this idea from Mesa Mike at our socal rally. I just opened the panel below the refer where the orig switch is located. I wired it in line with the switch so the switch has to be on for it to work. That way if there are any issues with the relay shorting, you can turn off the lights.
 
Thanks Mike. The LED lights are very low amp draw so I think anything 10 amps would be perfect. If FWC is still using the Grote LED Cube light they draw about 1.4 amps each.

I was sitting here thinking if I could add a couple of other forward facing LED off road lights on the camper that shine over the cab and onto the road in front of me (off road use only). I've been wanting to add some new lights to the truck but I don't want to add them to a new bumper. I'm thinking the small area below the seam on the cabover between the two hold down buckles would be a perfect spot.


p1010056.jpg
 
Just playing devils advocate. Generally when I back in somewhere at night, I get out to survey the area behind my truck to make sure there's nothing lurking that I haven't seen. On the way back to the cab, I reach into the camper and flip on the floods. Just saying.
 
I generally never take my 3/4 ton truck into places that need me to get out of the truck to survey before proceeding. But I will get out and survey the spot first if needed. Last year in Wyoming on a pronghorn hunt I did just that. That Red Desert mud is scary business!
 
I've often thought that the front mounted off road lights (as shown in your photo) would be nice to have. I have a 2013 chevy truck that came with a roof top light switch installed by the map lights. The dealer told me that the wire is coiled up above the headliner for future use. I thought I would install the lights as you have shown, run the wires on the interior under the bed and have them exit the camper under the bed above the front facing camper window. I would terminate this wire with a male end and terminate the truck headliner wire with a female receptacle (similar to the solar roof top plug). When I install the camper I would then have two wires to plug in. My Silverado 3500 has a regular cab and I believe I would be able to reach the switch through the camper front window with my freakishly long ams. It would be a sweet mod.
 
ETAV8R said:
I would think one of those new snazzy LED lightbars up front would be better than the floods in the back. More streamlined.
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X2

My camper plug is a 3 prong, but only 2 are used (positive battery, and ground). I always had in mind to use the 3rd (unused) prong to operate the rear floods. With your plans for a front light bar, though, you may want to get an RV style plug with additional prongs. I already have rear floods at the rear bumper, though, so this is a mod I never seem to get around to. Having the rear floods on the bumper serves me well also when the camper is off the truck. I have never used the camper rear floods much mainly because they are power hogs (halogen) - I will convert them to LED someday......I agree with other posts about wiring the cab switch to a relay in the camper. Lights would run off camper battery power (shorter run), switch would turn relay on or off (long run, but very low current).
 
Trigger the relay with a ground wire. Then you can have a long thin wire with no power loss. Patrick wandering down in Chile
 
pvstoy said:
Trigger the relay with a ground wire. Then you can have a long thin wire with no power loss. Patrick wandering down in Chile
Click to expand...
Not good way to wire, bad practice :cautious: . If you did this and wanted to have the lights come on with the truck back up lights, you would need a second relay. The relay takes very little power to close contacts, you do not need a heavy wire to trigger the relay this is one of the reasons to use a relay.
 
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