2nd gen Brake plug-and-play brake tap

Pm sent, I need brake plus reverse

 

Super, that would be much appreciated. I'm not in a big rush and I know you're working on other connectors for other folks (on the weekend no less!) Happy to pay for your time and materials of course. Forgive the ignorance, but what should I do to "get [you] a full pin out of it"? I could pull any of the connectors out and ship to you if that's what you're thinking.

There is a female to female on both sides as you say, which splits to go down to the wiring harness and adapter for the tow hitch (pics below). If there's an easy way to go into that system (ie the existing wiring for the trailer hitch) then I'm happy to go that route. But it seems like folks with other trucks have had both the wiring harness plug ins for the trailer hitch (which I have now) and the separate connector out to the third brake light and/or dome lights. I just looked at the dome lights and they are all 12v with switches alongside the bulb, so I assume they wouldn't turn on unless a separate wire was run to engine bay/battery (e.g. what this guy did starting around 3:13). The plug that the shell wiring harness has (female, pics 6 and 7 above) connects both the brake light and the dome lights and appears to be a four-pin connector, similar to the one that Century Distributing sells (part no. EC90-907 here).

 

Oh, you'll pay in your time

Is all you need is test light and maybe a helper. I just need you to tell me what the wires do. So grab a test light, and turn on the turn signal. touch all of the leads, and write down which one makes the test light come on. Tap the brakes, same thing. Turn on the running lights, same thing. To find the ground, hook the test light up to the battery + and touch the leads again. Which ever ones make it light up are grounds. Then, wipe these wires down so I can see the colors real well, and grab me a good picture of the wire side of this plug.

OR, @caribe makaira might have the pin out there?

Ahh, that makes sense! Okay, I will just do a male/female setup

 

Super, absolutely--will do. Got tied up changing my sway bar end link in the Autozone parking lot and got some unsolicited advice from a drifter guy and his advice was actually fairly on point. Good times. Except that in CT apparently it's against the law to work on your car in a parking lot (drug use totally fine though apparently). Looking forward to returning to CA where you can basically rebuild an engine in the parking lot without anyone batting an eye.

These are monumentally dumb questions to ask, but since this is the internet and there's some anonymity conferred:

First dumb question, by test light is it basically just a light and then a needle probe and then also an alligator clip (a la )?

Second dumb question, I'm testing the individual holes (non technical term) in the six holed female OEM plug that's in the tail light (both sides)? That should be easy, just wanted to make sure.

Third dumb question, to hook the test light up to the battery to the ground, is that basically a matter of running a wire from the battery up front (positive, negative?) and connect it in the back to where the test light is in the back tail light on the female plug?

Cleaning wires and picture taking, that I can do (no smarts required).

 

Exactly

Yes, that is it. There may be a few that don't do anything, but one should light up the test light when the turn signal is on (it might hyperflash, but that's is ok. The test light will flash too), one lights up when the brakes are pressed, one lights up when the truck is put into reverse, and at least one will light up when the parking lights are turned on. To make sure we got it, test all six holes under each condition.

The alligator clip goes to ground. Doesn't have to be the battery, but any good will do. After you have found the turn, brake, reverse, and parking lights, we will swap it up. The second thing we need to do is find the ground(s) (there might be a few). For this, run a small piece of wire from the Positive post on the battery toward the back of the truck. Then hook the alligator clip to that wire (so we have reverse polarity). Then you stick the test light in the holes again. Any that light up are grounds.

 

Safer to use a 9V battery if you can scrounge one.

but you would have to ground it properly to the chassis too.

best would be to use a multi meter (they aren’t expensive.)

 

Great, got it. Looking forward to it tomorrow morning and will report back. Thanks as always!

@daveeasa, sure thing, will to get a multi meter together and go that route (maybe in addition to the test light just for redundancy, I may not be smart enough for the multi-meter). I somehow left home at 18 without understanding what the multimeter my dad used on everything did and I now regret that (to a point). But I generally understand the concept and should be able to find one early tomorrow easy enough.

Thanks for your continued insights/wisdom and hope you're able to have a good night amidst the electrical work!

 

White wire with black stripe is ground...

 

Do you have any more basic brake taps? I would like to get one for my snugtop

 

Forgive the delay, but I have charted out both the driver and passenger side plugs using the test light. Pretty fun honestly.

OEM Plug - Driver Side (annotated).jpg
OEM Plug - Passenger Side (annotated).jpg

The turn signal lights were by far the most fun to find: ezgif.com-gif-maker.gif

Here are close-ups of the tail light assembly, including the lens and bulbs and wires that feed into the male plug that attaches to the female plugs pictured above.

Starting with the driver side (left)

Tail light assembly - Driver Side (annotated).jpg
IMG_1641.jpg
IMG_1642.jpg

And then the passenger side (right)

Tail light assembly - Passenger Side (annotated).jpg
IMG_1651.jpg
IMG_1650.jpg

If any of the pictures should be from a different angle or better resolution or light or just somehow improved, please let me know and I can re-take them (or take pictures of any other part/angle in the tail light assembly/plug/harness).

 

Not sure if the pictures came through correctly in the post above so attaching them in-line here as well in case helpful.

 

This is excellent! I ordered some housings, so the next step will be making sure they are right. I’ll reach out to you soon

 

Super! Please say the word if you need more pictures or some cash (or both).

I realized that you may have wanted pictures of the back side of the female plug with wire annotations, so those are below. Along with the way that I managed to keep the brake light on without a helper.

 

Sign me up. Looking for a basic brake tap set for my Leer canopy brake light.

 

Sorry for the delay, PM sent

 

@Puppypunter Any update on an inline 2nd gen with Tow Package tap? I could then just have you only do like a 10" tails and install my own 6-pin weatherpack for the "extension" from the tap up into the bed where I want it. (I probably won't connect the BATT since I have a 10AWG running directly to the the main battery into the bed).

 

@caribe makaira you told me before I think, but just want to confirm, 2.3 == 090II? So, I have the terminals and seals which would be compatible with this connector pair? Do you have the pinouts for the 8 way so I know what goes where?

 

What are you trying to do @JasonLee ?

 

All of the things. My main goal is to stop plugging in a 7-pin to 4-pin adapter to my custom 4th brake light on my hitch bike rack since my taillights get blocked by bikes. This will allow me to actually benefit from the 90-degree relocation of the 7-pin for high clearance.

Beyond that, I'm planning on adding some Maxxima lighting on the top rear of my camper (

$35 Maxxima M85417R Red LED Ultra Thin Round Hybrid Lightning Stop Turn Tail (STT) Back-Up Light, Flange Mount Reverse Light Compatible for Trailers, Trucks, RVs, Jeep Wranglers

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZY74BYR/) that does Parking/Brake/Reverse.