Reverse lights

And a volt meter is your best friend when it comes to electrical. For 12v applications get a cheap one from harbor freight if you plan on testing high voltage at any point suck as house electrical get yourself a good one

 

Done that, no luck... I know it's going to be something stupid simple

 

L E D stands for light emitting diode. Diodes are one way devices. Unless the aftermarket set you use has a cross over circuit(more diodes) it will only work wired one way. It won't hurt it to be installed backwards but it simply won't work. The stock wires probably aren't the problem, they'd get hot with too much current but 18W is only 1.5A and the wires should be able to pass both the tail light current and your additional light current. If you're worried about it run additional heavier wires from a fuse by the battery to a relay in the back and have it triggered by the reverse lights.

 

I'd you've got a moment, drawing a picture of how it's wired is always helpful.

 

Bagleboy, I understand what you're saying, the thing that I'm not understanding is if I hook them up to my battery ( bypassing the stock wires ) they come on nice and bright, I'm getting power at the stock wire where I hooked in to it and I believe the ground is fine or the stock reverse light wouldn't work.. I did this to 2 other Tacoma's with no problems but they were both 2000's

 

Have you tried hooking anything else up to those stock wires? I'm thinking maybe the wrong pair or reversed polarity. Also, If your extra lights are on the trailer but the connection is to the stock reverse lights then you have to be going through the trailer plug at some point, maybe the problem is there.

 

You really need to post some pictures and a diagram of how you are wiring things together. Are you wiring things in series rather than in parallel? In series would be incorrect.

 

These are the lights I'm using... I'll get pics of wiring

 

These are the lights I'm using... I'll get pics of wiring

 

Guess I can get them to post

 

Upload them to an image hosting site and link them from there.

 

Okay .. found the problem!!! I think, which leads to more questions..
Had a buddy check my lights with a fancy tool that I can only imagine he took from capt, kirk ... he tested it and seams I'm only getting 11.2 volts and with a push of a bottom it put 12.2 volts it to it ( by going through back side of plug) Boom! Every lit up.. now the question is where am I loosing a volt??

 

Could be a bad crimp or corrosion in the connector. Is it the same on both sides? There's no law says you have to use the driver's side light.

 

Good question, I'll have to check the right side the next time I'm over there