Flush mounted LED in rear bumper footwells?

[Daryl Casey]

2020 Sierra 1500

I saw this mentioned in a thread on here, but after looking through dozens of threads I can't find it again!

 

After struggling to see while in Reverse, I think I'd like to install flush mounted LED pods into the rear bumper footwells in order to provide more light while backing up. Would someone who's done mod this be willing to provide a walkthrough on how to install the lights? (how you installed the light pods, where to splice, what you used to splice, etc)? If you could provide links to what light pods you use or recommend that would be much appreciated!

I've got a Putco Blade Quick Connect Harness inbound, which I'll install and use for any splicing.

 

Thanks for your time and help!

Daryl 

 

[kodiakdenali]

There is a piece of metal that is partially behind the step. Lights can be mounted there, its been done. But be sure to measure carefully so the pockets fit back in after you install the lights.

I am working on this myself, couple other mods in line first. you may also want to pick up a curt 7 pin to 4 pin harness. Its pretty cheap. I dont know how much extra load you can put on the reverse lights. But you can get a high current 12v source from the trailer harness if you need it and use a relay to activate from the reverse lights. That harness has reverse lights in it also, but youd have to check and see if it triggers trailer mode to hook up to it. I need to experiment with that myself.

One other thing to keep in mind, the pockets might block some of your new light towards the inside of the truck. Thats one place where you want light for the backup camera. If you look at the pockets there is a section that is pretty even with the rear bumper, you may want to see if you could mount something like a rock light there to supplement your new lights,  to fill in where the step pockets might block some of your added light.

[2k19Sierra]

I put mine facing out towards the side of the truck and wired into aux switches. Works well for backing up at night and can turn on manually when at a dark boat launch or loading up sleds late at night! 

[calgator73]

9 hours ago, 2k19Sierra said:

I put mine facing out towards the side of the truck and wired into aux switches. Works well for backing up at night and can turn on manually when at a dark boat launch or loading up sleds late at night! 

Do you have the blind zone/cross traffic sensors there too?

[slj2008]

13 hours ago, 2k19Sierra said:

I put mine facing out towards the side of the truck and wired into aux switches. Works well for backing up at night and can turn on manually when at a dark boat launch or loading up sleds late at night! 

Look's good 0 what light did you used ??  Thanks

[Daryl Casey]

13 hours ago, 2k19Sierra said:

I put mine facing out towards the side of the truck and wired into aux switches. Works well for backing up at night and can turn on manually when at a dark boat launch or loading up sleds late at night! 

Would you be willing to add a link to the lights you used and a walkthrough on how you wired it all in? I'd like to see where/how you mounted the aux switch and how it's wired in as well.

Thanks!

DC

[TNTSierra]

I’m also down with that. Looks really good and would help with reversing to pick the boat up at night down the boat ramps. 

[Daryl Casey]

@kodiakdenali

 

What wattage of LEDs do you recommend for doing this project? My first thought was "more is better", but I want to make sure the electrical system can accept the load. 

 

@2k19Sierra

 

Did you have to use a relay or any additional parts or did you just tie into the reverse light wiring to provide power to the lights?

Thanks

DC

[2k19Sierra]

1 hour ago, Daryl Casey said:

Would you be willing to add a link to the lights you used and a walkthrough on how you wired it all in? I'd like to see where/how you mounted the aux switch and how it's wired in as well.

Thanks!

DC

for sure, here is a link for the lights i used.  Saw these from another member on here actually, they are really nice weatherproof lights that provide lots of light considering how small they are.

https://www.online-led-store.com/6pc-lamphus-stardust-sdrl14-led-off-road-rock-light-orzledwkl1050-xx-x6

 Since i already have installed the factory aux switches, i decided to wire the lights into them as opposed to the reverse lights.  This lets me turn the lights on whenever i want, which i really like, for situations like boat ramps etc..

 

The aux switches leaves you with 4 blunt cut wires under the dash.  There is a really nice grommet under the drivers side floor mats/carpet that the parking brake cable goes through i think.  I ran some wire through this grommet & tucked it under the door sill, up under the dash.  I picked the blunt cut wire that corresponded to the switch i wanted & spliced into that.  Really nice thing about the aux switches is depending what spot you put the fuse in, you can control whether the lights are always on, or just when the truck is on.  i picked just when the truck is on to avoid leaving them on accidentally & draining battery.

 

I then ran the wire underneath the truck & down the frame.  This was definitely the hardest part, trying to keep the wire away from pinch & burn points.  i mostly followed existing wire harnesses.  

 

To mount the lights, i drilled a small hole in the plastic step for the white to go through.  sealed it with RTV silicone & screwed the lights into the bumper.  Found a good ground by the trailer hitch & spliced both lights into the wire i ran.  Pretty happy with how it turned out!  Ill post some more pics too!  Let me know if you want to see anything else. 

[2k19Sierra]

1 hour ago, Daryl Casey said:

@kodiakdenali

 

What wattage of LEDs do you recommend for doing this project? My first thought was "more is better", but I want to make sure the electrical system can accept the load. 

 

@2k19Sierra

 

Did you have to use a relay or any additional parts or did you just tie into the reverse light wiring to provide power to the lights?

Thanks

DC

the aux switches have built in fuses & relays already!

[kodiakdenali]

15 minutes ago, 2k19Sierra said:

for sure, here is a link for the lights i used.  Saw these from another member on here actually, they are really nice weatherproof lights that provide lots of light considering how small they are.

 

https://www.online-led-store.com/6pc-lamphus-stardust-sdrl14-led-off-road-rock-light-orzledwkl1050-xx-x6

 

 Since i already have installed the factory aux switches, i decided to wire the lights into them as opposed to the reverse lights.  This lets me turn the lights on whenever i want, which i really like, for situations like boat ramps etc..

 

 

 

The aux switches leaves you with 4 blunt cut wires under the dash.  There is a really nice grommet under the drivers side floor mats/carpet that the parking brake cable goes through i think.  I ran some wire through this grommet & tucked it under the door sill, up under the dash.  I picked the blunt cut wire that corresponded to the switch i wanted & spliced into that.  Really nice thing about the aux switches is depending what spot you put the fuse in, you can control whether the lights are always on, or just when the truck is on.  i picked just when the truck is on to avoid leaving them on accidentally & draining battery.

 

 

 

I then ran the wire underneath the truck & down the frame.  This was definitely the hardest part, trying to keep the wire away from pinch & burn points.  i mostly followed existing wire harnesses.  

 

 

 

To mount the lights, i drilled a small hole in the plastic step for the white to go through.  sealed it with RTV silicone & screwed the lights into the bumper.  Found a good ground by the trailer hitch & spliced both lights into the wire i ran.  Pretty happy with how it turned out!  Ill post some more pics too!  Let me know if you want to see anything else. 

 

Nicely done! I actually want to do something similar, I like the idea of having some bright flood lights aimed just the way you have yours, I was thinking about setting mine up so they'd be manual just like yours, and come on automatically with either the puddle lights under the mirror, task lights, or backup lights.

[2k19Sierra]

[kodiakdenali]

1 hour ago, Daryl Casey said:

@kodiakdenali

 

What wattage of LEDs do you recommend for doing this project? My first thought was "more is better", but I want to make sure the electrical system can accept the load. 

 

@2k19Sierra

 

Did you have to use a relay or any additional parts or did you just tie into the reverse light wiring to provide power to the lights?

Thanks

DC

the factory backup lights circuit is fused at 10A. looks like its the same 10A for trucks that have the incandescent backup lights and those with the factory LEDs. the LEDs certainly draw less power. how much overhead is there? I'm not sure. its 10A shared by both left and right from the looks of it. you could probably add a couple amps to that circuit no problem, which means you could easily add some pretty bright lights back there.

however I wanted to do something slightly different. partly because I need constant 12V back there for a future project (automatically turning on the bed lights when the tailgate is opened) so I am building my harness for the rear lights enhancement both with a putco blade harness and one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009FJ38Q/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s03?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This is very similar to how you get power for the kicker audio system for the multi-pro tailgate. the kit includes an inline connector like this which breaks out the 12V power from the trailer harness. I need to make that available for my future project but also I was thinking about using that power and a relay activated by the putco harness's backup lights circuit to add my rear flood lights. that way I don't have to worry about blowing the backup lights fuse. And should I ever blow that added fuse it wouldn't take out my stock backup lights along with it!

I want to add some spot/flood rear mounted lights to aid in backup, some side facing floods for utility, and some additional fill lights specifically to light up the area directly behind the truck for the backup camera. That plus the complimentary mod of activating the cargo lights with the backup lights, especially since that will also turn on the "hitch" flood light for connecting a trailer automatically whenever you reverse. then just for fun I plan to add some extra red rear running lights into that area raptor style...and another thing I'm considering are some brighter red rear facing lights to use as rear fog lights, which would come on along with the factory front fogs. and maybe even a single overhead flood light in the step pockets connected to the same circuit as my multi-pro step lighting...just for uniformity. lighting is fun