I’ve got my rear license plate mounted on my spare tire – which is on a swingout. Until now, I’ve just been running a mini solar rechargable mini LED light double-sided taped to the plate for a license plate light – but it doesn’t get a lot of direct sunlight where I park, so it never really charges fully, and it only gives me about an hour of runtime. I needed a better solution. So I just purchased a LitePLATE license plate light kit made by Off Road Only.
License Plate LED Light With 6 Foot Disconnectable Harness LitePLATE OffRoadOnly
The particular one I got not only has white LED lights to illuminate the license plate, but it also has outward-facing red LEDs that can be hooked up to function as a third brake light. The wiring connections required to run the license plate light and third brake light are Power (Tail/License Plate), Brake, and Ground.
I’m trying to figure out where the best place is to make those connections. I really don’t want to tap into the factory wiring if I don’t have to. Ideally, I’d like to find an external connection, under the truck. I was eyeing the trailer wiring harness which runs externally, along the underside of the rear of the truck which was installed by the PO, along with a trailer brake controller, and a 4pin flat to 7 pin adapter.
I have no intention of towing anything with my truck. I could unplug the 4pin flat from the 4 to 7 adapter, and make my own 4pin flat pigtail to provide power, ground, and brake – but I think then that the red LEDs would not just come on with the brakes – they’d also flash whenever I used the turn signals. That wouldn’t be the end of the world, but I was wondering if there’s a better way to do this. Is there somewhere I can get a brake-only signal that isn’t too far upstream?
If there’s an easier way to get the connections I need for the license plate light/third brake light without using the trailer wiring harness, I might just remove the trailer brake controller and harness entirely. But everything is working just fine, so it’s not like it needs to be done right now either.
License Plate LED Light With 6 Foot Disconnectable Harness LitePLATE OffRoadOnly
The particular one I got not only has white LED lights to illuminate the license plate, but it also has outward-facing red LEDs that can be hooked up to function as a third brake light. The wiring connections required to run the license plate light and third brake light are Power (Tail/License Plate), Brake, and Ground.
I’m trying to figure out where the best place is to make those connections. I really don’t want to tap into the factory wiring if I don’t have to. Ideally, I’d like to find an external connection, under the truck. I was eyeing the trailer wiring harness which runs externally, along the underside of the rear of the truck which was installed by the PO, along with a trailer brake controller, and a 4pin flat to 7 pin adapter.
I have no intention of towing anything with my truck. I could unplug the 4pin flat from the 4 to 7 adapter, and make my own 4pin flat pigtail to provide power, ground, and brake – but I think then that the red LEDs would not just come on with the brakes – they’d also flash whenever I used the turn signals. That wouldn’t be the end of the world, but I was wondering if there’s a better way to do this. Is there somewhere I can get a brake-only signal that isn’t too far upstream?
If there’s an easier way to get the connections I need for the license plate light/third brake light without using the trailer wiring harness, I might just remove the trailer brake controller and harness entirely. But everything is working just fine, so it’s not like it needs to be done right now either.
