belairbrian
Well-known member
- Thread starter
- #1
Recently bought a used Ranch camper shell and needed to wire up the 3rd brakelight and shells interior light.
Searching the web brought up multiple horror stories about adapters and constant error messages.
Well for those of us dirivng the lowly XL, in my case XL/STX, with incandescent bulbs, this job bcomes pretty simple. The purple wire to the brake light is the source for 3rd brake light power. Just off with the light assembly, a quick t-tap and up into the bed. The XL uses a seperate amber turn signal so no issue with brake/turn being the same wire
I then ran a single wire from the cargo lights down and out behind the rear drivers side door. When going through the vent I went through second from inboard on the bottom row. that brings you out inside the frame rail right by the wiring harness. Zipped tied to that till the rear, then up through the same hole as the taillight cable. There the wire joined up with the purple one from the brake light.
In the event I decide to add the factory style bed lights, I already have power run.
I had read where someone just used the taillight wire for the shell's dome light. That will work, but it can lead to having the dome light coming on with the tail lights. And since mine is forward facing above the hatch it ends up being a bright whire light in the rear view if you don't turn it off at it's switch.
As is it only has power when the cargo lights are on. Even then the switch at the light can disable it.
Searching the web brought up multiple horror stories about adapters and constant error messages.
Well for those of us dirivng the lowly XL, in my case XL/STX, with incandescent bulbs, this job bcomes pretty simple. The purple wire to the brake light is the source for 3rd brake light power. Just off with the light assembly, a quick t-tap and up into the bed. The XL uses a seperate amber turn signal so no issue with brake/turn being the same wire
I then ran a single wire from the cargo lights down and out behind the rear drivers side door. When going through the vent I went through second from inboard on the bottom row. that brings you out inside the frame rail right by the wiring harness. Zipped tied to that till the rear, then up through the same hole as the taillight cable. There the wire joined up with the purple one from the brake light.
In the event I decide to add the factory style bed lights, I already have power run.
I had read where someone just used the taillight wire for the shell's dome light. That will work, but it can lead to having the dome light coming on with the tail lights. And since mine is forward facing above the hatch it ends up being a bright whire light in the rear view if you don't turn it off at it's switch.
As is it only has power when the cargo lights are on. Even then the switch at the light can disable it.
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