Camper third brake light wiring by a noob.

This is my first write up. This is also my first electrical endeavor. I looked on here forever to find what I needed but couldn't.

If you buy a camper and the wiring for the third brake light was cut this is for you. This could also be for mounting any extra brake lighting.



Starting point. The red wire is your power and the black is your ground.

I pulled back my bedliner just a bit and found a hole up near where the tail light cluster fits in so I didnt need to drill at all.

There are 4 bolts that hold in your drivers side tail light. Unscrew those and this is what the back of your tail light looks like.



The rusty bulb mount is the one we are focusing on. It has a solid green wire and a green with red striped wire coming out of the end. There is also a black and white ground wire that is stuck onto the mount. You can un plug your tail light to make working on it much easier. its also nice that you dont have to ruin your wiring harness if you make a mistake.

Since my wires were cut, I had to make them longer. I took about 2 feet of red 18 guage wire cut it in half and put a little electrical tape on one end to indicate it was a ground. Here it is.

I just used connectors and crimped the new wire to the old wire. I then put some electrical tape over the connectors

When you use these quick splices you need (or atleast i think you do) to cut away a small area of wire covering to expose the wire your going to splice. In this picture the blue quick splice is secured over the ground with the ground wire from the camper in it also. You can see where i sent the wires through here.

quick spliced with the ground and the power! Again this is all in the tail light unit its self. And again the RED AND GREEN is the brake wire. Cut a small area of wire cover away again to expose wire. Then lead your third brake light wire into the quick splice and fold it together.

Now clip your tail light back into the wiring harness and screw the bezel back on.

Find a friend or a good stick and apply brake.


PRESTO.

As for the wires inside the camper, just put some old vaccum hose or something like it over them.

I was suprised at how easy this was. I would like to clean up the visible area inside the camper a bit but im just happy my 3rd works. Like I said this was my first electrical endeavor and wont be my last. Now i have to find a way to get power to my camper dome.

 

Nice work!

 

Nice write up. When I bought my truck, the truck had a ball of wires hanging from that driver side rear corner. I'm assuming it was to the 3rd brake light, since its leads were also cut about 4 inches from the light itself. I tried the best I could to get it to work but I think the light is just bad. I hooked it up directly to a battery and it still wouldn't come on. Any idea on where to get a replacement brake light assembly for my shell? I can't seem to find one.

 

Depends on what kind of shell it is. If its a leer look for a leer dealer. I dont really know I just got mine yesterday! I have heard though, that some of them come with a hookup for a trailer so maybe you need to get a connector for it.

 

Oh, haha well congrats on the purchase. I thought I would be selling the shell once I bought the truck, but I love it so far. Not the best visibility in the dark, but oh well. It is a "CoverMaster" shell. There are no dealers I can find in the state of Alaska.

 

Well dang. I would seriously look and see if that ball of wires looks like trailer wiring. because you may just need to plug it in somewhere. Like I said I have no idea.

 

The solid green wire on the taillight housing?

 

Nice write-up. I used a computer fan male/female connecter to connect the truck wiring to the shell wiring. That way when I take the shell off I can just undo the plug. Leer wanted $30 for the taillight wiring kit. The computer connecter was a couple bucks at microcenter.

 

That's a pretty cool stick. Just the right size. Where'd you get it?

 

Nice write-up! There are a couple things I'd do a bit differently though. First would be to have a quick disconnect on the wires so you could remove the shell without undoing the wiring. Next, ditch the crimp connections for solder and heat shrink (or heat shrink over the crimp connection to keep water and dirt out, that electrical tape didn't look like it was sealed up real well). Last, a rubber grommet where the wires pass through the bed so they don't chaff. Also, you can get plastic wire loom at any auto parts store for those who don't have old vacuum hose lying around.

Nice work!

 

The stick? I found it in the trees. Lol

 

This ^^^ I did all of the above.

I also alternated the connectors so the polarity can't be reversed. Put the male connector on the truck side for one wire and the female connector on the truck side for the other wire.

 

Thanks for the advice. I'll defiately look for a quick connect soon. I already had to take the top off once. As for solder and heat wrap that will come sometime soon. Like I said this was the first time I had done any electrical before. I knew there was room for improvement and I appreciate the suggestions.

 

Great write up...will be using some of the pointers here to do my third brake light

And ffirg...I found this vendor that sells all different LED third brake lights for toppers: http://www.truckcappartsstore.com/c/4417374/1/3rd-brake-lights.html

 

Nice! Looks like they list one for covermaster so I may be able to get a functioning light. I don't think it's required to have it working up here anyway, but I'd like it to work. I just hope the wiring is good. I'll have to see if there's any power to the wires, I can't remember if there is or not. Thanks!

 

Tag for reference.

 

Thanks! This was a great help. I just picked up a used ARE shell on Craigslist, and decided to wire it myself because I'm cheap.

 

Nice clean solution for 10 bucks...

 

I just finished this up on my 2nd gen. Worked perfectly. I didn’t use the quick splice. I just connected the 2 with a wire connector. Was my 1st attempt at EVER! Wiring and it went vary well. Probably looks like an electricians worst nightmare buuuuttt fuck it. It works and I’m happy.

 

Awesome write-up! Is the wiring procedure the same for second gens? I made a topper myself and just bought an LED brake light strip to do the job. Here's what I'm working with...
Cheers!