Thread: Camping/Reverse Lighting

Originally Posted by GEK064

Wired it up to the reverse wire BUT the light is dim - Why? when connected to the tail light it is twice or three times brighter???

I'd say it's a nice case of voltage drop ... the wiring to the reverse lamp is to light (no pun intended) for the current it's being asked to carry ... the wiring to the tail lamp is of a heavier guage.

So you need to use the reverse light as a trigger for a relay and have a separate, stand alone power feed for the new light.

Originally Posted by mattyg

So you need to use the reverse light as a trigger for a relay and have a separate, stand alone power feed for the new light.

That would be the go. Use a seperate wire for power.
Then you could have a second switch on a seperate wire connected straight to the battery that you turn off when driving but allows power to be drawn without reverse being selected and ignition on.
Or have two lights side by side. One for reverse and one for camping.
Or use a dolphin torch that you shine out the back as you look through the mirror.

Originally Posted by mattyg

So you need to use the reverse light as a trigger for a relay and have a separate, stand alone power feed for the new light.

That's the way I've done mine. Running from the reversing supply alone is asking for a fire to start - you'll melt the wiring if a fuse doesn't let go first.

I have run an independent power line to the rear of the vehicle - I've gone pretty heavy as it also powers the fridge in the back and supplies power to the camper trailer through an anderson plug I bought from Inc.

I have two relays supplying power to the work light from this main power supply - one is triggered by the car's reversing lights. The second is triggered from a lighter wire from the front of the vehicle which has a switch in the console (between the electric window switches). There is a second switch "in-line" in this wire behind the spare tyre. The switch behind the spare is normally left in the "on" position so that I can simply turn the light on & off from inside the vehicle, but it is handy when camping to leave the switch inside the vehicle on, and also have the ability to turn the light on & off from outside the vehicle.

Protect everything with the correctly rated fuses as close to the power supply (battery) as possible.

I'm now looking at adding a second battery into this circuit for trips when I'm not pulling the camper trailer (which has its own battery on board). Have been looking at mounting an Optima on its side under the vehicle as others have done. Keep getting good ideas from this site.

Hey chook, I tried the torch bit and now have nice bit of panel beating to do on the left rear quarter :-(.

BM Kal and flamin strides - If possible i look forward to some diagrams. I read the words but a picture says a 1000 pf them :-)

From the front i have heavy duty wiring from the battery for a Anderson plug that charges a battery in the camper.

I also thought about using the power/switch from the read fog lights?....or is that also too thin?

First off many thanks to Kieran...brilliant idea!
I hardwired mine through to the Andersons plug lead next to the 12v socket in the rear using 4mm dual core. The plastic strip that holds the rear carpet has a ready made channel that you can feed your cable through getting you from one side to the other with no hassles. Earthed it passengers side rear lights lots of options.
Switch used usually runs two spotlights on a working vehicle so I foresee no problems there.
Fused at the battery end via the heavy duty cable run for Andersons plug.
To connect the pole to the carrier I used two 6mm Antsig Antenna clamps in case I want to take it off at any time and also used pull apart electrical connections between the vehicle cable and the spotlight cable for the same reason.

rear work light wiring.pdf

This is my theoretical (yet to be tested) wiring for my rear work lights.

Im using AussieAubs idea - thanks heaps Mr Aub

My idea is to use the the old rear light switch on my dash or the fog light switch but im yet to look at rave and see which is the best for the job. This will effectively be my master switch, which unless its on, the work lights will never illuminate. I reckon that if the rear light switch runs a wire to the rear ill use that which will save me running one.

From there that 'master switch' will switch the relay coil (12V 40amp horn relay bought from Jaycar) ill fit in the rear of the disco next to a 6 gang fuse holder to which my power from the aux battery will connect to. The switch is just an IP rated (read water / mud / beer) resistant SPST (single pole, single throw) bought from Jaycar

From here I have hooked up a switch which ill drill into the pole somewhere. This is a switch that will turn on the work light directly, provided the master switch on the dash is on.

Also, i intend to get a 12 volt supply signal from the reverse light so that when reverse is selected and the master switch is on, i can see when reversing. I will fit a diode inline here to stop the reversing lights coming on when i turn the work lights on manually.

well that it for now - time to put in into practice.

oh - im running 2 x 27W led lights bought of fleabay.

Thanks Flamin strides.....I'm off the buy the parts, and I'll be trying ton use the fog light switch as the master. Hope to hear how you get on, I'll be doing mine on Thursday night.