Have you ever wondered how hard it might be to install a set of LED work lights in the back of your 4WD triggered by your factory reverse lights?

Don’t think twice, this super easy DIY Job can be knocked over in just an afternoon with basic 12v electrical knowledge and simple hand tools, and will absolutely revamp the way your 4WD functions offroad, additionally, this clever technique will let you toggle your LED Work Lights off when you don’t need them.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpnX1vUf4zQ]

COST: under $100)

Difficulty: Beginner to intermediate

Timeframe: An afternoon (3-4 hours for a novice)

What you will need:
A set of LED lights like the, 4″ LED Light Bar (Pair) or the Kings OSRAM 3in Work Lights (Pair)

A LED Driving light harness 

4m of 12 AWG Wire (RED)
4m of 12 AWG Wire (Black)

4m of 20 AWG wire

Solder

Electrical tape

Corrugated conduit tubing

Heat shrink

Cable ties

TOOLS

Side cutters (included in the Bush Mechanic Toolkit)

Soldering iron

Crimping tool wire stripper (included in the Bush Mechanic Toolkit)

Drill + Drill bits

Impact driver and bits

Test light or multi-meter

Cigarette lighter (for heat shrink)

Clear enamel paint (for screw holes)

Silicone sealer

Thread lock compound

Method:

The first step is to mount up your lights to the rear of the vehicle, depending on the mounting location, you may need to purchase self-tapping screws to fasten the lights to the vehicle, or purchase a set of bolts to attach your chosen LED Lights to the rear mounting points on your 4WD.

When using self-tapping screws, you will probably want to drill a pilot hole, so checking the packaging of the self-tapping screw, will give you a heads up on the best drill bit size for the job, ensure the location is perfect then measure and drill your pilot hole.

Once the pilot hole has been drilled, clean up the area and give a quick spray of paint to seal it up and prevent rusting.

Now using the extra grunt offered by your impact driver, you can align the fastener through your bracket and nip it down nice and tight.

We like to use a small bead of silicone to stop it from unscrewing itself with vibrations on the tracks.

With the brackets mounted, use the bolts included in your Adventure Kings LED Work Lights to fasten the light into place, using a dab of thread locking compound to prevent them coming undone over time.

Now that our lights are mounted up, the next step is to work on setting up our wiring, the good thing about the Adventure Kings Driving Light Wiring Kits is that they include nearly everything you need to hook up your reverse lights, they are easy to install and they are much more affordable than buying the individual components to build one yourself.

The harness has a relay, plus the main power terminals with open eyed crimp ends, an inline fuse holder, two Deutsche plug outlets, a toggle switch and a trigger wire which would usually go onto your high beam to light up your driving lights.

The first modification you need to make to your Adventure Kings Wiring Harness is to cut the red ‘trigger wire’ as close to the white adapter plug as possible to give you extra length to work with.

Within the harness the trigger wire runs all the way from the piggy-back adapter plug (white) all the way back to the relay and out to the switch. To get the most reach from this cable we are going to need to cut the heat shrink from around the relay wiring and pull the red wire all the way through the sheathing. We are taking advantage of all the extra length of wire running the red lead directly from the switch to the back of the vehicle.

We are now ready to install the harness, but before we wire anything up, we need to disconnect the fuse so we don’t short anything out.

When hooking up your wiring harness we recommend starting with mounting the relay, this needs to be positioned close enough to the battery to connect your positive battery terminals. We used another self-tapping screw under the bonnet to fasten the relay in place and rewrap the relay plug terminals to protect them from damage. 



Once the relay is located you can run the wiring for the switch through the firewall of the vehicle, to position the switch inside the cabin. But don’t fear, you don’t have to drill through the firewall usually there will be an easy to access grommet with existing wiring running through.

We will have to pull the terminals off the back of the switch to do this effectively, so before you unplug anything take a quick picture of the layout of the wires so you know which configuration they need to be plugged back in. another great tip is, if you are having trouble running the wires through the firewall you can use a piece of stiffer wire like a straightened out coat hanger to pull the wire inside the cab.


once the wire is through you can reassemble the plug and position the switch in one of your blanking plates on the dash, or you can drill a hole in the dash to position it correctly.

With the bulk of the wiring set up, it is now time to focus on the power for your LED lights, and the trigger wire, some vehicles like utes with longer trays, may require you to extend these wires, but most standard wagons may not require any modifications.

For any wire extension, you have a choice between solder and heat shrink or crimp on terminals, if you choose to solder, then slip your heat shrink over your trigger wire, and twist the wires together and  solder to create a strong bond, once joined slip the heat shrink over the join and use a gentle heat from the cigarette lighter to tighten the bond.

Moving onto the main power wires, we will apply the same process but the first step is to clip the wires just before they split at the Deutsche plug ends, this way you preserve the heat shrunk connections that have already been made. Simply twist the wires together and solder for a strong bond, using heat shrink over the final joins, with a larger heat shrink tube over both joins to secure the lot and prevent excess bending and wear.

With the wiring extended, insert everything into some corrugated tubing to protect the wires underneath the vehicles body. Following the firewall and along the chassis of the vehicle, route the corrugated tubing and wiring  to the very rear of the vehicle, following existing wiring is a great idea to ensure it is away from anything hot, or moving parts.

We recommend taping the tubing every 20cm or so, to keep the wires secured in place, and loosely cable tying the wires into place, so you can make sure everything is neat, trimming and tightening them right at the end.

With the power cables and the trigger wire reaching all the way to the rear it is now time to refasten the Deutsche connectors to the power leads and connect the trigger wire to the vehicles reverse light wiring.

To get the length perfect connect the Deutsche connectors to the LED Lights and trim the power cables to length. Connecting everything together using solder and heat shrink as before.

Finally you have the trigger wire, with a bundle of factory wires at the rear of your vehicle, finding the reverse light can be tricky, we want to connect the trigger to the positive power source for the rear reverse lights, this job is made easier if you have a factory wiring diagram, or the addition of a trailer wiring plug. Once you have found the wire that powers your reverse light you can cut splice solder and heat shrink the join, for extra protection we taped up the whole bunch to prevent it pulling or snagging. Trim the corrugated tubing, and tape to make it tidy, then cable tie the bundle into place.

Now the wiring is hooked up, you can connect the battery terminals to the positive and negative terminals of the battery, pop the fuse into the fuse holder and its time to test.

Everything should work trouble free, with the toggle switch being able to switch the auxiliary reverse lights on and off.

For more information about the range of LED Lights available, head to www.4WDSupacentre.com.au call us on 1800 88 39 64 or visit us in store to see the range in person and ask all the technical details.