License Plate Light Wiring (2 Viewers)

[gomez268]

Haven't posted in a while, been busy with starting a new job and a lot of chances to the Cruiser. Hoping to put together a build thread once I have everything done.

With that being said I'm hoping to get you guys help. I have installed an RLC rear bumper and have ran into a snag. I read some of you guy's previous post and wired the license plate lights to the passanger side rear taillight. It was working great no issue until about an hour later when I got ABS light and Check VSC system on the dash.

The warning lights only come on when the headlights are turned on. I am able to drive the vehicle during the day without the warning lights turning on. I bought a techstream to troubleshoot this issue and got error code C1249 Open Circuit in Stop Light Switch Circuit.

I went back into the taillight and checked my wiring to ensure a wire hadn't come loose, all the wires were snug. I removed the license plate wires and the warning lights went away. I loosely connected the wires from the license plate light and as soon as I turned on the headlights the warning lights came back up.

I have a 2008 Land Cruiser, I had spliced the license plate lights into the small red and green wires in the taillight harness.

I was hoping you guys could shed some light into how you guys connected the license plate light. Any advise would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[indycole]

The green and red wires are wired to the pos and neg of the license plate lighting on the RLC bumper?

 

[KLF]

I have the same bumper, but I haven't installed the swing out yet. I tapped into the trailer plug harness.

 

[grinchy]

I'll recommend tapping into tow Connector and wiring too, that's what I did. I cut the tow harness and installed a connector box inline to get access to all the leads on the tow harness easily for continued build activity, used it to power a reverse camera and expect to put some accessory lights on there soon as well. Used it for license lights too.

 

[gomez268]

The green and red wires are wired to the pos and neg of the license plate lighting on the RLC bumper?

The green and red wires are part of the vehicles taillight wiring harness. There is a thicker black and red wire that belong to the license plate light.

@grinchy and @KLF I thought about tapping into the tow harness, my main concern with this option is maintaining it waterproof. No sure this is possible with a connector box? But I'm going to start looking into that option.

 

[grinchy]

The one I got was around $10 and has rubber grommets. It would be splash proof. I don't worry too much about waterproof with low voltage DC. I think I link it somewhere in my build thread.

 

[grinchy]

Short term you can just piggyback off the tow connector wiring. It uses standard 7 pin colors. My stage one was just a 7 pin tow cable that I cut one end off of and plugged into the rig tow connector.

 

[KLF]

I was going to do the connector box like @grinchy but did a lot of homework and thinking, decided I only needed 4 connections for my future needs/ideas: switched +12V, ground, reverse, and taillights. I will use the taillight circuit for the license plate lights, once I get my swingout installed. So I took the harness off, carefully unwrapped the black tape, and gently released the wires with a small pick tool from the connectors that I needed. I used a very sharp knife (X-acto #11 blade) to peel a little insulation from the 4 wires, then soldered new wires on. Then these got a double layer of heat shrink (the kind with the glue inside), and re-wrapped with black electrical tape. I have no concerns now about water contamination. This "kit" of heat shrink made it much easier:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073R69KNB/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Here are the wire colors in the trailer harness, and fuse sizes provided in the factory wiring for each circuit:

White = ground
Black = switched +12v (40 A fuse)
Blue = brake (30 A fuse)
Yellow = reverse (7.5 A fuse)
Green = taillights (30 A fuse)
Brown = turn right (30 A fuse)
Red = turn left (30 A fuse)

I have my rear backup lights connected now, they really do throw a lot of light. My bumper came with a set of cheap lights installed, they will get replaced with Rigids this spring.

How did you take care of the mud flaps? These are the ones I installed, it took a lot of cutting and fussy drilling, but they came out really nice:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N6CLDJY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

What about the backup sensors? I am finally re-installing mine today, I had to extend the harness for the corner sensors.

 

[gomez268]

I was going to do the connector box like @grinchy but did a lot of homework and thinking, decided I only needed 4 connections for my future needs/ideas: switched +12V, ground, reverse, and taillights. I will use the taillight circuit for the license plate lights, once I get my swingout installed. So I took the harness off, carefully unwrapped the black tape, and gently released the wires with a small pick tool from the connectors that I needed. I used a very sharp knife (X-acto #11 blade) to peel a little insulation from the 4 wires, then soldered new wires on. Then these got a double layer of heat shrink (the kind with the glue inside), and re-wrapped with black electrical tape. I have no concerns now about water contamination. This "kit" of heat shrink made it much easier:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073R69KNB/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Here are the wire colors in the trailer harness, and fuse sizes provided in the factory wiring for each circuit:

White = ground
Black = switched +12v (40 A fuse)
Blue = brake (30 A fuse)
Yellow = reverse (7.5 A fuse)
Green = taillights (30 A fuse)
Brown = turn right (30 A fuse)
Red = turn left (30 A fuse)

I have my rear backup lights connected now, they really do throw a lot of light. My bumper came with a set of cheap lights installed, they will get replaced with Rigids this spring.

How did you take care of the mud flaps? These are the ones I installed, it took a lot of cutting and fussy drilling, but they came out really nice:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N6CLDJY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

What about the backup sensors? I am finally re-installing mine today, I had to extend the harness for the corner sensors.

Thank you for the information. I'm looking at connecting the license plate light to tow connector now.

As far as the mudflaps I am looking at installing these https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07H14BVFR/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_3?smid=A2DR7PGSECT3KP&psc=1 once they become available again. They run for about $100 when I last saw them.

The sensor light I attempted to extend the harness, and I appear to have failed. The truck is not reading any of the rear sensors so I'll have to go back and trouble shoot the harness to see where the problem is. And I still haven't gotten to the reverse lights or even looking at how I'm going to tackle that project.

 

[RET2]

If you're going to use the tow connector for plate light you might as well pickup the reverse light at that location at the same time, it is the center pin.

 

[gomez268]

If you're going to use the tow connector for plate light you might as well pickup the reverse light at that location at the same time, it is the center pin.

Yeah that sounds like a good idea. I was able to connect it to the junction box, surprised at how easy it was. Thanks guys for the recommendations. It really has helped.